AU2004101029A4 - Invoicing method and system - Google Patents

Description

P/00/009 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 INNOVATION PATENT SPECIFICATION Invention Title: Applicant: INVOICING METHOD AND SYSTEM SMALL BUSINESS CREATIVE SOLUTIONS PTY LTD The invention is described in the following statement: 1 W:UOHN\1RN734295-Innova~on.doc -2- INVOICING METHOD AND SYSTEM U FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and system for invoicing. In particular, the invention relates to a method and system for automatically generating and transmitting one or more invoices to a customer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION _Typically a small business will have a personal-computer-based accounting software system that maintains a database of the business Stransactions with its customers, vendors, banks, and other third parties associated with the business as well as internal business transactions between internal accounts. The typical architecture of such accounting systems provides for data to be entered into the system through predefined transactions. The system then updates applicable records in an associated database via a set of predetermined linkages between the internal accounts.

In the small business accounting software by the MYOB group of companies, for example, when an invoice is created for work done, there are pre-set fields on an input screen that must be completed by the operator, in order for the invoice record to be committed to the database. This protects the integrity of the database and the information contained in it. Likewise when a payment is received it must be applied against a particular invoice which reduces the "Trade Debtor" account and increases the "Cash at Bank" account.

Generally, small businesses invoice each other and larger businesses via a paper-based invoicing method. For example, one business may undertake work for another and render a paper invoice generated after entering the information manually into its accounting system. Once the invoice is received, the customer manually enters the information on the invoice into its accounting system.

This double entry of the same information once in the service provider's system and once in the customer's system) represents an inefficiency involving substantial data entry time.

Many large businesses recognise the inefficiencies inherent in entering invoices and associated paperwork twice. In 1979, the American National W:UHN\SPECJCGnvmoldng Complete Innovation.doc -3- Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the Accredited Standards Committee S(ASC) to develop and maintain a standard for Electronic Data Interchange U (EDT) of business transaction documents. Some large corporate businesses use this standard to transfer documents between themselves and other corporations.

However, the expense of such large-scale EDI systems and the fact that many PC-based software accounting packages are not equipped to handle such data transfers has meant that many small businesses are unable to achieve the efficiencies enjoyed by the larger corporations.

Additionally, some large corporations are now endeavouring to reduce their supply chain costs by requiring all suppliers, including small businesses, to become EDI capable.

It is desired to address or ameliorate one or more of the shortcomings associated with the prior art, or to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.

The reference to any prior art in this specification should not be taken as an acknowledgment or suggestion that that prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of automatically generating and transmitting an invoice from a supplier to a customer, including the steps of: receiving selection information related to the invoice; extracting invoice data corresponding to the invoice from a database associated with the supplier based on the selection information; creating an invoice file including the invoice data; establishing a connection to a remote server; and uploading the invoice file to the remote server for attachment to an electronic mail message to be sent to the customer.

Preferably, the selection information is input by an agent on behalf of the supplier. Preferably, the selection information includes customer identification information and an invoice date range or an invoice number range, identifying the invoices to be sent.

Preferably, the database forms part of a computerised accounting system used by the supplier. Preferably, the computerised accounting system W:UOHMSPECCGJnvidng Complete Innovatondoc -4shares computer resources with a computer system performing the method.

0 Preferably, the invoice file is formatted as a comma separated value (CSV) file. Preferably, the remote server is a simple mail transport protocol (SMTP) server. Preferably, when establishing the connection, an electronic mail t' 5 address of the customer, determined from the selection information, is forwarded to the remote server. Alternatively, the customer's electronic mail address is provided to the remote server when, or prior to, uploading the invoice file to the remote server.

Preferably, the step of extracting includes querying the database to extract the invoice data and creating a temporary file containing the extracted 0 invoice data. Preferably, the method further includes a step of checking whether

IN

one or more invoices for which invoice data is extracted has previously been extracted. Preferably, if one or more of the extracted invoices has been previously extracted, the method further includes notifying a user and removing from the temporary file invoice data corresponding to the previously extracted one or more invoices. Preferably, the method further includes the step of recording which invoices are specified in the temporary file prior to creation of the invoice file. Preferably, after the step of creating, the temporary file is deleted.

Preferably, the method is performed by a personal computer (PC) running, or in communication with, the computerised accounting system.

Alternatively, the method may be performed by a terminal of a locally networked computer system running the computerised accounting system.

