FlowBill Administrator's Comprehensive Guide – Visma

Section 1: System Onboarding and Configuration

1.1 Introduction to the FlowBill Ecosystem

Welcome, Administrator. This guide is your definitive resource for configuring, managing, and optimizing the FlowBill platform for your organization. Unlike the standard user manual, this document covers advanced configurations, security protocols, API integrations, and data management practices. As an administrator, you have the highest level of access and are responsible for tailoring the platform to your business's unique operational needs, managing user roles, and ensuring data integrity. A thorough understanding of this guide is critical for leveraging the full power and security of FlowBill. This document assumes you have foundational knowledge of your organization's financial processes, user management policies, and IT infrastructure.

1.2 Initial System Configuration

Upon your first login as an administrator, you will be prompted by the Setup Wizard. While this can be skipped, we highly recommend completing it to establish a strong foundation for your organization's use of the platform.

Key Setup Steps:

Company Profile: Navigate to Settings > Organization > Company Profile. This is where you will input your company's legal name, address, contact information, and tax identification numbers. The address provided here may be used to determine tax jurisdictions, so it must be the legal address of the entity. The contact information will be used for system notifications regarding billing and account status. This information is legally required on all financial documents and must be kept accurate. Any changes here will be reflected on all future invoices.
Financial Year: Under Settings > Organization > Financial Settings, define your financial year's start and end dates. This is crucial for ensuring your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports align with your company's official accounting periods. Incorrect settings here can lead to significant reporting discrepancies, especially for year-over-year comparisons.
Default Currency: Set the base currency for your accounting. If you plan to bill in multiple currencies, you must first enable this feature under Settings > Organization > Currencies. Once enabled, you can add currencies and set exchange rates to be updated manually or automatically via an integrated service. Be aware that enabling automatic updates may incur additional fees from the exchange rate provider.
Branding: Go to Settings > Customization > Branding. Upload your company logo in high resolution (PNG or SVG preferred, max 2MB). Set your primary brand color, which will be used on invoices, emails, and the client portal. A consistent brand experience builds trust with your clients. You can also upload a separate, smaller logo icon (favicon) that will appear in browser tabs.
Invoice Numbering Sequence: In Settings > Templates > Document Sequences, you can define the format for your invoice numbers. The default is INV-{YYYY}-{NNNN}, but you can add custom prefixes or suffixes (e.g., ACME-{NNNNN}). You can also set the "next number" in the sequence, which is useful when migrating from another system to avoid number collisions. Warning: Changing the sequence mid-year is strongly discouraged as it can complicate audits and record reconciliation.

1.3 Tax Configuration

Proper tax setup is one of the most critical initial configuration steps. An incorrect setup can lead to serious compliance issues.

Navigate to Settings > Financial > Taxes.
Create Tax Rates: Click "+ New Tax Rate." Define the tax name (e.g., "VAT," "GST"), rate percentage, and an optional tax number.
Compound Taxes: For regions with multiple tax levels (e.g., city and state taxes), you can create compound taxes. Specify the order in which they should be calculated, as one tax may be calculated on the subtotal plus the previous tax.
Tax Jurisdictions: You can associate tax rates with specific countries or regions (states/provinces). This allows FlowBill to automatically suggest the correct tax rate when you create an invoice for a client in that location, reducing manual error.
Tax-Exempt Status: Within a client's profile, you can mark them as "Tax-Exempt" and upload supporting documentation. This will prevent taxes from being applied to their invoices.
Pricing Display: Under Settings > Financial > Billing Logic, you can choose whether product/service prices are entered exclusive of tax (tax is added at the end) or inclusive of tax (tax is backed out for reporting). This choice depends on local regulations and is critical for correct financial reporting.

1.4 Product & Service Catalog Management

A well-maintained catalog of your products and services is key to efficiency and accuracy.

