The quick answer
Select Group Invoices on the customer's Financial subtab and save. New sales orders for that customer usually open with For Invoice Grouping already selected (check it, and select it if not), and the invoices you bill from them carry it, showing Open - Ungrouped. Then open Transactions > Sales > Group Invoices, filter to the customer, select the invoices and click Submit. Refresh Process Status until it reads Complete with no errors, open the group from Processed Records, and check that each invoice now reads Open - Grouped.
This walkthrough turns on grouping for Northstar Equipment, bills two service orders into INV-73142 (240.00) and INV-73143 (360.00), and combines them into invoice group IG-5024. The screenshots use sample data and fictional names.
Before you start
The Invoice Groups feature has to be on: Setup > Company > Enable Features, Transactions subtab, Invoice Groups under Billing. That's a one-time admin step and isn't shown here. Try it in a sandbox first if you can. You'll also need access to customers, sales orders, invoices and Group Invoices.
Turn on the customer setting before you create the orders. It applies to new transactions and doesn't go back and mark invoices that already exist. Invoices only land in the same group when they match on customer, subsidiary, currency, terms, billing address and account. Custom addresses aren't supported, and one group holds at most 100 invoices; a bigger submission makes more than one group.
01 · Turn on Group Invoices for the customer
Open the customer and click the Financial subtab. Here Group Invoices, under Account Information, is clear, so this customer gets a separate invoice for every order. Click Edit, select Group Invoices and click Save. The Confirmation banner appears and the box stays selected.
02 · Enter a sales order
Go to Transactions > Sales > Enter Sales Orders and pick the customer. For Invoice Grouping comes up already selected, carried over from the customer setting. Forms, workflows and scripts can change that default in some accounts, so check the box, and select it if it's clear.
On the Items subtab, add a Service Retainer line for 240.00 and click Save. A service line needs no fulfillment, and nothing else in this account holds it up, so SO-4412 saves as Pending Billing. Approvals, billing schedules or Advanced Shipping could put it in a different status first.
03 · Bill the order
On SO-4412, click Bill. The new invoice carries For Invoice Grouping from the order. Click Save.
INV-73142 saves as Open - Ungrouped for 240.00. It's eligible but not in a group yet: Grouped To is empty, and Unmark for Grouping is there if you want to keep this one out.
04 · Do the same for the second order
Enter a second sales order for Northstar Equipment, confirm For Invoice Grouping is selected, add a Service Retainer line at 360.00 and save SO-4413. Click Bill and save. INV-73143 is Open - Ungrouped for 360.00.
05 · Group the invoices
Open Transactions > Sales > Group Invoices and set Customer to Northstar Equipment. Both invoices are listed with the orders they came from, and both show Group Indicator 1, NetSuite's marker that they fall in the same grouping set. Leave Grouped by PO # clear unless you want the purchase-order number to split groups.
Select Group on both rows and click Submit. NetSuite opens Process Status with the submission at Not Started. Click Refresh until it reads Complete, 100.0% and 0 Errors. Submit only queues the job, and a finished job can still list errors, so check the count before you move on.
06 · Check the invoice group
Click Complete, then the Invoice Group #IG-5024 link on Processed Records. The Summary shows Total Amount and Amount Due of 600.00, the 240.00 and 360.00 invoices added together, with Amount Paid 0.00. There's no tax, discount or payment in this example; any of those would change the numbers.
The Details subtab lists each invoice as a main line with its item line underneath.
Open INV-73142 from the Details grid. It now reads Open - Grouped, Grouped To links to IG-5024, and Remove From Group has replaced Unmark for Grouping. The invoice total hasn't changed. Grouping doesn't pay anything, and the group has no GL impact of its own; the invoices are still the receivables.
Check the result
- Process Status reads Complete, 100.0%, 0 Errors.
- The invoice group Summary shows Total Amount and Amount Due of 600.00 and Amount Paid 0.00.
- Each member invoice is Open - Grouped with Grouped To IG-5024.
Common questions
Why isn't my invoice showing on Group Invoices?
Check three things. The customer needs Group Invoices selected on the Financial subtab, the invoice needs For Invoice Grouping (it usually comes from the sales order), and it should read Open - Ungrouped. If all three look right, check the Customer filter and the invoice date against Invoice Date On or Before.
What about invoices created before I turned on Group Invoices?
The customer setting only affects transactions created after you turn it on. Invoices that already exist won't show up on Group Invoices on their own.
Does clicking Submit create the group?
No. Submit queues a background job. Refresh Process Status until the row reads Complete and check the error count, then click Complete to reach Processed Records and the new group.
Can I take an invoice back out of a group?
Yes. Use Remove From Group on the invoice group's Details subtab or on the invoice itself. The invoice goes back to being ungrouped.
Can the customer pay the group instead of each invoice?
Yes. The invoice group has an Accept Payment button, and the payment is applied to the invoices inside it. The group has no GL impact of its own; the invoices are still the receivables.
What if I select more than 100 invoices?
One group holds at most 100 invoices. If you submit more than that, NetSuite splits them into more than one group.
What does Grouped by PO # do?
It adds the purchase order number to the grouping rules, so invoices with different PO numbers end up in different groups. Check the Group Indicator column after you change it, and select invoices that share an indicator.