Posts Tagged: invoice

Two New Invoice Tools

For MIDAS v4.30 we’ve added a couple of new “Database Tools” to our software.

The “Database Tools” in MIDAS allow administrators to perform operations on the software’s database.

For example an administrator could “merge” similar client records “merge” bookings from two or more venues into a single venue, remove inactive clients or users, and more.

The two new Database Tools we’ve added for v4.30 are…

“Unfinalize” Invoices

To understand what the “Unfinalize Invoice” tool does, we first need to understand what a “Finalized” invoice is.

In MIDAS, whenever a new invoice is generated (or manually created), it’s contents may be freely edited up until the time when the invoice is either first printed or emailed to the client.

Once an invoice has been either printed or emailed to the client, MIDAS assumes that the invoice has been “Finalized”. It then protects the contents of the invoice from further editing (other than updating its status/paid amount).

This is done to ensure that the invoice that has been printed/emailed matches the invoice stored in the system.

Without this protection, it would be possible for an invoice to be printed/emailed and sent to the client, and then for a user to change the items, quantitates, or charges on it. If this were to be allowed, the invoice the client received would then be different to the invoice held in the system.

So to prevent this, MIDAS “Finalizes” (locks) invoices once they are first printed/emailed.

Now, there may be some rare circumstances where you need to modify the contents of an existing invoice instead of issuing a new invoice or a credit note.

To that end, we’ve now included an “Unfinalize Invoice” tool.

We don’t encourage the regular use of this tool, for the reasons outlined above. But in exceptional circumstances, this will allow an administrator to remove the “Invoice Date” from a previously “Finalized” invoice. Once the invoice date has been removed, MIDAS will allow the invoice’s contents to be fully editable again.

Remove Obsolete Invoices

Similar to the “Remove Obsolete Bookings” tool (which allows removal of ancient bookings from the system), the “Remove Obsolete Invoices” tool does something very similar, but for invoices.

By default, MIDAS retains invoices indefinitely. Many organization’s financial reporting procedures require that they keep records for a number of years.

But if you’ve been using MIDAS for many years, do you really need to retain invoices that were paid over a decade ago!? Probably not! – That’s where the “Remove Obsolete Invoices” tool comes in.

You can select a point in the past of between 6 months – 10 years. Invoices which were paid in full before this point in time will then be deleted from the database.

For example, selecting the “5 years ago” option would remove all invoices that were paid in full at any time before today’s date 5 years ago.

Removing obsolete invoices – and indeed bookings – using these tools are a great way of keeping your database running efficiently.


Reset Invoice Counters

We’re giving administrators the ability to reset invoice counters in MIDAS v4.28.

Previously, invoice counters could only be reset through the optional MIDAS API.

What are invoice counters?

Each time a new invoice is generated or created in MIDAS, it is assigned a unique incremental number. This is prefixed with an editable string of characters.

So for instance, if the invoice prefix was set to be “MIDAS”, then the first invoice added in MIDAS would be numbered “MIDAS0001“. The second invoice would be automatically assigned “MIDAS0002“, the third “MIDAS0003” and so forth.

Separate counters and prefixes exist for both deposit and cancellation invoices too, as well as for credit notes.

Whilst their prefixes can be changed at any time, the numeric “counters” themselves are internal and couldn’t – until v4.28 – be easily changed.

That meant that if your invoice counter was up to 0123 and you wanted to change prefixes from “MIDAS” to “TEST”, the next invoice to be generated would be “TEST0124”.

Why you might wish to reset a counter

Some of our customers commented that it would be useful to be able to “reset” invoice counters back to 0001.

This is particularly useful for users who first wish to test the invoicing capabilities of MIDAS by creating some example invoices. Then once they’re comfortable with the invoicing features of MIDAS, start using them for “real” invoices.

Until now, the only way to reset an invoice counter was via the optional MIDAS API.

For MIDAS v4.28, we’re providing the means to reset an invoice counter without requiring the API.

