Integration to Xero

Any news on this one?

We also would really like Xero integration. We love Xero and Freshdesk combining the two would be a huge help for us.

about 50% or our freshdesk activities are billable.

now a colleage has to print out the tickets and type the info on a invoice.

we would love an integration with a xero like application.

thanks!

Hi Guys

Did you give our Freshplugs a try ?

You can create a Freshplug and use the API to GET/POST info FROM/TO Freshdesk  - Xero

We will bring in Native Integration too, but for now, you can refer the Freshplugs code and get this done in your Freshdesk

https://support.freshdesk.com/solution/articles/32031-using-strong-freshplugs-strong-to-integrate-third-party-apps

regards
Vijay

Freshdesk Team - Xero is huge!  Not being  integrated to Xero is keeping me from moving off Sprout and really using your excellent platform.  Let's get that integration done so that we can capture customer data as well as ticket time and turn them into invoices in Xero.

Thanks!

Charlie (Austin, TX)

Would also really value a Xero integration without having to write a Freshplug!

+1 (esp. for freshservice).

Any further news on this? This would really turn Freshdesk from a good product to a great one!

+1 for Freshdesk / Xero integration!

We are not yet a customer but Xero integration would have us sold on this as our solution. 

 We are moving towards Xero and this would be extremely helpful.

+1 to this excellent feature not yet implemented.

Freshdesk Xero integration is implemented. This presently works to help customers that want convert the Freshdesk time sheet entries to billable Xero invoices.

More details at : https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/210531

The link now exists and is a good first effort.  However, it is far from usable without adding considerable overhead to the process of invoicing for support delivered via Freshdesk:

1. The ENTIRE job must be billed against a specific account code in Xero.  Therefore, if the job entails work performed at different rates (e.g. standard and after hours rates), the invoice must be edited in Xero.  This can be very error prone and likely more time consuming than creating the invoice manually.  From my original post three years ago:  Time - as there are various billable rates for different types of work Freshdesk would need to look up the different service rates so these could be applied to each individual task performed on a ticket.
2. The job must be closed before it appears as available for invoicing.  Therefore, progress invoicing is not possible in cases where jobs straddle calendar months.
3. Once an invoice is created it is marked as approved in Xero, not set up as a draft.  Therefore if errors are encountered, an invoice already approved for issuing must be edited instead of corrected prior to it being approved.  E.g. it may be necessary to add products or additional items to the invoice before it is approved.
4. The addition of work to an existing invoice is achieved via manually creating a draft invoice in Xero first and then the invoice can then be added to from Freshdesk.  Given point three above, if the invoice was created as a draft by Freshdesk, the workaround of creating an invoice in Xero so it appears in Freshdesk would not be necessary.
5. When dealing with a large volume of jobs it will be very cumbersome to bill as the job must first be closed, the job then has to be revisited (from another screen in Freshdesk) and then it can be invoiced.  As part of the integration there should be a bulk invoicing function where jobs are flagged as ready to be invoiced and they can be assigned to accounting codes and invoiced according from one screen.

1. 

Current Behaviour:

The thought process while creating the integration logic was that a Xero account admin would always review the invoices before approval and hence can easily update the line items rates (not hugely scalable for good for a start). Regarding work supposed to be billed at different rates, at the moment agents can add multiple time sheet entries and they can be billed at the desired rates. 

Feature Under Consideration:

We can allow agents to populate a rate while pushing timesheet, but we believe that even then the account admin would need to review for input errors. This can be a good next step.

The elegant solution would however be to have a lookup for work performed and corresponding bill rates. To do that the Xero admin would need to maintain inventory items for support activities with different hourly rates. The Freshdesk integration would  allow the mapping of time sheet entries to the desired inventory id.  The downside in that case is that the Freshdesk ticket ID would not exist in the item description and hence backward tracking to the source of work would be tough. Thoughts on alternate implementations welcome.

2. 

Current Behaviour:

At the moment we are unable to maintain a link between a timesheet entry and an invoice line item because Xero does not give us a unique ID for a line item. Hence an update to a timesheet entry cannot be made (which id to update). Adding a new timesheet entry is also therefore a challenge because of the lack of a unique identity (what are the timesheets already pushed?).

For work that straddles multiple months, it would be advisable to have units of completed work billed as separate tickets each month.

The ideal solution may be to just push new / updated billable time sheet entries to Xero for invoicing, but presently Xero time sheets are only available for payroll processing.

Feature Under Consideration:

We are evaluating an enhancement where Xero invoicing would only be available to a closed ticket such that an agent can be sure that s/he would want to invoice a customer only once the work is over. It may be argued that the ticket may be reopened, but yeah given the current limitation this is one control that we can add.

3. 

Current Behaviour:

We do not mark an invoice as approved from Freshdesk. True to our philosophy of leaving it to the Xero admin to review make changes, and mark invoices as approved. Do let us know if that is not so. Additional service and material line items can be added before an invoice is approved.