Navigate to Settings > Products & Services.
Item Types: FlowBill supports different item types. "Service" items are for non-tangible goods where inventory is not tracked. "Product" items can have inventory tracking enabled, where the system will maintain a stock count that is decremented with each sale.
Creating Items: When adding a new item, you can specify its name, SKU, description, and default price. This information will auto-populate when the item is added to an invoice, saving time and ensuring consistency.
Pricing Tiers: For a single service, you can create multiple pricing tiers (e.g., "Basic," "Premium," "Enterprise"). When adding the service to an invoice, you can select the appropriate tier for that client.
Default Taxes: You can associate a default tax rate with a specific product or service. For example, if a particular service is always subject to a luxury tax, this can be pre-configured to apply automatically.
Bundles: Create "Bundled" items that consist of multiple individual products or services. When a bundle is added to an invoice, all constituent items are added automatically, which is useful for complex package sales.

1.5 Data Migration Strategies

If you are moving to FlowBill from another system, a well-planned data migration is essential. We support migration via CSV import.

Go to Settings > Data Management > Import Data. You will find separate importers for Clients, Products/Services, and Unpaid Invoices.
Pre-Migration Checklist:

Have you backed up your data from the source system?
Have you cleansed the data for duplicates and inconsistencies?
Have you created all necessary custom fields in FlowBill before starting the import?
Have you mapped the columns from your old system to the columns in the FlowBill CSV template?

Download the CSV Template: For each data type, download our template file. This is mandatory. The column headers must match our template exactly, and data must be formatted as specified in the template's guide notes (e.g., dates in YYYY-MM-DD format).
Import in Order: The recommended import order is: 1) Clients, 2) Products/Services, 3) Historical Invoices. This ensures that when you import invoices, the associated clients and products already exist in the system.
Test and Validate: Before performing a full import, import a small file with 5-10 rows to verify that all fields, including any custom fields, are mapping correctly. After the full import, spot-check several records to confirm data integrity.
Post-Migration Validation: After the import is complete, run a trial balance or accounts receivable aging report in FlowBill and compare the totals to the same report from your old system. This is the best way to verify that all outstanding balances have been migrated correctly.

1.6 Customizing Email Templates

FlowBill sends numerous automated emails to your clients (e.g., invoice notifications, payment receipts, dunning reminders). As an administrator, you can and should customize these templates to match your brand's voice and tone.

Navigate to Settings > Templates > Email Templates.
You will see a list of all system-generated emails. Click on any template to edit it.
The editor supports both plain text and HTML for full control over the look and feel.
Dynamic Variables (Merge Tags): Use dynamic variables like {{client.name}} or {{invoice.number}} to personalize the emails. A full list of available variables is provided next to the editor.
Best Practice: Before saving a template, send a test email to yourself to ensure the formatting and variables are working as expected. A well-crafted email can improve client relations and payment times.

Section 2: Advanced Billing and Finance Modules

2.1 Advanced Client Management

Custom Fields: Navigate to Settings > Customization > Custom Fields. Here, you can create additional fields for the Client module (e.g., "Account Manager," "Subscription Level," "Onboarding Date"). These fields can be text, number, date, or dropdown types and can be marked as mandatory.
Client Hierarchies: FlowBill supports parent-child relationships for clients. This is useful for corporations with a head office (parent) that is financially responsible, but separate branch offices (children) that need to receive invoices directly. Invoices can be billed to the child but paid by the parent account.
Client Portal Management: As an admin, you can configure the client portal under Settings > Client Portal.

Enable/Disable Features: Choose what clients can see and do, such as allowing them to view/pay invoices, update their credit card information, approve estimates, or view their account statements.
Custom Domain (CNAME): For a fully white-labeled experience, you can set up the portal to be accessible via a subdomain of your website (e.g., billing.yourcompany.com).
Customize Communications: Edit the welcome message on the portal's login page and customize the automated email templates that invite clients to the portal.

Client Communication Logs: Every automated email sent to a client from FlowBill is logged within the client's record under the "Communications" tab. This provides a complete audit trail of all correspondence, including whether the email was delivered and opened. Staff can also manually log calls or other interactions here, creating a single source of truth for all client communication.

