How it works
Two pieces of software, one record per invoice.
- Windows PCInvoice folderwatched by InvoiceRelay Agent
- HTTPS uploadqueued on disk if offline
- Web portalInvoiceRelaymatch, approve, send, audit
- email via your provider← delivered or bounced
- CustomerInboxinvoice PDF attached
On the PC that makes invoices
The agent picks them up
- Watches the folders you choose, and waits for a file to stop changing before it touches it.
- Checks it is a real PDF, not just a file named .pdf, and takes a SHA-256 fingerprint.
- Skips anything it has already sent, even when the same invoice is saved twice.
- Keeps its queue on disk, so a restart or a dropped connection loses nothing.
In the portal
Your team decides
- Every PDF is stored once, indexed, and searchable by customer, number or status.
- InvoiceRelay reads the invoice details and suggests the customer. Unclear matches wait for a person.
- Approve one at a time, or select a batch and send them together.
- Choose per organisation whether sending is manual, assisted or automatic.
After it goes out
You can show what happened
- Email leaves through your own provider: Microsoft 365, Brevo, Resend or any SMTP server.
- “Sent” means the provider accepted it. “Delivered” is only recorded when the provider confirms it.
- Previews, sends and changes are written to an audit log with the name of whoever did them.
- Roles decide who can see and send what, and administrative actions need an emailed verification code.
When things go wrong
Six things that will happen sooner or later, and what InvoiceRelay does about each.
None of them end with an invoice marked as sent when it was not.
- The internet drops for an afternoon.
- Invoices keep queuing on the PC. When the connection comes back the agent works through the queue, backing off between retries so it never floods the portal.
- Someone saves the same invoice twice.
- Same content, same fingerprint. It is uploaded once, and if a copy ever reaches the portal again it is recognised as the original rather than stored twice.
- A PDF is half-written or damaged.
- The agent waits for the write to finish. If the file still is not a valid PDF, it is marked as failed with the reason, not quietly skipped.
- The customer has no email address on file.
- Nothing is sent. The invoice stays in review until someone adds the address.
- Your email provider has an outage.
- If the message definitely did not go out, the next provider on your list sends it. If it might have gone out, it is not handed to another provider. It is held for an administrator to check, rather than risk the customer getting it twice.
- The customer’s mail server rejects it.
- The invoice is marked Failed or Bounced, never Sent, and the provider’s reason is kept with it.
What is InvoiceRelay?
Two parts that work together. A Windows agent collects invoice PDFs from the PC where your billing system saves them. A web portal is where your team checks each invoice against the right customer, emails it, and later sees whether it arrived.
Does the agent send the emails?
No. The agent only uploads. Every customer email goes out from the portal, through your email provider, so there is one place to see what was sent and to whom.
What happens if the PC is switched off?
The agent runs as a Windows service and starts with the PC. Invoices saved while it was off are still in the folder, and it picks them up when it starts again.
Which email services does it work with?
Microsoft 365, Brevo, Resend, and any SMTP server, including cPanel mail. You can set a primary and a backup provider.
Can invoices need approval before they are sent?
Yes. Each organisation chooses manual, assisted or automatic sending, and incomplete or uncertain invoices always wait for review.
How do I get an account?
Your administrator can invite you by email. If you have not been invited, you can request access and an administrator will review the request.
I have forgotten my password.
Choose “Forgot password?” on the sign-in page. If an account exists for that address, a reset link is sent to it.
How do I reach support?
Email support@tws.co.ke or call +254708656944. You can also send a support request from this site and keep the reference number.
Ready when you are.