Automation · Collections and receivables

Answer on WhatsApp how much a customer owes according to Pennylane

An AI agent answers on WhatsApp which invoices a customer has outstanding, reading their collection status in Pennylane.

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How do I tell a customer on WhatsApp how much they owe me without opening Pennylane?

A customer writes on WhatsApp "how much do we owe you?". The Met confirms the company it works with in Pennylane, looks up the customer by name or email, lists their sales invoices and opens the unpaid ones to read the collection status, the amount and the date. If the customer says they already paid, it checks the payments received and which invoices they settle. It replies with the outstanding invoices, the total and how long they have been due. It does not record payments or change anything: the Pennylane connector is read-only.

What starts it

When the customer writes

It starts when a customer writes on WhatsApp to ask about their balance, a missing invoice or whether a payment was recorded. The Met assigned to the line runs the procedure inside that conversation.

Nothing to set up. The Met assigned to that channel picks up the conversation and runs the procedure inside it.

Who runs it

Billing Met that answers balances with Pennylane

Finance and operations team

This is not a named, seeded Met: it is a billing Met with Pennylane connected. Its work ends when the customer knows which invoices are outstanding, or when the difference they claim is in the hands of a person on the team.

Run by the quotes and receivables Met

Channels: WhatsApp

What you need connected

Pennylane Collect and manage

5 steps · 5 tools

The procedure, step by step

Each step shows the tool that runs. They belong to the real connector: if one of them stopped existing, this page would not build.

1
Confirm the connected company

The Met brings Pennylane's working context: the company, the connected user and the fiscal years. That way it knows which company to search before answering anyone.
- get_context Pennylane
2
Find the customer

The Met looks up the customer by company name or email. If several similar ones show up, it asks for one more detail, such as the SIRET, before giving a balance.
- list_customers Pennylane
3
List their invoices

The Met lists that customer's sales invoices for the period that makes sense. Lists come in pages of 100 records, so for customers with a long history it goes through several pages.
- list_customer_invoices Pennylane
4
Read the collection status

For each invoice that does not show as paid, the Met opens the detail and reads the collection status, which Pennylane keeps separate from the bookkeeping status, along with the amount, the VAT and credit notes.
- get_customer_invoice Pennylane
5
Check a payment the customer says they made

If the customer says they already paid, the Met checks payments received by period and amount and which invoices they settle. If the payment does not show up, it says so and hands the case to a person on the team.
- list_customer_payments Pennylane

Before you start

What you need ready

The Met solves none of these for you. If one is missing, the automation stops there.

Pennylane on a compatible plan

Your company uses Pennylane on the Essentiel plan or higher, which is what Pennylane requires for the MCP on company accounts.
Pennylane connected in Met

In Met, open Connections → Pennylane → Connect, choose the company and approve at least read access to customers, sales invoices and customer payments.
A WhatsApp line with the Met assigned

The business connects its WhatsApp Business API line and assigns the billing Met. The answer happens inside that conversation; Pennylane remains the source of data.

The limits

What this automation does NOT solve

Better said here than discovered halfway through the rollout.

It does not charge or send a payment link. To collect, the Met needs another payments integration; the Pennylane connector only reads.
It does not record the payment the customer says they made. If it does not show up in Pennylane, the Met hands it to the team to review.
It does not fix a wrongly recorded balance: it answers with what is in Pennylane, and fixing it is the accounting team's job.
It does not see data you did not approve when connecting: if you did not grant read access to customer payments, the step that checks a payment does not work.

FAQ

Questions about this automation

It searches by company name or email, and if in doubt it asks for another detail, such as the SIRET. The skill should say which details to ask for before giving a balance.

This procedure does not: it reads the invoice detail and answers with its data. The Pennylane connector does not send documents.

Yes, if you connect with a firm user: the Met names the company in each query. The simplest option is to connect with a user from your own company.

No. The Pennylane MCP is read-only: it does not create, edit or delete anything.

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