Abby: track instalment payments without losing sight of the balance

Analysis of official documentation, with no testing on a paid account.

This manual was prepared on the basis of the official aids consulted the 22 October 2026. It suits an independent who wants to follow several deadlines of the same mission.

Prepare the correct estimate before the first deposit

The creation of the estimate starts in Billing > Documents > Quote. The document can be attached to a client or project. Check the services, quantities, prices, dates and payment information before making it accept.

If your mission has multiple deliverables, describe the elements clearly enough to track what is included in the total. The same amount can cover very different benefits. Also note the agreed deadlines, without confusing the date of issue of the quote, the validity of the offer and the expected date of payment.

The electronic signature built into quotations has its own plan conditions in the help documentation consulted. Do not assume that every plan allowing deposits includes the same signature quota. If you obtain agreement another way, keep evidence of it and record a status that reflects what actually happened.

Create each deposit from the signed quote

Aid instalment and instalment payment explains that the action starts from a signed quote, rather than an invoice. Under Other actions, choose Create a deposit, then an amount or percentage. The document includes the quote reference.

Collect for each maturity the amount requested and separately the amount received. A completed or sent document does not attest to a receipt. If a customer announces a transfer, return the transaction before considering the due date. This distinction avoids wrongly reducing the amount still due in your cash flow tracking.

An example with three deadlines

Simulation: a mission agreed for 2 400 € to be settled. A first down payment of 600 € is expected at startup, a second of 900 € at an intermediate milestone. If both have been paid, the cashed amount reaches 1 500 € and the expected supplement is 900 €. This is an arithmetical illustration, with no hypothesis about the VAT or the claimant's status.

If the customer has paid only 500 € on the first deposit, keep the 100 € deviation visible. The deduction of deposit documents in the balance and the list of settlements are two views to be reconciled. Do not conclude that the project is fully paid by looking only at the last document.

Finish with the final invoice of the same quote

The Abby procedure specifically requires that the last invoice not be a new instalment. Since the initial estimate, other actions allow to create the final invoice. The Relations tab helps to find related invoices. Check their totals and the remainder to be paid before finalisation.

Also check the references sent to the customer so they can identify the correct instalment. For an ongoing engagement, wording such as “second deposit for the relevant quote”, accompanied by the references, is more precise than a new request with no apparent connection. Keep payment confirmations in the same project file.

Process a correction without deleting the history

If a completed invoice is incorrect or the mission is cancelled, seemodification and cancellation aid. It distinguishes drafts from finalised documents and describes when to use a credit note. Cancellation may be irreversible: check with your accounting contact which documents and payments need correction.

Before using Abby across your work, take a representative real payment schedule and compare it with the features included in your plan. The decision must cover the entire cycle, from agreement to final payment, with a way to retrieve the history that another person can understand.