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Xero

Updated

Features

  • Invoices in Accounts Receivable including all quote line items, incentives, and discounts

  • Cost of Goods Sold via an Accounts Payable invoice including a single line item for the total wholesale cost of purchased items.

  • Payments against any invoice whether via Stripe or other payment methods

To upgrade and access the Xero integration, contact us and let us know if you wish to upgrade to a Professional Plan or higher, where Xero is included for free, or pay for the add-on ( $20+gst / mth or $200+gst annually) if on the Business Builder plan.

Invoice Sync Features

Accounts Receivable

Invoices that are created in SolarPlus and synced to Xero include:

  • All line items as per the SolarPlus Quote Edit page. The Xero version does not maintain the visual format of SolarPlus quotes and invoices which may include a Grouped Items description and Quote Intro. These cannot be shown in the same format in Xero due to Xero API limitations.

  • Any credits on the invoice are also included as line items including:

    • Subsidies

    • STC rebates

    • Discounts

  • Where sales tax applies, the line item will show the tax type for that line item based on the account code used for the line items. If tax types are incorrect, you need to fix these in Xero. See the selection of line item accounts above.

Price Override

If you use the Price Override feature rather than individual line item pricing, when syncing to Xero all line item prices must be synced and therefore an additional line item is added to record the balance between the line item total and the final price.

Note: The conditions below in FAQ where these synced items will appear in Profit and Loss reports.

Accounts Payable

At the same time as the Accounts Receivable invoice is created, a bill (or Accounts Payable invoice) is also created for 'Cost of Goods Sold', based on:

  • The wholesale price of each line item total from the inventory buy price;

  • Any item where the Inventory item checkbox 'This item is purchased' is checked.

Setting up your Xero integration

Step 1: Login your Xero account

Step 2: If you have your 2FA enabled, key in your code from authenticator app

Step 3: Go to your chart of accounts, and make sure your bank account(s) have a Chart of Account ‘code’ number associated with them.

 

If it doesn't have a code, add one now.

 

 

Connecting your Xero API to SolarPlus

 

Step 4: Xero requires that you create an integration ‘app’ in their api portal.
Head over to:

https://api-explorer.xero.com/
and click ‘My Apps’

 

Step 5: Click ‘New App’
(even if you have an existing app if may be out of date)

 

Step 6: Fill in the Fields and Click Create App

Copy and paste the following weblinks into the form...

 

App Name:

This can be anything, we suggest : SolarPlus + Month-Year

Integration type:

  • Web app

Company or Application URL

https://go.solarplus.co/

Redirect URI

https://go.solarplus.co/xeroIntegration/callback

 

Tick the approval checkbox and hit Create App

 

Step 7: Enter the App name and copy and paste the link to SolarPlus Privacy Policy:

(Optional) https://www.solarplus.co/privacy-policy/

Click Copy

Step 8: Click Save at the top right

 

Step 9: Click Configuration

 

Step 10: Click 'Generate a secret'

Warning: Secret keys are displayed only once. If you have returned to edit the app and can't access your secret key, please generate a new one.

 

 

Step 11: Go to your SolarPlus account and head over to Integrations

image-20240213-215346.pngimage-20240213-215541.png

 

Step 12: Fill in the Client id and secret from the Xero area and hit Update Xero. You will then be prompted to Authorise your new app.

image-20240213-215644.pngimage-20240213-215724.png

 

IMPORTANT:
If you are not forwarded automatically to the Authorise page as in the image below, you can continue the authorisation process from the link on any invoice.

Go to an invoice and hit the Sync to Xero button. You should then be directed to the authorisation page as seen below. Once authorised, head back to the Integration page to configure account selections before syncing any invoices.

 

Step 13: Allow SolarPlus to connect to Xero

You will be re-directed back to the SolarPlus dashboard, with a confirmation message.

