STEP 1 | Go to Organization, then Customers
From the top navigation bar, click “Organization” and select “Customers” from the dropdown menu.
STEP 2 | Choose the customer
Use the search box on the left to find the customer you want to invoice, then click their name to open their profile.
STEP 3 | Go to “Invoice Profile” and fill out all the necessary fields
Open the “Invoice Profile” tab and complete all required fields. Key fields include:
- Invoice contact details — contact name, email address and mobile number (this is who the invoice is addressed to).
- Terms — the payment terms in days (used to calculate the due date).
- Invoice tax rate (%) — the tax rate applied to the invoice.
- Invoice type and Export Invoice type — controls how line items are grouped on the invoice and in exports.
- CardID/Contact Name — must match the contact name in your accounting software (e.g. Xero) for a clean import.
STEP 4 | Create shifts as normal
On the “Schedule” page, create the shifts for the customer and site as you normally would.
STEP 5 | Approve timesheets as normal
On the “Timesheets” page, review and approve the timesheets as you normally would. Only approved timesheets should be invoiced.
STEP 6 | Go to “Invoicing” and click “Create Invoice”
Open the “Invoicing” page from the top navigation bar, select the customer from the “Customer” dropdown, then click the “Create Invoice” button at the top right.
STEP 7 | Ensure you have the correct date range, customer and sites
Check the filters at the top of the page: set the correct date range, confirm the customer, and select the site(s) you want to invoice.
STEP 8 | Review the data
Make sure the service categories, service rates, units, and times are correct for every timesheet entry. Independent changes can be made per timesheet entry here in the Invoicing section — without affecting the original timesheet.
STEP 9 | Tick the timesheets and hit “Create Draft Invoice”
When you’re happy with all the invoice data, tick the timesheets you want to include in the invoice (use the checkbox at the top of the column to select all), then click “Create Draft Invoice”.
STEP 10 | Review the draft invoice before locking the information
You will be directed to the page shown below. Review the client details, line items and payment details carefully before locking the information in.
STEP 11 | Save, then use “PDF Preview” and “Export to Excel”
Hit “Save” and open the invoice again. Click “PDF Preview” to view the invoice generated by Guardhouse, or click “Export to Excel” to download a detailed breakdown of the invoice.
Sample PDF invoice (PDF Preview)
This is a sample PDF invoice from Guardhouse. The first page shows the summary of the invoice by site and service category, with the total given both with and without GST.
Sample Excel export (Export to Excel)
The Excel export contains the detailed breakdown of the invoice — every shift with its date, description, shift times, service, units, rate and amount, plus the GST and total summary.
STEP 12 | Tick the invoice, go to “Actions” and choose “Export to Xero Sales”
If you want to upload the invoice data to Xero: on the Invoicing page, open the “Drafts” tab, tick the invoice(s) you want to export, then go to “Actions” at the top right and choose “Export to Xero Sales”.
STEP 13 | Import the exported file into Xero
Guardhouse generates a Xero-ready sales file, shown below. Each line matches a timesheet entry with the invoice number, dates, description, quantity, unit amount, tax type, due date and contact name — ready to be imported into Xero as a sales invoice.
The difference off the Export for Xero for New Zealand is the Tax Type column that contains "GST on Income".
TIP: Make sure the “ContactName” in the export matches the customer’s contact name in Xero (set via CardID/Contact Name in the Invoice Profile — see Step 3) so Xero links the invoice to the right contact.
REMEMBER: Always review the draft invoice (rates, units, service categories and GST) before exporting. Once the data is in Xero, corrections must be made in both systems.