Billing

Billing turns approved, billable project time into a draft invoice in SolaCount. You tick the hours you want to charge, click Create draft invoice, and SolaCount receives an invoice with one line per time entry. You then review it, add VAT and post it in SolaCount. This page also covers Rate cards, which set the hourly rates that billing uses.

Use it at each billing cut-off (weekly, monthly, or at a milestone). It is the only SolaProjects screen that shows money for time.

Who uses it: finance staff and project managers who have SolaCount invoice permissions.

Where to find it

When billing is not available

Instead of the lists you see a Billing card with one of:

If you can see billing but not create invoices, the Ready to bill card shows "Invoice creation is not available for your role or organization settings." and has no checkboxes or buttons.

Screen tour

Ready to bill card

Title Ready to bill; subtitle "Customer: {name}" (the project's customer) or "Approved, billable time ready for a draft invoice." Button at top-right: Create draft invoice (n) — disabled until you tick at least one row.

Only entries that are billable, approved, customer-approved (if required), have a rate above zero, and are not on an invoice are listed. Oldest first; all entries on one page.

Empty state: Nothing to bill — "No approved, billable time is ready for invoicing."

Draft invoice batches card

Shown once you have billed time. Title Draft invoice batches — "Time already on a SolaCount draft invoice. Unbill to return it to ready-to-bill."

Tiles Draft batches and Billed entries.

Create a draft invoice

1. Open the project and click Billing.
2. Tick the entries to charge (or the header checkbox). All ticked entries must share one currency.
3. Check Selected time and Ready amount.
4. Click Create draft invoice (n).
5. Confirm Create draft invoice — "The selected time entries will be added to a draft invoice in SolaCount. Review the invoice there before posting." (reference: number of entries). Click Create draft invoice.

Result: "Draft invoice SP-… created. Review it in SolaCount." The invoice opens in SolaCount in a new tab (/finance/ar/invoices/{id}). The rows move to Draft invoice batches and become Billed (locked) on the Time tab.

What is created in SolaCount

The invoice is written straight into your SolaCount data in one step; it exists as soon as you see the message.

One line per entry:

So 2h 30m at AED 350 shows Qty 2.5, Price 350, Line total AED 875.00, and Qty × Price equals the line total. (Until 5 October 2026 the quantity was rounded up to a whole hour, so the same line showed Qty 3 next to a total of AED 875.00, which looked wrong.)

Then, in SolaCount

1. Open the draft from Sales → Invoices.
2. Set the tax code (e.g. VAT 5%), due date and accounts.
3. Post it. See SolaCount invoices.

Rules SolaCount applies to these lines while the invoice is a draft:

• You cannot change qty, price or totals of a time line: "This invoice line is linked to a billed time entry and cannot be edited (…). Unbill the time entry first, then re-bill."
• Deleting a time line, or the whole draft invoice, returns those entries to Ready to bill automatically.
• Once posted, the time stays billed. Corrections need a credit note.

Errors when creating

Every ticked entry is checked again. If one fails, nothing is created:

An entry can only ever be on one invoice line; double billing is blocked even if two people click together.

Unbill a batch

Use this to undo a draft invoice from SolaProjects (wrong entries, wrong rate).

1. In Draft invoice batches, click Unbill on the row (only while its status is draft).
2. Confirm Unbill batch — "This batch will be returned to ready-to-bill. Existing billing restrictions still apply."

Result: "Batch unbilled and returned to ready-to-bill." The lines are removed from the draft invoice and the entries are Ready to bill again. The draft invoice itself remains in SolaCount; if it is now empty, delete it there.

If the invoice was posted meanwhile: "Time entry #n is on a {status} invoice and cannot be unbilled — use a credit note in SolaCount."

Rate cards

Rate cards are reusable hourly rate templates by project role (Manager, Member, Viewer). Applying a card creates member rates on the project, which time entries with rate source Auto or Member rate use. Rate cards are shared across the organization: a card created on one project can be applied on any project.

