[IMP] Sales: Invoicing project milestones #15545
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| Invoice project milestones | ||||||
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| .. |SO| replace:: :abbr:`SO (Sales Order)` | ||||||
| .. |SOs| replace:: :abbr:`SOs (Sales Orders)` | ||||||
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| Invoicing based on project milestones allows companies to bill large or long-running projects | ||||||
| progressively as key deliverables are completed. Each milestone represents a measurable stage of | ||||||
| work that triggers invoicing upon completion. This approach helps maintain predictable cash flow and | ||||||
| provides customers with visibility into project progress, all while allowing payments to occur in | ||||||
| manageable installments. | ||||||
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| In Odoo, milestone invoicing is configured at the product level in the **Sales** app, with milestone | ||||||
| progress and completion managed in the **Projects** app. When a milestone is marked as reached, the | ||||||
| delivered quantity on the sales order (SO) is updated and can be invoiced. | ||||||
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| In Odoo, this workflow is driven by two key elements: | ||||||
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| - A service product configured with a *Based on Milestones* invoicing policy | ||||||
| - One or more milestones that represent the phases of work | ||||||
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| As project work is completed, milestones are marked as reached, which automatically updates the | ||||||
| delivered quantities and makes the milestone eligible for invoicing. | ||||||
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| .. important:: | ||||||
| This document covers the **Sales** app configuration and invoicing flow for invoicing based on | ||||||
| project milestones. For more information on creating, managing, and completing milestones, and | ||||||
| how to link them to tasks, see :doc:`Project milestones | ||||||
| <../../../services/project/project_management/project_milestones>`. | ||||||
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| Create milestone products | ||||||
| ========================= | ||||||
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| To begin, a product must be configured specifically for milestone-based invoicing. Navigate to | ||||||
| :menuselection:`Sales app --> Products --> Products` and click :guilabel:`New`. Enter the necessary | ||||||
| information, including the product title and :guilabel:`Sales Price`. | ||||||
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| For the :guilabel:`Product Type`, select :guilabel:`Service`. Doing so reveals the :guilabel:`Create | ||||||
| on Order` field. Select either :guilabel:`Project`, :guilabel:`Project and Task`, or | ||||||
| :guilabel:`Task`, depending on how the product is tracked in the **Project** app. | ||||||
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| .. note:: | ||||||
| A :guilabel:`Project Template` can also be selected for the product. See :doc:`Project templates | ||||||
| <../../../services/project/project_management/project_templates>` for more information. | ||||||
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| For the :guilabel:`Invoicing Policy`, select :guilabel:`Based on Milestones`. This option ensures | ||||||
| that the product's delivered quantities update automatically once a milestone is completed. | ||||||
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| .. important:: | ||||||
| *Based on Milestones* is only available if there is at least one project with *Milestones* | ||||||
| enabled. | ||||||
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| Creating milestones from a sales order | ||||||
| ====================================== | ||||||
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Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. I like how concise you've managed to write the milestone product creation process! However, this document is currently missing step-by-step instructions on how to create milestones. You acknowledge that milestone creation is handled in a different document, but the current text does not explicitly indicate which prerequisite steps are external. The result is a structural gap: users cannot tell where milestone creation actually occurs, nor whether the current doc expects them to arrive with milestones already defined. To do for the next revision: Add a clear, unambiguous pointer that milestone creation is not covered here, e.g., “Milestones must be created in the Project app; see Project milestones for step-by-step instructions.” Without this, the workflow appears incomplete. |
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| After the milestone product has been sold, a *Milestones* smart button is added to the |SO|. Click | ||||||
| the smart button to view, edit, or create new milestones. | ||||||
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| .. image:: milestone/view-milestones.png | ||||||
| :alt: The milestones for a sales order line. | ||||||
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Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. To me, this is concise but has an ambiguous implication that milestones can be manually created from the SO This section suggests that users can click the Milestones smart button and create milestones directly from the SO. You need to clarify whether this is a supported workflow or merely an editing surface. The text also avoids addressing whether Odoo supports default milestone sets tied to a milestone product (via a project template or project task structure). That is a major functional assumption the reader needs resolved. Todo for the next revision:
Note: making this doc clearer may also imply we need to make changes to the project doc. If you feel that is the case, let me know and we can begin communicating with BE! |
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| From here, the :guilabel:`Delivered %` can be altered. This amount equates to the total cost of the | ||||||
| |SO| that is billed when the milestone is reached. | ||||||
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Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. I might be overthinking here, but the draft mixes two concepts—percentage-based delivery and cost of the SO delivered—without defining how Odoo interprets the Delivered % field. There is an implicit assumption that the system prorates invoiceable quantity strictly by percentage, which may not match actual configuration. I believe there are two methods: invoicing based on milestone percentage or sales price, so I'd like your help doing some testing to find out how this works, and likely need to document them separately using different examples or workflows. Todo:
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| .. example:: | ||||||
| A company sells a *Custom furniture design* product with four milestones: | ||||||
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| - Initial design consult | ||||||
| - Preliminary designs submitted | ||||||
| - Final design submission | ||||||
| - Final product delivered | ||||||
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Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. this example is clear but seems to be in the wrong place, in my opinion? It's trying to do two things at once:
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| Each of these milestones has a *Delivered %* of `25%`. As each milestone is marked complete, a | ||||||
| corresponding `25%` of the total number of hours is marked as *Delievered* on the invoice. | ||||||
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Contributor
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Suggested change
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| Invoicing a completed milestone | ||||||
| =============================== | ||||||
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| Milestones can be tracked through the **Project** app (see :ref:`Using milestones | ||||||
| <project/using-milestones>`). Additionally, a milestone can be marked as :guilabel:`Reached` on the | ||||||
| *Milestones* page by ticking the checkbox for that milestone. | ||||||
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| Then, click :guilabel:`View Sales Order` or use the breadcrumbs to return to the |SO|. The | ||||||
| :guilabel:`Delivered` column will be updated to reflect the *Delivered %* for the milestone reached. | ||||||
| Click :guilabel:`Create Invoice`. | ||||||
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Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. The invoicing workflow is described in conceptual terms but leaves out necessary navigational and field-level instructions. Users cannot reconstruct the actual UI path or the required field interactions.
Todo: Rewrite the invoicing steps with explicit UI elements, e.g.:
Avoid abstract phrases like “can be tracked through” and “is updated”; replace them with concrete instructions and field names. |
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| These steps can be repeated as additional milestones are reached until the |SO| has been fulfilled. | ||||||
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| .. seealso:: | ||||||
| - :doc:`time_materials` | ||||||
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I understand why this section was removed because it's unrelated to the sales flow, and it's covered in the project milestone doc
However, we should acknowledge that the milestone can be marked as reached and link to the doc that outlines how