The present invention further provides a method for invoicing a customer, including the steps of: receiving selection information relating to a selected invoice record; extracting invoice data corresponding to the invoice record from a database according to the selection information; creating an invoice file including the invoice data; and uploading the invoice file to a remote server for transmission with an electronic mail message to the customer.

The present invention further provides a method of invoicing, including the steps of: extracting invoice data corresponding to selected invoice records from a W:UOHMSPEWMCGJn~vcing Complete Innovationdoc database according to selection information; 0 creating an invoice file including the invoice data; U uploading the invoice file to a remote server and for transmission with an a, electronic mail message to a destination address.

Preferably, the destination address is determined according to the selection information.

Preferably, the methods are performed using a PC-based or LAN-based 0 computer system.

0 In these aspects, the selection information may be input by an agent on behalf of a supplier. The selection information may include customer 0 identification information and an invoice date range or an invoice number range, identifying the invoices to be sent.

The database may form part of a computerised accounting system used by a supplier. Preferably, the computerised accounting system shares computer resources with a computer system performing the method.

The invoice file is preferably formatted as a comma separated value (CSV) file. The remote server may be an SMTP server. When establishing the connection, an electronic mail address of the customer, determined from the selection information, may be forwarded to the SMTP server. Alternatively, the customer's electronic mail address may be provided to the remote server when, or prior to, uploading the invoice file to the remote server.

Preferably, the step of extracting includes querying the database to extract the invoice data and creating a temporary file containing the extracted invoice data. The methods may further include a step of checking whether one or more invoices for which invoice data was extracted has previously been extracted. If one or more of the extracted invoices has been previously extracted, the methods may further include notifying the user and removing from the temporary file invoice data corresponding to the previously extracted invoices. The method preferably further includes the step of recording which invoices are specified in the temporary file prior to creation of the invoice file.

After the step of creating, the temporary file may be deleted.

The methods may be performed by a personal computer (PC) running, or in communication with, the computerised accounting system. Alternatively, the methods may be performed by a terminal of a locally networked computer W:UOHMSPEWJMJnvoidng Complete Intateion.doc -6system running the computerised accounting system.

0 The present invention provides, in a further aspect, computer-readable U storage having stored thereon computer program instructions for causing a a, computer to execute any of the methods described above.

The present invention further provides a system for invoicing, including: an extraction engine for extracting invoice data corresponding to selected invoice records from a database according to selection information; and Sa transmission engine for creating an invoice file including the invoice 0 data and for uploading the invoice file to a remote server for transmission with an electronic mail message to a destination address.

0 The destination address may be determined according to the selection information. The selection information may be input by an agent on behalf of a supplier. Preferably, the selection information includes customer identification information and an invoice date range or an invoice number range, identifying the invoices to be sent.

The database preferably forms part of a computerised accounting system used by the supplier. The computerised accounting system may share computer resources with the system for invoicing.

The invoice file is preferably formatted as a comma separated value (CSV) file. Preferably, the remote server is an SMTP server. Preferably, the customer's electronic mail address is provided by the transmission engine to the remote server when, or prior to, uploading the invoice file to the remote server.

The extraction engine is adapted to query the database to extract the invoice data and create a temporary file containing the extracted invoice data.

Preferably, the extraction engine is further adapted to check whether one or more invoices for which invoice data is extracted has previously been extracted (for example, as part of another batch invoices). If one or more of the extracted invoices has been previously extracted, the extraction engine removes from the temporary file the invoice data corresponding to the previously extracted invoices. The extraction engine is further adapted to record which invoices are specified in the temporary file prior to creation of the invoice file. After creating the invoice file, the extraction engine may delete the temporary file.

Preferably, the system for invoicing is hosted by a personal computer W:UOHNSPECJCGnvoldng Complete Innovationdoc 7- (PC) running, or in communication with, the computerised accounting system.

0 Alternatively, the system for invoicing may be hosted by a terminal of a locally U networked computer system running the computerised accounting system.

a, Advantageously, the above described aspects of the invention provide a useful tool for suppliers to automatically generate and forward invoices to their customers in an electronic form. Advantageously, the format of the transmitted invoice files is such that it can be readily parsed by software on the receiving 0side and converted into a desired format.