Where: project Overview → Finance section → Rate cards — "Create reusable role-based rates and apply them to project members." Shown only when SolaCount finance is visible for you. Only project owners and managers can use it; others see "We couldn't load project rate cards." Button Refresh at top-right.

Create a rate card

1. Fill the header:

   Field	Required	Rules / defaults
   Template name	Yes	2–120 characters, unique in the organization. Create rate card stays disabled until 2 characters.
   Billing currency	Yes	3 letters; defaults to the project currency.
   Description	No	Up to 2,000 characters.
   Cost currency	No	3 letters.

2. In the tier table (starts with Manager and Member rows):

   Column	Required	Rules
   Role	Yes	Manager, Member, Viewer; each role once ("Duplicate tier roles are not allowed.").
   Label	Yes	2–120 characters.
   Billing rate	Yes	0.01 – 999,999.99 per hour.
   Cost rate	No	0 – 999,999.99 per hour (labor cost for profitability).

   Tier adds a row (up to 3); the bin icon removes one (at least one must stay).

3. Click Create rate card. "Rate card created." Invalid fields: "Check the highlighted rate-card fields."

Apply a rate card

1. Choose Template and Effective from (default today). The line underneath reads e.g. "Applies Manager: AED 450.00, Member: AED 350.00".
2. In the member table (Apply, Member, Role, Current billing, Current cost) tick the members to update. If you tick nobody, the card applies to every member whose role has a tier.
3. Click Apply to matching roles. "Rate card applied."

Each member gets the rate for their project role from the effective date. If nobody matches: "No project members match the selected rate-card tiers." Applying again with the same date replaces that day's rate.

Existing entries keep their rate; new entries, and entries edited later, use the new rate for their date. Approved entries are locked and never change. Both actions are recorded on the project's Activity.

Statuses

Permissions

Worked examples

Example 1 — quick monthly invoice

Project Al Noor Trading LLC — Website Redesign, AED. On 31 October Ready entries 3, Ready amount AED 3,150.00.

1. Lina (finance) ticks all three and clicks Create draft invoice (3) → confirm.
2. "Draft invoice SP-20261031101500-K7QDA created. Review it in SolaCount."
3. In SolaCount she sets VAT 5% (AED 157.50), total AED 3,307.50, and posts. The batch row now shows Posted.

Example 2 — rates, a mistake and a fix

1. Sara creates rate card "Web 2026" (AED): Manager 450 / cost 220, Member 350 / cost 160; applies it from 1 October to all matching members (nobody ticked → Sara as Manager, Omar and Lina as Members).
2. Omar logs 10h, Lina 6h in October; Sara approves. Ready amount AED 5,600.00 (16h × 350).
3. Lina bills all entries → batch #418, draft.
4. The client actually agreed AED 400 for Lina. Before posting, Lina clicks Unbill on #418 → "Batch unbilled and returned to ready-to-bill." She deletes the empty draft in SolaCount.
5. Lina's 6 entries are approved and locked, so their rate can't change. Finance ticks only Omar's 10h and creates a new draft (AED 3,500.00), and posts it. For Lina's 6h they create the invoice in SolaCount by hand at AED 400/hour (AED 2,400.00), leaving her entries Ready to bill unbilled in SolaProjects as agreed with the manager.
6. For future months Sara creates "Web 2026 – Senior" with Member 400 and ticks only Lina when applying it from 1 November, so Lina's new time is billed at AED 400 automatically.

How it connects

• Time / Time Approval / Customer Approval feed this screen.
• SolaCount: draft invoices appear in Sales → Invoices, linked to the project; posting books revenue and AR. Project revenue, profit and Ready to bill counts appear on the project Overview's Finance card and SolaCount project profitability.
• Rate cards also set cost rates, which drive labor cost.

Tips and common problems

Related

• Time
• Time Approval
• Customer Approval
• Budget
• Integrations
• SolaCount invoices
• SolaCount credit notes
• Projects finance (SolaCount)