Track Client Payments by Project in One Report
When payments arrive in stages and completion certificates or delivery notes lag behind, it gets hard to track client payments across projects. This two-minute video shows how to build a payment tracking report with custom reports in Planfix: employees record receipts in the tasks where the work happens, and the report groups them by project, totals them and shows the outstanding balance.
What you’ll learn: how to track client payments in Planfix
- How to stop losing track of client payments (0:00).
- What the finished payment report looks like, grouped by project (0:10).
- How to set up payment entries that employees fill in inside tasks (0:21).
- How to build and configure the report, including an outstanding balance formula (0:55).
What the report shows: payment status by project
The video opens with the finished report. Expand a project to see the tasks where payments were recorded, one row per entry, with amounts, document type and number. Every amount column shows a total.
How to build a payment tracking report in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Create a Financial operations data tag
Payment data lives in data tags, which add tracking information the built-in features don’t cover. Create a new group and add Financial operations to it: open the group, click Add data tag in the tools panel and enter the name. Only account administrators can do this. More on data tags for revenue and expense tracking.
Step 2. Add payment amount and document fields
Give each field a name and a type:
- Date uses the Date type;
- Planned amount and Actual amount use the Number type;
- Completion certificate and Delivery note also use the Number type: they hold the amount each document covers;
- Supporting document is a List field;
- Document number is a Number field, so any transaction is quick to look up.
Employees then fill in an entry right in the task: click “+” next to the comment field, select Data tag, choose Financial operations and complete the fields. A task can hold any number of entries, which suits payments that arrive in parts.
Step 3. Create the report
In the Reports section, click New report. In General information, enter a name and select the object the report pulls data from. Because payments are stored as data tag entries, choose Data tags and specify Financial operations as the one to include.
Step 4. Add the report columns
Go to Report view and add the columns. Start with Date and Task, the task where the entry was added. Then add the amount columns: Receipts for the money received (for example, from the Actual amount field), Completion certificate and Delivery note. Each pulls values from the entries and shows a total. One report row holds one entry; see how data tag entries appear in a report.
Step 5. Calculate the outstanding balance with a formula
Add a “Not closed” column with the Formula type to calculate the outstanding balance, and show its total too. Formulas refer to columns by letter. They can use only columns to their left, and not other formula columns. So add “Not closed” after the amount columns. See formulas in report columns.
For example, with A Date, B Task, C Receipts, D Completion certificate and E Delivery note, the formula C-D-E shows receipts not yet matched by a completion certificate or delivery note. Finish with columns for each transaction’s document type and number, from the Supporting document and Document number fields.
Step 6. Set selection parameters, grouping and sorting
In Selection parameters, set the filter (it works like task filters), group the rows by project and choose the sort order. Optionally, add charts and graphs: on the Charts and graphs tab, click Add new graph. Then save or run the report.
Who needs a client payment tracker like this
It is an operational view, not a replacement for accounting software. It helps:
- Business owners: see receipts and the outstanding balance across all projects in one table, or add a Planned amount column next to Receipts to compare planned vs actual payments.
- Project managers: open the report from a project card’s Reports panel, which lists all available reports and runs the one you click for the current project only.
- Accountants: match receipts against completion certificates and delivery notes and find a transaction by its document number.
- Finance teams: export results to XLSX, CSV or Google Sheets, or email the report on a schedule.
FAQ
Can I track client payments by project in Planfix?
Yes. Data tags can’t be added to projects directly, so payments are recorded in the project’s tasks. The report then groups the entries by project.
How do I calculate an outstanding balance in a report?
Add a Formula column after the amount columns and refer to them by letter. For example, with C Receipts, D Completion certificate and E Delivery note, C-D-E gives receipts that no document has matched yet.
Who can see the payment data?
By default, all employees can add and view a data tag, and customers can’t. Change this on its Data tag permissions tab: users without view access don’t see its entries in any report. You can also limit who opens the report in its Managing access settings.
Next step: from outstanding balance to project results
Start with one entry type and one report. Once you track client payments by project, the next question is whether each project pays off; see tracking project profitability with totals fields. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
This video was featured in What’s New in Planfix: May 2026.