2.2 Estimates and Quoting Workflow

Create an Estimate: Navigate to the "Estimates" module. Add line items, notes, and terms just like an invoice. You can also add an expiration date.

2.3 Subscription Management

For recurring revenue businesses, this module is central.

Subscription Plans: Under Settings > Products & Services > Plans, define your subscription plans. Each plan can have a billing interval (monthly, yearly), a price, and can include a set of products/services.
Trial Periods: Configure free trial periods (e.g., 14 days) for any plan. The system will automatically start billing the client once the trial period ends unless they cancel.
Add-ons: Create optional add-ons that clients can add to their base subscription, which will be billed alongside their main plan.
Upgrades & Downgrades: When a customer changes their plan, FlowBill automatically handles the proration. It will calculate a credit for the unused time on the old plan and a charge for the time on the new plan, creating a net charge or credit on their next invoice.

2.4 Advanced Invoicing & Billing Logic

Credit Notes and Refunds: When you need to cancel or reduce an issued invoice, you must issue a Credit Note. This creates a clear audit trail. From the original invoice, select "Create Credit Note." The credit can then be applied to other invoices or held on the client's account.
Usage-Based & Metered Billing: For consumption-based billing:

Create a product/service under Settings > Products & Services and mark it as "Metered."
During a billing cycle, log usage units for a client via the API (POST /api/v1/usage) or by importing a CSV of usage data.
When a recurring invoice is generated, FlowBill automatically pulls unbilled usage, calculates the total, and adds it as a line item.

Prorated Billing: When a subscription starts or ends mid-cycle, FlowBill can automatically prorate the charges. This is configured under Settings > Financial > Billing Logic. You can choose to prorate based on the number of days in the month or not at all.

2.5 Expense Management

Track business costs and bill them back to clients where applicable.

Recording Expenses: Navigate to the "Expenses" module. You can record an expense, categorize it (e.g., "Software," "Travel"), and upload a receipt.
Approval Workflows: For larger teams, you can set up expense approval workflows under Settings > Automation. For example, any expense over $500 must be approved by a manager before it becomes eligible to be billed to a client.
Assigning to Clients: If an expense is billable, you can assign it to a specific client and add a markup percentage.
Invoicing Expenses: When you next create an invoice for that client, you will be prompted to add any outstanding billable expenses to the invoice.

2.6 Dunning Management for Failed Payments

A robust dunning strategy is critical for reducing churn and recovering revenue.

Navigate to Settings > Automation > Dunning Management.
Configure Sequence: Configure a sequence of automated actions to take when a recurring payment fails.
Example Dunning Sequence:

Day 1 (Initial Failure): Send "Payment Failed" email. Retry the charge automatically.
Day 3: If still unpaid, send a second reminder. Retry the charge.
Day 7: Send a final warning notice that the service will be suspended.
Day 10: Automatically mark the subscription as "Unpaid" or "Canceled" and notify an internal team member to follow up manually.

You can fully customize the email templates for each step of the dunning process.

2.7 Revenue Recognition

For businesses that follow accrual accounting principles, particularly SaaS companies, proper revenue recognition is critical for compliance with standards like ASC 606 and IFRS 15. FlowBill provides tools to automate this process.

Navigate to Settings > Financial > Revenue Recognition.
Configuration: Enable the module and set your default revenue recognition schedule. For a typical annual software subscription, revenue should be recognized "Daily over the contract term." For a one-time setup fee, it might be recognized "Immediately."
Automated Schedules: When an invoice is paid for a service with a recognition rule, FlowBill automatically creates a revenue schedule. For example, a $1,200 annual subscription paid in January will have $100 of revenue recognized each month throughout the year.
Reporting: The "Revenue Recognition" report in the Reports module provides a detailed breakdown of recognized, deferred, and projected revenue, which is essential for accurate financial statements.

