Fixed charges

This helps maintain accurate billing data in todo.vu, and supports simplified invoicing, as fixed charges can be added to client billing reports in addition to time-based charges.

Here’s everything you need to know about fixed charges in todo.vu.

To learn first about creating billing reports in todo.vu, see our Help article here.

Quick glossary

Task – a todo.vu task is an action item or idea created by a todo.vu user. Tasks show up in todo.vu as individual units sorted by workflow status (Snoozed, To-do, Done), and can house attributes such as descriptions, checklists, file uploads, labels, comments and more.

Project – a project in todo.vu represents a grouping of todo.vu tasks. Projects must be associated with a client unless they are an in-house project or a project template.

Client – a client in todo.vu typically represents the person or organisation using your services. Tasks and projects must be associated with a client unless they are in-house tasks or projects.

Billing report – a billing report in todo.vu is a digital and itemized record of both time-based and fixed charges logged to one client.  Read more about billing reports.

Go to the Full Glossary.

Why use todo.vu’s fixed charges feature?

todo.vu integrates time tracking, billing, task management and CRM capabilities, allowing time to be tracked at a specific billing rate on tasks and projects for clients. This enables you to generate detailed reports with built-in calculations that show total time and billing values at various levels—from individual tasks to entire projects and client portfolios.

You can use fixed charges in todo.vu to record additional billable items that are unrelated to time-based charges.

Take, for example, a web developer who charges by the hour but who also needs to charge clients a fixed domain registration fee. They can use todo.vu’s fixed charges feature to add the charge to the task for the client — and then include it in their billing report for that client.

When it’s time to invoice, todo.vu’s billing report can quickly and accurately reflect the web developer’s total time-based and additional charges for that client.

How to record fixed charges in todo.vu

You can add (record) fixed charges to:

• tasks
• projects
• clients.

As per todo.vu’s data heirarchy, when a fixed charge is added to a task, that data is also visible on and applied to the project and/or client the task belongs to.

When a fixed charge is added to a project, that data isn’t visible at a task level, but at the project and client levels only. Finally, data on fixed charges added to clients are visible at the client level only.

Once fixed charges are added and connected to a client, you can then include them in your billing reports; more on this below.

Note

Revisit this Help article for a refresher on the relationship between tasks, projects and clients in todo.vu.

In short, tasks can be standalone or linked to projects and clients. As billing reports are created based on client profiles in todo.vu, tasks (and task charges) must be linked to a client before they can appear on billing reports.

So, ensure your tasks are always linked to the right client, so that your task-specific charges can be included in your billing reports accordingly. (Assign a client to the task directly, or assign a client’s project to the task; the task will inherit the client automatically.)

1. Add fixed charges to a task

Beneath the comment editor on each individual task in todo.vu are a row of options represented by icons at the left-hand side – one of which is a currency symbol.

This currency symbol option allows you to add fixed charges to that task. Simply select the symbol, fill out the fixed charge’s details on the pop-up fixed charges modal that appears, and select ‘Add $X’.

Note: You can see all fixed charges added to a task in that task’s activity feed, beneath the task description.

The fixed charges modal

No matter where you add a fixed charge (to a task, project or client), the same pop-up modal is used to input details about and create the fixed charge.

On this modal, you have the options to input:

• a date of the charge
• a unit price
• a quantity
• a description of the charge
• a client/project/task. (A fixed charge added at client, project and task levels inherit any associated client/project/task details. These details can easily be changed; however, this can reassign the charge to the new chosen client/project/task.)

Your fixed charge’s total will be automatically calculated based on the information you input on the modal.

2. Add fixed charges to a project

Click on ‘Projects’ in the left sidebar, or follow this link when signed in to your workspace. Select the project and then select the ‘Billing’ tab.

On this page, under the ‘Charges’ section, select ‘Add charge’.

The same fixed charges modal will appear, where you can fill out the details of your fixed charge, and add it to your project.

Note: You can see all fixed charges added to a project at any time via this ‘Charges’ section. This includes any charges added directly to the project profile, as well as charges added to a task belonging to this project.

3. Add fixed charges to a client

You can add fixed charges directly to a client in two ways:

• Via the client’s profile:

Click on ‘Clients’ in the left sidebar, or follow this link when signed in to your workspace. Select the client and then select the ‘Billing’ tab.

On this page, under the ‘Charges’ section, select ‘Add charge’.

The same fixed charges modal will appear, where you can fill out the details of your fixed charge, and add it to your client.

Note: you can see all fixed charges added to a client at any time via this ‘Charges’ section. This includes any charges added directly to the client profile, as well as charges added to a task and/or project belonging to this client.

• Via the billing report editor:

You can also add fixed charges to a billing report directly; as billing reports are created per client, this adds the fixed charge to the client.

Here’s how:

• Go to your Billing Dashboard and select the client from the left-hand side to whom you need to bill a fixed charge.
• Remain on the existing default billing report editor page, which is auto populated with your unbilled time (if any). Or, select the plus (+) icon to the right of the ‘Billing reports’ section to create a new billing report for editing.
• On both the default editor and the editor that opens on a new report, you can add fixed charges with the plus (+) icon to the right of the ‘Charges’ section header.

