As a real estate association staff member, you may wish to create invoices for brokers or agents based on their use or misuse of the MLS for a given time period by importing a file provided by your MLS or listing checker service. 

 

NOTE: the "Create Invoices from Import" feature requires a subscription to the Data Import Module. Please contact the Account Management Team with inquiries about the Data Import Module.

 

Chrome Browser Settings

If you are using Chrome as your browser, you may need to adjust your browser settings. The Flatfile importer may not work if the "Block third-party cookies and site data" checkbox is set. To find the setting, open Chrome settings, type "third" in the search box, click the link in the "Cookies and other site settings" section, and look for the "Block third-party cookies" option. Either select a less-restrictive option, or add your GrowthZone URL (everything after "https://" and up to the first "/", as shown below) to the "Sites that can always use cookies" section (on a Mac this may be called "Manage Exceptions").

 

 

File Requirements:

• CSV or XLSX format
• Header row with column names
• Required columns:
  • FirstName
  • LastName
  • Unique Identifier
    This is needs to be an MLS ID, the NRDS Member ID, or the GrowthZone ContactID.
  • LineItem Description
    This will print on the invoice and describe what the charge is for.
  • LineItem Amount
    This column needs to be formatted as a number and NOT currency or accounting.

To Create Invoices from an Imported File:

1. Go to Setup -> Data Tools -> Create Invoices from File.
    

   

2. Click the Import Data button.
    

   

3. The Flatfile importer will open.
    

   

4. Either drag and drop the file into the importer window, or use the "Select File" button to browse to the file's location.
5. The FlatFile importer will prompt you to select your header row. Select the appropriate row number to the left of the row (if needed) and click Continue.
    

   

6. If needed, select the appropriate column mappings. In this example, the importer did not immediately recognize my "LineItem Desc" row name:
    

   

   
   So I pointed the column to the FlatFile recognized field. Hovering over the template field will display the data preview of the field contents:
    

   

   
   Click Continue.
7. Review the data of your import. If there are errors in the data (such as a mis-formatted field), you may need to cancel out, correct your spreadsheet, and start the process over.
    

   

   
   Click "Import X records" to initiate the import.
8. When complete, FlatFile will display a success message.
    

   

   
   Click Submit to complete the import.
9. The Edit Complete Import Invoices Options window will display. Be sure to map the fee item on the invoice import file to an existing fee item in your database!
    

   

   
   Make any other adjustments to the options as your preference for these invoices and click Done to create the invoices.

 

You will see a green success message at the top right, followed by a blue completion message. (If you are creating a large number of invoices, the blue message may take a while to appear.) The new invoices will appear in each contact record, the Pending Delivery tab (depending on what preferences were selected for delivery in the Edit Complete Import Invoices Options window), and the Sales/Invoices tab, just as any other invoice.

Contact Record: 

 

 

Pending Delivery:

 

 

Sales/Invoices tab:

 

 

Deliver the invoices either from the Pending Delivery tab or the Sales/Invoices tab as is your preference.