Section 3: Administration and Security

3.1 User and Team Management

Defining Custom User Roles: Go to Settings > Users & Roles > Roles. Create granular roles like "Sales Rep" or "Accountant," specifying View, Create, Edit, and Delete permissions for each feature.
Teams: For larger organizations, you can group users into Teams under Settings > Users & Roles > Teams. You can then assign permissions or client access at the team level, simplifying management.
Access Delegation: An administrator can temporarily delegate their permissions to another user for a specified time period (e.g., while on vacation). This is logged in the audit trail and automatically revokes at the end of the period.
Audit Logs: For security and compliance, navigate to Settings > Security > Audit Log. View a detailed, immutable, timestamped record of events, including the user, their IP address, and the before/after state of the data that was changed.

3.2 System Security Protocols

Single Sign-On (SSO): Integrate FlowBill with your identity provider (IdP) like Okta or Azure AD. Navigate to Settings > Security > SSO. We support SAML 2.0 and can provide guidance on configuring both SP-initiated and IdP-initiated flows.
IP Whitelisting: Restrict access to specific locations by enabling IP whitelisting under Settings > Security > Access Control. Enter the static IP addresses or ranges that are permitted to log in.
Data Encryption: All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Your responsibility is to enforce strong user password policies and mandate Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for all users under Settings > Security > Authentication Policies.
Session Management: Under Settings > Security > Session Policies, you can configure an automatic logout time for inactive users (e.g., 30 minutes) to prevent unauthorized access from unattended workstations.

Section 4: Integrations and API

4.1 Introduction to the FlowBill API

The FlowBill REST API allows you to programmatically interact with your data. Full, interactive API documentation with code samples is available at developer.flowbill.com.

4.2 API Authentication and Keys

Go to Settings > Integrations > API Keys.
Generate a new API key. You will receive a Client ID and a Client Secret. The Secret is only displayed once; store it securely.
Authentication is performed using the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow to obtain a short-lived bearer token.
Best Practice: Create different API keys for different applications and rotate keys every 90-180 days.

4.3 API Rate Limiting

To ensure platform stability, our API is rate-limited. The default limit is 120 requests per minute per API key. If you exceed this limit, you will receive a 429 Too Many Requests HTTP response. Your code should be written to handle these responses gracefully, typically by implementing an exponential backoff retry mechanism. For high-volume use cases, you can contact support to request a higher rate limit.

4.4 Webhooks for Real-Time Notifications

Use webhooks to receive real-time notifications when events occur.

Go to Settings > Integrations > Webhooks.
Click "+ Create Webhook," provide your endpoint URL, and select the events you want to subscribe to (e.g., invoice.paid, client.created).
Security: We sign each webhook request with a secret key. Your endpoint should verify this signature to ensure the request is genuinely from FlowBill.
Retry Policy: If your endpoint fails to return a 200 OK response, we will retry sending the webhook with an exponential backoff strategy for up to 72 hours.
Idempotency: When building your webhook handler, it's crucial to make your processing idempotent. Due to network conditions, it is possible (though rare) for the same webhook event to be delivered more than once. Your system should be designed to handle this gracefully without causing duplicate data or errors (e.g., by checking the event ID before processing).

4.5 Native Integrations

Payment Gateways: Connect to payment providers like Stripe and PayPal under Settings > Integrations > Payment Gateways. You can configure which payment methods to accept (credit cards, ACH, etc.) and map processing fees to specific expense accounts.
Accounting Software (QuickBooks Online, Xero): Navigate to Settings > Integrations. This two-way sync ensures your accounting records are always up-to-date.
CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot): Sync client data and view billing history directly within your CRM. Automatically create a FlowBill client when a deal is marked as "Closed-Won."
Project Management (Jira, Asana): Connect to your project management tools to import billable hours from tasks and projects directly into draft invoices, eliminating manual tracking.

Section 5: Advanced Reporting and Business Intelligence

5.1 Building Custom Reports

Navigate to Reports > Custom Reports > New Report.
Process: Choose a primary data module (e.g., Invoices), drag and drop the fields you need, apply complex filters with AND/OR logic, and group/summarize the data.
Calculated Fields: Within the report builder, you can create temporary calculated fields. For example, create a field called "Commission" that calculates Invoice.Total * 0.10 if the Invoice.Salesperson is a specific user.
Visualizations: Turn your tabular report data into a bar chart, pie chart, or line graph directly within FlowBill before exporting. This is useful for creating quick, shareable insights.
Save and Schedule: Save your report for future use. Schedule it to be automatically generated and emailed to stakeholders on a recurring basis.