Advantageously, transmission of the invoice file as an attachment to an email generated by a remote server obviates the need for having compatible mail protocols between the supplier sender and customer receiver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the invention are hereinafter described.in further detail, but by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of an invoicing system according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a process flow diagram of an invoicing method according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is an example application window relating to a setup procedure of the invoicing system; Figure 4 is an example application window relating to an extraction procedure of the invoicing system and method; Figure 5 is an example application window relating to a review procedure of the invoicing system and method; Figure 6 is an example invoice to be sent to a customer; and Figure 7 is a table illustrating an example invoice batch file format.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the invention relate to a system and method for use by a supplier to automatically extract and transmit invoices to customers, using pre-existing accounting system software, for example such as that marketed by MYOB. The invention may also be embodied as computer W:UOHMSPECCGnvoidcng Complete Innovation.doc -8program instructions stored on computer readable media, such as an optically Sreadable disk.

Embodiments of the invention are suitable for execution on a single a, computer running the accounting system software and do not require extensive hardware or software infrastructure such as that necessitated by large platforms like SAP. Embodiments of the invention are advantageously easy to use and install and enable suppliers who operate small businesses to comply with customer requirements concerning EDI-based invoicing.

0 Referring now to Figure 1, one embodiment of the invention relates to an invoicing system 100. The invoicing system 100 includes a computer 110, such Sas a PC or LAN server, having an accounting software database 115 (as part of accounting system software (not shown)) and an invoice generation system 120 in communication with each other.

The invoice generation system 120 includes an extraction engine 125 for interrogating or querying the accounting software database 115 in relation to invoices which are desired to be sent to a customer 150. The extraction engine 125 forwards invoice information extracted from the accounting software database 115 to an invoice file creation module 130 within the invoice generation system 120. The extraction engine 125 receives invoice selection information 140 from a user of the computer 110, by which the invoices to be sent to the customer 150 are determined. Prior to extraction by the extraction engine 125, invoice data 135 is input into the accounting software database 115 through a user interface of the accounting system software.

The invoice file creation module 130 generates an invoice batch file in a comma separated value (CSV) format, using the invoice data passed on by the extraction engine 125. The data for each invoice is formatted, as described in further detail below, and concatenated in a single invoice batch file, ready for transmission to the customer 150. Once the invoice batch file is created, the invoice file creation module 130, using standard communication features of computer 110, establishes a data connection with an external SMTP server 145. Once establishment of the data connection is effected, the invoice file creation module 130 makes the invoice batch file available for uploading by the computer 110 to the SMTP server 145. The SMTP server 145, upon receipt of the invoice batch file, attaches it to an electronic mail (email) message and W:UMOHNSPECJCGMnvoing Complete Innovationdoc -9sends the email message to the customer 150.

SEmbodiments of the invention assume the existence of an accounting 0 system software application installed on the computer 110. Most commonly available PC accounting software applications track key business measures 5 relevant to the small business, such as sales, product costs, number of items sold, employee wages, billing rates etc, which are all stored in a database (such as accounting software database 115). The database is usually a normalised Srelational database that stores transaction data, client configuration records, value set data, analysis rules, trending analysis parameters, and quantitative evaluation parameters, each in a table structure. The database has a Snormalised data structure, which enables the building of data queries that facilitate data extraction. It is not uncommon for the PC accounting software application to contain a list of over 80 data tables and more than 500 key data fields within the database. Of the 500 data key fields, the extraction engine 125 only calls upon a limited number to extract the desired invoice information.

In order to extract the relevant invoice data, the extraction engine 125 queries database 115 through an open database connectivity (ODBC) driver provided with the accounting software application.

Example queries used by the extraction engine 125 to query the accounting software database 115 will now be described. The examples are set out using example data fields used by the accounting software package by MYOB. It should be understood, however, that other accounting software applications having a suitable ODBC driver may be used instead. To assist in understanding the fields referenced in the queries, reference may be made to Figures 6 and 7 and to the example CSV file provided below, corresponding to the example invoice in Figure 6.

Query 1: SELECT 1, Invoices.InvoicelD, tmplnvoices.LineNumber, tmplnvoices.ShippingMethod, tmplnvoices.Quantity, tmplnvoices.TotalGST, tmplnvoices.Memo, tmplnvoices.InvoiceDesc, tmplnvoices.TotalNetAmount, (tmplnvoices.TotalGrossAmount-tmplnvoices.TotalNetAmount) AS GST, tmplnvoices.TotalGrossAmount, Invoices.InvoiceType FROM tmplnvoices INNER JOIN Invoices ON W:UOHMSPEWCGUnvocing Complete Innovationdoc Invoices.SalelD=tmplnvoices.SalelD;

O

o Query 1 uses a created temporary file called "tmplnvoices" as well as the data table in the accounting software.

n 5 Query 1 extracts the following information from the accounting system software: Invoices.InvoicelD is a unique primary key for identifying each invoice record in the database.

