On the first of each month a fulfillment warehouse's billing runs on its own: activity counts come from the WMS, each client's rate card is applied and draft invoices with activity reports land in the accounting software. Unusual totals go for review first.
Typical results
≈24 hrs/mo
Finance time saved each month
≈60%
Fewer billing disputes
≈80%
Invoices sent without manual review
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Billing 30 brands means exporting storage, receiving, picking and packing counts from the WMS, matching them to each client's rate card and building invoices by hand. It takes the finance team about four days each month, small extra services like relabeling are often missed, and clients question totals they cannot trace.
Before and after
Days to complete monthly billing
−75%Billing disputes per month
−63%Extra-service charges missed per month
−87%The automation
On the first of the month a scheduled flow in Make pulls each client's pallet-days, pallets received, orders picked, units packed and extra services such as kitting from the WMS. It applies the client's rate card from Google Sheets, including minimum monthly fees, and creates a draft invoice in the accounting software with a line-by-line activity report. Drafts that differ from last month by more than 15% go to the finance manager, and the rest are sent automatically.
How it works
- 01
Month-end data pull
On the first of the month the automation pulls each client's pallet-days, pallets received, orders picked, units packed and extra services from the WMS.
- 02
Rate cards applied
Each client's rates from Google Sheets are applied, including minimum monthly fees and charges for kitting or relabeling.
- 03
Draft invoice and report
A draft invoice is created in the accounting software with a line-by-line activity report attached.
- 04
Variance check
Drafts that differ from last month by more than 15% go to the finance manager for review.
- 05
Invoices sent
The rest are sent to clients automatically, and held drafts follow once the finance manager signs off.
Starts from
- WMS activity data
- Client rate cards
Delivers
- Draft invoices
- Activity report per client
- Variance review alert
The impact
Monthly billing for all 30 clients is done in about one day instead of four, saving roughly 24 hours of finance time. Extra services stop slipping through, billing disputes fall by about 60% because every line traces back to an activity report, and the finance manager reviews only the invoices that changed sharply.
Questions about this automation
How are different rate cards handled?
Each client has a row of rates in a Google Sheets rate card: storage per pallet-day, receiving per pallet, pick and pack fees, extra services and a minimum monthly fee. When a rate changes, finance edits the sheet and the next billing run uses the new price, with no change to the automation.
Does it work with our WMS and accounting software?
It reads activity data from the WMS through its API or a scheduled export, reads rate cards from Google Sheets and creates invoices in the accounting software, such as QuickBooks or Xero. The activity report is generated as a PDF and attached to each invoice before it is sent.
What happens when the WMS data looks wrong?
Drafts that move more than 15% from the previous month are held for the finance manager, along with the activity lines that caused the change, and clients with missing data are held too. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages, starting with a few clients billed alongside the old process.