Xero Invoices are not syncing with Xero Practice Manager

This article is an extract from the book 'Everything you need to know about Xero Practice Manager'
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Background of issue

Every 24 hours Xero Practice Manager searches the ‘Reference’ field in your Xero invoices for a matching ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’ to import these invoices against the corresponding jobs. There are several scenarios that might cause an invoice in Xero not to sync correctly to XPM.

These include in order of occurrence:
a. No Xero invoice ‘Reference’.
b. Xero invoice ‘Reference’ does not match an active ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’.
c. Xero invoice has synced to the incorrect job.
d. Xero invoice has synced to the incorrect client.
e. Xero invoice ‘Reference’ does match an active ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’ but has not synced.

It is very important that all Xero invoices that relate a job are synced to that job in order to recognise the revenue and its impact on the WIP balance. Unfortunately there is no error log in Xero or XPM available to display Xero invoices that have failed to sync to a job. It is up to us to ensure that all Xero invoices correctly sync to XPM.

How to resolve this issue

The most common time to discover that a Xero invoice has not synced to the related job is at job close-out. When following our job close-out process we ensure that all invoices have correctly synced to the job. If we find invoices missing from a job we will need to sync these invoices from Xero prior to closing this job and completing a WIP wash-up.

The most common cause of a Xero invoice not syncing to XPM is that no ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’ is entered in the Xero invoice ‘Reference’ field. XPM is unable to match this invoice to the appropriate job. You may find that this Xero invoice has synced to the client in XPM. This will not recognise revenue correctly against the appropriate job, client or staff. This will also not reduce the WIP balance on this job or for your practice. It will incorrectly create write-offs when the job is closed out.

To resolve this:

1. Delete the invoice from XPM.
2. Enter the ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’ of the corresponding job into the Xero invoice ‘Reference’ field.
3. Ensure the ‘Contact’ in Xero matches exactly the ‘Name’ field of the client in XPM.
4. Save and check back the following day to ensure the invoice has successfully arrived in XPM.

The next most common cause of a Xero invoice not syncing to XPM is that the Xero invoice ‘Reference’ used does not match an active job. Active jobs are those jobs that are not completed or cancelled. Jobs in these statuses are unable to accept new invoices and will need to be re-opened into an active job state in order to have invoices sync to them.

To resolve this:

1. Edit the job state in XPM to an active job state ie ‘In Progress’.
2. Make a minor change to the invoice in Xero to trigger a re-sync.
3. Check back the next day to ensure the invoice has synced to the correct job.
4. Edit the job state to a completed state.

Prior to completing a job it is important we follow the job close-out process detailed in Chapter 8 - Project Management to avoid having to re-open jobs to sync missing invoices.

Where multiple XPM jobs have the same ‘Client Order Number’ Xero is unable to determine which job should receive the invoice. Xero will sync the invoice to the most recently created job in XPM in this scenario. You may find that the Xero invoice has correctly synced, but to the incorrect job.

To resolve this:

1. Delete this invoice from XPM.
2. Edit the ‘Client Order Numbers’ so they are unique, ensuring the job you want the invoice to sync to has a matching ‘Client Order Number’ to the Xero reference field.
3. Make a minor change to the Xero invoice to trigger a re-sync.
4. Check in the next day to ensure the Xero invoice has synced correctly.

Lastly, you may find that the Xero invoice has correctly synced to XPM but against the incorrect client. You will find this invoice sitting against the client record, not against any job. This often occurs where the Xero ‘Contact’ name does not exactly match the XPM ‘Name’ field within the client record. We want this invoice syncing to the correct job for the correct client.

To resolve this:

1. Delete the invoice from XPM.
2. Edit the Xero invoice ensuring the ‘Contact’ name exactly matches the ‘Name’ field for the client in XPM.
3. Save the invoice to trigger a re-sync.
4. Check back the next day to ensure the Xero invoice has synced correctly.

If you find a Xero invoice has not yet synced, but has a matching ‘Job Number’ or ‘Client Order Number’ in the ‘Reference’ field, and you have checked all of the above; make a minor edit to the Xero invoice to trigger a resync of this invoice to XPM If you find the invoice still has not synced, the best people to contact are Xero support.

Timeframe to implement this solution

Because the invoice sync between Xero and XPM is every 24 hours you will need to wait at least this long to ensure your invoice has correctly synced. This can make troubleshooting this problem very time consuming however it is essential that all job-related Xero invoices are correctly matched against their corresponding jobs.

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