Retainers
Studiometry 6.1 includes new Retainer capabilities. This allows you to bill your Clients beforehand and track the amount of money in their account. This is a common practice in law fields.

A sample Retainer screen for a Client.

Setup
To use a Retainer with a Client, select the Client in the main window and navigate to the Retainer tab. If your employee settings limit Retainer capabilities from you then you may not be able to view the tab.

Once within the Retainer tab, check the "Use Retainer for this Client" checkbox to enable Retainer capabilities for the Client. You can then enter a Starting Balance and a Desired Max. The Desired Maximum is the amount you'd like to maintain in the Retainer, which is useful if you'd like to generate Invoices later billing the Client to replenish the Retainer.

Once your Starting Balance and Desired Max are entered, you can Add Money to the Retainer and use the Retainer to pay Invoices.

Adding Money to the Retainer
Money can be added to the Retainer in two ways, the first of which is via Payments. When creating a Payment for a Client that has Retainer capabilities enabled you will have the option in the Payment window to "Apply To Retainer." If you select this option, the amount applied to the Retainer will be included in the calculation for the Retainer balance. A Payment that is applied to an Invoice cannot be Applied to the Retainer, and vice versa.

The second way to add money to the Retainer is via Custom Adjustments. You can add and subtract money from the Retainer in the main window > Retainer tab by pressing the plus (+) button underneath the list of Retainer history. This will open the Edit Custom Retainer Adjustment window. To add money to the Retainer, enter a positive number into the Amount field; to subtract money from the Retainer enter a negative number into the Amount field.

Using the Retainer
If there is money in the Retainer and the Retainer is enabled for a Client, Studiometry will automatically apply Invoices to the Retainer. When you create a new Invoice, Studiometry will automatically apply any available Retainer funds to the Invoice. This can be viewed when editing an Invoice in the Payments tab.

Invoices can be paid from Payments, Retainers, or a mixture of both. Studiometry will automatically calculate and apply any Retainer funds to the Invoice. If the Invoice total is more than the amount available from the Retainer the Invoice's amount due will simply be the remainder. You can then send out the Invoice to the Client to bill for the remaining total. Invoices can now show amount paid, amount paid via Payments, and amount paid from the Retainer. More information is available in the Getting Retainer Information Into Invoices/Reports section below.

If you have a previously created Invoice and more Retainer funds have become available, editing the Invoice will bring up a dialog asking if you'd like to apply additional Retainer funds to the Invoice.

Getting Retainer Information Into Invoices/Reports
Several new Invoices/Report tags have been added to Studiometry 6.1 to help you use the new Retainer capabilities.

- ClientRetainerBalance
The amount currently available in the Client's Retainer.

- InvoiceAmountTakenFromRetainer
The amount applied to the Invoice from the Client's Retainer. Can be used to show your Client what the remaining amount due on an Invoice is if the Retainer does not cover the entire cost of an Invoice.

- ClientRetainerDesiredMax
The amount entered in the Main Window > Retainer > Desired Max field. This amount can be used to bill your Client to replenish the Retainer.

- ClientRetainerBalanceMaxDifference
The difference between the balance of the Retainer and the desired balance of the Retainer. For example, if your desired max is $10,000 and your current balance is $7,000, this will show $3,000. This amount can be used to bill your Client to replenish the Retainer.

- ClientRetainerBalanceMaxDifferenceInverted
The negative difference between the balance of the Retainer and the desired balance of the Retainer. For example, if your desired max is $10,000 and your current balance is $7,000, this will show -$3,000. This amount can be used to bill your Client to replenish the Retainer.

- InvoiceAmountPaidFromRetainer
The amount paid to the Invoice from the Client's Retainer. This amount can be viewed when editing an Invoice and navigating to the Payments tab.

- InvoiceReceivedFromPayments
The amount paid to the Invoice from Payments. This amount can be viewed when editing an Invoice and navigating to the Payments tab.