What is Xero?
Xero is an online accounting software that links small and medium sized businesses to accountants and bookkeepers, banks, large enterprise and more.
What you'll need to get started
To get started, you'll need an active Optix account as well as an active Xero account.
Sign up for Xero here.
The Xero integration app
The Xero integration app synchronizes invoice data between Optix and Xero. The app can:
Create invoices in Xero - when an invoice is finalized in Optix, it is sent to Xero as a new invoice. This can happen automatically or manually, depending on how you have configured your settings (detailed below)
Create credit notes in Xero - if the Optix invoice total is negative, a credit note will be created in Xero
Synchronize credit allocations - when credit is applied from one Optix invoice to another, the record will be synchronized in Xero
Create/update user info in Xero - new users in Optix will automatically be created in Xero. When user details are updated Optix, they will also be updated in Xero. The Optix user data that will be synced in Xero includes: Name, Email, Address (Street, city, country, postal code and region), Mobile Phone Number, and Tax Number
Adopt Xero invoice numbering in Optix - when the setting is enabled, the Optix invoice number will be replaced with the Xero generated invoice number to support better record keeping
Synchronize payments (two-way) and refunds (one-way) - When payments are made in either Optix or Xero, the record will be automatically reflected in the other system. Refunds recorded in Optix are synced with Xero, but it is not possible to import refund records from Xero
Map invoice items to Xero accounts - Optix line item types (plans / passes / bookings / check-ins / manual) can be mapped to individual accounts in Xero
Getting started
To get started, follow the steps below to set up the integration between Optix and Xero:
1. Go to Apps & Integrations → Find new apps and look for the Xero app.
2. Click on the Xero app and click the green Install button, then click the blue Configure button.
3. Click Connect account and follow the prompts to allow access to your Xero organization
Note: Please ensure you allow your pop-up blocker to open the pop-up to connect your account. |
4. Select your preferences using the following settings:
Sync options - choose if you would like Optix to automatically send new invoices to Xero, or if you would like to do this manually. To manually sync invoices, you will need to select them from the invoice list and choose ‘export to Xero’
Invoice numbering - choose if you want Optix invoice numbers to be replaced with the Xero invoice numbering once they are synced to Xero
Note: To help with tracking, each invoice will show a transaction ‘invoice number changed from x to y’ if you do choose to switch this on
‘Do not sync before…’ - Use this setting to prevent older invoices from being synced. If you click the blue ‘sync to Xero’ button on this screen, or if you have ‘sync automatically’ switched on, then only invoices from the date specified onwards will be synced to Xero
Note: If you select the option above (a) to sync invoices manually, this setting is ignored |
Xero payment account - choose which Xero account you want to attribute payments recorded in Optix to
Note: The option in Xero ‘Enable payments to this account’ must be enabled (found in Xero under ‘Accounting > Chart of Accounts’ when you click to view an account’s details)
Revenue account for manual items - choose which Xero revenue account manual invoice items created in Optix should be attributed to (i.e. Those not created automatically via a plan, booking, etc)
Note: The type of account in Xero must be set to ‘Revenue’ for it to appear here |
5. Set up your revenue account mappings for Plans / Passes / Bookings / Check-ins / Sales.
Click on the Mapping tab in the top bar of the screen to set up how you would like to attribute Optix revenue for automatically generated invoice items (i.e. items on an invoice that are automatically generated such as monthly recurring plan charges or booking charges). The options in the first section are required.
The second section is optional and allows you to set account mapping at the individual plan level
6. You’re done! Now you can either click the Sync to Xero button, or navigate to ‘Invoices’ and use the check boxes to select invoices manually, and then click Options → Sync to Xero.
Using the Xero integration app
Once configured, the Xero app will sync invoice data in one of three ways:
1. Automatically - if you chose for invoices to sync automatically
2. Manually (from the invoice list) - each time you select invoices from the list and click Options > Sync with Xero in the bottom blue bar.
3. Manually (from ‘configure screen’) - Click the blue ‘Sync to Xero’ button to synchronize all invoices which have a due date on or after the ‘Do not sync before…’ date
Note: Payments recorded in Xero are always imported for any invoices that have previously been synced. |
Important notes about credit allocation
If a credit note has a credit allocation, meaning that the credit note was used to pay off another invoice, the invoice it paid must be present in Xero in order for the credit note to be imported. If it is not present, the credit note will not be imported into Xero, and you will see “Error syncing to Xero. Invoice has credit allocated to another invoice that is not synced with Xero”.
An example of how this can happen is:
A new negative value invoice has just been created in Optix – let’s call this ‘credit note A’
That credit was used to pay off an existing ‘Due’ or ‘Overdue’ invoice in Optix – let’s call this ‘invoice B’
Invoice B has a due date which is before the ‘Do not sync before…’ date you set, or you are manually synchronizing invoices and never synced invoice B
Now when the Xero app attempts to create credit note A in Xero, there will be an error as invoice B is not in Xero
To fix this you need to import the old invoice, in this example invoice B, into Xero.
Note: Xero will not notify Optix when credit is allocated inside Xero. This means the Xero integration app cannot import credit allocations that are made in Xero. It’s best to handle credit allocations of Optix invoices inside Optix, and let the app sync to Xero. |
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