Project Management – Billing Plan

Purpose

The Billing Plan defines how, when, and under which conditions a project is invoiced.

It bridges project execution and financial operations by translating contractual and planning information into scheduled billing events that are later executed and controlled through the Billings feature.

The Billing Plan ensures that:

Invoices are generated at the right time
Values follow agreed commercial rules
Financial execution remains aligned with project delivery

Where to Manage the Billing Plan

Access Path

Project Management → Projects → Open a Project → Billing Plan

The Billing Plan tab is available only if it is enabled in
Control Center - Project management - Process

What Is a Billing Plan?

A Billing Plan is a planned schedule of billing events associated with a project.

It defines:

When billing should occur (planned issue dates)
What amount should be billed
How billing relates to the Statement of Work (SOW)
Whether holdbacks or partial payments apply

The Billing Plan itself is planning-oriented.
Execution happens later, automatically, in the Billings module.

Billing Plan Overview

The Billing Plan tab provides a consolidated view of planned billing activity, including:

Billing Type
List of Billing Plan entries
Planned billing values
Holdback values and percentages
Aggregated totals:
- Billing Plan Total
- Total Holdback Value
- Approved Billings

This view allows project managers and finance teams to quickly assess expected revenue for the project.

Billing Type

The Billing Type defines how billing events are structured.

A common example is:

Milestone Billing – Billing events are aligned with milestones, delivery phases, or contractual checkpoints.

The available billing types depend on system configuration and the assigned project process.

Billing Plan Entries (Planned Billing Documents)

Each Billing Plan is composed of one or more Billing Plan entries, representing planned billing documents.

Creating a Billing Plan Entry

Select Add Billing Plan to define a new planned billing record.

Key Fields

Field	Description
Document ID	Identifier or reference for the billing event
Description	Description of the billing scope
Issue Date	Planned date when billing should be generated
Value	Amount to be billed
SOW %	Percentage of the Statement of Work covered
Holdback %	Percentage retained until specific conditions are met
Holdback Value	Calculated retained amount

Values may be entered directly or calculated based on percentages.

Billing Plan Calculations

The system automatically calculates:

Billing Plan Total
Total Holdback Value
Approved Billings

This ensures real-time financial visibility without manual aggregation.

From Planning to Execution: Moving from Billing Plan to Billing

The Billing Plan and Billing represent two distinct stages of the billing process.

Billing Plan defines the planned billing schedule within the project.
Billing manages the operational execution of customer billing.

Creating a Billing Plan does not automatically generate a Billing document.

Instead, the Billing Plan serves as the financial planning reference for the project until the organization decides to initiate the billing process.

How Billing Is Created

Once the planned billings have been defined in the project's Billing tab, the transition to the Operations Management → Billing module is performed by the financial team.

Billing documents can be created using one of two approaches:

Import from the Project Billing Plan, allowing the planned billings defined in the project to be transferred into the Billing module.
Manual creation of a Billing document, when billing needs to be managed independently from the project planning.

After a Billing document has been created, all subsequent activities—including validation, review, approval, and billing execution—are managed within the Billing module.

Separation of Responsibilities

This separation ensures that project planning and financial execution remain independent.

Stage	Responsibility	Module
Define when and how much should be billed	Project Manager or Project Team	Project Management – TAB Billing Plan
Decide when billing should enter the financial process	Financial Team	Operations Management – Billing
Validate, review and execute the billing process	Financial Team	Operations Management – Billing

This approach allows organizations to maintain operational control over customer billing while using the project Billing Plan as the source of planned billing information.

Managing Billing Execution

Once created, Billing records are managed through their lifecycle:

Typical statuses include:

Worksheet
Submitted
Validated
Issued
Canceled
Closed

In the Billings feature, users can:

Review and edit billing details
Add invoice line items
Apply taxes, discounts, and fees
Submit, validate, issue, or cancel documents
Track issued and outstanding amounts

This separation ensures clean governance between project planning and financial execution.

Relationship with Milestones and Delivery

Billing Plans are often aligned with Milestones:

Milestones represent delivery checkpoints
Billing Plan entries represent financial checkpoints
Holdbacks can be released after milestone acceptance

This alignment ensures delivery and invoicing progress together.

Best Practices

Define the Billing Plan early in the project lifecycle
Align billing entries with contractual milestones
Use planned Issue Dates realistically
Configure holdbacks to manage delivery risk
Regularly review planned vs. executed billing
Ensure billing values align with commercials and proposals

Project Management – Projects (Overview)
Project Management – Milestones
Project Management – Commercials
Operations Management – Billings
Operations Management – Invoicing
Project Management – Track Project Progress & KPIs