Initially conceived as an extension of the system admin automation project, the semi-automated invoicing system was created out of a desire to automate and simplify the process of customer billing within a client's business.
I designed the system with different departments in mind: technical support staff, who need to be able to see what services a customer has and what changes have been recently made; administrators, who need to be able to get an overview of all changes within a time period; accounts staff, who need to be able to raise pro forma invoices, produce full VAT invoices, and process payments; and finally customers, who need to be able to view their outstanding invoices and optionally provide payment online.
Developing this system meant liaising with the accounts department to learn their procedures and to gain a rudimentary understanding of the Sage accounting software package.
The end result of the development of this system was the reduction of paperwork, more clarity in customer billing (including simplified customer invoices and automatically enforced cutoff dates), and more convenient methods of payment for customers.