The Customer section in Xero is divided into Three groups.
1. Customers - These would be customers whom you have raised invoices for previously in Xero.
2. Contacts - These would traditionally be refered to as leads, information for those contacts who you have not yet created an invoice for.
3. Suppliers - Who you purchase items from.
A contact will only become a customer in Xero if you create/have created an invoice for them.
Any entry in your Fieldmotion customer module for whom you have created an invoice - Xero will view these as Customers. - These entries will Sync to Xero.
Any entry in your Fieldmotion customer module for whom you have NOT created an invoice - Xero will not sync these as they are not viewed as customers.
If you set up a sync between Fieldmotion and Xero, and have data recorded in both Fieldmotion and Xero, then on the first sync,
1. Xero will sync all information from the "Customers" section of Xero into Fieldmotion, ( this will most likely cause duplication of customers in Fieldmotion ),
2. Xero will sync stock items to Fieldmotion ( this may also cause duplications in stock ).
3. Xero will sync Suppliers from Xero to Fieldmotion
4. Xero will set up the chart of accounts ( very important for creating invoices in FIeldmotion, as the chart of accounts contain the nominal codes and the vat rates at which items on the invoice are set as - so this is a big plus - but you will need to make sure your accountant has this set up correctly )
5. Xero will then check what Customers you have in Fieldmotion and sync these to Xero. ( this will most likely cause duplications of customers in Xero ) Xero will regard a customer as being anyone in your customer module who you have created an invoice for. Common reasons for customers failing to be imported to Xero include
a. Incorrect email address format recorded against the customer in Fieldmotion.
b. The account number assigned to a customer has already been recorded against another customer in Fieldmotion and/or Xero
When the sync has concluded, you will be able to see a report of what has failed to sync, and can then take the necessary steps to rectify.
6. Xero will check and see what Invoices you have in Fieldmotion, and will then sync these invoices up to Xero. - If invoices are marked as CANCELLED in Fieldmotion, Xero will ignore these
7. Xero will check and see what items of stock are in Fieldmotion, and if they are in the permitted format for syncing, will then sync these. Common reasons for Stock sync rejection by Xero will be
a. The stock item name is greater than 64 Characters in length ( including spaces )
b. The stock item has nothing entered in the CODE field of the stock item
8. Xero will sync Suppliers from Fieldmotion to Xero
You can then choose whether to manually sync invoices from Fieldmotion to Xero by pressing the Xero Icon in Fieldmotion, or you can choose to have the two systems sync automatically.
For automatic sync, you choose the frequency from 5 minutes to 2 hours, and when you are logged into Fieldmotion, it will then sync with Xero depending on the frequency you have selected.
If you set up a sync between Fieldmotion and Xero, and have NO data recorded in Xero (except Chart of Accounts), then on the first sync,
1. Xero will set up the chart of accounts ( very important for creating invoices in FIeldmotion, as the chart of accounts contain the nominal codes and the vat rates at which items on the invoice are set as - so this is a big plus - but you will need to make sure your accountant has this set up correctly )
2. Xero will then check what Customers you have in Fieldmotion and sync these to Xero.
Xero will regard a customer as being anyone in your Fieldmotion customer module who you have created an invoice for. Common reasons for customers failing to be imported to Xero include
a. Incorrect email address format recorded against the customer
b. The account number assigned to a customer has already been recorded against another customer in Fieldmotion
When the sync has concluded, you will be able to see a report of what has failed to sync, and can then take the necessary steps to rectify.
3. Xero will check and see what Invoices you have in Fieldmotion, and will then sync these invoices up to Xero. - If invoices are marked as CANCELLED in Fieldmotion, Xero will ignore these
4. Xero will check and see what items of stock are in Fieldmotion, and if they are in the permitted format for syncing, will then sync these. Common reasons for rejection will be
a. The stock item name is greater than 64 Characters in length ( including spaces )
b. The stock item has nothing entered in the CODE field of the stock item
5. Xero will sync Suppliers from Fieldmotion to Xero
You can then choose whether to manually sync invoices from Fieldmotion to Xero by pressing the Xero Icon in Fieldmotion, or you can choose to have the two systems sync automatically.
For automatic sync, you choose the frequency from 5 minutes to 2 hours, and when you are logged into Fieldmotion, it will then sync with Xero depending on the frequency you have selected.
If you choose to sync Xero and Fieldmotion and have data in both systems, this will most likely cause duplications of Customers / Stock / Suppliers in both systems.
As we do not clean system data, you are responsible for identifying and removing any duplications, or merging if it involves Customer entries.
For further information on merging customers please click on the Help module , located in the top right hand corner of your system and choose the topic Customers and subtopic How to Merge Customers