Productive’s Permission Builder lets you customize permission sets to match the roles and responsibilities within your organization—including invoicing and payments.
By defining granular permissions, you can control who creates invoices, who finalizes them, and who handles payments, ensuring that each team member has the right level of access.
Note: The ability to restrict editing of finalized invoices is currently in Beta and is being rolled out gradually.
If your account does not have this feature yet, you can still edit finalized invoices without additional permissions.
Custom permission sets are available on the Ultimate subscription plan.
Defining Invoicing Roles in Your Organization
When setting up permissions, consider who in your team handles different invoicing tasks.
You likely already have roles such as Project Managers, Account Managers, or Finance team members—adjust their permission sets based on their responsibilities.
Here are three key roles to consider when assigning invoicing permissions:
Invoice Preparer – Creates draft invoices but does not finalize them.
Invoicer – Finalizes and sends invoices. Typically, Project Managers or Account Managers.
Accounting Contact – Transfers invoices to the accounting system. Usually part of Finance or Accounting teams.
Invoicing Permissions Breakdown
Permissions for invoices and payments are granular, allowing organizations to tailor access based on responsibilities.
Invoice Permissions
View invoices where a user is a member on a budget
Required for all other invoice permissions; limits access to budgets the user belongs to.
View all invoices
Access every invoice and payment in the system.
Add, edit, and delete draft invoices
Create and modify drafts but cannot finalize them.
Edit and delete finalized invoices
Separate permission dependent on Finalize and send invoices. Without it, users cannot modify or delete finalized invoices.
Finalize and send invoices
Approve drafts and send them to clients. Having this does not automatically grant Edit and delete finalized invoices.
Copy invoices to Accounting system
Transfer invoices to an integrated accounting tool.
Payment Permissions
View and send payment reminders
Access reminders tab and send reminders.
Add, edit, and delete Payment Reminder Templates
Manage company-wide reminder templates.
View payments
See payments but not modify them.
Add, edit, and delete payments
Record and adjust payments.
Example: Structuring Invoicing Permissions
Project Managers (Invoice Preparers)
Invoice permissions
View invoices where a user is a member on a budget
Add, edit, and delete draft invoices
Payment permissions
View payments (optional, if they need visibility)
A user with these permissions can:
Create and edit draft invoice details (issue date, due date, bill-to and from information, tax rates, and discounts).
Adjust line items and select document templates.
Add subscribers, notes, and invoice custom fields.
Check draft invoice history in the feed and, if enabled, view payments.
🚫 They won’t be able to finalize or send invoices (these options will be grayed out for them).
Finance Team / Account Managers (Invoicers)
Invoice permissions
View invoices where a user is a member on a budget (or View all invoices — optional, org-dependent)
Finalize and send invoices
Edit and delete finalized invoices (optional; depends on Finalize and send invoices)
Payment permissions
View payments
Add, edit, and delete payments
View and send payment reminders (optional)
A user with these permissions can:
Review, adjust, and finalize invoices.
Send invoices directly from Productive.
Record full or partial payments.
Write off invoices if needed.
Accounting / Finance Team (Accounting Contact)
Invoice permissions
View all invoices
Add, edit, and delete draft invoices
Finalize and send invoices
Edit and delete finalized invoices
Copy invoices to Accounting system
Payment permissions
View payments
Add, edit, and delete payments
View and send payment reminders
Add, edit, and delete Payment Reminder Templates
A user with full invoicing and payment permissions can:
Oversee invoice transfers and reminders.
Manage payment reminder templates.
Send invoices from Productive to the integrated accounting system.
Note: If someone needs to copy invoices to an external accounting tool but doesn’t manage integration settings, they only need Copy Invoices to Accounting System, not broader integration permissions.
Notes on Individual Permissions
Edit and delete finalized invoices depends on Finalize and send invoices.
Having Finalize and send invoices does not automatically grant Edit and delete finalized invoices—assign it separately.
Without Edit and delete finalized invoices, users cannot delete finalized invoices (the Delete option is disabled).
By default, users that already have Finalize and send invoices also have Edit and delete finalized invoices enabled; adjust in the Permission Builder if needed.
Default (System) Permission Sets
By default, Admins, full-access Managers and Profitability Managers have all invoicing and payment permissions enabled.
Restricted Managers and Profitability Managers can access and manage invoices and payments for budgets they’ve been assigned to.
To customize access, use the Permission Builder to create a custom permission set and assign it to users. This ensures that only the right team members can handle invoicing and payments.