Features Below Available To: ✅ Grow Plan ✅ Track Plan ❌ Free Plan
With the Bill Request feature, you can send a bill request (as well as set up future reminders), and the consultant can simply reply with their invoice attached. We'll automatically convert that invoice into a bill for you to review and approve.
A bill request will also serve as an invitation to collaborate on the project. If the consultant accepts, they will be able to create a free collaboration account the same way as if they were sent a collaboration invite directly. This will give them limited access to collaborative projects.
📚 Learn more about inviting consultants to collaborate in Monograph.
🚨 To send a Bill Request, users must have Edit Project access and Manage Consultants or Create Bill permissions depending on the page or workflow. See below for more details.
How It Works
A bill request can be initiated for a consultant when uploading a bill on behalf of a that consultant, as well as in other areas throughout the Monograph. This will allow them to either sign up for a free account or give them the opportunity to reply directly to the email to provide you with the copy of their consultant bill.
When Uploading a Bill
When uploading a bill on behalf of a consultant, if the consultant hasn’t been invited yet, you’ll be prompted to send a bill request during the upload process.
Here, you can choose the contact and optionally schedule monthly bill reminders. After submitting the bill that was uploaded on the consultant's behalf, we’ll send the invite and follow-up reminders (if enabled). This is a great way to ensure ongoing billing collaboration even if you're uploading the first invoice yourself.
🚨 Users with "Create invoices" permissions enabled can upload bills on behalf of consultants.
From the Bill Page
On the Bills page, a Request Bill button will be shown in the upper right corner if you have the proper permissions.
Select the project from the Project dropdown and select the consultant company's contact from the Send request to dropdown. If the contact's email address is missing, use the + Add email button to add the email that should be used.
If a separate bill reminder already exists for the consultant, we’ll send a one-time reminder immediately. If no reminder is scheduled, you can select the "Add monthly bill reminder for future months" option to setup monthly reminders.
Once finished, click Send request (or Save and send if setting up reminders). The consultant will then receive an email and can reply with their invoice attached.
Project Overview Page
In the Consultants card, depending on the consultant’s invite status, you’ll see different actions:
✅ Checkmark: Consultant has accepted a prior invite.
📩 Resend icon: Consultant was invited but hasn’t accepted.
✉️ Invite icon: No invite has been sent.
Based on the consultant's current invite status, the options for Request bill, Add bill reminder, or Manage bill reminder will appear.
Clicking on Add bill reminder or Manage bill reminder will open the settings for setting up the consultant's bill reminder. Clicking on Request bill will trigger the email asking them to upload their invoice or reply to attach the PDF.
🚨 Users with "Edit Project" permissions for the project can see and use the "Add bill reminder" and "Request bill" buttons in the Consultants card.
Other Areas to Request Bills
In addition to the workflows above, consultant bill requests can also be triggered in the following areas:
Project Details page - click on the ellipses next to the consultant and select "Request bill".
Consultant Directory - click on the consultant to open their Details page and select the Projects tab. Then, click on the ellipses next to the project and select "Request bill".
Project Budget > Consultant Fees - will be triggered automatically when inviting a consultant or resending an invite to a consultant.
Create deliverable - will be triggered automatically when assigning a deliverable to a consultant.
What Your Consultant Sees
Your consultant will receive an email request for their invoice. They don’t need a Monograph account to respond - they can simply reply with the invoice attached and it will be turned into a bill in your account.
In their email, we'll also include a prompt encouraging them to create a free Monograph account so that they can collaborate with your firm on the project.
If they already have a Monograph account (whether free or paid), they'll still have the option to reply directly to the email to upload their bill, but they will not be prompted to sign up for an account.
Reviewing & Paying Consultant Bills
After a consultant has uploaded their bill, you will receive a notification that their bill is ready to review. From here, you will accept the bill (or reject it and ask for revisions) and move on to paying the consultant when you're ready.
Please refer to the Reviewing & Paying Consultant Bills article for more information.