Feature Under Consideration:

For the next round of enhancement we are evaluating displaying only DRAFT invoices before a ticket is linked to an invoice (irrespective of whether the draft is created in Freshdesk or Xero). After the ticket is linked only the linked invoice would be displayed on the Freshdesk ticket. 

4. Not allowing additional non agent time tracking related entries to be added to an invoice from Freshdesk is a conscious decision. We wanted to limit access to agents to only raise help desk related work for invoicing. The idea of keeping the invoice as draft leaves room for admins to add more line items for billing.

5. Bulk invoicing is a feature update for next release. The integration would run in either two modes (ticket initiated invoicing or bulk invoicing). If bulk invoicing is selected, closed tickets can be filtered by date and invoiced using bulk ticket actions.

For more details on the draft of proposed enhancements, please refer to the attached spec.

Thank you for the prompt response.  I have added some comments below...

New Reply - 16 replies in topic Integration to Xero

 

Priyobrato Chatterjee

 

1. 

Current Behaviour:

The thought process while creating the integration logic was that a Xero account admin would always review the invoices before approval and hence can easily update the line items rates (not hugely scalable for good for a start). Regarding work supposed to be billed at different rates, at the moment agents can add multiple time sheet entries and they can be billed at the desired rates. 

I created another test invoice and it has shown up in Xero as a draft.  Thank you for changing this. The billing, in its current implementation still presents the following problems:

1. When a a time entry is billed for, the agent has to decide what he is billing - i.e. he is presented with the entire chart of accounts from Xero so he must decide whether he is billing for hardware, software, a fixed asset, a liability, etc.  Agents should have no visibility into the chart of accounts of a business as some of this information is private to the owners.  The available accounts for use as payment should be defined as part of settings along with their appropriate billable rate.
2. When invoicing, the agent is asked to select the payment due date of the invoice.  This is not up to the agent but rather based on the business rules set up by the business - for example, payment being due on the 20th of the month following the invoice date is common.  Agents should have no authority to affect this and this should be handled either via Xero or through a setting that forms part of the integration.
3. I cannot see how multiple time sheet entries can be billed on the same invoice.  Additional invoices can be created for each entry billed.  However, this is not ideal as 10 time sheet entries would result in 10 invoices.
   

Feature Under Consideration:

We can allow agents to populate a rate while pushing timesheet, but we believe that even then the account admin would need to review for input errors. This can be a good next step.

The elegant solution would however be to have a lookup for work performed and corresponding bill rates. To do that the Xero admin would need to maintain inventory items for support activities with different hourly rates. The Freshdesk integration would  allow the mapping of time sheet entries to the desired inventory id.  The downside in that case is that the Freshdesk ticket ID would not exist in the item description and hence backward tracking to the source of work would be tough. Thoughts on alternate implementations welcome.

It would be far simpler for Freshdesk to add additional fields that form part of the integration.  When billing is being done, the agent can select the type of work billed and the integration will populate the amount billable based on the hourly rate for the work performed.  Additional time entries should be possible - e.g. standard rate, after hours rate, emergency support rate etc.  Each of these should have it's own entry and should be mapped accordingly to the Xero chart of accounts.  In essence you set up a small billing rates table in Fresahdesk and populate the invoice with these rates.  The same should apply for the invoice due date.  The invoice should be dated by the agent (usually when the work was performed or on the last day of the month, and the due date should be set based on rules set as part of the integration.

2. 

Current Behaviour:

At the moment we are unable to maintain a link between a timesheet entry and an invoice line item because Xero does not give us a unique ID for a line item. Hence an update to a timesheet entry cannot be made (which id to update). Adding a new timesheet entry is also therefore a challenge because of the lack of a unique identity (what are the timesheets already pushed?).

This is already done through the integration for WorkFlowMax to Xero.  I'm not sure why you are unable to do this while they have implemented it.  WFM is now owned by Xero so perhaps they have access to a different API. 

 

For work that straddles multiple months, it would be advisable to have units of completed work billed as separate tickets each month.

This is not ideal as it becomes difficult to track the entire job. 

 

The ideal solution may be to just push new / updated billable time sheet entries to Xero for invoicing, but presently Xero time sheets are only available for payroll processing.

 

Feature Under Consideration:

We are evaluating an enhancement where Xero invoicing would only be available to a closed ticket such that an agent can be sure that s/he would want to invoice a customer only once the work is over. It may be argued that the ticket may be reopened, but yeah given the current limitation this is one control that we can add.

Once a ticket has been invoiced, it should not be opened again.  A separate job should be created and the closed job should be referenced.  Allowing closed jobs that have been invoiced to be re-opened would mean it is not possible to audit the system.  I.e. I can reopen jobs and add work to them and then we have a discrepancy between what is billed and what work has been done.

3. 

