Configuring auto-generation of bill, credit memo, and payment reference numbers in Polaris
<p>Billing managers need to enter a unique reference number on each <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/billing-a-client-in-polaris/">bill</a>, <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/creating-credit-memos-in-polaris/">credit memo</a>, or <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/applying-payments-to-bills-in-polaris/">payment</a> they create.</p>
<p>But, it can be difficult to manually add a unique number each time you add an item.</p>
<p>So, administrators and billing managers can be allowed to set reference numbers used on these items to auto-generate when the item is created. They can also set the prefix used at the start, for each type of item (bill, credit memo, payment).</p>
<p>And, they can set a starting value for reference numbers; numbers will automatically increment from there on each new item that is added, of each type.</p>
<div class="helpcenter-note-box">
<p>To configure reference number settings for these items, administrators must have <strong>Invoice Default Reference Settings</strong> permission enabled in their Administrator <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/setting-up-permissions/">permission set</a>, and Billing Managers must have <strong>Edit Reference Settings</strong> enabled in their billing manager permission set.</p>
</div>
<p>To set up auto-generation of reference numbers:</p>
<ol>
<li>If you're an administrator, go to <strong>Administration</strong> > <strong>Projects</strong> > <strong>Default Reference Numbers</strong>. Then, complete steps 2 to 5 for each option (bill, credit memo, payment).</li>
</ol>
<div class="helpcenter-list-description">
<p>If you're a billing manager, click the <img src="/wp-assets/uploads/2021/12/Settings-icon-for-updating-reference-numbers.png" alt="" width="20" height="20" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-126040" /> icon in the <strong>Reference #</strong> field for a <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/billing-a-client-in-polaris/">bill</a>, <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/creating-credit-memos-in-polaris/">credit memo</a>, or <a href="https://www.replicon.com/help/applying-payments-to-bills-polaris/">payment</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="helpcenter-i-note-box">
<p>Settings for each type of item are universal; for example, if you update the reference # settings on a bill, the new settings will apply to all bills you create going forward.</p>
</div>
<ol start="2">
<li>Enable the <strong>Auto-generate reference #</strong> radio button.</li>
</ol>
<p class="Body rtecenter"><img src="/wp-assets/uploads/2021/12/Auto-generate-reference-option.png" alt="" width="445" height="186" class="alignnone wp-image-126039 size-full" /></p>
<ol start="3">
<li>Enter or update the code or numbers that should always appear at the start of the reference # for that type of item (e.g. <em>INV</em> for bills).</li>
</ol>
<div class="helpcenter-list-description">
<p>This can be a number, rather than letters. You can leave this blank, if you only want items to be associated with their auto-incrementing number.</p>
</div>
<ol start="4">
<li>In the <strong>Next Number</strong> field, enter the starting number for that item type (or the next number, if you've already generated items of that type).</li>
<li>Enable the <strong>Allow users to edit reference #</strong> option if all billing or project managers with access to the item (not just billing managers with <strong>Edit Reference Settings</strong>) should be able to overwrite the auto-generated number when they create or edit that type of item.</li>
</ol>
<div class="helpcenter-list-description">
<p>If you leave this option disabled, the number will not be editable.</p>
</div>
<ol start="6">
<li>Click <strong>Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
