Eliminating Manual Invoicing with One-Click Automation
Overview
The Challenge
Replacing manual invoice generation with an automated system reliable enough to trust.
The Solution
A Chrome extension and Google Apps Script that generated populated PDFs.
Impact
- Reduced invoice creation time from minutes to seconds
- Prompted further automation within the department
- Reduced mistakes introduced by manual copy-and-paste
- Later integrated the functionality into another Chrome extension I built
Technical Approach
Architecture
A Chrome extension front-end that calls a Google Apps Script to manipulate a billing template in Google Docs.
Tech Stack
Challenges & Solutions
Where to Initiate PDF Generation
The ideal location for a “Generate Invoice” button was on the account itself, but making modifications to Salesforce requires buy-in and familiarity with Apex. A Chrome extension would allow the user to navigate to the account page, providing the needed context, and allow the entire system to exist outside Salesforce, while still operating under the user’s Salesforce permissions.
Making the Invoice a Template
Converting the department’s PowerPoint slide into a Google Doc brought several benefits: one source of truth, one place to make updates, and a central location for all previously generated invoices.
Access Control
The organization’s content policies applied not just to the invoice, but also the Apps Script that clones and modifies it. The Chrome extension relied on the user’s Salesforce credentials and passed values to the script via an API URL. This eliminated opportunities for data leakage.