0 tmplnvoices.LineNumber is an automatically generated number of one or 0 greater for each line of an invoice that has been entered that is after the first two (descriptive) lines of the invoice.

S* tmplnvoices.ShippingMethod is an MYOB field used for extracting the General Ledger code required by the customer receiving entity. In this example embodiment, this is a patch used by the extraction engine 125 to specifically facilitate extraction of relevant invoice data from MYOB.

tmplnvoices.Quantity is the amount of an item that the supplier has supplied to the customer.

tmplnvoices.TotalGST is the total goods and services tax (GST) that is required to be disclosed on a Tax Invoice. This can be omitted or varied, depending on the nature of the tax and whether local laws impose such a tax. In this example, GST is set at tmplnvoices.Memo is an MYOB field used for extracting the StoreCode of the customer. For example, where a single large customer has many stores or sites supplied by the supplier, each invoice may apply only to a single store as indicated by the StoreCode.

The INNER JOIN part of the query links the invoice table to the individual invoices lines table. The ON operator specifies the fields (i.e.

Invoices.SalelD and tmplnvoices.SalelD) that are used to join the table.

Query 2: SELECT DISTINCT 1, I1.ShipToAddress, I1.lnvoiceNumber, I1.lnvoiceDate, (SELECT TOP 1 InvoiceDesc FROM tmplnvoices 13 where 13.LineNumber=1 and 13.lnvoiceNumber=ll.InvoiceNumber) AS InvoiceDesc, (SELECT SUM(TotalNetAmount) FROM tmplnvoices where InvoiceNumber W:JOHNSPECJCG\Invoidng Complete Innovation.doc -11- 11.lnvoiceNumber) 0 AS TotalNetAmount, (SELECT SUM(TotalGrossAmount) FROM tmplnvoices 0 where InvoiceNumber=l 1 .InvoiceNumber) (SELECT SUM(TotalNetAmount) FROM 5 tmplnvoices where InvoiceNumber=ll .InvoiceNumber) AS TotalGST, (SELECT SUM(TotalGrossAmount) FROM tmplnvoices where InvoiceNumber=l .InvoiceNumber) AS TotalGrossAmount, 11.OrderReference, 0 0, I1.Memo, (SELECT TOP 1 InvoiceDesc SFROM tmplnvoices 13 where 13.LineNumber=2 and 13.lnvoiceNumber =11.lnvoiceNumber) AS FreeText, I1.StoreCode, I1.SalelD, II.lnvoiceStatus, S11.lnvoiceType FROM tmplnvoices AS I1; For query 2: The SELECT DISTINCT SQL statement is used to omit records that contain duplicate data in the fields selected for extraction. This is done to stop the extraction of invoices where both the invoice number and the invoice amount (TotalGrossAmount) are the same as invoices that already had been extracted. This forms part of the invoice extraction validation process.

The SELECT TOP 1 SQL statement is used to extract from the accounting software file the Invoice Description from the first row of the accounting software invoice. This Invoice Description forms part of the INVOICEHEADER of the EDI message.

The data for the above two SELECT statements is extracted from the created temporary file "tmplnvoices". The temporary file is created from the invoices that meet the extraction criteria for query 1.

The query also extracts the data for calculating the Goods and Services Tax("GST") for the individual items on the invoice. This is done by undertaking the following mathematical operation: TotalGrossAmount minus TotalNetAmount and labeling this TotalGST. Each of these items forms part of the respective INVOICELINE of the EDI message.

Each of the fields TotalGrossAmount, TotalNet Amount, and TotalGST are SUMMED and the summed amounts form part of the INVOICEHEADER of W:UOH"SPEWCGnvodng Complete Innvatondoc -12the EDI message.

0 The OrderReference field is extracted from the accounting software and this O is the "PurchaserOrder#" part of the INVOICEHEADER of the EDI message.

The next part of the query SELECT TOP (for Linenumber 2) extracts the information contained in line two of the accounting software invoice and makes that the FREETEXT part of the EDI message.

