Integrated finance software is one of those basic business no-brainers: why waste time manually pulling together billed time and expenses from all over the place when everything can be instantly and automatically populated into a simple, beautiful, accurate proforma? Integrated invoicing is a project manager’s best friend!

We’ve all spent hours chasing team members to complete their timesheets, rifling through the pockets of our jackets for receipts, trawling online platforms for proof of billing, and hastily pulling it all together into an invoice. The margin of error is huge: numbers can be mistyped, approved rates can be ignored, overspending can go unmonitored and deadlines can be missed. The result is that invoices get sent back due to inaccuracies and approval gets delayed making it hard to get paid on time. That’s where bookkeeping and accounting software steps in, saving time and reducing debtor days.

This kind of finance software is certainly not uncommon. However, what we see as surprisingly rare is an invoicing tool that is fully integrated with proposal building and project management tools. Proteus’ finance software changes that by offering simple invoicing software that improves your cash flow through the following benefits:

Finance software integration with project management software

Finance software is often separated from project management and involves a manual process of gathering project data and developing the invoices manually from this. It is often a separate team that is invoicing a project from the team managing a project, and this introduces time delays and errors. 

Proteus’ easy to use finance software is fully integrated with the Proteus project management tool.

In addition, it can be integrated with any other accounting software or business software through our open API. Automatically producing invoices from the project management system puts the project manager in control and ensures the invoices are 100% accurate. In addition, this reduces the time to produce and issue the invoice, meaning you get paid faster, resulting in a reduction in debtor days. 

Fast invoice development, approval and issue with integrated invoicing

In Proteus, creating, approving and sending invoices is all performed from a single interface that all key parties have access to. The project manager approves the line items and this automatically creates invoices. With integrated invoicing, approvals can be given at this stage. The project manager can then send invoices, all within a single collaborative interface. 

The process taken to create and send invoices can typically last for days before internal approval is reached, with every day adding another debtor day to the cycle. Invoicing can be done in hours through Proteus’ invoicing software making it simple for customers to pay you faster. Anybody in control of finances knows how much this means to the bottom line and the business’ cash flow. 

We’ve conservatively estimated as much as 200 hours a year can be saved through integrated invoicing. Reducing this time spent writing invoices and chasing payment mean you are able to spend more time winning business and servicing clients to a high standard.

Integration with finance and accounting software 

The Proteus finance software module can easily be integrated with accounting software such as Sage, Xero, Financialforce, etc. This integration is via our open API and allows two-way communication with the accounting software. Users can synchronise integrated invoicing with management accounts, bank accounts and expenses. This means invoices are accurately issued and get paid faster. Real time notification of payment allows the Proteus project management system to be updated automatically, which drives the traffic light system on project status. Recurring invoices are equally easy to verify and manage with simple invoice templates.

Error-free invoice creation

The key to effective invoicing is the interface between the project manager and the finance team.  This often breaks down resulting in errors in the invoicing, which, in turn results in invoices being returned for re-submission to the customer.  Proteus’ finance software allows small businesses or larger corporate teams to create and send professional invoices easily and quickly even during remote working. Proteus is hard-wired to prevent unapproved costs being generated even before invoice stage, meaning invoices are always 100% accurate. Online invoicing is known to reduce the time between sending an invoice and receiving payment, but when the invoice software is accessed by the project team as well as the accounts team, the process becomes hugely more efficient.

How Proteus’ finance software works using templated document creation

As with all the Proteus features, the finance software has been developed to be simple and quick meaning project managers can create and send invoices within minutes all from a single easy to use interface. Invoices can be easily created from source, rather than exporting and duplicating time and data to another invoicing software. This invoicing software also gives project managers instant visibility on the status of invoices associated with their projects.

Proteus’ simple user interface features handy shortcuts to ensure speed and 100% accuracy when creating and sending invoices.

• Filter from dropdowns to quickly select the correct project and PO to invoice.
• Due dates auto-generated from contract terms.
• Pull through approved resources from the team, equipment and expenses tracking.
• Manually add line items if required.
• Bank account payment details and bank address pre-populated from details in the Admin Console.
• Create and send pdfs of invoices via business email using automatically populated address fields.

How to get Proteus

Proteus’ work management software is a cloud-based system designed for businesses of all sizes to handle projects of unlimited complexity. Each Proteus feature is aimed at making bottom-line improvements by improving utilisation, streamlining workflows, providing quick and efficient access to resources, and reducing overheads. One of the unique advantages of Proteus is that we offer a free onboarding consultation service to ensure the company account is set up according to your company’s needs. This makes getting your company up and running on Proteus quick and easy.

We recommend getting setup on a free trial. Proteus operates under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. We offer Enterprise packages and flexible pricing solutions: contact our team to learn more.

We designed Proteus to be simple, and that means you can get up and running on Proteus without an IT team or support from a programmer. You will want to spend a bit of time configuring the admin console so that you have everything set up to suit your company structure, but it’s very intuitive and you don’t need a PhD in IT. However, we want you to get the best out of what is a brilliantly powerful tool, so don’t hesitate to ask for our support. We have a team of product experts who are ready to help you with the configuration process, so get in touch today.

As we hope you have understood from this article, we are passionate about driving real value through Proteus. Contact us if you would like us to estimate the business value we could bring to your company.

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Read more to find out more about how using a work management solution such as Proteus to help you drive profit, or get in touch with our team today.