Here is a ritual every business knows. You finish the job. You make a mental note to invoice it. A few days later you remember, open your accounting package, and re-type the customer, the line items and the materials you already recorded once on the job. Half the time something gets missed.
That gap between finishing work and sending the invoice is pure leakage. Every day an invoice sits unwritten is a day later you get paid, and every detail re-keyed by hand is a chance for an error that costs you a phone call or a write-off. Multiply that across a busy month and the admin alone is worth hours a week.
So let us close the gap completely. In Axiom Blue you can build an automation that drafts the invoice the instant a job is marked complete, pulling the job details across for you, ready to review and send. No code, no double entry. Let us build it.
What we will set up
- Trigger an automation when any job is marked complete
- Look up that job’s details automatically
- Create a draft invoice for the customer
- Link the invoice back to the job for clean reporting
- Notify the office and the customer, then switch it on
Workflows -> New Automation -> Add node
Open a blank automation
Open Workflows from the sidebar and choose New Automation. Click Add to open the node palette.
The mental model is simple: when this happens, do that. A Trigger starts the workflow, Actions do the work, and the Data and Logic nodes in between let you look things up and make decisions. This automation uses one of each.
Concept
Automations are built from nodes on a canvas. The Add button opens a palette of Triggers, Logic, Actions and Data nodes that you connect in order.
Advantage
You assemble the whole billing workflow visually, in minutes, with nothing to install and no code to write.
Event Trigger node -> Event type
Trigger it when a job is marked complete
From the palette, under Triggers, add an Event Trigger and click it to open its settings.
Set the Event type to Job Completed. Leave the optional filter blank so it runs for every completed job. That is the starting gun for the whole workflow.
Concept
An Event Trigger listens for a business event. Set its event type to Job Completed so the automation runs the moment a job is closed off in the field or the office.
Advantage
Billing is now tied to the work itself. The trigger fires the same instant the job is done, which is exactly when you want the invoice drafted.
AQL Query node -> Get job details
Look up the job’s details
From the palette, under Data, add an AQL Query node. AQL is just a plain way of saying "go and get these fields for this record". The query here selects the completed job by its ID, which the trigger hands across automatically.
If queries are not your thing, do not worry. Every query node has an Open Visual Editor button that lets you point and click the same lookup without writing anything by hand.
Concept
An AQL Query node fetches data from your business. Here it looks up the job that just completed, so the invoice can be built from real details rather than guesswork.
Advantage
The automation reads the job you already filled out once, which is what kills the double entry. Nothing is re-typed because nothing needs to be.
Modify Entity node -> Create invoice
Create the draft invoice
From the palette, under Actions, add a Modify Entity node. Set the Operation to Create Entity and the Entity type to Invoice.
The field values are pre-filled from the job: the customer, the job reference, and a status of draft. This is the heart of the automation. A real, customer-ready invoice appears in your accounts the moment the job closes, waiting in draft for a quick check.
Concept
A Modify Entity node creates or updates records. Set the operation to Create Entity and the entity type to Invoice, and it drafts a new invoice for the job’s customer.
Advantage
You get a draft, not an automatic send, so a human still casts an eye over it. The grunt work is done for you, but you keep the final say before anything reaches the customer.
The finished automation
Link it, notify the team, and switch it on
Connect the nodes in sequence: Job Completed, look up the job, create the draft invoice, link it back to the job, then notify the office and email the customer. Drag from the handle on the edge of each node to the next to join them.
Name the automation, hit Save, and use Test to run it through once. New automations start Paused, so when you are happy with the draft it produces, flip it to active. From now on every completed job arrives in your accounts as a ready-to-send invoice.
Concept
The remaining nodes link the new invoice back to its job, send an in-app notification to the office to review it, and email the customer to say the work is done. Connect them in order, then Save.
Advantage
The whole loop, from finished job to drafted invoice to a notified office, runs with no one touching a keyboard. You bill the same day, every day, and chase nothing from memory.
Getting paid faster is rarely about working harder. It is about removing the lag between finishing the work and asking for the money.
This automation removes that lag entirely. The invoice is drafted before you have packed up the van, and your office spends its time reviewing and sending rather than typing. That is the quiet advantage of building the workflow once and letting it run on every job you ever complete.
Try it in Axiom Blue
Want to bill the same day, every day?
Explore the live demo or start a free trial to build this automation yourself, then see how Axiom Blue handles quotes, jobs, payments and customer follow-up in one connected system, all without code.