Recurring Charges

Automate regular charges and discounts that apply repeatedly over time, eliminating manual entry and missed billings.

🎥 Video Tutorial

Learn how to set up charges that automatically repeat on a schedule.

What are Recurring Charges?

Recurring Charges automate the billing of regular fees that repeat on a predictable schedule. Consider the common scenarios: a client pays you €500 monthly for software license fees, or €10,000 annually for maintenance and support, or perhaps €2,000 each month as a retainer for ongoing advisory services. Without automation, someone needs to remember to create these charges every single period - setting calendar reminders, manually adding the charge to the system each month, and hoping nothing gets forgotten during busy periods or when staff are on vacation.

Recurring Charges eliminate this manual burden. You define the charge once with all its details - what it's called, how much it costs, how often it repeats, and when it should stop. Hidma then handles the rest, automatically creating the charges on schedule without any ongoing intervention from you. Whether it's monthly subscription services, annual maintenance fees, regular client discounts, or recurring administrative charges, the pattern is the same: set it up once, then let automation handle the repetitive work.

Why Use Recurring Charges?

The manual approach to recurring billing creates several problems. You need to set up reminders for yourself or your team to create charges at the right time. Even with reminders, there's risk of forgetting - someone goes on vacation, a busy month means things slip through the cracks, or a reminder gets dismissed and forgotten. Every billing cycle requires manual work, and timing becomes inconsistent when humans are involved. Did you create March's retainer charge on the 1st or the 5th? Was it exactly €1,000 or did someone accidentally type €1,100? These small variations accumulate into confusion and potential billing errors.

Recurring Charges transform this fragile process into a reliable system. You configure the charge once with precise specifications, then Hidma creates it automatically on exactly the right day, for exactly the right amount, every single time. You never miss a recurring billing because the system doesn't forget. The timing stays consistent - if it's set for the first of each month, that's when it happens, month after month. When charges are created, you can set up notifications so the relevant people know it happened, but nobody needs to remember to do it manually. The administrative burden drops dramatically because you've converted repetitive monthly work into one-time setup work.

Key Concepts

Recurring Charge (Template)

Think of a recurring charge as the blueprint or template that defines what should repeat. It contains the definition: this is a "Monthly Retainer Fee" for €1,000 that should be created monthly on the first of each month, and it should stop after twelve occurrences. The recurring charge itself doesn't appear on any client bills - it's purely the instruction set telling Hidma how to create the actual billable charges.

Generated Charges (Instances)

The generated charges are the real, billable items that the recurring charge creates automatically. Using our monthly retainer example, on October 1st, 2024, Hidma creates a €1,000 charge. On November 1st, another €1,000 charge appears. On December 1st, yet another. These generated charges are what you actually add to client bills. They're regular charges in every way - you can edit them, delete them, reassign them to different projects, or modify their amounts if needed. The recurring charge is the factory that produces them, but the generated charges are the products that get used in billing.

Charges on Clients vs. Projects

A significant enhancement in Hidma is the ability to create recurring charges on clients directly, not just on specific projects. Understanding when to use each approach helps you structure your recurring billing more effectively.

Project-Level Charges

The traditional approach attaches charges to specific projects. This makes sense when a charge truly belongs to one project - perhaps a "Project XYZ Setup Fee" or ongoing costs specifically tied to that project's scope. If you're billing a monthly fee for maintenance work that's all contained within the "2024 Website Maintenance" project, keeping the charge at the project level creates a clean association. When you look at the project, you see all its costs including the recurring charges.

Client-Level Charges

Client-level charges solve a common problem: what happens when a charge applies to a client generally rather than a specific project? Consider an annual software license fee of €1,200 that the client pays you every January. In 2024, you might bill it on the "Q1 2024 Operations" project. In 2025, that project is closed and you're now working on a "2025 Support Contract" project. If the recurring charge was attached to the 2024 project, you'd need to delete it and recreate it on the 2025 project. That's administrative overhead and risks forgetting to make the change.

Client-level charges eliminate this hassle. You create the annual license fee charge directly on the client, not tied to any particular project. When January comes around each year, the charge is created and sits at the client level. When you go to bill, you choose which project to associate that charge with at billing time. This year it goes on one project, next year on a different project, but the recurring charge itself never needs updating. It works perfectly for retainers that cover various projects, client-wide discounts that should apply regardless of which project you're billing, or any fee that's about the client relationship rather than a specific piece of work.

