Keeping your own books in Xero

This is for your firm's own books: the Xero organisation where you invoice your clients. Once it is on, Vylan sends what it creates, follows what happens in Xero, and never counts anything twice.

Connecting, and turning it on

1. Go to Settings then Integrations and open Xero.
2. Connect Xero, sign in to Xero, and pick your organisation.
3. Under Setup, finish the three rows marked Finish setup: Accounts, Taxes and Invoices.
4. Press Enable app.

What goes to Xero

• Invoices. Each one goes within minutes of being issued, on the client's Xero contact. A new client gets a contact with their first invoice. An invoice you change or void in Vylan is changed or voided in Xero.
• Card and bank payments. These go when their payout lands in your bank: one payment on each invoice, from an account called Vylan Clearing Account, and one bill for the payout's fees. Together they add up to the deposit on your bank statement. Until the payout lands, the invoice is Paid in Vylan and Awaiting payment in Xero.
• Cheques and e-transfers you record in Vylan. These are not sent by themselves. The invoice says the amount is recorded here only, with Record it in Xero to put it there in one click.
• A payout you send by hand in parts. Vylan cannot tell which payments were in it, so it records none of them. With automatic payouts, your next payout records them, and the fees, by itself. Nothing is flagged, and each invoice says its payment goes to Xero with your next payout, with Record it in Xero if you would rather not wait. With manual payouts nothing else will record them: the payout says Not recorded in Xero and lists each invoice still unpaid there, each with Record it in Xero. The same button is on the invoice. It records the payment only, and the fees are yours to record. Once every invoice is recorded, the warning goes.

What comes back from Xero

Every hour, and whenever you press Sync, Vylan reads what changed in Xero.

• A payment recorded in Xero shows in Vylan as Paid in Xero. The client is not emailed a receipt for it.
• A payment deleted in Xero makes the invoice owed again in Vylan.
• A credit note in Xero writes that amount off in Vylan. A credit is never counted as money received.
• An invoice voided in Xero, or credited in full with nothing received, is not changed by Vylan. It asks: Void it here too or Send it to Xero again. Until you answer, that invoice is not reminded and not charged automatically.

When the two sides disagree

Some differences only a person can fix. Vylan flags those, and the flag clears itself as soon as the two sides agree again. You are told in four places:

• On the invoice, with the fix beside it.
• In Invoices: a warning triangle on the row, and Filters then Payment status then Xero needs you lists them all.
• On the Xero panel, under Needs you: how many invoices and payouts need you.
• In your notifications, once for each new problem.

Timing is never flagged. A payment waiting for its payout is on its way, not wrong. A cheque you recorded only in Vylan, or a write-off with no credit in Xero, is a quiet note on the invoice for 7 days and a flag after that.

Matching your clients

Open Clients on the Xero panel to link the clients you already have to their Xero contacts, so a first invoice never makes a duplicate. Clients with exactly the same name are linked in one press. Likely ones you confirm one at a time. A client left unlinked is matched at its first invoice: the Xero contact with exactly the same name, or a new one.

Recommended steps

The Xero panel lists six things worth doing once. None is required and nothing waits on them; tick each off when it is done.

• Invoice numbers. If Xero's own invoices use the same prefix as Vylan's, pick a different prefix in Vylan.
• Bank rule for payouts. In Xero, add a bank rule that codes your payout deposits to Vylan Clearing Account. Add the same rule for money going out, for the rare payout that goes below zero after refunds.
• Xero's invoice reminders. Turn them off. Vylan already reminds your clients.
• Xero's online payment link. Take it off the branding theme used for invoices Vylan collects.
• Repeating invoices in Xero. Stop the ones for clients Vylan now bills, or those clients are billed twice.
• Another billing app. If another app also bills through this Xero, stop its invoicing for the clients Vylan now bills.

Importing from Xero

Four things can be brought in from Xero: your contacts as clients, your items as services, your repeating invoices as draft proposals, and your unpaid invoices. Each is on its own page, described below, and all four are under Import from Xero on the Xero panel.

Your Xero items as services

1. Go to Templates then Services.
2. Open Import and choose From Xero.
3. Tick the items you want and import them.

Each item you sell in Xero becomes a service with its name, description, price and sales account. Tax follows the client's province, unless the item is exempt in Xero. An item named like a service you already have is not imported.

Nothing follows Xero by itself afterwards. When an item changes in Xero, the same window says Changed in Xero on its row. Tick it to bring over what Xero changed. What you edited in Vylan stays as it is.

Xero repeating invoices as draft proposals

1. Go to Engagements and press Import from Xero.
2. Tick the repeating invoices you want and create the drafts.
3. Open each draft, check it, and send it.

Each repeating invoice becomes one draft proposal for its client, with the same lines, price and rhythm. A line that uses an item you imported as a service becomes that service. The import sends nothing and changes nothing in Xero.

When the client accepts, Vylan stops that repeating invoice in Xero, and Vylan's first invoice falls on the day Xero's next one would have. Nothing is billed twice and no period is skipped. If Xero can't be reached at that moment, Vylan tries again every hour and the Xero panel says so under Needs you.

Not offered: a repeating invoice that has ended, is in another currency, has a line below zero, or repeats on a rhythm Vylan doesn't bill, such as every two weeks. Each says why on its row. A client Vylan already bills on a schedule starts unticked.

Unpaid Xero invoices, collected in Vylan

1. Go to Payments, open Invoices and press Import from Xero.
2. Tick the invoices you want and import them.
3. Open each one and send it.

Each invoice comes in with its Xero number, dates, amount and PDF, for the client its Xero contact belongs to. A contact that isn't a client yet becomes one. The import sends nothing: until you send an invoice, its client isn't emailed or reminded and can't pay it online. It reads Not emailed on your lists.

Sending it emails the client a pay link with Xero's PDF, and reminders start from then. A payment taken in Vylan is recorded on the invoice in Xero when its payout reaches your bank, like any other. If the invoice is paid in Xero instead, Vylan marks it paid.

The invoice stays Xero's: Vylan never edits or voids it there. Change it or void it in Xero and Vylan follows within the hour, as long as nothing has been paid. Voiding it in Vylan only stops Vylan collecting it. It is still owed in Xero, and you can import it again.

Not offered: an invoice that is part paid or credited in Xero, or in another currency. Each says why on its row. The button appears once Xero is switched on.

To have them come in by themselves, open the Xero panel in Settings and turn on Import new unpaid invoices. From then on, unpaid invoices dated in the last 90 days come in on Vylan's hourly look, for customers who are already clients. An invoice for a contact that isn't a client yet waits in the Import window for you to tick. Nothing is sent either way, and an invoice you voided in Vylan doesn't come back by itself.

When Xero pauses Vylan

Xero allows a set number of requests a day. If they run out, the Xero panel and each invoice say Xero has paused Vylan until and the time. Nothing is lost. Vylan carries on by itself when Xero answers again, and until then what you see from Xero is what Vylan last read.

Disconnecting

Open the Xero panel's menu and choose Disconnect. Vylan stops sending and reading. Everything already in Xero stays there. Reconnecting the same organisation keeps your links and settings; connecting a different one starts over.

Related: payouts and fees and recording a payment.