Administrators can reset an invoice counter at any time via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Database → Database Tools → Reset Invoice Counter.

The Reset Invoice Counter screen looks like this:

Reset Invoice Counters in MIDAS
Reset Invoice Counters in MIDAS

The screen displays the current counter for regular, deposit, and cancellation invoices, as well as for credit notes.

To reset any of these counters back to 0001, simply click/tap the corresponding “Reset” button.

To prevent the chance of this resulting in duplicate invoice numbers in MIDAS, counters may only be reset if no other invoices/credit notes with same prefix exist in the database.

Therefore, before resetting a counter it’s recommended that you either remove all existing invoices with the current prefix, or change the prefix to something else.

Invoice/Credit Note prefixes may be modified via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Invoicing.


Invoicing Improvements in MIDAS v4.25

If you’ve been following our recent posts, you’ll know that we’re introducing a whole host of new features for MIDAS v4.25. Many of the new and improved features in v4.25 relate to invoicing.

There’s a lot to take in, so we thought it would be useful to summarize the new and improved invoicing features of MIDAS, with links to posts with more information.

In addition to the above, there’s a handful of smaller invoicing improvements worth noting too:

Updating Finalized Invoices Now Allow Updating Visible Notes

Once an invoice is first printed, or emailed to the client, MIDAS considers the invoice “finalized”. The content of finalized invoices cannot then be changed. However, MIDAS does allow you to update the paid status of the invoice at any time. Additionally, you can also add internal notes at any time. Internal notes are not visible to clients on actual invoices.

From v4.25 we’re now also allowing you to modify the “visible” notes section on invoices – even after they’ve been finalized!

Multiple Identical Items On Invoices Are Now Consolidated

MIDAS now consolidates identical items on invoices. For example, say you’re adding a booking across two venues (rooms), each of which requires a “CD Player” resource in it.

When invoicing for these bookings, MIDAS would previously list the two venues separately and the two resources separately.

Now, MIDAS will identify these instances and combine items accordingly. So now instead of having two lines on an invoice both for a “CD Player” and both with a quantity of 1, they’d be a single “CD Player” line with a quantity of 2.

Itemized Invoice Notes No Longer Include Empty Notes

The visible “Notes” section on invoices can be configured to be automatically populated with the content of a booking field. For instance, you could set the “Booking Notes” to automatically appear in the “Notes” section of the client’s invoice.

If multiple bookings appear on the same invoice, it could get confusing as to which booking the invoice notes relate to. That’s why we’ve previously provided an “Itemize Notes” option. When enabled, each item on the client’s invoice with an associated note is indicated with a reference number. This appears on the invoice line it relates to, and then also in the Notes section below.

If an item had no notes associated with it however, it would still be given a reference number. This could be just as confusing if none of the bookings had notes. You’d end up with a string of meaningless numbers in the Notes section, like [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

We’ve sorted this out for v4.25! Now, only bookings with notes will be numerically referenced if the “Itemize Notes” option is enabled.


These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

Reddit You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.


Improvements To Cancellation Invoicing

We’re introducing a whole host of new features for MIDAS v4.25. One area that’s had a big overhaul for this update is invoicing.

The Cancellation Invoice features of MIDAS automatically generate a charge for clients if their bookings are canceled at short notice.

This charge may be in the form of a fixed amount, or as a percentage of the total cost of their booking.

These appear on an invoice which may be printed or emailed to the client, and which they may pay online.

As mentioned in a previous post, we’re improving Cancellation Invoices for v4.25. Now you’ll be able to set a specific tax rate for all your Cancellation Invoices.

Additionally, we’re adding a new option to automatically increase cancellation charges for bookings cancelled at even shorter notice.

Increase cancellation charges for bookings cancelled at even shorter notice
Increase cancellation charges for bookings cancelled at even shorter notice

For example, you could configure a 20% cancellation fee if a booking is cancelled less than two weeks before it’s due to take place, and increase this to 50% if cancelled less than one week before.


These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

Reddit You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.