The extraction will only take place if there is a StoreCode, and the InvoiceStatus is "Open" (ie. not paid) and there is an InvoiceType (which is Seither "Tax Invoice" or "Adjustment Note") The use of two separate queries of the form described above is considered appropriate for querying via the ODBC of MYOB, but it should be noted that this description is by way of example only and that other accounting system software applications may be susceptible to different forms of querying to obtain the desired invoice data extraction.

The content of the CSV file generated according to the example invoice in Figure 6 is as follows: &TRANSMISSIONHEADER,"MCSV","000112233",01122003,081337 &INVOICEHEADER,"TAX INVOICE","43008496928","FRED NURK PTY LTD", "42097335683","WEYBRIDGE","00024686",01122003,"REPAIR TO THE TELEVISION", 236.36, 10.64, 247, "Refer Bart" &INVOICELINE,"00024686",1,"7415 009",1,2.36,0015,"AGE TECH",2.36,0.24,2.6 &INVOICELINE,"00024686",2,"7415 009",2,52,0015,"SUNDRIES",104,10.4,114.4 &INVOICELINE,"00024686",3,"7415 009",2.5,52,0015,"LABOUR LH",130,0,130 &FREETEXT,"00024686","REPLACE TV ASAP" &TRANSMISSIONTRAILER, 7 Figure 6 shows an example invoice, such as that generated in MYOB, for example, having a number of fields which are extracted by the extraction engine 125 according to the method 200 (described below), resulting in a CSV file of the form given above. In effect, the contents of the example invoice in Figure 6 W:UOHN\SPECJCGMInvoldng Complete Innovation.doc -13are mapped into a CSV file format according to the generalised format shown in SFigure 7. For example, the first line of the CSV file is marked by U "&TRANSMISSIONHEADER", followed by a comma and then the file format, a, which in this case is called "MCSV". After the file format and another comma, the sender code is given (corresponding to the supplier which is sending the invoice) and then the date and time, which in the example CSV file is 1 December 2003 at 8:13 and 37 seconds in the morning, all separated by Scommas. The date and time are given by the current date and time settings in computer 110.

After the transmission header, the invoice header line follows, denoted Sby "&INVOICEHEADER". In the invoice header line, the type of the invoice is listed, for example such as tax invoice or adjustment note, followed by the receiver's business number (ABN), the receiver's name, the sender's business number, the sender's name, the invoice number, the invoice date, the invoice description (ie. what the invoice relates to), the total untaxed price, the total tax applicable, the invoice total (including tax) and finally the purchase order number or reference, which in this example is just given as "Refer Bart". All of these field values are separated by commas, as with all other lines in the CSV file. The symbol denotes a new line in the CSV file.

After the invoice header are set out the invoice lines, denoted by "&INVOICELINE". Each invoice line starts with the invoice number in order to tie the invoice line to the invoice header. After the invoice number, the line number of the invoice line is given. Thus, for example invoice line number 3 will have the numeral 3 inserted on the invoice line after the invoice number. After the invoice line number, the receiver's general ledger code is included in order to facilitate invoice extraction for that customer. This corresponds to the "Ship Via" field in the example invoice at Figure 6 or the ShippingMethod field referred to in Query 1. After the general ledger code in each invoice line a quantity number is given, followed by the unit price and a receiving department code (which corresponds to the store code in the "Journal memo" field toward the bottom of the example invoice in Figure After the receiving department code in each line, there is a line item description, such as "Sundries" or "Labour", to which the quantity and unit price apply. At the end of each invoice line, the total untaxed price is given, followed by the applicable tax and the total price, including tax.

W:~UOHN!SPECJCG'Invoidng Complete Innovation.doc -14- After all of the invoice lines, there is a "&FREETEXT" line which 0 corresponds to a further descriptive field, such as "Replace TV ASAP" in the U example given.

a, The end of the invoice is denoted by "&TRANSMISSIONTRAILER" t 5 followed by the total number of lines in the CSV file for that invoice. In the example given, there are three invoice lines, one transmission header line, one invoice header line, one free text line and one transmission trailer line, totalling Sseven lines. In the example format given in Figure 7, the total number of lines is 0 14, including 10 invoice lines.

