Set up the Xero interface

 Setting up Xero integration (4 min 06 sec.)

To set up the Xero interface, you first need to establish, then activate, the connection between WorkflowMax and your Xero account.

Establish the connection

To establish the connection between WorkflowMax and your Xero account:

1. In the Business menu, select Settings > Xero.
2. Connect to Xero.

   If you have previously connected your WorkflowMax account to Xero, the button label shows Reconnect to Xero instead. To reset all your Xero interface configuration settings back to the default values, click the Delete Xero settings button.

3. If you have more than one Xero account available, in the Select organisation drop-down list, select the account you want to use and click Next.
4. Review the connection to your Xero account. If it is to the:
   • correct account, click Next.
   • wrong account, click Cancel to go back to select a different Xero account.
5. Next. The connection between WorkflowMax and your Xero account is established and you will be redirected back to the Xero screen in WorkflowMax complete the configuration of the connection.

Configure and activate the connection

You must specify the Interface Information to activate the connection, but you can select other options, as required, to control how data is transmitted between your accounts.

To configure and activate the connection between WorkflowMax and your Xero account:

1. On the Xero screen in WorkflowMax, provide the following information, as required.
   • Interface information (required)

     In Xero you may have a number of different income and cost of sale accounts that different streams of work are coded against – Consulting Income versus Fee Income, for example.

     You can set up job categories or job tasks and costs in WorkflowMax that use unique income and cost of sale accounts instead of the accounts specified below (for details, see Xero GL account codes and tracking categories).

     The connection to Xero will not be active until you specify the Income Account and Cost of Sale Account.

     Field	Description
     Income Account	This should be your default 'catch all' income account. For example 200 - Sales. This will be used where the account codes are not otherwise specified in WorkflowMax. The income account must be an account in Xero that is marked as a "revenue" account type.
     Cost of Sale Account	This should be your default 'catch all' cost of sale account. For example 300 - Cost of Sales. This will be used where the account codes are not otherwise specified in WorkflowMax. The cost of sale account must be an account in Xero that is marked as an "expense" account type.

   • Clients and suppliers

     Field

     Description

     Update Details in Xero

     Specify when you want to update client and supplier details in Xero. This is a one-way process: WorkflowMax to Xero. For further details, see the paragraph on Synchronising WorkflowMax and Xero. Never When this option is selected: New client and supplier details added into WorkflowMax are never pushed across into Xero. Changes to existing client and supplier details are never pushed across from WorkflowMax to Xero. If you issue a sales invoice or PO receipt in WorkflowMax, a new client or supplier will be created in Xero, if a client with exactly that name did not already exist. However any details (such as phone, fax, street address and postal address) associated with that name in WorkflowMax will not be added in Xero. Only when uploading invoices When this option is selected, client and supplier details (such as phone, fax, street address and postal address) will be created or updated in Xero when a sales invoice or PO receipt is pushed across into Xero. As sales invoices and PO receipts (Bills Payable) are transferred immediately across into Xero upon approval, client and supplier details will also update immediately. Every time client or supplier details are updated When this option is selected, client and supplier details (such as phone, fax, street address and postal address) will be created or updated in Xero when client or supplier details are updated in WorkflowMax. Client and supplier details in Xero will not update instantaneously - they will be updated as the servers process queues in order of priority. You should generally expect these details to update within 15 to 30 minutes. 'Details' includes phone, fax, street address and postal address, but excludes email address and website.

   • Contact Person

     Field

     Description

     Update Contact Person and Email when uploading invoices?

     Because Xero allows only one contact person for each customer/supplier, if this checkbox is: Selected. Every time an invoice is pushed to Xero, the contact person in Xero will be updated to match the selected contact on that invoice. If no contact is selected on the invoice, then the contact person in Xero will remain unchanged. Use the Edit Invoice option on the Invoice Information screen to select or change the contact person for that invoice. If you want the change to be pushed to Xero, it must be made before the invoice is approved. Deselected. The contact person for each invoice will not be transferred across into Xero.

   • Invoices

     These configuration settings allow you to control what type of information is sent from WorkflowMax to Xero when either an Invoice or Purchase Order Receipt is saved.

