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Configuring QuickBooks Integrations

You can define native integrations for sending your end customer Account Bills generated in m3ter outbound into your QuickBooks system:

This topic also includes a section designed to help you set up your QuickBooks system and configure the required External Mappings in preparation for sending Bills from m3ter through to your QuickBooks instance:

Creating the Integration

You can quickly set up a native QuickBooks integration from the Configurations page in the Console.

Notes:

  • QuickBooks or QuickBooks (Sandbox Mode)? The difference between these two integrations is selecting QuickBooks means an integration destination into your QuickBooks production environment, selecting QuickBooks (Sandbox Mode) means an integration destination into your QuickBooks Sandbox environment. The configuration settings are the same for both destinations.

  • Reviewing Integration Runs! When you've set up an integration with QuickBooks for your Organization in your production environment, you can review details of the integration runs performed for the integration. See Reviewing Integration Run Details.

To create a m3ter - QuickBooks integration:

1. Select Integrations:

The Configurations page opens in Grid view.

2. Under QuickBooks, select Configure new integration>Integrate bills with QuickBooks:

The Create page opens and the Entity type - Bill and External system - QuickBooks are shown at the top of the page.

3. Use the Global configuration panel to:

  • Enter a Name for the Integration. This is required and is useful if you intend to create multiple Integrations for the same External system/Entity Type and need to clearly differentiate them.

  • Select the Accounts you want the integration to apply to:

    • Account ids. Select the Accounts you want to include - all selected Accounts are treated as allowed for the integration.

    • Restricted account ids. Select the Accounts you want to exclude - all selected Accounts are treated as disallowed for the integration.

Notes:

  • If you want to include all Accounts in the integration, leave both Accounts ids and Restricted account ids empty.

  • Any filtering by Account ids you define using these settings to control which Accounts the integration runs for will be in addition to any filtering you define using the Account filter option - see the following step for Entity Configuration options.

  • Select Users for Email notifications if disabled:

    • Integration disabled notification users. Select Organization Users you want to receive an Email notification if the integration is automatically disabled.

Notes:

  • An integration is automatically disabled if there have been 10 successive previous error Event responses to earlier attempts to run the integration. See Reviewing and Resolving Integration Events for more details.

  • If you select Organization Users to receive an Email notification when the integration is automatically disabled, their User id will be listed under Configuration Data on the Integration Details page.

4. Use the Entity configuration panel to configure the m3ter entity you'll be synchronizing with for the integration. In the case of a Bill integration, this entity will be the Bill generated for a customer Account in m3ter:

  • Only send bill on approval. Enable this if you only want Bills to be sent when they have been approved. If disabled, the Bill will be sent every time it is regenerated. Default is disabled. Note that:

    • The frequency of Bills sent will depend on the billing frequency defined for the Account Plan attached to the Account - such as daily/weekly/monthly/annually.

    • If an Account has a Prepayment on it and the billing for Prepayment fees is configured to run on a customized schedule, Bills will be sent when scheduled Bills are generated.

    • If a Bill is manually recalculated the updated Bill will be sent.

    • If you enable this, then the integration will not run for all Bill Jobs.

  • Use external mapping account code. Enable this if you want the integration to look in the External Mappings for the Account identifier code, which means you can use an external Id. If this is disabled, the m3ter Account Id is used. Default is disabled.

  • Excluded line item types. Optionally filter the Bill line items you send to the destination system. For example, only send charges or credits and exclude all other line items.

  • Account filter. Optionally, enter an expression that is run on the Account to determine whether or not the integration is run. You can use this setting if you have multiple destinations for sending Bills outbound to your QuickBooks system. For example:

    • customFields != null AND customFields.country = = UK

    • In this example, the integration will run for an Account only if you have created a Custom Field for the Account called country and given the field a value of UK.

Notes:

  • Other Account fields for Account filter expression? You can reference other fields on the Account object in the Account filter expression. For details and another example, see Managing Multiple Third Party Destinations for Integrations.

  • Additional filtering? Any global filtering you define using the settings to include/exclude Accounts for integration runs by Account ids will be in addition to any filtering you define using the Account filter option - see the previous step for Global Configuration.

  • Enforce external mappings for config. Optionally enable this if you want the integration to use only those external mappings specified as being for this configuration.

    • Use this setting if you want to set up multiple integrations for the same external system. You can then create separate external mappings for each integration from the details page of each integration, and these external mappings become Linked external mappings for the specific integration. See Creating Linked External Mappings.

5. Use the External system configuration panel to enter the settings specific to the external system. These settings include field mappings as well as other system-specific configurations:

  • Split usage line items. This setting determines how m3ter will create usage invoice items in QuickBooks. QuickBooks items can be mapped to a product, an aggregation/compound aggregation, or to an individual pricing band:

    • Item per usage band

    • Item per product

    • Item per aggregation

  • Quick books item mapping. This setting allows you to specify the QuickBooks item ID for mapping these line item types. If left blank, then the item will be sent to QuickBooks without being mapped to a product or service:

    • CREDIT_MEMO

    • DEBIT_MEMO

  • Send zero quantity line items. Enable this switch if you want zero quantity line items to be sent through to QuickBooks. Default is disabled.

