Automating invoicing at Pluxbox reducing errors and saving time
Problem
Pluxbox, a growing SaaS company, was facing challenges with their manual invoicing system. Every month, the finance team had to spend hours generating, verifying, and sending invoices—an error-prone and time-consuming process. This UX project aimed to redesign and streamline the invoicing experience to save time, reduce human error, and improve customer satisfaction.
Goals and Objectives
Automate the invoicing workflow.
Reduce the time spent on generating monthly invoices.
Minimize invoice errors and missed invoices.
Improve the overall experience for both internal finance teams and customers.
Impact
80% reduction in time spent generating invoices
0 invoice errors reported in first month post-launch
Positive feedback from both internal users and customers.
Research
1) Stakeholder interviews:
I conducted a total of 8 interviews with:
Finance Team: Got familiar with the invoicing process and identified pain points in invoice generation, tracking payments, and reconciliation.
Customer Support Team: Gathered feedback on common invoicing-related customer complaints.
Customers: Understood frustrations with invoice accuracy and payment reminders.
Pluxbox software engineers: Uncovered system limitations, technical constraints, and integration opportunities with existing systems.
2) Competitive analysis:
We analyzed several modern invoicing tools to understand how industry leaders streamline the billing process. The goal was to identify time-saving patterns, usability standards, and automation strategies that could be adapted for Pluxbox’s internal tools.
Key takeaways:
Automation is essential: Tools like Zoho and FreshBooks simplify recurring billing through reusable templates and auto-send features.
Status visibility matters: Dashboards showing invoice states (e.g., Sent, Paid, Overdue) reduce mental overhead and missed follow-ups.
Batch processing saves time: Bill.com’s bulk actions highlighted the value of sending or editing multiple invoices at once.
Powerful search and filtering: Quick access to invoices by client, date, or status is standard in modern tools.
Users
Information architecture
Given the task-oriented nature of the invoicing system, we focused on designing a workflow-centered IA that minimizes clicks, reduces cognitive load, and reflects the real-world tasks of the finance team.
Constraints and How I Coped with Them
Previewing invoices before sending wasn’t possible because the rendering system lived in a separate microservice. To address this, I introduced a summary confirmation step with all editable invoice details, mimicking the preview experience without backend dependency.
High-Fidelity Prototype (Figma)
1) Contract page
In this page, the user finds all the contracts and they can update each one of them if there is a new integration or a new user joining the team. Based on this change, a new total amount is shown. Then, the user can only save the contract or send the invoice right after.
2) Dashboard
The dashboard shows a summary of recent invoices giving users a quick overview. Also, allow users to verify whether all invoices were successfully sent or if any errors occurred.
3) Organization page
In this page, the user finds all the customer companies, their environment URL and their number of contracts. They can also add a new organization here.
Usability testing
A high success rate on completing tasks.
1 user requested a recurring invoice feature.
Users liked the status tracking and bulk invoice sending feature.
Minor UI tweaks needed: clearer “Send” confirmation, improved filter usability.
Reflection & Next Steps
Lessons Learned
Internal tools need just as much UX attention as customer-facing products.
Frequent check-ins with end users lead to better alignment and adoption.
Future Enhancements
Generate analytics reports (e.g., payment delays, top-paying clients)
Mobile-friendly version for on-the-go invoice tracking
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