How can I group certain invoices together for my client?

Summary: How a client's work gets split across invoices is controlled by a few settings on the client (not on each invoice). You choose whether multiple assignments share one invoice or each gets its own, and — on top of that — whether the work is further split by purchase order or by work location. There's also period-based splitting (handled by Ascen for weekly clients) and, for unusual cases, fully custom grouping. This article walks through each option.

The two decisions that drive grouping

Every client's invoicing comes down to two independent choices you make under Clients → Edit Client:

1. Do multiple assignments share an invoice, or does each get its own?
This is the Multiple Assignments Per Invoice toggle.
- On (the default): assignments are combined — a client can receive one invoice covering many people.
- Off: one assignment per invoice — every assignment bills separately.

2. Should the work be split into groups?
On top of the choice above, you can further break the work out by purchase order or by work location (see below). If you don't turn either of these on, no extra split happens — the work groups only by assignment.

Combining those two choices is what produces the actual behavior. For example, "Multiple Assignments Per Invoice" on + "Group by PO" on means: everything with the same PO lands together on one invoice, and different POs go on separate invoices.

Grouping by Purchase Order (PO)

Turn on Group Invoices by PO on the client. Then give assignments a purchase order — timesheets and expenses that share the same PO number are invoiced together, and each distinct PO becomes its own invoice.

Example: you have 3 assignments and want the 2 "night shift" jobs invoiced separately. Put the PO "night shift" on those two assignments; they'll invoice together, and the third bills on its own.

For where PO numbers live and how to set them, see Where can I add a purchase order to assignments or invoices?. If you want a PO to be mandatory before an assignment can be created, ask us to enable PO Required for the client.

Grouping by Work Location

Turn on Group Invoices by Work Location on the client. Timesheets and expenses tied to the same work location are invoiced together, and each location becomes its own invoice — useful when a single client has several sites that each want their own bill.

If you also want the site's name and address printed on the invoice PDF, enable Show Work Location Info on Invoices (this requires work-location grouping to be on).

One important limit: you can group by PO or by work location, but not both at the same time on the same client. Pick the one that matches how the client wants to receive invoices.

Grouping by period

For clients billed weekly, work can also be split so each pay period invoices separately (rather than rolling multiple weeks onto one invoice). This is the Group Invoices by Period setting. It only applies to weekly billing frequency, and it's managed by Ascen — if you want a client's weeks kept on separate invoices (or combined), email support@ascen.com and we'll set it.

Custom / one-off grouping

For situations none of the toggles above cover — for example, a client that wants a specific subset of assignments carved onto their own invoice for a reason that isn't a PO or a location — Ascen can apply a custom grouping to the underlying transactions. This is a manual, per-case setup; email support@ascen.com describing which assignments or timesheets should invoice together and we'll configure it.

Quick reference

Grouping settings change future invoices, not ones already generated. Questions, or want us to change a client's setup? Email support@ascen.com.

Related articles

• Where can I add a purchase order to assignments or invoices?

• When do you invoice clients?

• How do I know when invoices are paid?