Connect - Supplier Bills 4.9.4 changes

Connect has been updated for exporting Supplier expense (Bills) in the Synergy 4.9.4 release. Products updated Connect for MYOB V19 Classic, MYOB AccountRight Live, Xero, and Reckon Accounts (formerly QuickBooks). Read about these changes before running Connect after upgrading to 4.9.4.NEW 4.9.4

Getting Started

Setup required before use	Who Can Use It?	Where Is It?
MYOB ARL settings MYOB V19 settings Xero settings Reckon Accounts settings	Administrator System Administrator	Connect > MYOB AccountRight Live Connect Connect > MYOB Connect (V19) Connect > Xero Connect Connect > QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier)

Tax sent for Supplier Bills

Workflow prior to 4.9.4 upgrade

The tax details sent via Connect for each Supplier Bill disbursement line was not taken from the Bill created in Synergy. Instead the tax details were sent from the sub project that the bill was disbursed against.

Due to this a separate sub project was often created to disburse 'tax applicable' supplier bills against one sub project, and another for 'tax free' bills. This way the correct bill total tax value was sent via Connect to the purchase record created in your accounting system.

Click the image above to see the tax code on a sub project.

NEW solution in 4.9.4

The tax rule used by Connect is taken from each supplier expense (bill) disbursement line. The line total including or excluding tax value will appear the same in Synergy and your accounting system, no matter what project / sub project you disburse the expense against. The tax code on the sub project continues to be used when creating a project invoice in Synergy, but has no impact any longer on the connect interface sync'd bill disbursement lines.

Click the image above to see the bill tax code that is sent via Connect.

As part of the above change the previous Bills design with a general tab and a 'Total' field with a check box for including tax have been removed. These fields have been replaced by being able to enter the line values, and the tax totals. Lines do not have to be disbursed against a project to be saved in Synergy, however each line on the Bill must be fully disbursed before they will show in the Connect preview window.

Reckon Accounts only - Tax code settings

A new tab in the QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier) Connect settings area has been added called 'Tax'. Define the tax free and tax applicable code to be used for Invoices and Expenses. This tab requires to be setup before you can sync any invoice, credit, or expense data to QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier). Learn more about this new Reckon Accounts Setting for tax codes mapping.

Bills due date field

Workflow prior to 4.9.4 upgrade

Previously Supplier expenses (bills) entered in Synergy did not have a field for the entry of a 'due date'. The invoice date for the bill could be entered against each bill.

The invoice date entered was sync'd to most Connect products as the due date, when the due date was a required field on a created purchase record. In many cases users would edit the created bill purchase record in their accounting system at a later date to add the correct due date for the expense.

NEW solution in 4.9.4

Each Supplier Expense (Bill) created in Synergy allows the entry of both an invoice date and a due date. This lets you report in Synergy which bills are due for payment, and compare this to which bills have already been paid. Make sure the 'due date' and 'paid' columns are shown in your supplier expense reports or list views to complete this task.

Click on the image above to see the Due Date field in the Synergy Bill.

In Connect a Due Date column has been added to the preview tab for Supplier Expenses (Bills). This lets you check the due date for each bill before it is sync'd via Connect to your accounting system. This can be seen in Connect Preview for MYOB AccountRight V19 Classic, MYOB AccountRight Live, Xero, and QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier).

Click the image above to see the Due Date column in Connect Preview.

Export to Connect restrictions

Workflow prior to 4.9.4 upgrade

Supplier expenses (bills) were shown in Connect Preview ready to export when they were fully disbursed against a Synergy project.

NEW solution in 4.9.4

The new Bill creation form in Synergy has additional features to for marking a bill as 'locked and finalised', and valid to 'export to connect'. These changes impact the Connect products for MYOB AccountRight V19 Classic, MYOB AccountRight Live, Xero, and QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier).