Creating a Recurring Charge

Where to Create

You can create recurring charges from three places:

1. Client Dashboard - Create charge on client
2. Project Dashboard - Create charge on project
3. Billing Page - Create while building a bill

Step-by-Step: Basic Recurring Charge

1. Navigate to the Client Profile (or project)
2. Go to the Charges tab/section
3. Click "Add New Charge"
4. Fill in basic details:
   • Title: "License Fees", "Monthly Retainer", etc.
   • Amount: €100, $50, etc.
   • Type: Charge (increases bill) or Discount (reduces bill)
   • Apply to: Client or Project
5. Enable Recurrence:
   • Toggle "Recurring" to ON
6. Choose Simple Recurrence:
   • Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly
   • Example: "Monthly"
7. Set Start Date: When first charge should be created
8. Click Save

Result: Hidma will now create a charge automatically every month starting from the start date.

Step-by-Step: Custom Recurring Charge

For more control over when and how charges recur:

1. Follow steps 1-5 above
2. Instead of Simple Recurrence, click "Custom Recurrence"
3. Configure advanced options:

Frequency:

• Repeat every: [X] [days/weeks/months/years]
• Example: "Every 2 months" or "Every 3 weeks"

Application Day:

• First day of period (simplest)
• Specific weekday: "First Monday", "Second Tuesday", "Last Friday"
• Specific date: "15th of the month"

End Condition: Choose one:

• Never - Continues perpetually
• After X occurrences - Stops after specific number (e.g., "After 12 occurrences")
• On specific date - Stops on that date

4. Review the preview showing when charges will be created
5. Click Save

Backdated Charges

If you set a start date in the past, Hidma will automatically create all charges that should have been created between that date and today. You'll see a warning explaining this.

Example Backdated Scenario:

• Today: October 27, 2024
• Start date: July 1, 2024
• Frequency: Monthly on the 1st
• Result: Charges automatically created for July 1, August 1, September 1, October 1

Managing Recurring Charges

Viewing Recurring Charges

In Client Dashboard:

• Go to client profile
• View Charges table
• Recurring charges show a recurring icon 🔄
• Hover/click to see recurrence details: "Every month on the 1st for 5 times"

Generated Charges:

• Below the recurring charge, you'll see individual charges it has created
• These are the actual billable items

Editing Recurring Charges

To modify the recurrence settings:

1. Navigate to the recurring charge
2. Click Edit
3. Modify settings:
   • Change frequency
   • Adjust amount
   • Update end date/occurrences
   • Change description
4. Click Save

Note: Changes apply to future charges only. Already-generated charges remain as they were.

Pausing/Deactivating Recurring Charges

If you need to stop a recurring charge before it completes:

1. Select the recurring charge
2. Click "End Recurrence" or "Deactivate"
3. Confirm the action

Result:

• Status changes to "Deactivated"
• No more charges will be automatically created
• Existing generated charges remain and can still be billed

Use Cases:

• Client cancels service mid-contract
• Temporary suspension of fees
• Project ends earlier than expected

Reactivating a Recurring Charge

If you deactivated by mistake or circumstances change:

1. Find the deactivated recurring charge
2. Click "Reactivate" or "Resume"
3. It will resume creating charges according to its schedule

Generated Charges

Understanding Generated Charges

Each time the recurrence schedule triggers, Hidma creates a generated charge:

• Appears as a regular charge (not recurring)
• Has the same title and amount as the recurring charge
• Applied to the client or project
• Can be added to bills like any charge
• Can be edited or deleted independently

Managing Generated Charges

Reassigning to Projects:

Client-level charges can be assigned to specific projects when needed:

1. Open the generated charge
2. Click "Assign to Project"
3. Select project
4. Save

Why? You might want October's license fee on "Project A" but November's on "Project B".

Editing:

• Change amount for this instance only
• Modify description
• Adjust tax rates

Deleting:

• Remove a generated charge if it was created in error
• Doesn't affect the recurring charge or other generated charges

Billing Recurring Charges

Client-Level Charges in Billing View

When you go to create a bill, client-level charges appear differently:

Normal Project View:

• Client: "ABC Company"
• Projects listed with unbilled work:
  • Project A: €5,000
  • Project B: €3,000

With Client Charges:

• Client: "ABC Company" (no project)
  • License Fees: €1,200 unbilled charges
• Projects:
  • Project A: €5,000
  • Project B: €3,000

The client-level charges show as a separate entry without a project name.

