Before you start
Lesson 2 of 12 7 min read
The access you need, the decisions to agree with your finance team, and a checklist of the Xero details to collect before you open Supply Lens.
A Xero Integration is quick to connect and slow to get right, because nearly every setting is an accounting decision. The fastest implementations are the ones where the finance team has answered the questions in this lesson before anyone opens the configuration. By the end you'll have a checklist to take to your accountant or bookkeeper.
What you need
- An active Xero account, with the organisation you want Supply Lens to post into.
- A Supply Lens account with access to Settings → Integration setup → Integrations.
- Someone who can connect the Xero organisation. When you create the Integration you'll connect your Xero account to Supply Lens, so the person doing it needs to be able to sign in to that Xero organisation.
Use a test organisation first if you can
Postings to a ledger are hard to undo cleanly. If your finance team can give you a Xero demo or test organisation, connect that first, prove the postings, then connect the live organisation.
Decisions to agree with finance
Work through these with whoever owns the books. Each one maps to settings you'll meet later in the course.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Who numbers the invoice: the source system or Xero? | Decides whether the Xero invoice number matches the order system's number |
| Should invoices arrive as drafts for review, or approved? | Drafts give finance a check; approved invoices save time and can be marked as sent |
| Which sales account does each kind of line post to? | Products, shipping, discounts, charges and extra lines can each have their own account code |
| Should different channels or customers post to different accounts? | Tag-based maps can route lines by order characteristics |
| How is tax decided: by Supply Lens or by Xero? | Supply Lens can write the tax type on each line, or leave Xero to derive it |
| Are your products set up as Items in Xero? | If not, lines can be sent as descriptions only |
| Are any orders already paid when they're invoiced? | Supply Lens can record the payment, into a bank account you choose |
| Do you need tracking categories? | Lines can carry tracking categories for cost centres, channels or regions |
Collect your Xero details
From Xero, write down:
- The account codes for sales, shipping income, discounts, charges and any catch-all
account. If you'll send description-only lines, note which account they should use: Supply
Lens uses account
200when none is set. - The tax types you use, if Supply Lens is going to set them.
- The bank accounts that payments should land in.
- Your tracking category names and options.
- For supplier bills, the goods received not invoiced (GRNI) account if you raise bills on receipt.
Customers and suppliers in Xero
Xero calls customers and suppliers contacts. Supply Lens has Parties, and a Party can carry identifiers for each system it's known in. For Xero the identifier types are:
- Xero Account Number
- Xero Contact ID
- Xero Contact Name
- Xero Contact Number
You add these on the Party (Settings → Reference data → Parties → edit → Identifiers). They matter most for supplier bills, where Supply Lens matches the supplier by these identifiers before falling back to the name, and Xero creates a new contact for a name it doesn't recognise.
Watch for duplicate contacts
If a supplier's name in your other system doesn't exactly match its Xero contact, and no Xero identifier is set on the Party, you can end up with a second contact in Xero. Add identifiers for your main suppliers before you send the first bill.
Hilltop Coffee's checklist
Hilltop's bookkeeper wants wholesale invoices as drafts so she can review them for the first
month, then approved. Coffee sales go to account 200, delivery charges to 260, and EDI
retailer discounts to 400. Tax will be set by Supply Lens from each order. None of Hilltop's
products are Items in Xero, so lines will be descriptions only. That one page of answers covers
most of the configuration they'll fill in.
Recap
- You need an active Xero organisation, a Supply Lens account and someone who can connect Xero.
- Agree numbering, status, account codes, tax, payments and tracking with finance first.
- Collect account codes, tax types, bank accounts and tracking categories from Xero.
- Add Xero identifiers to supplier Parties to avoid duplicate contacts on bills.
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