A Bill must have the following three conditions met for the bill disbursement rows to be shown in Connect Preview:

1. The Bill must be fully disbursed against a project.
   This means all lines on the bill must be disbursed against a Synergy project, or the <Office> project.
2. The Bill needs to be marked as 'Export to Connect' is allowed.
   This defaults to being allowed on new created bills, and all existing bills are marked as export allowed as part of the upgrade to 4.9.4. If this option is unchecked then it is a Synergy Only Bill, which allows you to show a transaction line on a project invoice that is to sent to your accounting system to be paid.
3. The Bill must be 'locked'.
   After entering a new Bill record in Synergy, the record must be marked as 'locked and finalised'. Locking a bill stops further editing of the record, and allows the record to be sent via Connect. Director access level and above can unlock a bill and edit the details if required.
   All existing bills that are fully disbursed are automatically locked as part of the upgrade process for the 4.9.4 release.

If a bill is not showing in the Connect Preview screen, then check which of the above may be causing this issue.

Check the bills in expenses (Invoices / Bills) list by

1. Go to Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills).
2. Right click in the list and add the optional columns for 'Locked' and 'Export' to your view.
3. Use the list filter shown in the top right corner, and use these options:
   • Not Fully Disbursed
   • Not Locked
   • Not Exported
4. The bills shown using any of these filters will not be exported via connect, and will not be shown in connect preview.
5. Update the bills as required - disburse the bill, mark it as 'export to connect', or 'lock' the bill.
6. Re-try connect and the updated bills will be shown in the preview tab for bills.

Preview - Warning vs Error message (MYOB ARL and Xero)

Workflow prior to 4.9.4 upgrade

If an error existed in the any of the tabs in the connect preview window, then an error symbol was shown on the tab. This prompted you to open the tab and check the lines shown before running Connect.

Warning message in some cases are shown in Connect Preview on a line when data is not in a valid format. However the warning for this was not shown at the top of the tab, and was only shown on the line. Some users advised they missed reviewing these messages before they had run connect, and a change was implemented to make this more obvious to review the warnings before using connect.

NEW Solution in 4.9.4

Warning and Error messages

If a warning message or error message is shown for any line in the preview for Connect, then a warning / error symbol is shown at the top of the tab. This applies to MYOB AccountRight Live and Xero Connect preview.

Click the image above to see the warning symbol in Xero Connect Preview.

Before running the connect sync it is important to review all warnings and errors that are shown in the preview window.

• Warning - orange error text - The data shown with a warning will still be sent via Connect to MYOB AccountRight Live or Xero. The warning is shown to advise there is some missing data from the Synergy record, the data in Synergy is not in a valid MYOB or Xero format. This warning is also shown for a Supplier (bill) when the purchase / bill invoice number already exists in MYOB or Xero.
• Error - red error text - The data shown with an error message will not be sent via Connect to MYOB AccountRight Live or Xero. Error messages are shown to advise that the account code mapping is incorrect, or the contact is missing a card ID number, or for Xero Connect when the supplier expense bill payment already exists in Synergy.

Bills matching - invoice # to unique ID change (MYOB ARL and Xero)

What's changed

The interface for exporting Supplier expense (Bills) via Connect has changed for MYOB AccountRight Live and Xero.

• Prior to 4.9.4 - The interface matched the Synergy bills to MYOB ARL or Xero using the invoice / bill number.
• Changed in 4.9.4 - The matching of bills is done using a unique ID number stored in the Synergy database. Only for MYOB ARL and Xero Connect.
• Why we changed this - The interfaces to both products had changed, and a new more accurate method of sending Bills via Connect was available for these products. By implementing this change this allows users to enter the same invoice number against multiple bills for a contact, and all the bills with duplicate 'invoice #' entered to be sync'd via Connect (MYOB ARL and Xero).

NEW warning in Connect Preview - Supplier (Bills) export

After the upgrade to 4.9.4 release Connect will show a NEW warning against Supplier Expenses (Bills) - 'Invoice # already exists'.

This will show as a warning for MYOB ARL and XERO on the Supplier expenses lines tab.

Any bills sync'd using the old 'invoice #' matching method will show this warning message. We recommended you SKIP the lines for any Bills you have previously sync'd.

In most cases after an interim switch over period of approx 1 to 2 months you should not see this warning message.

Click the image above to see the Supplier expense (Invoice / Bill) warning in Connect.

