Overview

BigChange allows complete integration with your Xero financial software package.

Once you have configured the initial setup in BigChange Administration, you can relax in the knowledge that information added within BigChange will be seamlessly replicated within Xero without the need for double entry and eradicating concerns over missing or duplicated information.

This article covers the following topics:

• Before Set Up
• Set Up & Syncing Video
• Set Up

Before Set Up

When setting this up for the first time, please ensure that the following items have been set-up in advance:

1. A valid add-on licence - this is allocated by BigChange and is required when first setting up the integration between BigChange and Xero.
2. Bank accounts - These are the bank accounts that are required to post transactions against.
3. Account Codes  - These codes represent your sales and purchases and must be added to BigChange prior to running the integration settings.  All codes must match the representative codes in Xero.  A downloadable list of Xero codes can be found here.
4. Stock Codes - These codes represent the link between products in Xero and stock codes in BigChange and must be added where you intend to include stock items to Invoices, Credit notes or Purchase orders. The 'stock code' field is used to link a stock record in BigChange to an 'item code' in Xero.
5. A Web User - this must be someone with administrative rights
6. An email address - this will be used to receive notifications.
7. Contact groups - Contact records in BigChange are organised into groups based on their type, eg Account, Site, Prospect but Xero only has 2 default Contact Groups: Customers and Suppliers. To synchronise BigChange contacts with Xero, you need to create Contact Groups specifically for this purpose, containing only information which you wish to sync, so that the 2 software correspond eg 'Xero Contact' or 'Account Customer'
8. Assign BigChange Contacts - you now need to assign all of your BigChange contacts to one or more of the groups that you created in (6).
9. Account references -  these create the bond between the contact in BigChange and the contact in Xero.  The account reference is unique to both contact records and is used when updating them or when creating a transaction against the contact record. Where an invoice is created against a contact record that is not in Xero, eg a site contact, the site contact must be linked to a parent record that is in both systems and has a valid account reference.The account reference is in the CRM Record in Financials → Terms.  When creating a contact record, an account reference and type must be specified.  The account reference must match the Xero contact record and the type must be set to 1 for Xero.
   
10. A valid Xero company - ie you must have the Xero software, with username and password.

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Set Up & Syncing Video

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Set Up

This is how the data flow between BigChange and  Xero works:  To begin, navigate to:

• [Top menu] Profile (icon) → Admin Settings → [Quick Links] General Account Settings → Financial

and ensure that the field 'Financial Integration type' is set to Xero

 Whilst still in the Administration screen, click on the Financials side menu and select Xero integration:

This will open a new popup which you should click on in order to connect:

Complete your log in details in the form below

Once you have logged in, BigChange will request access to your company.  Click 'Allow access'

A new screen will now open within BigChange, which will determine the form of integration between the 2 software, so please take special care when completing it.

You will note the Xero disconnect button underneath the menu title.  This will send a delete request directly to the endpoint.

1. Enter the licence in the textbox provided and click verify.
2. The email address is used to record the person or persons you wish to receive emails. For multiple email addresses, separate by a comma.
3. A linked user with full administration rights is required by the system for access to the BigChange features when saving contacts, creating invoices etc.
4. Xero provides up to two tracking categories which are analysis codes used on the transaction line. To utilise the tracking categories, simply import the tracking category codes into BigChange. Note these can be added after initial setup if required.  The tracking category names appear as column headings on your financial documents and appear on each transaction.
5. Use the available checkbox to choose which feature(s) you would like to synchronise.
6. Decide whether you wish Contact records to be synchronised from BigChange to Xero or from Xero to BigChange and the contact group(s) for the contact records that you wish to synchronise.
7. The generate account reference option enables users to create a contact in BigChange and automatically generate an account reference of the desired format. The contact reference format takes a sequence of letters from the contact name and appends a numerical sequence to it eg DAR0001 for Darlington International.  If this option is not selected, the user will be responsible for generating a unique reference no. manually and for setting the account type to 1 for Xero.
8. When working with Xero tax codes, you must import the tax codes using the option provided and choose the tax codes that are appropriate to the tax type – Sales or Purchases.
9. As there is no currency defined against the contact record, the default currency option is used when creating a contact record. When creating invoices, credit notes or purchase orders, the currency is defined against the transaction.  It is important to note that if using multiple currencies, the currency must also be set up in Xero.
10. To match Xero, a user can define the status of invoices/credit notes and purchase orders by choosing the option that suits them. It is important to note that when choosing 'draft' or 'submitted' for Invoices, payment can only be recorded against an invoice once it has been authorised.
11. This is a numerical field, used to add a number of days to the purchase order date. Select the number of days you wish to add.
12. The default nominal (account codes) are used when processing invoices, credit notes and purchase orders. These codes work in conjunction with the tax code and are used when no nominal code is specified against a transaction.   In the same way that any nominal code is setup in BigChange, the default nominal code must also exist in Xero.  Simply select from the dropdown menu. Note that these can also be imported by clicking on the 'Import Xero Nominal Codes' button.
13. The field updates the contact reference with the account reference. Note, the contact reference field is only used to provides a visual and search function, it has no impact on the synchronisation if changed. Simply select from the dropdown menu.
14. The software will use the default bank account for processing payments against invoices when a bank account has not been specified against the transaction. This is important to consider when processing foreign currency transactions and payments from BigChange.