 

Step 14: Finalise Configuration Settings in SolarPlus

Go back to the Integrations Page

image-20240213-215346.pngimage-20240213-215541.png

Your Xero account names will now be loaded. Select the appropriate accounts for each category.

image-20240213-215855.png

 

After successfully savings the Xero API keys by clicking 'Update Xero', the page will reload. If you get an error message, please refresh your browser.

You will not be able to select from the list of Xero Chart of Accounts to set the Invoice line item Account Name from the dropdown list.

If you don’t yet have an account in Xero for Rebates and Subsidies, you will have to login to your Xero account, go to Chart of accounts, and add one there.

 

Click Update Xero to save these settings.

 

Congratulations, you are now ready to use the xero invoice sync function

 

Troubleshooting

Xero sync failed due to lack of information

Xero needs the following to identify the contact being synced:

  • Name

  • Contact ID

  • Contact Number

The most common solution is to add a phone number to the contact page for it to be fixed.

Failed to create app (#FBDD)

This error usually is thrown if there was an existing app with the same name. Applications' names in Xero have to be unique.

Xero Sync Error: The contact name is already assigned to another contact.

Xero doesn’t allow us to identify and update a record that we haven’t created in the first place. So if you already created this contact previously in Xero, an invoice may not sync.

This error occurs when a customer or vendor cannot sync to because there is a contact with the same name in Xero (either active or inactive).

  • Ensure all Customers have unique names when syncing to Xero (you can also alter existing contacts slightly to make them unique)

  • If a contact is not syncing in from Xero, do not create the contact manually.

  • Xero does not permit us to create a contact when the same name has been added manually or already exists. In Xero, search for the contact and delete the name if possible. Alternatively, sync the invoice by varying the contact name, then if needed, merge the contacts in Xero.

  • Contact Customer Support if this does not resolve the issue.

 

TIP: Do not create multiple contact records in SolarPlus for just one customer. For each customer record, you can create as many quotes as you like.

Xero Sync Error: The total price of invoice does not match the sum of items

This error occurs when the total of the quote or invoice does not match the calculated invoice total in Xero.

  • Check all pricing in the quote edit page. If items are grouped, ungroup and regroup to resolve any sync issues.

  • Retry the Xero sync 

  • Contact support if the issue persists.

 

How can I set up reporting of Sales from Invoices against Cost of Goods Sold to see the profit margin?

From https://developer.xero.com/documentation/api-guides/how-to-integrate-my-inventory-system-with-xero :

  1. If we are selling products then typically we want to show our Sales less Cost of Goods sold on our Profit and Loss report. Xero provides great flexibility with reporting layouts so we can easily adjust the default layout of our Profit and Loss report to move the cost of goods sold expense up to be included in the Gross Profit calculation.

    To do this, go to Reports > All Reports > Profit and Loss. Scroll to the bottom of the report and choose "Layout Options" and then "Create new Layout".

    Tick the selection box to the left of your "Cost of Goods Sold" account and choose "Move selected accounts" at the top of the screen. Choose "Less Cost of Sales" in the drop down list shown in the popup window and choose "OK". Type a name in the "Layout Name" such as "My Profit and Loss". Choose "Save" at the bottom of the page. Your Profit and Loss report will now show the Cost of Goods Sold in the correct place.

 

Why Can't I see the invoice and Cost of Sales in the Profit and Loss?

Invoices will only appear in P&L report when:

  1. They are marked Approved

  2. When P&L is on a cash basis, when they are paid or have payments marked against them

  3. The invoice date is within the Reports date range

Cost of Goods Sold will appear in the P&L reports when:

  1. The COGS bill is marked Approved.

  2. The bill date is within the Report date range

 

Invoices do not sync to Xero

  1. Re-authenticate your Xero - SolarPlus integration

If this does not resolve the problem, you may need to re-create the integration from scratch, following the steps above, but creating a new App (eg SolarPlus 2024)

Using Xero integration for invoicing

Refer to Invoices

 

 

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