Managing clients

Managing clients

Expenses by or on behalf of clients can easily be registered in Elari. In the Cash & Card module, expenses can be booked on a client and, if desired, invoiced to the relevant client. In this way you manage a budget for a client with as few administrative actions as possible, but with an optimal overview of spending.

Before you continue reading this article, we would like to point out that a number of options can be on or off in your Elari environment. The settings are set up by the customer in the implementation phase in consultation with an Elari consultant. Do you have questions about the information below or are you unsure about something? Please contact our Support department (note: only for application administrators).

Add clients

Before an expense can be booked on a client (click here for more information about booking on a client), you need to add the clients in Elari. If working with clients is enabled in your Elari environment, navigate to Application management > Cash&Pas > Clients. To add a client manually, click on 'Add'. You will then be taken to a form where you can fill in all the information about the client, such as 'name', 'address', 'bank account number', etc.

Often clients are primarily managed in a different system than Elari. This is often the accounting package such as AFAS, Accountview, Visma, Twinfield, or a package specifically for managing clients. In that case, you can import the client data into Elari. To do this, click on the 'Import clients' button at the top of this menu. When your organization uses a web service, Elari retrieves the clients directly from the external package. If no web service is used, you can read in the clients using an Excel or CSV file. You then import the data by means of an import definition.

Linking a client to a client group

After adding the client, you need to link it to a client group.  When the client is not linked to a client group, costs can also be booked on the client. It is therefore important not to forget this step.

Automatic collection

Your organization can choose to bill expenses that are registered in Elari to the client. It is possible to generate these client invoices in Elari. It is possible to work with automatic debits. When the entries are exported to the financial package, Elari creates a file in which these direct debits are registered. You can then read this file into the bank.

When adding a client, you will see the setting 'Direct debit'. Select 'Yes' here if you want Elari to make the direct debits for this client. Under 'Date of authorization' you enter the date on which the client (or in some cases the administrator) gave the authorization. This date for Elari is required to complete the collection in accordance with the bank's requirements. Under 'Mandate type' you indicate, also by order of the bank, whether this is the first time that you automatically collect the money from this client. After you have performed the first direct debit, you must then change the setting to 'Recurring'.

Client types

When the client needs to be invoiced, most of our customers choose to create these invoices (automatically) in the accounting package (and not in Elari as described above). Some accounting packages, such as AFAS, require a client type to determine whether a client should be invoiced or not. Therefore, depending on the settings, it is possible to add them at Application management> Cash & Card> Client types. When adding the client, you also choose the client type (if applicable). This is often already set up in consultation with the Elari consultant during the implementation phase. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask the Support department.