Streamlining invoicing
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Development Project Status: Completed
Original forum: http://www.openvpms.org/forum/streamlining-invoicing
JIRA : jira.openvpms.org/jira/browse/OVPMS-960
It was suggested that the current invoicing flow could be significantly streamlined. Below are the two suggestions made that I can recall. Jump in and give us your opinions, suggestions, support or additional ideas for streamlining invoicing.
Final Requirement:
The following changes need to be made to improve invoice editing:
1. Add 'Completed' and 'In Progress' buttons to the CustomerInvoiceEditDialog
These would set the invoice status to COMPLETED and IN_PROGRESS respectively, and close the dialog
2. Automatically add a new invoice item when creating an invoice
The focus should move to the new invoice item, rather than focus in Notes
3. Added items that are unpopulated are to be deleted on OK/Completed/In Progress
If an added item is unpopulated (i.e all fields are at their default values), then these are
- ignored for the purposes of validation
- automatically removed from if any of the buttons exiting the editor are pressed
4. Add shortcuts to select the next/previous invoice item
Currently, to switch between invoice items requires either:
- selecting them with the mouse in the table
- navigating to the table with tab/shift-tab and selecting the item with the arrow keys
Adding keyboard shortcuts to select them would simplify this.
The shortcuts could be attached to buttons Next and Previous, displayed alongside Add and Delete.
Alternatively, they could just be attached to the form, and be documented.
Suggestions for possible shortcuts:
- Alt-X (next), Alt-R (previous) - these are used by the existing Next and Previous buttons, so are consistent
- Alt-N, Alt-P (problem with edit dialogs that have Print button)
- Alt - < (previous), Alt - > (next)
5. Disable the Add button when the current item is incomplete
If an item is incomplete, pressing Add does not add a new item - the click is ignored.
The Add button should be disabled to indicate that addition is not available.
Comments
Streamlining invoicing
Taking each point in turn:
1 a) Just to be clear:
"Billed" is a status of the appointment or task, not the invoice
The appointment/task is set to "Billed" when the invoice status is "Completed" at the end of the Consult workflow.
I think what you are asking is for the OK button to replaced with a Done button during the Consult workflow
When pressing Done, the invoice status would be marked "Completed"; this would set the appointment/task to "Billed"
I'm not sure of the advantage of renaming the button from OK to Done. Wouldn't changing the OK button to set the status to "Completed" be sufficient?
b) The "In Progress" button would change the "Completed" or "On Hold" status on the invoice to "In Progress"
The "In Progress" button would only be enabled if the invoice status is one of these values.
c) OK.
The "Finalised" status is important. It:
The "On Hold" status was originally specified as part of this JIRA: https://openvpms.atlassian.net/browse/OVPMS-143
It has no special significance within the application. The applicationt treats it the same as "In Progress"
As per Tony's comment: http://www.openvpms.org/customer-module-invoicing-problem#comment-467
"The On Hold status is used to indicate that particular charges are completed but should not be posted yet.
This can be used for deceased accounts etc. This is different from In Progress and Completed as the charges are complete
but you do not want them to be included in any detailed statement or invoicing run. "
2. OK.
Streamlining Invoicing
Thanks Tim,
I will work through the points (quoted in italics below) in your post:
Taking each point in turn:
1 a) I had my status names mixed up. You are correct as quoted below.
"..... the OK button to replaced with a Done button during the Consult workflow
When pressing Done, the invoice status would be marked "Completed"; this would set the appointment/task to "Billed"..."
I think using "Completed" for the button name rather then "Done" is a good suggestion.
I think that these changes should apply both to invoicing as part of the consult workflow and direct invoicing (ie. Entering invoicing from the Customer workspace).
b) The "In Progress" button would change the "Completed" or "On Hold" status on the invoice to "In Progress"
The "In Progress" button would only be enabled if the invoice status is one of these values.
Great.
I notice that the buttons are simply restoring a feature which was part of the original design! (In JIRA 143). Oh dear, there is nothing new.
Queries:
i) So say we manually set the invoice to Finalised or On Hold within the status selector in the invoice editor. How would we exit the editor given we only have the "Completed" and "In Progress" buttons?
ii) Wrt the automatic add mode in Point 2, automatically adding an item means that any incomplete items must be automatically deleted if any of the buttons exiting the editor are pressed. This is fine for the item that has had nothing entered but are there circumstances where this may delete a product the user thinks has been successfully added?
Cheers,
Matt C
Streamlining Invoicing
Queries:
Good point. The OK button needs to be retained, and leave the status unchanged.
The "Completed" and "In Progress" buttons would be short cuts to set the status accordingly, and press OK.
This works for both general invoicing and the consult workflow.
I guess any new items that the user hadn't modified could be automatically deleted. This is currently done for optional participations.
I don't think it would fail to detect a user entering (or trying to enter) a product.
Streamlining invoicing
With respect to point 2:
I believe that there is a missing step. It should open in add mode, select product, select quantity, then automatically start a new addition. Otherwise multiple items would be missing from the workflow if the item doesn't have a dispensing label.
Matt Y.
Streamlining invoicing
OK so here is where the detail comes out (simple ideas always have some element of complexity when you really start develop the ideas!);
- If a product has a label we tend to select quantity after product selection in the label dialogue. In this case, the item entry is complete.
- If a product has no label, then the item entry is not complete until a number is entered in the quantity box.
Can we handle these two scenarios Tim?
Streamlining invoicing (oops forgot a point)
Sorry forgot one more point,
What happens if a user goes back and edits an item previously entered? After the item is edited, will the program try to add another item?
Matt C
Streamlining invoicing (oops forgot a point)
Automatic addition of a new item would only occur after all existing entries pass validation.
So if you add an item A, the next item B gets added when all of A's fields are valid.
Similarly, item C doesn't get added until B is valid.
If you are editing C, which is incomplete, and go back an edit A, no new item is added, as C is incomplete.
-Tim