# An invoice disappears

> Well that's weird. At least I noticed. Here's how I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

Well this is weird. I just lost an invoice, as in one that I was _sure_ I had raised a couple of weeks ago. Here's how I discovered it, and what I'll do to make sure it doesn't happen again.

## The invoice

I don't raise many invoices manually. This one was to a friend, whose domain name I manage. It's a fancy expensive domain so, when it renews, my company bills his company for it.

I raised it the other week. I remember doing it. And yet now: no trace. A puzzle.

## Discovering its loss

I know I'm not going entirely mad because, in reviewing my Small Business category `13 Money earned, spent, saved, & owed` this morning, I saw a task due next week:

▷ **Check that [name] has paid his invoice**  
▷ _Due: 25 Nov_

– and I thought to have a quick look. So I'd done some things right:

1. Set a quick reminder to myself, in a trusted place.
2. Made sure that I actually saw that reminder, by reviewing my system regularly.

> I'll show you how I do this in the upcoming series 'Task and Project Management using the Johnny.Decimal system'. Will be released on [JDU](/jdu) in the next couple of weeks.

## The vanishing act

I went to look for this invoice in the only place that it could possibly exist: my [Stripe](https://stripe.com) console. It just isn't there. No trace.

I'm deeply confused by this, but whatever. No point dwelling; let's just make sure it doesn't happen again.

## Deliberate record-keeping

Last time, I raised the invoice in Stripe and that was it. Other than leaving myself the follow-up task, I didn't record its existence anywhere else.

If only I had a predefined ID for this sort of thing. Oh wait, is that `13.23 Invoices & sales for your work` at the door? Oh, come in old friend.

## Update: found it!

Talk about real-time updates. Gripping stuff.

So there _isn't_ only one place that this could possibly exist. There are two: the other being my [Xero](https://xero.com) account.

This makes our solution more interesting. Why did I choose Xero over Stripe in this instance?[^australian] How would I know which to choose in the future?

[^australian]: I'll tell you why. Because this invoice has nothing to do with Johnny.Decimal, really. In my mind, that's what the Stripe/Xero split is. Stripe was JD stuff, Xero was more fundamental company stuff. Logically, I now understand, this makes no sense.

## Solution: new ops manual

This is a textbook ops manual. Next time I need to raise an invoice, I need to be following a process. Last time, I just made it up on the fly.

So here's what my new `13.23+OPS1 Raise an invoice` says:

1. Raise all invoices directly in Xero, because this integrates with your accounting system.
2. Raise the invoice, and create a note at [`13.23`](/sbs/13.23/) with its number and a link.
3. Create a new customer record at [`33.11`](/sbs/33.11/) and from there, link to `13.23`.

That's it. Three easy steps; but now they're unambiguous, and I won't make the same silly mistake again.