While it is believed that most of the fields extracted and contained in the Sexample format shown in Figure 7 will be appropriate for invoicing requirements in most countries, there are likely to be some differences among countries as to what information must or should be presented on an invoice. Such differences, and variations to the extraction process necessitated by those differences, are considered to be within the scope of embodiments of the invention.

Referring now to Figure 2, one embodiment of the invention relates to an invoicing method 200. The invoicing method 200 is initiated upon receipt of user input at step 205 regarding the invoices which are to be extracted from accounting software database 115. In order to select invoices for extraction, the user must select a customer, for example from a drop-down list or using a customer identifier, and must provide either an invoice number range or an invoice date range. At step 205, the user may input selection information so as to extract only a single invoice or multiple invoices for the selected customer.

Figure 4 shows an example application window 400 for use by the user to input the invoice selection information at step 205. Although in a preferred embodiment a drop-down list of customers or a customer lID input field is provided in the window 400, this is not shown.

Once the user input has been received, the selection information obtained at step 205 is used to query the accounting software database 115 at step 210 using, for example, queries of the form described above. The output of the query is received in a table format into a temporary file at step 215. The temporary file is specifically created to receive the query output and may be in the form of a simple text file or table-formatted text file.

The extraction engine 125 then proceeds to parse the temporary file at W:UOHNSPECJCGnvoildng Complete Innovation.doc step 220 in order to determine the invoice numbers of the extracted invoice data Sand these numbers are compared with a table of invoice numbers (maintained U by the invoice generation system 120) which have already been extracted. If the a, invoice numbers in the temporary file coincide with any of the invoice numbers in the stored table of previously extracted invoices, an error message is presented to the user at step 225 to notify the user that one or more of the extracted invoices has been previously extracted. The error message lists the Sduplicated invoices in the temporary file so the user knows which invoice numbers have given rise to the error message. At step 230, the extraction engine 125 removes from the temporary file the invoice data relating to any Sduplicated invoices (ie. those which had previously been extracted).

In an alternative embodiment, checking for duplicate invoice extraction may be done after receiving the user invoice selection information and before querying the databases, instead of at steps 220 to 230. In this case, the extraction engine 125 compares the invoice numbers specified by the selection information with the table of previously extracted invoice numbers and generates an error message to the user if there is at least one duplication. The extraction engine 125 may then return the user to the user input step 205 or may remove the duplicated invoice numbers from the selection information and proceed to query the database at step 210.

Referring again to the embodiment shown in Figure 2, after duplicate invoices have been removed from the invoice data and the temporary file, or if there were no duplicate invoices, the method 200 proceeds to display the contents of the temp file in the form of a batch (such as is shown by example application window 500 in Figure 5) at step 237 and the user is requested to confirm that the batch should be sent. If the user does not confirm that the batch should be sent, for example by clicking a send button on window 500, the status of the batch remains pending and the method 200 is not completed until the user elects to confirm that the batch should be sent. Once user confirmation is received at step 237, a CSV-formatted invoice batch file is created at step 240 by invoice file creation module 130. The extraction engine 125 also proceeds to record the extracted invoice numbers at step 235, minus any duplicate invoice numbers, in the table of extracted invoices along with the extraction parameters (selection information) from which the invoice batch file was generated. A batch W:UOHNSPECJCG1nvolcing Complete nnovation.doc -16record is created and stored at step 235, including the invoice numbers in the 0 batch, a batch identifier, relevant extraction parameters, the customer identifier U (or "Ship To Address" field) and date and amount of each extracted invoice in the batch. Each batch record is recorded in a separate batch table for later review.

Creation of the invoice batch file at step 240 involves rewriting the temporary file as a simple CSV text file of the form given above. Multiple Sinvoices are included in the same invoice batch file in a concatenated form, Ssuch that "&TRANSMISSIONHEAIDER" identifies the beginning of an invoice file within the CSV formatted invoice batch file.

SAfter creation of the CSV-formatted invoice batch file at step 240, the invoice file creation module 130 uses standard communication resources of the computer 110 to request and establish a connection to the external SMTP server 145, at step 245. Upon establishment of the connection, the invoice batch file is made available for upload, or is simply uploaded, to SMTP server 145 at step 250. After the invoice batch file has been uploaded to the SMTP sewer 145, there is no longer any need for the temporary file, so it is deleted at step 255. This completes the invoicing method 200 performed by the invoice generation system 120.

