A Seamless Blend of Billing, Performance Tracking, and Profitability Insight
Invoicing is a crucial component of every business’s financial and operational workflow. In Petra Business Suites, invoices serve a dual purpose — not only do they provide a formal means for billing clients and customers, but they also form part of an organization’s performance tracking and profitability analysis.
By aligning invoices with recorded project hours or timesheet entries, Petra helps organizations visualize effort versus reward, revealing where productivity and profitability intersect.
Why Invoicing Matters
Beyond simple billing, invoices in Petra Business Suites help you:
- Track earned revenue versus hours worked on a project.
- Monitor client performance, comparing retainer value or service fees to actual staff time input.
- Generate accurate financial reports reflecting realized income within a specific billing cycle.
- Maintain compliant and auditable records for both internal and external reviews.
This makes invoicing not just an accounting tool — but a performance management asset.
The Two Parts of Invoicing
Petra’s invoicing system consists of two interconnected flows — Recorded Invoices and Generated Invoices — both designed to serve distinct but complementary purposes.
1️⃣ Recorded Invoices
(See image: “Add Records - Invoices.png”)
Recorded invoices provide a simplified way to capture revenue activities without necessarily generating an invoice document.
Here, users can record essential invoice metadata such as:
- Client
- Invoice number
- Invoice date
- Amount and currency
These records feed into performance and revenue reports, allowing managers to track how much has been billed, even when invoices were created externally or manually issued.
💡 Tip: Recorded invoices ensure your reports accurately reflect your company’s financial activity — even when billing isn’t generated directly from Petra.
2️⃣ Generated Invoices
(See image: “Generate Invoice”)
Generated invoices represent the full invoicing workflow in Petra Business Suites — combining automation, branding, and record keeping.
When you create an invoice through the system:
- You can select the client, invoice date, due date, currency, and payment option (local or international).
- Add line items for services or products rendered — such as consulting hours, retainer services, or project deliverables.
- Automatically calculate discounts, VAT, and totals.
Once generated, you can:
- Save or View the invoice.
- Download it as a branded PDF (using one of your configured invoice templates).
- Mail it directly to clients — with attachments, CC/BCC fields, and editable body content powered by a rich text editor.
All generated invoices automatically incorporate branding and configuration from the Invoice Settings, including:
- Organization details (telephone, email, TIN, and address).
- Bank payment information (both local and international).
- Authorized signature and invoice color theme.
- Custom email SMTP and email signature templates (for branded, domain-authenticated sending).
💬 Note: The tight integration between invoice settings and generated invoices ensures that every document sent from Petra looks professional, compliant, and consistent with your organization’s brand identity.
Invoice Workflow and Tracking
(See image: “Invoices page”)
Petra provides a unified Invoices page where you can:
- Filter invoices by client, invoice number, or date range.
- Search and review past invoices.
- View invoice summaries at a glance — including total amount, currency, creator, and status.
- Reopen, download, or delete old invoices when needed.
This structure simplifies financial reporting and makes it easy for teams to monitor invoicing patterns over time.
Sending Invoices by Email
(See image: “Send invoice as mail”)
Petra also lets you email invoices directly from within the system.
Using the familiar TinyMCE editor, you can:
- Specify To, CC, and BCC recipients.
- Automatically attach the invoice PDF.
- Use customized email templates with placeholders (like
{{client_name}},{{invoice_number}}, and{{org_name}}) that dynamically populate when sent.
This capability ties into the Invoice Email Settings, allowing each organization to use a custom SMTP server, distinct from the system-wide one — ensuring flexibility for departments or teams that send invoices from different mail channels.
Example of a Generated Invoice
(See image: “Downloaded invoice Template A”)
A finished Petra invoice displays:
- Organization details and logo
- Client information and address
- Authorized signature
- Payment details
- Line items with cost, quantity, and total
- Automatically calculated VAT and subtotals
Every invoice PDF reflects your selected invoice template, ensuring your company’s professionalism and branding are consistent across all client communications.
In Summary
Invoicing within Petra Business Suites goes far beyond billing — it’s an intelligent mechanism for financial visibility, operational insight, and client accountability.
Whether recording invoices for tracking or generating professional ones for distribution, Petra ensures:
- Seamless integration with your configured invoice settings
- Accurate reflection of revenue versus effort
- Secure handling of sensitive details like signatures and banking info
- Automated email delivery and record-keeping
With Petra, your invoicing process transforms from a manual chore into a strategic tool — connecting work done, value delivered, and revenue earned in one unified platform.
