Combining an advance invoice with progress claims

A quotation is not always invoiced in one go; this often happens in instalment invoices. These can be invoices drawn up from the financial planning (in instalments / stages), or from a progress claim.

• If you do not want to show an overview of the previous instalment invoices on the invoice, you work with the simple invoice strategy. This is the most common way of working.
• In some cases it is desirable to show an overview of the previous instalment invoices on the invoice when you draw up the next instalment invoice (or the final invoice). This is done with a cumulative invoice strategy.

Invoicing with a combination of an advance invoice and progress claims

If you work with a combination of advances and progress claims, your invoicing usually looks like this:

• 1st invoice = advance invoice: from the financial planning on the quotation or the project
• 2nd invoice = based on the first progress claim

For the 2nd (and subsequent) invoices, you can set an invoice strategy in the settings of your quotations and of your progress claims. That strategy determines whether your advance invoice is automatically deducted from the 1st progress claim invoice, and whether the previous instalment invoices are shown on the invoice.
Three strategies are possible: 'Simple', 'Cumulative' or 'Ask'.

Simple

This is the most common invoice strategy. The following applies when both your quotations and your progress claims are set to 'Simple':

• The advance invoice is not deducted automatically from the 1st progress claim.
• The instalment invoices (the advance invoice, invoices from previous progress claims) are not shown in a separate display on the progress claim record and the invoice record.
• The invoice is drawn up without mentioning the previous instalment invoices.

Cumulative

• The advance invoice is automatically deducted in full from the 1st progress claim (unless you remove it manually from the separate overview).
• The instalment invoices (the advance invoice, invoices from previous progress claims) are visible in a separate overview on the progress claim record and the invoice record.
• The invoice is drawn up mentioning all preceding instalment invoices.

Ask

Do you sometimes have to invoice simply and sometimes cumulatively? Then you can set the strategy to 'Ask'. With every progress claim invoice you are first asked whether you want to invoice simply or cumulatively.

Setting the invoice strategy

You set the strategy via settings > quotations > Settings and via settings > progress claims > Settings, in the 'Phase billing cumulative strategy' field. The field is therefore in two places; check them both.

What does the overview of instalment invoices look like?

In Robaws - on the progress claim

On the progress claim in Robaws there is a separate window showing the advance invoices from the financial planning (in red below).
Please note: these advances are automatically deducted from the 1st progress claim.

In Robaws - on the invoice created from a progress claim

On the invoice in Robaws there is a separate window showing the previous instalment invoices (in red below).
This only appears if you choose to invoice cumulatively. If there was no preceding instalment invoice yet, you see an empty overview.

On the invoice lines only the current progress claim is shown, with the total amount to be claimed (in green below).
The total amount of the invoice only takes into account the amount that has not yet been invoiced.

On the invoice (pdf)

On the invoice pdf for the customer, what can be invoiced so far is shown cumulatively, and the instalment invoices (advance invoices or progress claim invoices) are deducted from it.

FAQ

Why do I not see my advance invoice on my 1st progress claim?

The overview is only shown if all of these conditions are met:

• the advance invoice must have been drawn up before the 1st progress claim
• it must have been drawn up via the financial planning of the quotation or the project
• it must be linked to the quotation of the progress claim
• the invoice strategy of your quotations and progress claims must not both be set to 'Simple': at least one of the two has to be set to 'Cumulative' or 'Ask'

Why do I not see an overview of instalment invoices on my invoice?

The overview is only shown if you draw up that invoice cumulatively. If that is the case, you see:

• the overview with the previous instalment invoices, if an instalment invoice had already been drawn up;
• an empty overview if there was no instalment invoice yet, so that you can add to it manually if you want.

Can I add an instalment invoice to the overview?

Yes, you can do this by clicking the + sign in the overview and looking up an invoice.
This can be handy if you have drawn up a 'loose' instalment invoice (not via the financial planning) and still want to include it in the overview.

The advance invoice must not be deducted from the 1st progress claim

If your advance invoice appears on the 1st progress claim in the overview of instalment invoices, it is automatically deducted from it in full. That is the case as soon as the invoice strategy of your quotations or your progress claims is set to 'Cumulative' or 'Ask'.
If you do not want this, there are two solutions:

• remove the advance invoice manually from the overview of instalment invoices.
• set the invoice strategy under settings > quotations and settings > progress claims both to 'Simple'. You then no longer see the overview of instalment invoices, but you can also only invoice simply from the progress claim.

Can I deduct part of my advance invoice from the 1st progress claim?

This is not possible via the instalment invoices. You can do it in the following way:

• remove the advance invoice from the overview of instalment invoices on the 1st progress claim (otherwise it is deducted from the 1st progress claim in full)
• add a line to the progress claim, tick 'VR', enter the amount of the advance invoice as a negative amount and set the quantity to 1.
• you can now claim this line gradually, for example on progress claim 1 you claim back 20% of the advance invoice.

What if the amount of the advance invoice is higher than the amount of the 1st progress claim?

If your advance invoice is in the overview of instalment invoices on your 1st progress claim, it is normally deducted from it in full. If the amount of the advance invoice exceeds the amount of the 1st progress claim, however, a pop-up window appears to warn you.

Updated on: 08/09/2026