Edition: Professional, Business, Enterprise
User-level: Assistant Administrator, System Administrator
Use Xero Connect to eliminate double-handling of the same information by connecting Total Synergy to your company file in Xero, then configure how Invoices, Credit notes, Bills, and Staff expenses are synced between the two systems.
Initial Xero Connect Set Up
Requirements
In Xero company file:
You must have "Standard" or "Advisor" user permission.
Connect to Xero
In Synergy:
Organisation drop-down > Connect to accounting > Xero Connect.
Click "Connect to Xero" - this will take you to a Xero login page.
In Xero:
Log in to Xero.
Choose the relevant company file.
Continue with selected file.
Configure your Settings
Sync data
Go to the Preview tab.
Settings
General settings
Export from date:
Control the date range of data syncing between Total Synergy and Xero.
This will pick up anything that has a date that falls within the Export date and current day.
Click here to view a detailed explanation of how 'Export from date' works.
Click here to view a detailed explanation of how 'Export from date' works.
The 'Export from date' setting allows you to control how far back in Synergy that Connect checks for data like:
Invoices (Synergy invoice date)
Credit Notes (Synergy credit note date)
Payments (invoice payment date in either Synergy or Xero)
Bills (Synergy bill date)
Staff expenses (Synergy transaction date for cash and travel staff expenses)
The export date defaults to the first day of the current month when you first open Xero Connect.
Connecting for the first time: Enter the date that you will start using Xero Connect from, e.g. the cut over date.
Ongoing 'Export from date': To ensure that Total Synergy doesn't try to lookup and send data from a past period that is already locked in xero, you should update the 'Export from date' at the end of a financial/calendar year, or quarter.
The other advantage to rolling this date forward is that the Connect Preview screen loads quicker, as there is less data to check between Total Synergy and Xero when preview is working out what to display.
This is important because before the preview sync screen is loaded it will check each item against Xero to see if already exists, and then only the items required to be sent are shown in the preview window. Minimising the data it needs to check will improve load times.
Invoice settings
Configure how information sent from Total Synergy will appear invoices sent to Xero.
Invoice header settings:
Xero Invoice Reference:
Choose what value will be populated into the invoice reference field in Xero.
Synergy Invoice Text:
*Optional* Include the 'Invoice text' entered on an invoice as a zero value line item on the Xero invoice.
Invoice line settings:
*Optional* Filter Synergy Invoices:
Limit which invoices/credit notes are sent to Xero based on factors such as a Prefix, Office, or Project custom field.
*Optional* Xero inventory item source:
Create inventory items for each stage in an invoice/credit note by choosing an inventory item source.
Choose none if you don't want to use this feature.
Xero account code mapping:
Select the sales revenue account that invoices and credits should be transferred to.
Fixed revenue account is the default option, and will show you the options you have in Xero.
Alternatively you can select cost centre or discipline, the account code mapping for these options can be defined under:
Organisation drop-down > Settings > Project Lists > Cost centre/Discipline.
Payment settings
Control if invoice payments are imported from Xero into Synergy, or exported from Synergy to Xero.
Import payments from Xero into Synergy
The default option, where a payment is made in Xero and brought over during a Sync and applied to the corresponding invoice in Total Synergy.
Export payments from Synergy to Xero
If you prefer to apply payments in Total Synergy and send them to Xero during sync.
Requires account mapping to determine which Xero account the payment will be sent to, each payment type can be sent to a different Xero account.
Tracking categories
Map which Total Synergy field will be sent to Xero for your Xero tracking categories.
The default option is None with other fields available from the drop-down list.
Tracking categories are managed in Xero.
Bill settings
Export bills from Total Synergy to Xero, and configure how information is sent to Xero when syncing Bills.
Bill header settings:
*Optional* Bill note:
Include the 'Bill note' entered on a Bill as a zero value line item on the Bill in Xero.
*Optional* Paid status:
Reduce double handling: when a bill is paid in Xero, import the paid status into Total Synergy.
Filter Synergy Bills:
Choose to send all or specific bills.
Filter by Cost Centre and Discipline.
Bill line settings:
*Optional* Xero inventory item source:
Select what will be used to create the Xero inventory item against each line in a bill.