Including fixed charges in billing reports

Billing reports are customized digital records of time billing and fixed charges for a client. They are created per client.

When you add a fixed charge in todo.vu — either to a client, or to a task or project that belongs to a client — the charge automatically appear in the default ‘Unbilled’ section of the billing report editor for that client. Here, this data is ready to be used to create a billing report.

All fixed charges are organised under a separate ‘Charges’ section within the billing report editor. If they are associated with a task or project, they will be organised accordingly.

Note: When fixed charges are added directly within the billing report editor, they’re not connected to neither a task nor a project. You can connect them to a project and task by editing the fixed charge; see below.

To create and publish a billing report that includes fixed charges for a client, follow the comprehensive steps here.

How fixed charges appear on published billing reports

On published billing reports, fixed charges added at a client level display first on the report, above any time-based charges.

Then, at the project and task level, fixed charges appear underneath any time-based charges for the same project.

Tax on fixed charges

In todo.vu, if you have configured taxes (such as sales tax) within your billing settings, these are added at the end on top of the final charge of your billing reports. This includes your fixed charges.

So, if your fixed charge already includes a sales tax, ensure you omit this when you add the fixed charge to todo.vu, to avoid adding tax twice.

Edit fixed charges

You can edit any detail on a fixed charge, including the date of the charge, the unit quantity and price, the description, and the task/project/client to which the charge belongs, if any.

*You cannot edit fixed charges that have already been billed, see note below.

1. Edit a fixed charge on a task:

• Find the charge you want to edit from the timeline underneath the comment editor on a task.
• Hover over the charge and select the pencil icon that appears on the right to open the charges modal for editing.

In the screenshot above, a user is free to edit a fixed charged via a task as it has not yet been billed to a client.

2. Edit a fixed charge on a project/client:

You can only edit a fixed charge added at project or client level via the client’s billing report editor, the details of which are explained above.

Here’s how:

• Hover over or select the charge you want to edit under the ‘Charges’ section of the billing report editor.
• Select the pencil icon that appears on the left as you hover OR the ‘Edit charge’ button that appears at the bottom of the report if you have selected the charge.
• Use the pop-up fixed charges modal that appears to edit your charge.

*Note: You cannot edit or delete a fixed charge that has already been recorded on a published billing report (and therefore marked as ‘billed’ in todo.vu). If a charge has been billed, it will be displayed as such.

To edit or delete a fixed charge that has already been billed, you will have to unpublish the billing report on which it was recorded as billed. Locate the billing report and select ‘Retract’ at the top right of the published report to unpublish it. Now, your fixed charge will be editable.

Batch edit fixed charges

If you want to edit more than one fixed charge at once, you can do so via the billing report editor.

For this reason, you can only batch edit fixed charges that have been charged to the same client.

Here’s how:

• Select the charges you want to edit; you can select as many as you want.
• Select the ‘Edit charges’ button that appears at the bottom of the editor.
• Use the modal to batch edit your charges.

Note

Even though you can edit multiple charges at once, you can choose to edit only specific aspects of the charge, keeping other aspects the same.

For instance, if you want to edit the description of your charges to the same description, but keep their separate charge value/quantities the same, you can do so. Just edit the description in the modal.

Delete fixed charges

To delete fixed charges, follow the same steps as above to open the fixed charges modal. Then, select the bin icon on the top right of the modal to delete the charge.

Automate repeating charges

You can automate the process of adding fixed charges to tasks, projects, or clients on a repeatable schedule.

This can be configured via the Billing tab on either a project or a client profile; reaching this tab is explained in methods (2) and (3) above.

On this tab of either a project or client profile, navigate to the block with the heading ‘Repeating charges’. Here, select ‘Add repeating charge’.

Further actions:

See all charges created by a rule:

Select any repeating charge from the Billing tab on a client/project profile. The pop-up modal that appears by default allows you to edit the repeating charge rule, and see any charges created by this rule.

At the top right, select ‘Show charges’ to see all charges created by this rule to date. Select ‘Rule details’ to toggle back at any time.

Edit/delete repeating charges:

To edit or delete a repeating charge rule, use the pop-up modal that appears when you select the repeating charge on the client/project’s profile. Select the bin icon at the top right to delete.

To edit/delete instances of the charge instead, select the ‘Show charges’ tab from the top of the modal. Select a charge to edit its details from this tab, or use the bin icon to delete it. This action has no effect on the repeating charge rule itself.

You can also edit and delete repeating rules and charges from Billing Report editor; select the individual charge to edit/delete it, or select ‘Edit repeating rule’ at the top right of the charge’s modal to edit or delete the rule itself.

Repeating charges with fixed-price projects – Use repeating charges with fixed-price projects to simplify recurring flat-rate billing. Learn more about fixed-price projects here.

Fixed charges and your reporting

Fixed charges will soon appear in your Reporting section in todo.vu – stay tuned for more information.

READ NEXT:

Learn about fixed-price projects in todo.vu. Read here >>