Template Configuration
A recurring template has three panels of decisions — identity, lines, schedule — and a lifecycle with two rules worth knowing before you start. Here's the configuration reference, using Meridian's "Corvus monthly rent" template as the worked example.
Access you'll need. Creating and configuring recurring templates requires the Accounting Admin v2 or Accounting Controller v2 permission set. The Accounts Payable v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets can view templates but not change them.
Identity
- Document Type — Sales Invoice / Purchase Invoice / Purchase Order / Journal Entry. Locked once saved ("Document Type cannot be changed once a Recurring Template has been saved.") — a rent template can't become a journal template; make a new one.
- Entity, party, ledger — whose books, and (for invoices/orders) which customer or vendor every copy bills.
- Name and description — write for the colleague who finds this in two years: "Corvus monthly rent — Suite 1201".
- Type nuances: Sales Invoice templates offer Invoice or Receipt types (no credit memos); Journal templates carry a JE Type (Adjusting for accrual patterns) and support line-level entities for recurring intercompany entries.
Lines
Template lines mirror the document's lines — products, quantities, prices, GL accounts, tax profiles, dimensions (journal lines: debits and credits, which must balance: "Total Debit (…) must equal Total Credit (…)"). The golden rule: the template must be postable as-is — whatever the generated document needs, the template carries.
Schedule
| Field | Decision |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Daily · Weekly · Bi-Weekly · Monthly · Quarterly · Semi-Annual · Annually |
| Start Date | The first generation date — also the pattern anchor (start on the 1st and monthly runs stay on the 1st) |
| End Date / Occurrences | How it retires: a date, a count (12 for a one-year deal), or neither (until deactivated) |
| Auto Post | Off = drafts for review (default posture); On = generated documents post themselves — reserve for the rock-solid |
Lifecycle
Draft → build freely
Templates start as drafts; add lines, tune the schedule, nothing generates.
Active → live
Activation requires lines ("An Active Journal Entry recurring template must have at least one line.") — then the nightly batch honors the Next Run Date. Editing an active template is allowed and affects future runs only.
Paused or retired
Back to Draft = paused (reactivate anytime; runs missed while paused can be backfilled with the batch's Run Date picker). End condition reached = retired, history intact on the template's generated-documents lists.
Building "Corvus monthly rent", start to finish
Here is the whole configuration, decision by decision, as Meridian's controller actually made it:
Identity
Document Type Sales Invoice (typed carefully — it locks on save), Entity Meridian Properties US LLC, Customer Corvus Consulting, name "Corvus monthly rent — Suite 1201". Thirty seconds, but the thirty seconds a future colleague will thank her for.
Lines, postable as-is
One line: the rent product, quantity 1, $9,000.00, revenue GL account, tax profile. She checks it against the lease, because this exact line is what every generated invoice will carry until she edits the template.
Schedule
Frequency Monthly, Start Date the 1st (anchoring every future run to the 1st), no end date — the lease auto-renews. Auto Post off for the first quarter; she'll graduate it once three drafts in a row needed no touch.
Activate
Draft → Active. The template now shows Next Run Date = the coming 1st, and the nightly batch owns it from here. Completed Count starts tallying with the first generation.
The fields that maintain themselves
| Field | Who writes it | Read it as |
|---|---|---|
| Next Run Date | The batch, after every generation (and forward through backfills) | "What happens next" — the single most useful field on the record |
| Last Run Date | The batch | When it last generated — a stale value on an Active template is your cue to check the scheduler card |
| Completed Count | The batch, incrementing per generation | Progress against Occurrences — "9 of 12" tells you the one-year deal is entering its final quarter |
| Generated documents (related lists) | Every run, linking each document back | The template's full output history — audit answers live here, not in anyone's memory |
Messages you may meet
| The message | What it means / what to do |
|---|---|
| "Document Type cannot be changed once a Recurring Template has been saved." | The one irreversible choice. Wrong type? Deactivate this template and create the right one — history stays where it belongs. |
| "An Active Journal Entry recurring template must have at least one line." | Activation demands a generatable document. Add the lines, then activate. |
| "Total Debit (…) must equal Total Credit (…)" | Journal templates must balance before they may generate — fix the lines; the difference is spelled out for you. |
| "No active templates are due on or before this date. The batch will run but generate no documents." | Seen on the scheduler card's manual run — not a configuration error; there's simply nothing due yet. |
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Activating with placeholder lines "to fix later" | The batch doesn't know they're placeholders — it generates them, possibly tonight | Build complete, postable lines in Draft; activate only what could generate correctly right now |
| Start Date mid-month for a first-of-month arrangement | The start date anchors the pattern — every run lands on the 17th forever | Anchor deliberately: start on the day the pattern should repeat on |
| No end condition on a fixed-term deal | Month 13 of a 12-month contract generates an invoice nobody ordered | Set Occurrences (12) or an End Date at creation, while the contract is in front of you |
| Editing an Active template during a dispute "just for this month" | Future runs inherit the change permanently | Adjust the generated draft for the exception; template edits are for permanent changes only |
| Forgetting the entity's document sequence covers the new volume | Generated documents number from the entity's sequences like any others — configuration surprises surface at 01:00 | Confirm numbering and periods are in place before the first scheduled run; or trigger one manual run and inspect the output |
Where to go next
- Recurring Batch Scheduler — what runs the schedule you just set.
- Recurring Templates Overview — the four document types compared.
- Recurring Journal Entries — journal-specific details.
Frequently asked questions
Generation date as the document date (period derived from it), the template's lines and parties, a name derived from the template, and the back-link. Sequential numbering comes from the entity's document sequences as usual.
Freely — Corvus could have "rent" (monthly) and "parking" (quarterly) templates. Separate templates beat one template you keep editing.
That template's run rolls back cleanly and is logged (the batch isolates failures per template); the rest of the night's generation proceeds. Fix the cause — commonly a missing period — and backfill with Run Now.
Yes — set it back to Draft. Its Next Run Date freezes where it was; on reactivation, anything that came due while paused is due now and the next run sweeps it up. If you don't want the catch-up, move Next Run Date forward deliberately before reactivating.
Never. Generated documents are ordinary, standalone records; the template edit changes what future runs produce. That's why quarterly template reviews are cheap — there's no retroactive risk.
Accounting Admin and Accounting Controller have full create-and-edit rights on recurring templates and their lines; Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Read Only see them read-only.
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