Select none if you do not want to use this feature.
Xero account code mapping:
Determine the Xero sales expense account that bills should be transferred to.
"Synergy expense type" requires account code mapping which is defined under: Organisation drop-down > Settings > Project Lists > Expense types.
Xero line description:
Select what information will appear in the bill line description in Xero.
Staff expense settings
Export staff expenses from Total Synergy to Xero, and configure how information is sent to Xero.
Staff expense note:
Add the note from a Staff expense as a zero value line in the Xero bill.
Xero inventory item source:
*Optional* Select what will be used to create the Xero inventory item against each expense.
Choose 'None' if you do not want to use this feature.
Filter Synergy staff expense:
Filter expenses by project prefix or project custom field.
Xero account code mapping:
Determine the Xero sales expense account that bills should be transferred to.
"Synergy expense type" requires account code mapping which is defined under: Organisation drop-down > Settings > Project Lists > Expense types.
Xero line description:
Select what information will appear in the Xero bill line description.
Tax settings
Map Synergy Tax Code to Xero Tax Codes.
Total Synergy tax codes can be added and modified under Settings > Financial > Tax.
Select the corresponding Xero tax codes for each of the Total Synergy tax codes in your Organisation.
These are set by default for each region.
Preview
The Preview tab is where you will review the items that will be sent to Xero within the date range you've set. This gives you an opportunity to check for any errors prior to sending them to Xero, and skip anything that isn't ready yet.
Syncing
Click "refresh" to ensure you have the latest list of items.
Check that you're happy with everything.
Expand each section to view additional information such such as Invoice numbers, dates, etc.
Click Sync.
Click here to see an example of an invoice in Total Synergy and Xero
Click here to see an example of an invoice in Total Synergy and Xero
The invoice below has been setup in a Total Synergy project for multiple stages.
The settings in Xero Connect have been setup as follows:
Account code = Fixed to account 200
Invoice reference = Project number
Inventory item = Project number
Synergy invoice note to be sent as a $0 line item
Skipping
Skipping an item will prevent it from being synced, it will be moved to Skipped records which is where it will remain until you remove it.
Uncheck anything you want to skip.
Untick everything under a section by unticking the top level box:
Refresh the preview.
Sync.
To Sync these in the future, go to "Skipped records" and remove them.
History
The "History" tab shows you the last 10 syncs between Total Synergy and Xero. This is where you'll find information such as:
Who ran the sync - The name entered on the users staff record is shown.
When the sync was run - The date and time that the sync was run by that user.
Processed records - The number of items that successfully transferred to Xero.
Failed records - The number of items that failed to be transferred to Xero.
Sync duration - This shows how many minutes or seconds that the sync took to run and process all the records.
Expand any row to view specific information around what was sent with the, each sync to xero can transfer the following items:
Invoices
Credit notes
Invoice contacts
Inventory items
Invoice payments (Import or export)
Bills
Bill payments
Staff expenses
Skipped Records
The "Skipped records" tab will have a red dot indicating there are skipped records if your Export period includes records that have been skipped.
Click the "Skipped records" tab.
Tick anything you want to remove from being skipped.
Click Save.
Go back to the "Preview" tab.
Audit
The Audit screen is where you'll find the history of all changes made to the Settings page for the Xero company file you're connected to, including what a setting was prior to the change.
Go to "Settings" in Xero Connect.
Click "Audit" next to the Save button.
The 3 columns of data here are:
Date: The date & time a change was made.
User: The user in Total Synergy that made a change.
Text: A list of changes that were made.
You can view a full breakdown of a specific audit entry by clicking the row. This will show you what was changed, along with the new and previous values.
FAQ:
Topics | Questions: | Answers: |
Multi-office Multiple Company Files Filtering
| I have multiple offices with a company file for each one, how do I send invoices to the correct company file? | Each company file you connect to has its own settings stored in Total Synergy. Under Settings: Filter the invoices and bills by 'Office' for each company file.
|
Missing invoices Missing bills Missing expenses Export date range inclusion
| I just created a bill but it's not coming up in my preview, why? |
|
Where to next?
What other features does this relate to?