[hackerspaces] Cash flow?

[dosman]

Greetings,

Starting last month I setup an automated invoicing system for our space using Simple Invoices (why didn't I find seltzer sooner??!! Looking to try that out soon). It's in begger-ware status, the maintainers will happily work on more features for cash, but it's also in GitHub so if someone wants to fix some of the shortcomings, by all means go ahead. It's web based, creates recurring invoices for your members, auto-updates when members pay via PayPal, and lets members check their balances without having to bother the treasurer. It has some notable shortcomings, but it works well enough that it has already made our lives easier. I've got some notes on customizations I've made to it on our wiki.

Drawbacks: it does take some hacking to make it work right. Notably, if you are not comfortable with phpmyadmin or a mysql client you shouldn't try this. Features it lacks: can't delete anything except invoices from within the app (yes some say this is a feature but my point: first thing you do after install is use phpmyadmin to remove the sample data - and removing a recurring invoice isn't hard using phpmyadmin, but it is much harder than it should be). Also the bigger issue is that it can't tell the user if they have a credit balance in the invoice (it does properly show this in the reports though). This is a problem when someone pays ahead, the recurring invoice only shows they owe another months dues and says nothing about what their current balance is (they should owe nothing if their credit balance is equal or greater than the recurring amount being invoiced).

Otherwise, it happily sends out monthly invoices, automatically records paypal payments, and lets member check their current balances without manual intervention. That's about half of the treasurers work right there.

http://www.bloominglabs.org/index.php/Simple_Invoices

Thanks,
-dosman