Xero Practice Manager

The purpose of this integration to synchronise your client list in Xero Practice Manager with AccountKit and keep them in sync so you're not maintaining multiple client lists.

Jump straight to the applicable section:

Before you start...
Integration Limitations
How do you use it?
XPM Sync Errors
Integration Options
Related Links

Before you start...

Before you make a start, there are a couple things you need to do and note:

The initial connection should be initially completed by a user with Administrator Access in XPM to ensure there are sufficient rights for AccountKit to write back to XPM.

Integration Limitations

We love all things Xero as much as the next person, but there are some limitations with the XPM API unfortunately which you need to be aware of so as to not be taken by surprise when something doesn't synchronise quite the way you would expect. In most instances a change in XPM will be picked by AccountKit and vice versa, but here's what we've come across so far.

Information that isn't picked up in XPM when changed in AccountKit,

Requires a manual update also to be completed in XPM.

Creating a new group with no one within the group won't flow through.
Setting up new business types in AccountKit will not update XPM automatically. Either enter the structure type in both XPM and AccountKit with identical details or just do it in XPM and force a full re-sync.
Changing a client status from "Prospect" to "Client" is NOT allowed through the API, requiring a manual update within XPM after making the change in AccountKit.

Client fields that have no equivalent in XPM;

At times we will add fields that have no corresponding equal in XPM - these obviously won't sync. For example:

Client description - is a field where you're able to leave a short description as to what the role each entity plays within a family group client map. There is no equivalent in XPM.
Business name - this is linked to the Business Name register, which has no corresponding link into XPM fields.
Client notes - These are bespoke notes that are shared amongst entities across AccountKit and have no equivalent in XPM.
Relationship differences - Generally speaking our relationships are identical to XPM, with the following exceptions
- Unitholder Relationship - In AccountKit you can create a unitholding relationship with applicable unit holdings and descriptor. When we sync with XPM, we create a "Beneficiary Relationship" within XPM.
- Shareholder Descriptor - this field simply enables you to name shares (such as Class A, Ordinary etc). This field does not flow back to XPM.
- Sibling Relationship - This relationship enables us to show where a client has a family relationship with another brother / sister. This relationship type is not available in XPM.

How do you use it?

To connect to Xero Practice Manager:

First ensure that you have the appropriate user permissions within Xero Practice Manager. You need to have the authority ticked for "Authorise 3rd Party Full Access"
Now go to the AccountKit User Menu then Practice Settings and select the "Integrations" tab.
Hover over the logo and select the 3 dot menu with the option to connect to XPM. Press the connect button and follow the directions with logging in to Xero to authorisation the connection.
Where you have more than one XPM authority, select the applicable XPM org and select ok
Once you've been returned back to AccountKit and the icon has turned green, simply wait until you receive a notification in the notification strip at the top of the page identifying that the syncronisation has completed.
Once synchronised you will be able to start using any and all of the tools with AccountKit associating any entries against the applicable clients.

i	Update All - Once you've synced the first time, you can use this button to force a check of all clients within XPM compared to AccountKit.

To disconnect Xero Practice Manager:

Go to Practice Settings under the user menu
Select the "Integrations" tab.
Select the 3 dot menu
Select "Disconnect from XPM" to disable the integration.

i	No data is lost when you disconnect from XPM unless you then connect to a different XPM org at which point you'll likely end up with an odd mismatch of client data. Not recommended.

XPM Sync Errors

On the very rare occasion a sync with Xero will fail. When it does, sometimes the messages aren't terribly useful, but we've identified those that we've come across so far. It's important that when there is a failure, make sure to manually log in to XPM and make the XPM change there also.

503 Service Unavailable: Back-end server is at capacity - This usually means that XPM is actually offline entirely; So you'll need to wait until it's online again before updating any changes.

Integration Options

Wherever you see and click the Xero Practice Manager icon, the colour will identify its status and therefore any context-sensitive options.

Selecting a grey icon will give you the ability to connect / link a client to the integration if available.
Selecting a colour icon will give you a context sensitive menu in relation to that client and the associated connected integration.

Icons

Detail

Not Connected

No options

Connected

Update this client from XPM: Utilise this if you wish to force an update from XPM, rather than wait for the 2 hourly sync.
View this client in XPM: Use this to jump straight to the client within XPM.
Update XPM Client ID: Use this only in very specific circumstances, where you have merged a duplicate client in Xero HQ (which can delete the equivalent client in XPM, create a new version of the client, which then duplicates with no data in the client and the original client - including integrations, archived. This is a legacy issue. See below.

Update XPM Client ID

This item warrants a section all to itself. As mentioned above, when you merge a duplicate client in Xero HQ (eg. XPM Client and Xero Blue Client), depending on the direction you merge, this is what happens:

A new client with identical details is created, but with a different client ID.
The original clients' data (jobs, phone numbers etc) are merged into the newly created client and then deleted.
What this means for any integrations is that we see that the XPM Client ID disappears, and so the client is then archived and a new client is setup. This means any history, integrations etc are left with the archived client and we now have a new version of the client missing all the normal data.

We have implemented a fix that looks for these changes and automatically updates the XPM ID of the old AccountKit client to the new XPM ID, thereby ensuring continuity with the client.

Utilise the "Update XPM Client ID" option to get rid of the duplicate and re-associate the correct client in AccountKit with the new version of the client in XPM by following these steps.

Identify the original client that has all the data and integrations.
Here you can see the top entity has the integration and extra detail. This is the original we want to keep.
Select the Green Xero Icon for this entity and push the "Update XPM Client ID" option
Tick the client that you're looking to take the XPM Client ID from and press Update.
Unarchive and then open the client and press save to finalise the relinking process.
What it will do then is:
- Copy the XPM Client ID from the selected client (being the new version of the client in XPM)
- Update the XPM Client ID of the original version of the client with the copied ID.
- Remove the XPM Client ID and archive this new version of the client.
- You'll now have removed the duplicate client and it won't re-archive upon sync anymore.

Practice Settings - Integrations	Head to practice settings for the steps to enable this integration.
Shared Elements (Eg. Action Menu)	Check out this link for various elements shared throughout the various toolsets.

Articles in this section