Sami Bentaleb Software engineer & designerContact

Dockmule n., warehouse billing

A warehouse invoice that explains every charge.

Dockmule creates a monthly invoice for each brand the warehouse works with. Every charge shows what was done and how its price was worked out.

My part
Design and build
For
Small warehouses

The problem

what month end looks like

A small warehouse stores and ships for a handful of online brands, each with its own agreed prices. At month end someone prices the month by hand and types up the invoices, so allowances and minimums are applied differently each time, and a disputed line is hard to explain.

A draft invoice: four charges, each with a link to the work behind it, then net, tax and total.
Plate I. A draft invoice for one brand’s month: four charges, each one a click from the work behind it, then net, tax and total. The figures are made up.

Constraints

what each invoice must keep

One brand’s charges are never visible to another. An issued invoice stays exactly as it was sent, so a mistake needs a credit note. Amounts are exact to the currency’s smallest unit, tax follows the brand’s treatment, and a rate card arrives with its own tiers, free allowances, minimums and caps.

A cancelled invoice struck through, its credit note beside it, and four steps that reissue the month.
Plate II. A cancelled invoice and its credit note: the whole invoice struck through and replaced, the credit note as its exact negative, and the four steps that put the month right. The figures are made up.

What I built

what the invoice does

  1. Every charge keeps its working

    An invoice line opens to the work behind it and to the prices that applied. A price list locks once it has priced a month, so no work is re-priced after the fact.

    See Plate I.

  2. Unusual price lists, applied exactly

    Prices are kept by month and applied with volume tiers, free allowances, line minimums, caps and a monthly minimum. A minimum or a cap appears as its own line, with the working shown.

    See Plate III.

  3. Corrected by adding a line

    A charge is never edited. A mistake becomes a correction that cancels the original and stays beside it. After the month is invoiced, a credit note voids the invoice and the month is reissued.

    See Plate IV and Plate V.

  4. Numbered once, at issue

    Each workspace keeps its own counter per series and year, and a number is taken only when an invoice is issued. Invoices and credit notes count separately.

    See Plate II.

A price list: four charges with a tier, a cap and a line minimum, locked after it priced a month.
Plate III. A price list for one brand: four charges with a free allowance, a volume tier, a line minimum and a cap, a monthly minimum, and the lock that came when it priced a month. The figures are made up.
A list of charges with one entered twice and cancelled, its correction below, and a late entry marked new since the draft.
Plate IV. The charges for one month: an entry made twice and cancelled, its correction below, a late entry marked new since the draft, and a copy of what the brand received. The figures are made up.
CHARGEAMOUNTPick and pack, 3 items4.50Storage, 1 day12.00Correction for storage−12.00Updated storage price9.00correctedInvoice 0007 · Brand A13.50 + taxNumbered when it’s issued.CANCELLEDCredit note CN-0007−13.50 + taxCancels invoice 0007 for Brand A.The exact negative.CHARGEAMOUNTPick and pack, 3 items4.50Storage, 1 day12.00Storage correction−12.00Updated storage price9.00correctedInvoice 0007 · Brand A13.50 + taxNumbered whenit’s issued.CANCELLEDCredit note CN-0007−13.50 + taxCancels invoice 0007 for Brand A.The exact negative.
Plate V. A diagram of how Dockmule explains and corrects an invoice charge. The figures are made up.
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