Customer contracts are used to set up recurring invoice generation. This lets you preconfigure invoices that you send at regular intervals for specific periods (monthly, quarterly, or yearly). Contracts are not generated automatically; you always need to start generation manually or via the API.
How to proceed
Below, we go through the steps you need to configure for generation to work correctly.
The first step in setting up customer contracts is to configure customer contract types (this step is not a priority; its main purpose is to make creating a specific contract easier). We recommend this setup especially if you will be configuring several similar customer contracts.
The next step is to record the required details, such as the company you will be invoicing regularly, the contract number, variable symbol, dates, and so on. You can also set the invoicing method here, which you don't need to fill in again if you have already preset it in the contract type. However, settings on the contract detail take precedence over the contract type settings.
The diagram below will help you determine the correct values for each field:
You can improve the invoices themselves by using a prepared document type, which helps with accounting and currency. You then enter the invoice type either in the customer contract type or in the specific contract. On the contract detail, these options are on the Invoicing tab. The checkboxes on the right side (for example, Generate automatically or Send automatically to the client by email) can be edited on the contract only after you select Ignore contract type settings. Otherwise, the values from the contract type apply.
Once everything is ready in the header section, you can move on to the items, which we describe in more detail below. In the items, you mainly set the text that is also carried over to the invoice item. You fill in the price, quantity, rate type, and so on:
When you select an item, three icons appear on its row: a pencil for editing in more detail, a trash can for deleting the item, and two pages for copying the item. If you click the pencil, the item detail opens and you can configure the item individually. This setting has the highest priority, so it overrides both the specific contract settings and the contract type settings:
Customer contract types
In this section, you can preconfigure individual customer contract types, which you then simply assign to a contract you create. You can find it in the company settings under the Records section in the Business Partners group, or by using the search.
Name is entirely up to you and is used to describe the contract type in more detail. Abbreviation is the value you will use to select the contract type on a specific contract. We recommend using a word that makes it easy to tell how the given type is configured.
Options
Extend automatically: If the contract should be extended automatically, simply select this checkbox.
Create orders automatically: When selected, this field automatically creates an order (this lets you track costs and revenues for individual contracts).
Generate automatically: Determines whether an invoice is generated for the contract when the URL
/c/firma/smlouva/generovani-faktur.xmlis called. This function is related to the Send automatically to the client by email flag.Send automatically to the client by email: Newly created invoices are sent to clients automatically (clients with their own server must have the SMTP server set up correctly).
Variable symbol from invoice: After the invoice is generated, the invoice number and the variable symbol (VS) will be identical (if the VS needs to stay the same, for example because of standing orders, set it directly in the generation settings of the customer contracts).
Issue date from taxable supply date: The invoice issue date will be the same as the date of taxable supply, that is, the VAT date (the date on which a VAT payer is required to declare VAT; the customer does not fill in this field).
Generate zero-value invoices: Use this, for example, for mutual offsetting (both parties generate invoices of the same value); an invoice with a zero value will be generated.
Handle overpayments: If a client pays more than the invoiced amount, another document is generated automatically and then matched with the overpayments.
Invoice type: You can also preset this type in the Issued Invoice Types section, where you can configure the invoice's appearance in more detail (accounting rule, VAT return line, your bank account, texts, and more).
Turnover day: The day on which the invoice should be generated (if left blank, the day of the month on which the contract was created is used).
Turnover month: The month in which the invoice should be generated within a quarter (for example, the 1st month of the quarter), half-year (for example, the 1st month of the half-year), or year. Leave this field blank for monthly invoices.
Invoicing method: Choose whether the invoice should be created before the contracted period (a non-tax document) or after it (an invoice).
Invoice days in advance/after: Enter the number of days before or after the billed period at which the invoice should be generated (typically 14 or 31 days before and 1 or 7 days after). For "advance" invoicing, we recommend a value greater than the invoice due period; otherwise, the client could be refused a service or goods for non-payment even though the invoice is not yet overdue.
Generate late fees and Late fee percentage: A late fee is generated automatically for customers who pay an invoice late, based on the rate specified in the Late fee percentage field.
Late fee invoice type: The invoice type that is used for issued late fees.
Contract items
The items section contains three tabs: Items, External items (creates another document), and Issued invoices that were created from the contract.
For the primary setup, the Items tab is the one that matters. Here you can, but don't have to, select items from the price list, or simply add a description using the name. You then see the quantity, unit price, total price, and VAT rate by default. If you don't use the price list, you can use the gear icon in the table header to hide columns or add new ones according to your needs.
In the item detail, the tabs we are most interested in are Invoicing and Other. An individual item also offers invoicing settings, which have the highest priority:
On the Other tab, the following fields are relevant:
Accounting rule: Lets you set the accounting for the specific item.
Order: Lets you select the order that the item should belong to.
End of last invoiced period: Shows the date of the period that was generated most recently (when setting up for the first time, we recommend selecting the end of the month before the target invoicing period).
Location: Available for selection only if a delivery location is filled in in the partner directory.
Index to month: The month to which the item should be indexed.
Indexation item: Can be preset in the contract items and then selected. If indexation is to take place, you need to select Index.
Importing contract items from Excel
In the web interface, you can import contract items in bulk using Excel. The import is started from the Customer Contracts overview (not from the Contract Items section): at the bottom, in the More functions menu (three dots), select Import from Excel.
In the Excel Import dialog, select the Advanced option (a file row represents a document item), upload the file, and, if needed, map the Excel columns to the fields in Flexi.
When importing from Excel, in the Advanced options section of the form, you can use the Items field to choose whether the import goes to the Items tab (Standard contract items) or the External items tab (External contract items) in the contract detail. Only one kind of item can be imported in a single file. Then test the import with the Test import button and confirm it with the Import button.
For detailed instructions, including the required columns and a sample file, see the article Importing customer contract items from Excel.