Billing Client-Level Charges

Option 1: Assign to Project First

1. In the billing view, find the client charge entry
2. Click "Add to Project"
3. Select which project to associate it with
4. The charge now appears under that project
5. Add to bill along with project work

Option 2: Bill Directly

1. Click on the client charge entry (no project)
2. Click "Add to Bill"
3. You'll be prompted to select a project
4. Choose project and continue
5. Charge is added to that project's bill section

Option 3: Filter View

Use the "Show all unbilled work" filter to see both:

• Charges linked to the selected project
• Charges not linked (client-level)

This gives flexibility to include or exclude client charges.

Notifications

Configuring Charge Notifications

When recurring charges are created, Hidma can notify relevant people.

To Configure:

1. Go to Settings > Communication Settings
2. Click "Notifications"
3. Find "Charges" section
4. Configure:
   • Who gets notified: User who created it, specific users, teams, groups
   • How they're notified: In-app, email, or both
5. Save settings

Default: Only the user who created the recurring charge receives notifications.

Recommended: Notify the billing team or account managers so they know charges were created and need to be billed.

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Monthly Retainer Fee

Scenario: Client pays €5,000/month retainer covering various activities

1. Go to client profile
2. Add new charge: "Monthly Retainer"
3. Amount: €5,000
4. Type: Charge
5. Apply to: Client (covers multiple projects)
6. Enable recurrence: Monthly on 1st
7. Start: Beginning of next month
8. End: Never (ongoing)
9. Save

Result: Every month on the 1st, a €5,000 charge is created automatically

Workflow 2: Annual License Fee (5 Years)

Scenario: Software license fee of €1,200/year for 5 years

1. Go to client profile
2. Add charge: "Software License - Annual"
3. Amount: €1,200
4. Type: Charge
5. Enable recurrence: Custom
   • Every 1 year
   • On first day of period
   • After 5 occurrences
6. Start date: January 1, 2025
7. Save

Result: Charges created automatically on Jan 1 for 5 consecutive years

Workflow 3: Pausing Mid-Contract

Scenario: Client suspends service after 6 months of 12-month contract

1. Go to client profile
2. Find the recurring charge
3. Click "End Recurrence"
4. Confirm

Result: No more charges created; existing 6 charges remain for billing

Workflow 4: Billing Client-Level Recurring Charge

Scenario: October's license fee needs to be billed on Project Q4-2024

1. Go to Bills > Create Bill
2. Select client
3. See "License Fees" entry (no project)
4. Click "Add to Bill"
5. Select project: "Q4-2024"
6. Continue building bill
7. Save and invoice

Result: License fee appears on bill for Project Q4-2024

Advanced Tips

Dealing with Start Dates in the Past

Problem: You're setting up recurring charges in October, but they should have started in July.

Solution:

1. Set start date to July 1
2. Hidma warns you it will create charges for July, August, September
3. Confirm
4. All backdated charges are created immediately
5. You can bill them retroactively or mark them appropriately

Varying Amounts

Problem: License fee increases each year

Solution:

• Option A: Create separate recurring charges for each price point
• Option B: Let it generate, then manually edit generated charges for future years
• Option C: End current recurrence when price changes, start new one

Client vs. Project Decision

Use Client-Level When:

• Fee applies across all client work
• Project might change each billing cycle
• It's a client-wide agreement
• You want flexibility in which project to bill

Use Project-Level When:

• Fee is specific to that project
• Project won't change
• You want automatic association with project
• Clearer tracking per project

Troubleshooting

Problem: Charges not being created

Possible Causes:

• Recurrence is deactivated
• End condition already reached
• Start date is in the future
• System error

Solution: Check recurrence status, review settings, contact support if needed

Problem: Too many charges created

Cause: Start date set too far in the past Solution: Delete unwanted generated charges individually; they won't regenerate

Problem: Can't find client charges when billing

Cause: Looking only at project-specific work Solution: Look for client entry (no project name) in billing view, or use "Show all unbilled work"

Problem: Want to change amount for one occurrence only

Solution:

1. Don't edit the recurring charge (affects all future)
2. Find the specific generated charge for that month
3. Edit that individual charge
4. Change amount
5. Save

Related Topics

• Charges and Discounts - One-time charges
• Creating Bills - Adding charges to invoices
• Client Management - Client profiles and settings
• Project Management - Project-specific charges
• Notifications - Configuring alerts

---

Need Help?

Recurring charges require appropriate permissions. Contact your administrator if you don't see the option to create recurring charges in the client or project sections.