5.2 Financial Forecasting

Navigate to Reports > Forecasting. Based on your historical data and active recurring revenue, FlowBill can generate financial projections.

Revenue Projections: See projected monthly revenue for the next 12 months.
Cash Flow Forecast: Combines projected revenue with average payment times to forecast your cash position.
Scenario Modeling: Adjust variables (e.g., "What if we grow by 15%?" or "What if churn increases by 5%?") to see the potential impact on your forecast.

5.3 Cohort Analysis

Navigate to Reports > Cohort Analysis. This powerful report groups customers by their signup month and tracks their behavior over time.

Retention Analysis: See what percentage of customers from a given cohort are still active months later.
LTV Analysis: Track the cumulative revenue generated by each cohort to understand customer lifetime value and how it's changing over time.

5.4 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Dashboards

While custom reports are for deep analysis, the main Dashboard provides at-a-glance views of your most critical business metrics. As an administrator, you can customize this dashboard.

Navigate to Dashboard > Customize.
Available Widgets: Choose from a library of pre-built widgets to display on your dashboard, including:

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
MRR Growth Rate
Customer Churn Rate
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Accounts Receivable Aging
Cash Flow Summary

Arrangement: Drag and drop widgets to arrange the dashboard in a way that is most meaningful for your daily operations. Each administrator can have their own customized dashboard view.

5.5 Connecting to External BI Tools

For the most advanced analytics, connect to a BI tool like Tableau or Power BI.

Go to Settings > Data Management > BI Connector.
Enable the connector to generate read-only database credentials for a replicated copy of your production database. This ensures that your BI tool's queries do not impact application performance.
Use these credentials to connect directly to your FlowBill data and build sophisticated dashboards, joining your billing data with data from other sources.

Section 6: Maintenance, Compliance, and Support

6.1 Data Backup and Export

As an administrator, you can manage your data backups.

Manual Backups: Go to Settings > Data Management > Export Data. Select "Request Full Account Backup." Our system will generate a .zip archive containing all your data in CSV format.
Automated Backups: Configure a schedule (e.g., weekly) to have a full account backup automatically generated and sent to a connected cloud storage provider, such as AWS S3 or Google Cloud Storage.

6.2 Data Retention Policies

To comply with data privacy regulations like GDPR, you may need to define data retention policies.

Navigate to Settings > Data Management > Retention Policies.
Configure rules to automatically anonymize or delete client data a certain number of years after they become inactive. There is a 30-day grace period after a client is marked for deletion, during which an administrator can reverse the action. After this period, the action is irreversible. Warning: This should be configured with extreme care and in consultation with your legal team.

6.3 System Status and Communication

Status Page: You can check the real-time health of the FlowBill platform at status.flowbill.com. We recommend subscribing to updates on this page.
Incident Communication: For any planned maintenance or unexpected service disruptions, we will post updates to the status page and send an email to all registered administrators.

6.4 Audit & Compliance

FlowBill provides tools to assist with financial and security audits.

Data Export for Audits: You can export a full General Ledger, invoice history, and the complete Audit Log for a specified date range to provide to auditors.
Compliance Documentation: Contact support to request our latest SOC 2 Type II report or other relevant compliance documentation.

6.5 Contacting Advanced Technical Support

Administrators have access to a priority support channel. When submitting a ticket, please provide:

A clear, step-by-step description of how to reproduce the issue.
Relevant API logs or webhook payloads if applicable.
Usernames and IDs of affected accounts.
Screenshots or screen recordings.
The business impact of the issue (e.g., "Critical - unable to send invoices").

This level of detail will allow our Tier 2 support engineers to resolve your issue more effectively, in line with our administrator support SLAs.