Why this warning shows

• The bill 'invoice #' already exists in your accounting system.
• Check in your accounting system if this is a bill number exists.
• Was the bill manually entered in Xero / MYOB ARL?
• Was the bill previously sync'd via Connect when the previous matching method on 'invoice #' was used?

Steps for running the first sync - after upgrading to 4.9.4

1. Move the 'export from' date forward. e.g. move the date forward to the 1st of this month to ignore all old records.
   1. MYOB ARL - On the 'General' setting tabs > update the 'export data from' date BEFORE previewing Connect data.
   2. Xero - On the 'General' settings tab > update the 'from date' BEFORE previewing Connect data.
2. In Connect Preview > Go to the Supplier expense lines tab. This will be shown with a warning symbol .
3. Click on the 'error' column heading, to sort all the lines with a warning / error shown together.
4. The new warning is shown in orange text 'invoice no exists'. These are the lines we need to check before running this sync.
5. Open your accounting system - MYOB AccountRight Live or Xero and:
   1. Go to the purchases module.
   2. For each line shown with a warning, check if the 'expense #' shown exists already.
   3. Check the 'expense #', contact, and total value match to the existing record.
6. In Synergy Connect > Skip each line that already exists in your accounting system.
7. Check each warning and skip all the existing items.
8. Clear any errors shown as per the normal process (outlined in connect training prior to 4.9.4).
9. Run Connect as normal.

Supplier expense payment import (Xero Connect)

Supplier expense payments were imported and matched on the 'invoice #'. Due to the interface changes to Connect described above, the method used for matching bills between Synergy and Xero has changed.

NEW workflow after 4.9.4 upgrade - Supplier payments

Supplier expenses (bills) sync'd in the past (matched on invoice #) cannot have supplier payments imported.

The way we match a Bill records between Synergy and Xero has changed. Match was on ‘invoice number’ and is now on ‘unique id’ (see above). Previously sync'd Bills don’t have a unique ID in Xero for the Synergy interface used by Connect to match against. This error will occur for an interim period (approx 1 month), and then bill payments will import as normal using the new 'unique id' matching method.

Resolve this in Connect Preview by

1. Locate the lines with an error message that says 'Unable to match payment to invoice'.
2. Click the Edit button on the line and select the Supplier Expense option.
3. The Synergy Supplier Bill record for that line opens over the top of the Connect Preview window. Drag the bill so you can see the preview window at the same time.
4. On the Bill record complete enter the following:
   1. Check the box 'is paid'.
   2. Enter the 'payment date'.
   3. Type the 'payment note'.
   4. Save and close the bill.
5. Skip the bill payment line that you have just entered manually.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for any other bill payments shown with the same error.

Click the image above to see the Xero Connect preview error.

Send expense notes as a $0 line (Xero Connect)

Workflow prior to 4.9.4 upgrade

Notes entered against expenses could be configured in Connect settings to be shown as the text on the disbursement line in Xero. This applied to Supplier expenses (bills), Cash expenses, and Travel expenses. However in some cases it was preferred to have the sub project details shown on the line, and when that option was used it was not possible to also sync the expense note to Xero.

NEW solution in 4.9.4

Supplier expenses

Each supplier expense line sync'd via Connect let you control what 'description' was shown on the line in Xero. The 'note' from the disbursement line can be shown here, or other commonly used options are 'sub project name' or 'expense type'.

The new option available allows you to choose to send the text entered in the 'note' field for each disbursement line on the bill, in a single $0 value line item in the Xero Purchase record. Make sure you set the 'supplier expense line description' to something other than 'note' if you use this option (otherwise you get the same data on the record in Xero twice). Try using another option like 'sub project'.

Click the image above to see the Xero Supplier Expenses settings.

Staff expenses

Each staff expense line also allows you to define which piece of Synergy information is shown as a line 'description' in Xero. If you enable the new 'display the expense note as a zero value line item' option, then make sure you are not using the 'note' option in the 'staff expense line description' field. Try using another option like 'project, sub project, rate & expense type'.

Click the image above to see the Xero Staff Expenses settings.

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