Although the SMTP sewer 145 is not under the control of the invoice generation system 120 or computer 110, to complete the transmission of the invoice batch file to the customer 150, the SMTP server 145 proceeds to attach the invoice batch file to an email and send it to the customer 150 at step 260.

The invoice file creation module 130 provides the destination address of the customer 150 to the SMTP sewer 145 when uploading the invoice file at step 250 or when establishing the connection at step 245. The destination address of the customer is determined by the invoice file creation module 130 according to the customer identifier provided as part of the selection information input at step 205. As part of a set up procedure performed by a user on the invoice generation system 120, the user must create a record for each customer for which invoices are generated, including the customer name, contact details and email address. Figure 3 shows an example application window 300 of the invoice generation system 120 when setting up customer details for a customer called, for example "Peter's small business". As shown in window 300, input W:UOHNSPECJCGInvoidng Complete Innovation.doc -17fields are provided for entering and storing the customer name, StoreCode, Saddress details and contact details (including email address).

U As part of the set up procedure, the user must also establish an identification record for the supplier which is sending the invoices. This identification record should have the name of the supplier and its email address, together with any further information, such as its business number or contact details, which the customer may wish to receive with the invoices. When the customer's destination address is being uploaded to the SMTP server along with the invoice batch file, the email address, name and other information associated with the supplier is also uploaded to the SMTP server for 0transmission with the email.

Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown an example application window 500 relating to a review function enabled by the invoice generation system 120.

The review function allows the user to review a batch of invoices generated during method 200 or previously extracted by the invoice generation system 120, these invoices having been recorded at step 235 of method 200. As shown in window 500, the extraction parameters pertaining to the batch under review are displayed, together with a list of the invoices contained in the batch. The list of invoices is shown with the shipping address of the customer, the date of the invoice, the invoice number and the amount of the invoice, for each invoice in the batch.

The extraction parameters shown in the batch review window 500 include the selection information entered by the user at step 205 (less any duplicated invoices), the status of the batch (ie. whether transmitted to the customer or pending transmission) and summed values, such as the number of invoices and the total value of the amounts of the invoices. In order to present this information in window 500 (as a separate action to method 200), the invoice generation system 120 looks up the batch table in response to batch selection criteria received from the user when requesting to review a batch, such as by selecting from a drop-down list or by specifying an invoice contained in the batch.

While the preceding description relates to preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that it is specifically contemplated for features of one embodiment to be combined with features of any other described W:UOHfSPECJCGQinmvidn Complete Innovation.doc -18embodiment, to the extent that this would be workable. Further, while the 0 embodiments have been described in relation to the accounting system o software provided by MYOB for small businesses, this has been by way of example only, and the invention may be used with other suitable accounting 5 system software.

Some modifications and/or enhancements to certain features of 0 embodiments of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art 0 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

W:LOHN\SPECJCGUnvoldng Complete Innovation.doc

Claims (3)

1. 2. A method of automatically generating and transmitting an invoice from a supplier to a customer according to claim 1 wherein, when establishing the connection, an electronic mail address of the customer, determined from the selection information, is forwarded to the remote server.
2. 3. A method of automatically generating and transmitting an invoice from a supplier to a customer according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the step of extracting includes querying the database to extract the invoice data and creating a temporary file containing the extracted invoice data, and the method further includes: checking whether one or more invoices for which invoice data is extracted has previously been extracted; if one or more of the extracted invoices has been previously extracted, notifying a user and removing from the temporary file invoice data corresponding to the previously extracted one or more invoices; recording which invoices are specified in the temporary file prior to creation of the invoice file; and after the step of creating, deleting the temporary file.
3. 4. A system for invoicing, including: an extraction engine for extracting invoice data corresponding to selected invoice records from a database according to selection information; and W:UOHNSPECJCGUnvoicing Complete Innovation.doc 20 a transmission engine for creating an invoice file including the invoice O data and for uploading the invoice file to a remote server for transmission with 0 an electronic mail message to a destination address. S 5 5. A system for invoicing according to claim 4 wherein the extraction engine includes a software component for creating a temporary file containing the extracted invoice data, checking whether invoices have previously been 0 extracted, removing from the temporary file invoice data for previously extracted 0 invoices, and recording which invoices are specified in the temporary file prior to creation of the invoice file. Dated: 3 December 2005 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent Attorneys for: SMALL BUSINESS CREATIVE SOLUTIONS PTY LTD W:UOHNMSPECJCG\nvoicng Complete Innovation.doc