Henrri: Review of a Free for life Cloud Invoicing Software

In France, since the beginning of the year 2018, Invoicing on simple office software (Word and Excel in particular) has become prohibited. Indeed, these software are not in compliance with the VAT anti-fraud law which emphasizes that now only those with (POS NF525) certification can be used. Does this mean that you will have to turn to paid Invoicing / Billing software to comply with the law? Not at all! Simply choose Henrri invoicing software.

Introducing Henrri, an Invoicing software

Henrri is a free Saas billing software (Software as a Service) of French origin. It comes from the work of Rivalis – a national network of consultants in Business Management (VSE and SME). The network is supported by France’s elite gastronomic society, better known as “Meilleur Ouvrier de France”) and aims to create the best Invoicing software that exists.

caption Henrri, free Invoicing software for life
Henrri, free Invoicing software for life

Henrri invoicing software has a very comprehensive set of features for establishing professional billing. In addition to invoices, the software also processes quotes.

The options offered by Henrri invoicing software are as follows:

  • Billing and quotes
  • automatic recovery of unpaid debts
  • real-time revenue
  • multi-user
  • Accounting export
  • dashboard
  • assistance (Entrepreneur Support, support platform / FAQ, Online Chat)

The security offered by Henrri

Henrri, the invoicing software saves your data in servers hosted in France. To prevent data loss, all your information is stored in double backup.

On top of these measures, the program is in conformity with the anti-fraud law concerning VAT, the famous certification NF525. Obtaining this certification means that not only is this software reliable, but that it also contains different safeguards for the user.

Why is Henrri free?

If Henrri, the invoicing software, is a complete work tool that can process invoices professionally, why is it free?

In fact, the policy of this software is based on the satisfaction of its users. A satisfied customer is open to future collaborations, to invest more in the software. Additional modules will then be proposed for as many additional options covering more of their needs.

N.B : Henrri treats all its subscribers in the same way, whether they are on a free version or have added more modules via paid offers.

Using the program

To use the Henrri Billing software, you will need to start by creating an account. An e-mail address and a password are all that you will need.

caption Henrri, Email address and password required
Henrri, Email address and password required

Once you are done, you will be asked to enter your last name, first name, telephone numbers and specify what type of professional you are (are you an individual, a company, etc.).

On a new page, Henrri will then ask you for your postal code and your industry. You only then have to declare that you have read and accepted Henrri’s terms and conditions of use and that’s it.

Finally, click on “Let’s go” at the bottom of the page. It is a rectangular green button.

The next page is the Homepage. This is where all the operations of your work will begin. On the left side of the screen are drop-down menus: action, quote tracking, list, Management and Accounting.

The “Action” menu

In the “Action” menu, Henrri ordered:

  • creating quotes
  • creating invoices
  • recording payments
  • renew invoices
  • creating documents (leads to “create a quote”, nothing special)

The “Track and Quotes” menu

Regarding the “Track and Quote” menu, it only includes two buttons:

  • quote tracking
  • listing

The “List” menu

As for the “list” menu, the titles available are:

  • documents
  • customers
  • goods
  • historical lines
  • unpaid deadlines
  • quote tracking
caption Henrri, Last step before using the Invoicing software
Henrri, Last step before using the Invoicing software

The “Management” and “Accounting” menus

The options found in “Management” are the analysis table and dashboard. As for “Accounting”, it presents the sales journal and the Accounting export.

At the very top of Henrri’s Homepage is a drop-down list called “Quick Access”. From there, you can directly create a quote, an invoice, and manage payments. On the top right, however, is the quick search and management of your account.

In the middle of the main page, those are presented:

  • a welcome message with information related to your business
  • access to support and assistance services
  • a chart for tracking recent documents
  • a chart for the follow-up of turnover
  • a table for the weather
  • a table for monitoring expected payments
  • a button for adding modules

Possible actions from the Homepage

Create a quote

From the Henrri Homepage, creating a quote is done by clicking on “Create Quote” at the top left of the screen. The button is in the first line of the “Action” list.

“Create Quote” is also done from the drop-down list of quick access (at the top of the Homepage).

The information found on a quote published with Henrri are as follows:

  • company logo (above left of quote)
  • company information (above left of quote, under the company logo):
    • invoice date
    • Company name
    • address
    • postal code
    • e-mail address
  • customer information (top right of quote):
    • social reason
    • civility
    • last name and first name
    • address
    • additional information
    • Postal code
    • city
    • contacts
    • Intra-community VAT

On the quote page, the first thing to do is filling in the customer file and the requested information about the product or service to sell (description, price, quantity, VAT, …). It is impossible to finalize an estimate without having filled in the necessary fields, in particular the information on the good or service sold, as well as those concerning the customer.

caption Options designed for easy management of your business
Options designed for easy management of your business

A completed quote can be emailed. It can also be printed in PDF format and sent directly to a paper version by any other means (it is possible not to finalize an estimate and to continue later).

