WP-Invoice keeps invoices as wpi_object posts with totals, recipient details, due dates, and payment history sitting in postmeta. The default list table shows titles and dates because that is all WordPress renders generically, which leaves outstanding balance, issuance trends, and per-recipient totals invisible without custom reports.

SleekView Charts pivots the postmeta into a dashboard. A KPI card sums outstanding balance across unpaid and overdue invoices. An Area card plots invoices issued per day. A Pie card splits the ledger by status (paid, sent, overdue, draft). A Bar card ranks recipients by lifetime billed amount, which gives finance a CRM-style top-clients view from data that already exists.

The same dataset powers the inline-edit ledger view, so drilling into any chart segment lands on the matching invoice rows ready for status updates through the WordPress post and meta APIs. Payment-gateway integrations that hook into save_post fire the same way.

The CPT-plus-postmeta pattern that WP-Invoice uses is excellent for storing rich invoice data and terrible at presenting it. The default list table shows title and date because that is all WordPress renders generically; balance, status, and recipient totals stay invisible until someone clicks into each invoice. Finance teams build custom column plugins, write SQL into reporting tools, or copy totals into spreadsheets.

None of that scales beyond a hundred invoices a month. A four-card chart dashboard built directly on the same postmeta closes the gap. Outstanding balance as a KPI puts the cash-flow question on the page every morning.

Daily issuance as an Area chart shows seasonality and sales cycles. Status mix surfaces the rising overdue slice that drives collections work. Top recipients ranked by lifetime billed adds a CRM dimension to a ledger that never had one.

Drill-through into invoice rows keeps action in the same workspace: see the overdue slice, click, mark paid through standard WordPress APIs, watch the donut shift on refresh.