     Field	Description
     Export as	If you select: Draft, exported invoices will be saved in Xero in a draft state, and you'll find the invoices in the Business > Invoices > Draft section of Xero. We recommend that, to start with, you select the Draft option. Manually approving sales invoices in Xero provides an additional opportunity to check your invoices while you are still getting used to the WorkflowMax - Xero integration. Approved, exported invoices will saved in Xero in an approved state, and you'll find them in the Business > Invoices > Awaiting Payment section of Xero. If an exported invoice is subsequently cancelled in WorkflowMax, then the way the invoice is handled in Xero will depend on its status. For further details, see Cancel an invoice.
     Invoice Number Sequence	If you select: Xero, new WorkflowMax invoices (or credit notes) will use the Xero numbering sequence rather than the WorkflowMax numbering sequence. For example, with this option selected, a new invoice is numbered INV-0376 (the next Xero invoice number) rather than I000342 (the next WorkflowMax invoice number). Invoice number INV-0376 is used in both WorkflowMax and, after export, in Xero. You would use this option to ensure that you have only one set of invoice numbers - useful if you also invoice directly from your Xero account. For details of how to change the numbering of Xero invoices, see Change numbering on sales invoices, credit notes, quotes and purchase orders. We recommend that you select the Xero option. For consistency, we encourage you to use the Xero invoice number sequence, which ensures that Xero numbering is applied to invoices created in both systems. WorkflowMax, new WorkflowMax invoices (or credit notes) will use the WorkflowMax numbering sequence. For example, a new invoice is numbered I000342 (the next WorkflowMax invoice number). Invoice number I000342 is used in both WorkflowMax and, after export, in Xero. You would use this option if you want to be able to identify the source of each invoice - WorkflowMax or Xero. We recommend that you use a different prefix in WorkflowMax to avoid any risk of duplicate invoice numbers. For details of how to change the numbering of WorkflowMax invoices, see Edit organisation number sequences.
     Include Invoice Description	Select this checkbox to include the invoice description with the exported invoice.
     Details	These options control the level of detail and information included in the invoice. If you select: Job or miscellaneous invoice total, the total value of the invoice is consolidated as a single line. For job invoices, any text and {placeholders} (see below) in the Job Description box are included with the invoice. For miscellaneous invoices, any text and {placeholders} in the Miscellaneous Invoice Description box are included with the invoice. Consolidated invoices - limitations and defaults Please note that there are some situations where the consolidated invoice export won’t work for you. For example: If you map your tasks and costs line by line to accounts in Xero, or use the Xero tracking options at the task and cost level. In this case, WorkflowMax will no longer map accounts at the task and cost level when you use the consolidated invoice export option. It will instead use the mappings set at the job category level, or if you are not using job categories, it will use the default mappings. If you have included your time sheet notes on the task (by setting the Time Sheet Notes field to Task Description or Task Description - Time Detail in the Business > Settings > Organisation Settings > Invoice section) then we don’t recommend that you use the consolidated invoice export setting at the job level without first changing this setting to something else. Otherwise, the resulting invoice will include the time sheets in the single field. The content of exported miscellaneous invoices depends on the way the Miscellaneous Invoice Description field is set up: If the Miscellaneous Invoice Description field includes the {InvoiceDescription} placeholder, the exported miscellaneous invoice will always consist of a single line showing the invoice description and the total invoice value (regardless of whether the Include Invoice Description checkbox is selected or not). If the Miscellaneous Invoice Description field does not include the {InvoiceDescription} placeholder, but the Include Invoice Description checkbox is selected, the exported miscellaneous invoice will contain two lines: one for the invoice description (if there is one) and a second line for the Miscellaneous Invoice Description and the total invoice value. (default) Individual tasks and costs, the cost of each task and cost is included as well as the total value. The text and {placeholders} shown in the Job Summary field are included with the invoice. Each placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding item's value from the database. You can change the default text and use any of the following placeholders to format the job information transferred to Xero: {ClientOrderNumber} - the client order number from the job {JobNumber} - the job number {JobName} - the name of the job {JobDescription} - the job description {ContactName} - the name of the job contact. To insert a new placeholder into the job summary, type a left curly bracket ({) and select the required placeholder from the drop-down list. Select Task Options as required. You can include the contents of the task's Description field for each invoiced task. You may wish to include tasks with zero value so that your client can see work that you are doing for them but not charging for (these are enabled by default). Select Cost Options as required. You can include the contents of the cost's Notes field for each invoiced cost. You may wish to include costs with zero value so that your client can see the items you are not charging them for (these are enabled by default). Folders, the folder names and the subtotal for tasks and costs in each folder is included in the invoice. Select Show folder description to include the description for each folder. It may be worth including the description if folder titles do not generally provide a clear enough indication of the purpose of the folders. Select Show folders with zero value to include any folders with a zero subtotal value. It might be worth including folders with a zero value to show that they have not been forgotten and may be included in a future invoice (or have been invoiced in a previous invoice).
     Invoice Payments	If you select Automatically import from Xero, WorkflowMax will check Xero for any payments that have been applied to invoices within the last 14 days, and automatically import these into WorkflowMax. We recommend that you use this option. Payments made in Xero will normally take several hours to appear back in WorkflowMax. If you want them to appear immediately, go to Business > Settings > Xero and select the Import Payments button.

   • Purchase receipts

     Field	Description
     Purchase Order Details	If this checkbox is selected, you will be able to display all the Purchase Order Information listed in the Purchase Order Information field immediately below this checkbox. You can add text and/or merge fields from the list displayed in the Job Information field above.
     Purchase Order Information	If Purchase Order Details is selected, the text and placeholders shown in the Purchase Order Information field will be pushed across to Xero. Each placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding item value from the database. You can change the default text and use any of the following placeholders to format the purchase order information transferred to Xero: {JobNumber} - the job number {JobName} - the name of the job {PurchaseOrderNumber} - the purchase order number {PurchaseOrderDescription} - the purchase order description. Copy the text of the placeholder exactly, including the curly brackets. For example, {JobName} not {Jobname}.
     Mark receipts as Approved in Xero?	If this checkbox is: not selected, then you will find the receipts in the Business > Purchases overview > Draft section of Xero. We recommend that, to start with, you do not select this checkbox. Manually approving bills payable in Xero provides an additional opportunity to check your payable invoices while you are still getting used to the WorkflowMax - Xero integration. selected, receipts will be imported into Xero in an approved state. You'll find them in the Business > Purchases overview > Awaiting Payment section of Xero.

   • KPI/WIP reporting (WorkflowMax Premium only)

     Additional options are available for users with WorkflowMax Premium accounts. These options control the way that invoices are imported from Xero. For further details of these options, see Import invoices from Xero (WorkflowMax Premium only).

2. Save your changes. WorkflowMax confirms that you have successfully connected to the Xero organisation you specified.