Once done, Invoicing can be done immediately on the same page using the blue “Advanced Actions” button on the right side of the screen. The “Advanced Actions” option will take you directly to the Invoicing page.

Create an invoice

As with a quote, billing can be done in a variety of ways. It is done from the list of actions to the left of the Homepage, or from the drop-down list of the quick access which is also on the same screen (in the middle on the upper part).

All information about the company and the customer found on a quote can also be found on an invoice. Only dates, prices, products and / or services vary. Even the finalization procedure is identical. Then simply finalize and send the invoice via email or print.

caption First step before invoicing
First step before invoicing

Record payments

Henrri offers the ability to record customer payments. Only a finalized invoice can appear in “Save Payment” for the archive operation.

Renew invoices

Henrri’s invoices include payment terms. Thus, if a payment should be late, it will be displayed directly in “Renew Invoice” (in the list of actions) to remind the user that a payment is due.

Create a document

Creating a document is nothing more than creating a quote. Only the name has changed.

Quote tracking

The drop-down menu “Quote Tracking” (big title on the left side of the Homepage) opens to two buttons: quote tracking and list. With Henrri, the quotation follow-up enables the management of pending quotes to be validated; and approved quotes and pending invoicing.

The list, for its part, displays the details of the quotes already established. The information contained therein includes the amounts, quote numbers and their creation dates, customers’ business names, prospects’ telephone numbers and the dates of the refusal or acceptance of each quote.

The list

“List” is the drop-down menu in which there will be several features. It is from this path that you will have access to information relating to documents, customers, articles, history, unpaid deadlines and once again to quote tracking.

With regard to the “Documents” button, it leads to a page containing the information on quotes and invoices: date, number, customer’s name, client identification, amount excluding tax and VAT, status of the document (paid or not for the bill).

The “Customer” button simply presents the list of customers as well as useful information about them.

With regard to the submenu “Articles”, it presents the list of goods and services sold with all the information about them: the reference, the description, the product group, the image, the price of tax-free sales, the selling price including and/or excluding VAT, the VAT amount itself, date of last update and quantity purchased.

On the “Historical Lines” side, the information presented does not differ from those found in “Articles”, but they are not exhaustive as previously seen.

Finally, in terms of unpaid receivables, it is obvious that it is the unpaid invoices in due time that will be put in there.

The “Management” menu

This feature of Henrri gives access to an analysis table and a dashboard. These tables make it possible to closely monitor current cases, review past actions, and, basically, closely control the assets of a company.

Accounting

Henrri gave Accounting a specific menu. From there, you will find the Sales journal and can even produce and export an Accounting report.

The export Accounting function will allow you to retrieve a generic file containing the accounting entries relating to your invoices, payments and your customers.

The positive and negative sides of Henrri

The Henrri invoicing software is very good. Additionally to being complete, it is free, besides the add-ons. However, it must be noted that it is far from being perfect. Here is a list of the pros and cons of the software.

Strong points

  • mobile application planned for the year 2018
  • free for life
  • transfer quotes and invoices in one click
  • no installation fees
  • no subscription fees
  • no credit card requested
  • Henrri is the result of 20 years of experience and more than 15,000 hours of development
  • unique additional features that allow you to go faster and facilitate your day-to-day Management
  • the promise of quality service, because Henrri relies on the satisfaction of users to go further
  • already contains 42 features, all it takes to bill as a pro
  • no advertising in Henrri, which is often not the case for free software
  • service open to the whole world
  • a team at your disposal in case you need support
  • scalable software: a new feature per month
  • well-presented quotes and invoices
  • Henrri takes the necessary measures for you and imposes the preview of a document before sending it to a customer, just to have a good presentation

Weak points

  • disorganised page: the same buttons are found in different places
  • a finalised quote cannot be changed. Either you send it as it is, or you do not finalize it, or you delete the finalized version and you start from scratch
  • the program does not display price details including VAT when drawing up quotes or invoices. It is necessary to finalize the process before having the sum including VAT
  • sent emails are slow in arriving at destination. It takes more than a day, and sometimes it does not succeed at all

In my opinion, Henrri invoicing software includes good features such as the ability to have clean and professional documents, or complete dashboards with the main items to follow.

It is a pity, however, that it is so difficult to use – due to menus that are not always thoughtfully conceived. Finding the same buttons stored anywhere is not practical at all. Of course, all roads lead to Rome, but here they lead to nothing.

Also, beyond its certain advantages, I think that Henrri does not serve much as long as the quotes or invoices made with, and which are the basis of its use, do not even reach their destination. A nice quote or a beautiful invoice that is not delivered to a customer does not in any way advance a company.

See also: Zervant, a Review of an Invoicing software for small businesses

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