Number Ranges

Number ranges define how invoice numbers, customer numbers and article numbers are structured. Every company profile has its own number ranges so that several businesses do not get in each other's way.

Why the invoice number matters

The invoice number is a legally required field and has to be unique and sequential. In an e-invoice it is stored as BT-1 in the data set. A validator rejects an invoice without a number, and duplicate numbers lead to questions in accounting.

Number ranges for documents

Every document type has its own number range:

• Invoice
• Quote
• Order confirmation
• Delivery note
• Credit note and cancellation
• Recurring invoice
• Payment reminder

Some of these document types can only be created with Billance Premium; their number range is marked accordingly.

Format and next number

A number range consists of a format and the next number to be assigned. In the format you combine fixed text with placeholders, for example for the year or month, and define how many digits the sequential number has. A preview shows immediately what the next number will look like.

Only move the next number forward when you are sure the numbers in between have not been used already. Jumping backwards can lead to duplicate numbers.

Customer and product numbers

Besides documents, customers and products have a number range as well. For products you can additionally enable separate number ranges per category so that articles and services are numbered independently.

If you turn that option off again, Billance asks what should happen:

• Keep existing numbers leaves all current article numbers untouched
• Reassign numbers renumbers all products from the shared number range

No company profile, no number ranges

As long as no company profile exists, number ranges cannot be configured. Create a profile under My Company first.