  • Allow bank transfer payment. Enable this switch if you want to allow invoices to be paid with online bank transfers - corresponds to bank transfer online payment checkbox in QuickBooks. Default is disabled.

  • Allow credit card payment. Enable this switch if you want to allow invoices to be paid with credit cards - corresponds to Cards checkbox in QuickBooks. Default is disabled.

  • Bcc invoice email address. Enter the email address to be set as the BCC email address in QuickBooks invoices. (Optional)

  • Account manager email custom field. Enter the Account custom field name that contains the email address of the Account Manager. Used to populate the email CC field when an invoice is sent to QuickBooks. (Optional). See Working with Custom Fields.

Warning! Do not enter an email address directly into this field: You'll receive an error message when you try to save or update the integration configuration.

  • Sort line items by. Optionally, select a property to sort line items by before they are sent out to the external system. Three options:

    • None

    • Subtotal

    • Aggregation ID

6. Select Create integration. You are taken to the details page for the integration, where you can immediately complete the configuration by setting up authentication to allow the integration to connect with your Quickbooks system - see the following Setting Up Authentication section for details:

  • Note that if you are not ready to continue your workflow immediately and set up authentication, you can do this at a later time.

Setting Up Authentication for the Integration

When you've created a QuickBooks integration, you can select an Integration Credential you've created for authentication allowing the integration to connect with your QuickBooks system:

  • Note that if you've followed the workflow given in the earlier section for creating the integration, on creation you'll be taken directly to the Integration Details page to continue and immediately set up authentication. The procedure described in this section assumes you've returned at a later date to set up authentication for the integration - the main steps you need to follow if you're setting up authentication immediately after creation are the same.

To set up authentication for your m3ter - QuickBooks integration:

1. Select Configurations. The Configurations page opens in Grid view.

2. Select the NAME hotlink text of the QuickBooks integration you want to set up authentication for. The Integration details page opens:

  • Notes:

    • A warning is shown that the integration is not yet connected to your QuickBooks system.

    • The ID of the integration configuration is shown at the bottom of the Details card, and you can copy the ID directly to your clipboard.

3. Select Add credential. A Select one credential modal appears.

4. Select a Credential you created earlier and want to use to authenticate the integration with QuickBooks. See Creating QuickBooks Integration Credentials.

5. Select Confirm. The modal closes and on Integrations details the integration now shows as CONNECTED:

  • If at any time you want to disconnect the integration, select Disconnect.

  • If you want to use a different Credential for connecting the integration, select Update credential. The Select one credential modal appears and you can select a different Credential.

Tip: Testing your Native Integration Setup? Your QuickBooks integration is now available for use. However, it remains in Beta release and we strongly recommend you test the implementation in your m3ter Sandbox or QA environment before releasing it to your Production environment. See section 7. of our Terms of Service for Beta Usage.

Tip: Integrations API Calls? When you have set up your Quickbooks integration, you can review and manage the integration using a full set of API Calls. See the Integrations section of our API Reference Docs.

Setting up QuickBooks and Required External Mappings in m3ter

This section provides guidance on setting up QuickBooks and any required External Mappings in preparation for sending out Bills to QuickBooks.

Warning: Important - Please consult your QuickBooks Documentation! The instructions given in this section for setting-up your QuickBooks system to prepare for an outbound Bill integration with m3ter are intended for guidance only. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any changes made by QuickBooks, and strongly recommend that you consult the QuickBooks end user documentation as you perform this configuration and that you treat the QuickBooks documentation as authoritative.

To set up QuickBooks and configure External Mappings:

Firstly, in you QuickBooks Sandbox:

1. In your QuickBooks Sandbox, create the Customer

  • Select Sales>Customers>New Customer.

  • Enter new Customer Name.

2. Go to Settings>Account and settings>Advanced:

  • Set Home Currency to match the default currency configured for your m3ter Organization.

  • Turn on Multicurrency if you intend to invoice in currencies other than your default currency, and then add these additional currencies.

Secondly, in your m3ter Organization

1. Select Integrations>External mappings. The External mappings page opens.

2. Select Create External mapping. The Create pages opens at Stage 1: Select mapping type.

3. Enter External mapping settings:

  • m3ter entity type. Select Account.

  • External system. Select QuickBooksSandbox.

    • Note that the External table drop-down will only be activated when you've selected an External system.

  • External Table. Select Customer.

4. Select Next. The Create page adjusts to show Stage 1: Select mapping type as completed and allowing you to perform Stage 2: Add mapping IDs.

5. Enter External mapping details:

  • m3ter entity. Select the m3ter Account you want to map to the QuickBooks Customer.

  • External entity ID. Enter the ID of the Customer object you've created in your QuickBooks Sandbox.

Tip: Possibles values might show! Note that if the possible values for the External entity ID field can be fetched for the External QuickBooks system, then you can use a drop-down list to select the value for this field from the list of possible values returned.

6. To check that your QuickBooks setup and External Mappings configuration is correct, you can now:

  • In your m3ter Organization, generate a Bill for the Account and then Approve the Bill. This will activate your QuickBooks integration and the Bill will be sent outbound to your QuickBooks system.

  • In your QuickBooks system, go to Sales>Invoices and confirm that an invoice has been created for the respective Customer and that line item amounts are correct.

Next: Managing Multiple Third Party Destinations for Integrations


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