If you do any contract work, you’ve probably had the joy of tracking your hours (if you’re still trying to solve that issue, check out my Project Hamster post) and then creating an invoice of some sort for the client. In the past I have tried a couple of solutions such as a creative Excel spreadsheet or creating a new email from scratch each time. I’ve also checked out the online service Blink Sale, but, never really liked the thought of some other company knowing how much I’m billing my clients and making each month. That, and there was the 3 invoices per month limit for the free version.
This is where BambooInvoice steps in. It’s a FOSS solution that you host on your own server. The interface is great, and installation is simple.
One of the main draws for me was having the data sit on my own server. It’s nice to know it’s securely kept and backed up when I choose. (okay, maybe I’m a control freak?). After poking around the online demo that Derek has so kindly put online, you’ll get a good idea of whether or not this is a good system for you.
The interface is very slick and easy to use. Ajax is incorporated where it make sense and keeps things loading quickly. You can do basic things like creating create a new client, set their taxable status, add contacts etc.
The main meat of the system is adding invoices and line items. Keeping consistent with the rest of the system, this is a very easy process. It increments your last invoice number automatically and gives you a text box to add a line item, quantity, dollar amount, and taxable status. There’s an option to keep adding new line items as needed on this same page as well. After you’ve created your invoice, you can edit it, add notes, export it as a PDF, or email it to any of the contacts for the company.
When you’ve received payment, it’s just as easy to add that, as well as any notes to go along (cheque number for example). There’s also a handy reporting feature that’ll give you a quick overview on how much you have billed out each month, and if you have any invoices that are over due.
One thing that really stands outs for me is how streamline and consistent the interface is. Everything is nice & clean and simple. There aren’t a tonne of extra options that you don’t really need on any of the pages.
As an added bonus, this software is in active development and continues to get new features on a regular basis. Be sure to check in to the main site every now and then to see if anything new has been added.
Installation is also as straight forward as you can expect to set up a web app. If you can set up a wordpress blog on a server, you’ll have no problem getting this going at all. Requirements are PHP5 and a database of some sort (typically MySQL or Postgre). Create the database, and visit the install link and, and the system will walk you through the rest of the process. Then you’re up & running.
Check it out, you really have nothing to lose, and organization to gain.
Tags: contracting tools, finance, web service
This project is dead, it is another project that has been neglected under the excuse there is no time, the math in the program is not right, time always seems to be an excuse when someone reaches their level of understanding. Don’t waste your time on this product, free doesn’t have to mean it doesn’t work.
Give myclientbase a try at http://www.myclientbase.com/forums/index.php