Current Behaviour:

We do not mark an invoice as approved from Freshdesk. True to our philosophy of leaving it to the Xero admin to review make changes, and mark invoices as approved. Do let us know if that is not so. Additional service and material line items can be added before an invoice is approved.

The test invoice has been sent through as a draft which is what I was hoping for initially.  My first three tests produced approved invoices so this is a great update.  Thank you. 

Feature Under Consideration:

For the next round of enhancement we are evaluating displaying only DRAFT invoices before a ticket is linked to an invoice (irrespective of whether the draft is created in Freshdesk or Xero). After the ticket is linked only the linked invoice would be displayed on the Freshdesk ticket. 

I'm not sure it is appropriate for an agent to have access to all invoices for a client.  This may not be desired business behaviour.  E.g. I would not want all of our agents to see other items I have billed clients for.  Some agents may have access to certain client information while others do not.  In my view, agents should only be able to create invoices to send through to accounting when the job is resolved and closed.  Accounting information should not flow back to agents. 

4. Not allowing additional non agent time tracking related entries to be added to an invoice from Freshdesk is a conscious decision. We wanted to limit access to agents to only raise help desk related work for invoicing. The idea of keeping the invoice as draft leaves room for admins to add more line items for billing.

This, in my view, is a mistake.  Helpdesk work often involves the supply of hardware.  An agent should know what he is sending out by way of parts, whereas someone handling the accounting side of things is unlikely to have the technical expertise to know what to invoice relative to the work performed.  This could be accomplished with a miscellaneous entry where the agent can add the description of the item and enter the price and the quantity - similar to a time sheet entry but instead of an hourly rate you are talking about a product price.

5. Bulk invoicing is a feature update for next release. The integration would run in either two modes (ticket initiated invoicing or bulk invoicing). If bulk invoicing is selected, closed tickets can be filtered by date and invoiced using bulk ticket actions.

Great idea. 

For more details on the draft of proposed enhancements, please refer to the attached spec.

The integration to Xero for us is critical and will form the basis of our decision to stick with the paid plan we have or move to the free plan so an ETA on upcoming features/updates would be great. 

Replying to Manuel's feedback via a ticket for benefit of all:

1. While creating an invoice, the agent can put a time sheet entry against all possible account heads supported by Xero. 

This will be changed to default to Sales  account head in the upcoming enhancement.

2. Agent should not set the due date for the Invoice that they create.

Good point! Right now no harm is done since the draft invoice is not sent to the customer. The Xero admin can change it as per requirement. We will evaluate creating invoices from Freshdesk with null due by dates in our next enhancement.

3. Yes. Multiple time sheet entries on a given ticket can be added to the same invoice.

Both even show up if a new invoice is created

Thats a lot of update for one post. Will add more in a follow up post.

In reply to point 1.

Freshdesk should not look up the chart of accounts account, but rather allow the configuration of a product or service defined in Freshdesk to be linked to an income account in Xero.  A product/service (Item in Xero) is linked to an account (sales, services, hardware, consulting etc.).  When you invoice, you don't invoice for the account.  You invoice for the product or service (Item).

In reply to point 3.

It is possible to add multiple time sheet entries to the same invoice.  However, they cannot be billed at different rates.  ALL time sheet entries pass through to the invoice based on whatever chart of accounts account is selected for the entire job.  Also, an account within a general ledger does not store a price against it - an item within an account does.  Therefore, selecting the Sales account simply passes the invoice through at $1.00 x the number of hours billed.  If you bill 1.75 hours, then the line item in the invoice shows up at $1.75.

In your example above, how would you bill Freshdesk Ticket #2 Work Unit 1 at normal rates and Freshdesk Ticket #2 Work Unit 2 at after hours/weekend rates on the same invoice when the billable rate is different for each work unit?

The above has been my experience.  If I am doing something wrong in this area it would be great to know what it is.

Cheers

Manuel

The Freshdesk Xero integration enhancement is now live. 

Freshdesk Admins can now allow agents access to a predefined list of inventory items that can be associated to time sheets while creating invoices. The relevant price and tax rate are applied automatically. Xero admins do not need to set sale or tax rates any more for Freshdesk Xero invoices. They simply need to approve invoices.

The old functionality has been retained though. The agents if they so choose, may not associated their time sheets to inventory items. In this case they would need to select an account name and Xero admins would need to set the applicable rates before approving the invoice. The access to account names can also be restricted. The Freshdesk admins can now select a subset of account names that are available in Xero chart of accounts.

More details in: https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/210531-integration-with-xero

Our app is now certified and listed on the Xero marketplace : https://www.xero.com/add-ons/search/?q=freshdesk

Thanks,

Priyo

I like the Freshdesk integration, but what about Xero integration for FreshSERVICE?  I don't see it in Freshservice.

Thanks!

Dave

Thanks, this will be very helpful indeed.

Hello,

You can install the integration from our marketplace listing here.

For more details on the integration, please refer Xero App FAQ.

Cheers!