Unbox Case Study: Zoho Creator and Zoho Books

At a glance

100%Automated Recurring Invoicing

ZEROManual ZATCA Invoices

90%Faster Month-End

60+Hours Saved / Month

The challenge

What Unbox needed to fix

Unbox partnered with Shyphan to deliver integrated invoicing and automated internal workflows. Unbox runs busy coworking spaces in Riyadh, but billing members and running internal operations lived in separate, mostly manual systems.

Unbox runs busy coworking spaces in Riyadh, but billing members and running internal operations lived in separate, mostly manual systems.

Manual Member InvoicingRecurring memberships and add-ons were invoiced by hand every cycle.
Disconnected SystemsMembership, bookings and finance data lived in separate tools and sheets.
Manual Internal ApprovalsPurchases, discounts and sign-offs moved slowly through email and chat.
ZATCA Compliance EffortKeeping invoices ZATCA-compliant added manual work to every bill.
Slow Month-EndReconciling members, payments and invoices took days each month.
No Management VisibilityLeadership had no live view of revenue, occupancy or pending approvals.

Team meeting around a boardroom table during a presentation. Photo credit

Before and after

What changed for the team

BeforeAfter

Recurring memberships and add-ons were invoiced by hand every cycle

Recurring, ZATCA-compliant invoices go out on schedule automatically

Purchases, discounts and sign-offs moved slowly through email and chat

Routing and sign-off rules replace chasing approvals by email and chat

Reconciling members, payments and invoices took days each month

Payments captured and reconciled automatically, making month-end 90% faster

Leadership had no live view of revenue, occupancy or approvals

One management dashboard shows revenue, occupancy and pending actions in real time

How it works

The business process, step by step

01
Membership
Members, plans and add-ons are held in a membership and space data model in Zoho Creator, so every invoice and approval starts from the same member and contract record.
02
Recurring invoicing
Zoho Books schedules recurring invoices for memberships, add-ons, meeting rooms and usage from the member data, so the team no longer invoices members by hand every billing cycle.
03
ZATCA e-invoice
Each invoice is generated automatically as a ZATCA-compliant e-invoice in Zoho Books and linked to the right member and contract, with no separate manual compliance step for the finance team.
04
Payment capture
Online and bank payments are captured against member invoices and reconciled automatically, so month-end no longer takes days of matching members, payments and invoices by hand.
05
Approvals
Purchases, discounts and sign-offs are routed through approval workflows instead of email and chat. Booking and space requests are routed automatically, with notifications and reminders for the team.
06
Dashboard
Leadership opens one management dashboard showing live revenue, occupancy and pending approvals, all drawn from the same connected system that runs invoicing and internal workflows.

The solution

What we built for Unbox

Shyphan, a Zoho Premium Partner, connected Unbox’s invoicing to its internal management processes, so bills and approvals flow from the same data without manual re-keying.

Automated Invoice Integration

Recurring member and membership invoicing on schedule
ZATCA-compliant e-invoices generated automatically
Add-ons, meeting rooms and usage billed from one source
Payment capture and automatic reconciliation
Invoices linked to the right member and contract

Internal Process Automation

Approval workflows for purchases, discounts and sign-offs
Member lifecycle - onboarding, renewals and exits
Booking and space requests routed automatically
Notifications and reminders for the team
One management dashboard for revenue and operations

Scope delivered

Membership and space data model in Zoho Creator
Recurring invoicing for memberships and add-ons
ZATCA-compliant e-invoicing from Zoho Books
Payment capture and automatic reconciliation
Approval workflows for purchases and discounts
Member onboarding, renewal and exit automation
Management dashboard for revenue and occupancy
Training and hyper-care

Who uses it

Operations team

Onboard, renew and exit members, and handle booking and space requests through automated workflows in Zoho Creator.

Finance team

Oversee recurring ZATCA-compliant invoicing in Zoho Books and review automatic payment reconciliation at month-end.

Approvers

Approve purchases, discounts and sign-offs routed to them, with reminders in place of email and chat follow-ups.

Leadership

Follow revenue, occupancy and pending approvals for the business on one live management dashboard.

Architecture

How the systems connect

InputsBooking requestsOnline paymentsBank payments

Delivered by Shyphan

OutputsZATCA e-invoicesTeam notificationsManagement dashboard

Integrations

Invoicing ↔ Operations Link
Member and booking data flows straight into invoices, no re-keying.
ZATCA E-Invoicing
Every invoice is generated compliant, automatically.
Approval Workflows
Routing and sign-off rules replace email and chat chasing.
Management Dashboard
Live revenue, occupancy and pending-action visibility.

Reports and dashboards

Revenue

Membership, add-on and usage revenue invoiced through Zoho Books, updated in real time.

Occupancy

Space occupancy across Unbox locations, drawn from the membership and space data model.

Pending approvals

Purchases, discounts and sign-offs still waiting for a decision in the approval workflows.

Payments and reconciliation

Online and bank payments captured and matched to member invoices automatically.

The results

What the system does now

Invoicing on AutopilotRecurring, compliant invoices go out on schedule with no manual work.
Streamlined Internal OpsApprovals, renewals and bookings move through automated workflows.
Faster Month-EndReconciliation that took days now happens automatically.
Effortless ComplianceEvery invoice is ZATCA-compliant without extra effort.
Live Management ViewLeadership sees revenue, occupancy and pending actions in real time.
Ready to ScaleNew members and spaces are handled without adding admin load.

Client testimonial

Shyphan connected our invoicing to how we actually run the space. Members are billed automatically and compliantly, approvals no longer get stuck, and our leadership finally has a live view of the business. Month-end went from a multi-day scramble to something that just happens.

ManagementUnbox · Riyadh

Delivery

Five-phase delivery in 5 weeks

01
Discovery & Blueprint
Mapped membership, billing, approval and booking processes end-to-end
Signed-off Solution Design
02
Invoicing Build
Recurring invoicing, ZATCA e-invoicing, payment and reconciliation setup
Automated billing engine
03
Process Automation
Approval workflows, member lifecycle, booking routing and notifications
Automated internal ops
04
Dashboard & UAT
Management dashboard, reports and a full UAT cycle on real data
UAT sign-off
05
Go-Live & Hyper-care
Cutover, training, go-live support and an optimization sprint
Stable, hands-off system

Local rules built in

ZATCA e-invoicing

Fatoora-format tax invoices with XML and QR, cleared or reported as required.

15% VAT

Standard, zero-rated and exempt supplies mapped, with return-ready reports.

Saudi PDPL

Personal data kept to what the process needs, with role-based access.

Arabic and English

Bilingual documents where customers and authorities expect them.

FAQ

Questions about this project

Which Zoho apps run the Unbox system?

Member, plan and space data sits in a Zoho Creator data model, which also runs the approval and member lifecycle workflows. Zoho Books handles recurring invoicing, ZATCA-compliant e-invoices and payment reconciliation, so bills and approvals use the same data without re-keying.

How are add-ons and meeting rooms billed?

Add-ons, meeting rooms and usage are billed from the same source as memberships, so they appear on invoices linked to the right member and contract. Each invoice is generated as a ZATCA-compliant e-invoice automatically, with no manual work.

How long did the project take?

The invoicing and internal workflow automation was delivered in 5 weeks, followed by training and hyper-care. Recurring invoicing is now fully automated, and month-end runs 90% faster because reconciliation happens automatically.

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Unbox

What Unbox needed to fix

What changed for the team

The business process, step by step

Membership

Recurring invoicing

ZATCA e-invoice

Payment capture

Approvals

Dashboard