> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.getatelier.design/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Read finance records and prepare drafts with AI

> Ask about invoices and agreements, then draft proposals, invoices, change orders and purchase orders for review.

Use **AI Chat inside Atelier**. Finance reading and draft-writing tools are available across the app; name the project or document, then open the result in **Finance**. The external connector does not expose these direct finance-document tools.

## Read the existing records

Ask the assistant to find invoices by project, client or status and read their lines, totals and payment state. It can also read proposals, purchase orders, change orders and payment milestones.

Try “Which Maple Street invoices still have a balance?”, “Has this proposal been accepted?” or “Which payment milestones have not been billed?” A milestone describes a planned payment; an invoice is a separate billing record. Check the linked records rather than treating them as the same thing.

## Draft the next document

| Document       | Example request                                                                 | Review before sending                                                    |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Proposal       | “Draft a proposal for Maple Street using this scope, fee and payment schedule.” | Client, wording, fee items, phases and milestones.                       |
| Invoice        | “Draft an invoice for these approved schedule products.”                        | Project, quantities, client prices, discounts, tax and totals.           |
| Purchase order | “Draft a purchase order to this vendor for the selected products.”              | Vendor, product variants, quantities, trade prices and delivery details. |
| Change order   | “Draft a change order for the additional guest-bedroom scope with these fees.”  | What changed, the reason, scope and price.                               |

The resulting document stays **Draft**. Ask for the document number, line count and total, then open it to verify the saved result. Calculations use the supplied inputs; AI should not invent a tax rate or price.

## Revise a draft

Name the document and the exact change. For example: “In draft invoice INV-2026-003, change the chair quantity to four and keep the other lines.” Check the complete document after the edit, including lines that should have stayed unchanged.

The assistant can revise draft proposal wording, fees, phases and payment milestones. Changing a payment schedule needs review of the whole schedule and its phase relationships.

## Finish in Finance

AI cannot send or issue these documents, record payments, accept agreements, confirm purchase orders, cancel or delete finance documents, or edit them outside Draft status. It can still read supported issued documents to help explain them.

Use the manual guides for [Proposals](/finance/proposals), [Invoices](/finance/invoices), [Change orders](/finance/change-orders) and [Purchase orders](/finance/purchase-orders). Record and apply client advances through [Retainers](/finance/retainers); the assistant has no dedicated retainer-ledger tools.

For received vendor quotes, use [Project → Documents](/projects/documents-and-vendor-quotes) and [AI pricing workflows](/ai/project-workflows). Preparing a pricing-request email is separate from issuing a finance document, and does not send email.