What is a Vendor Invoice?
A Vendor Invoice in Planpage represents a real bill from a vendor that needs to be paid as part of a project.
Think of it as the source of truth for vendor payments. It captures who needs to be paid, how much is owed, and when payments are due, all in one place.
Vendor Invoices also play a key role in your budget. They are part of the system that calculates columns on your budget (Actual, Difference, Amount Paid, Outstanding, Next Payment). As invoices and payments are added, Planpage uses that information to reflect what has actually been spent, not just what was estimated.
How to Add a Vendor Invoice
From the project Budget page, click the Actual box on a Budget Item row. In the dropdown, select New Vendor Invoice.
If the Budget Item isn't already linked to a Vendor, you'll be prompted to link a vendor before adding their invoice.
Clicking the Actual box only shows a dropdown on a Budget Item row. The grey Category row has an Actual box, but it's there to add up all the actuals underneath it.
Upload Invoice or Create Manually
There are two options for adding a Vendor Invoice...
Upload Vendor Invoice - Lets you upload a PDF or image of an invoice (or contract). Planpage AI then reads the file and pulls out details like invoice totals and payment due dates (so you don't have to enter them manually). The uploaded file is also saved into the Documents section of the project 😀
Create Invoice Manually - If you don't have a PDF or image to upload, click Create Invoice Manually.
Existing Documents in Planpage
When adding a Vendor Invoice, the vendor may already have Documents uploaded to Planpage (your client uploaded it, you uploaded it last week, etc.). If so, you can designate that document as the Vendor Invoice and link it to the budget (this prevents duplicate documents cluttering your project).
If none of the existing documents are the invoice, click Create an Invoice where you'll then have the option to Upload or Create Manually.
Either way, you'll wind up at the Vendor Invoice Editor...
Vendor Invoice Editor
This is where you confirm the AI extracted details, or manually enter the invoice details yourself. If you uploaded a file (or selected an existing document), a preview of the file automatically opens next to the editor for easy comparisons.
Step 1: Confirm Invoice Total
It's important to make sure the Invoice Total is correct. After confirming, click Looks Good. Note: the invoice number and issued on fields are optional.
Step 2: Apply Invoice to Budget Items
In this example, we have an invoice total of $30,500.
Planpage doesn't assume how that total should be applied to the line items on your budget. You get to apply the invoice total as needed (sometimes the entire total goes to one item, or like the example below, it gets applied to multiple items).
The overall Invoice Total.
Checkboxes to select which budget item(s) this invoice applies to.
Amount fields to designate how much should be applied to each budget item.
Once the invoice is fully applied to the budget, click Continue.
Step 3: Payment Due Dates
The last step is confirming or creating the payment due dates for the invoice. These are used to track upcoming payments and send reminders. When it looks correct, click Done Editing.
This screen is only for entering the due date and amount due for each installment. You'll be able to mark them as paid once you click Done Editing.
Managing Payments
Once you click Done Editing, you'll see a much simpler view of the Vendor Invoice. This is where you (and clients with budget shared) can mark due dates as paid. You also have quick access to the uploaded file if you ever need to reference the original invoice.
