Why connect to Xero?
Xero is an easy-to-use yet powerful cloud solution designed specifically for small to medium businesses.
Connecting Xero to Ignition allows you to automatically generate upfront and recurring invoices in Xero upon acceptance of a proposal by your client.
For detailed instructions on how to connect to Xero, see our help article on Connecting to Xero.
You can also connect to Xero Practice Manager to allow Ignition to connect to your client database, automatically create jobs, deploy jobs and sync client information.
How does Ignition create new (or identify existing) clients details in Xero?
Ignition uses the Client Name to determine if a new client should be created in Xero.
If the Client Name in Ignition exactly matches a Client Name in Xero, then Ignition will assign all invoices to that existing client.
When creating a new client in Ignition, you can ‘map’ the Ignition client record to an existing Xero record so that any new invoices generated from Ignition will link to that existing client.
For example, if your client has two entities: Entity A and Entity B. You want the Ignition proposal to address Entity A, but the invoices to be allocated to Entity B in Xero, you will manually map them via Ignition.
To do this, simply click into Clients → Select the Client → Edit Client → Apps → App Client Mappings → Search and select the Xero client you want to map to.
Otherwise, if you do not elect to map the client, they will be created as a new entity in Xero.
The client's entity name, address, postal address and phone numbers will be pushed across to Xero.
If a new entity is created, their details are not pushed across to Xero until the first invoice for this client is generated by Ignition. This can occur as soon as the client accepts the proposal if there is on acceptance billing.
How does Ignition create invoices in Xero?
Ignition performs a one-way push of invoices to Xero.
Invoices will only start sending to Xero after a proposal is accepted by your client.
Ignition uses the default invoice functionality to create invoices in Xero. The invoice will include the customer details (name, email address), the billing address, invoice number and due dates.
The services included in your proposal become line items in the invoice.
When will Ignition create invoices for each client?
Invoices are generated by Igntion and created in Xero depending on the Billing Rules associated with the services outlined in the proposal:
On Acceptance services: An invoice will be immediately generated in Xero once the proposal is accepted. More than one "On Acceptance" service will generate individual line items on the same invoice.
Recurring Services: A new invoice will be automatically generated as per the frequency outlined in the Billing Rule associated with the service on the proposal.
Deposit services: The first invoice (Deposit) will be immediately generated in Xero when the proposal is accepted. Then, the second invoice (Balance) will need to be raised manually on or before your specified date.
On completion or Estimate services: These services will appear in the Billed Manually section of the client's Billing Schedule tab to be manually scheduled which will then trigger the invoice to be created in Xero.
Learn about the Billing Schedule tab here and learn about Ignition's centralised billing hub here.
Data transfer between Ignition and Xero
The client's entity name is pushed across along with the invoice details and the contact details (individual's name and email) that we have in Ignition once the invoice is sent to Xero.
You can manually refresh the integration by going into the Apps → Xero → Sync.
Invoices marked as paid from Xero
When you connect Xero to your Ignition account, invoices marked as paid in your ledger will also be shown as paid in Ignition. This ensures that the status of invoices in Ignition mirrors their status in your ledger.
To see invoices marked as paid via Xero, navigate to your client's file in Ignition → Invoices tab to view a green banner Invoice marked as paid.
You can also click on the invoice to see more details.
Sync Unpaid Invoices from Xero
To enable this feature in Ignition, navigate to the Apps tab → click into the Xero tile. Next, open the Invoice Settings→ Sync unpaid invoices toggle → Save.
Once enabled, Ignition will start automatically importing any unpaid invoices from Xero that were billed in the last 90 days. These unpaid invoices from the ledger will be available in the Outstanding tab under Payments → Collections.
Invoices typically appear in Ignition within 1 to 2 hours.
Bulk import clients from Xero
Convert your Xero clients to an Ignition client by navigating to Clients → App clients → Connected app.
The Import screen will list all of your clients in that connected app.
Click a client to convert it to an Ignition client, or link it to an existing Ignition client to set-up automatic syncing.
If you convert an app client to an Ignition client, Ignition will first check for any potential matches in Ignition to prevent duplicates clients. Learn more about importing your Xero clients to Ignition in bulk here.
For more information about Xero, you can visit their website using this link.
Got questions? Get in touch with us at help@ignitionapp.com.