Exact Online

Introduction

The integration between TimeLog and Exact Online provides seamless cooperation between the two systems.

Description

From TimeLog to Exact Online:

• Automatic transfer and update of customers
• Automatic transfer of contacts
• Automatic transfer of invoices

From Exact Online to TimeLog:

• Synchronisation of product numbers
  

This also takes place:

• Update of customer and contact information in Exact Online
• Invoice balancing between the two systems incl. invoice numbers

The integration brings a lot of advantages.

• TimeLog is more suited to drawing up invoices based on time data than Exact Online. Financial analyses can be carried out in TimeLog with every available dimension (employee, project type, project category, department, etc.) incl. the financial reporting
• Project managers can retrieve all information related to invoicing in TimeLog and therefore do not need to access Exact Online, which saves you money on licences
• The transfer of invoices to Exact Online saves time and provides an increased quality assurance around your invoicing

You start the setup in the system administration -> Integrations & API -> Integrations.

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Connection setup

Once you have added Exact Online, you click Configure Exact Online. This opens a new window, where you are re-directed to Exact Online’s login page and asked to enter your user ID and password to log in. Once the connection is created, you click Close this window and then see a green checkmarknext to Connection established.

We recommend that you have an extra licence for Exact Online. You need this licence to link the integration to, so you avoid to lose the connection, if a person changes login information or is no longer working at your company. The extra licence must have super user access to be able to create and update customers in Exact Online.

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Setup Exact Online division

To make the integration work and enable you to link your customers, you first need to select your Exact Online Division. Please note: Once you have made this selection and started using the integration, you cannot change it yourself.

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Setup Exact Online Sales journal

To transfer invoices to Exact Online, the system requires a Sales journal. Choose between your Exact Online sales journals in the dropdown. Your selection is saved automatically.

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Customer setup

To be able to use the integration, you must first link the customer databases in the two systems, and then you need to select how you would like to maintain your customer data. In general, we recommend you use TimeLog as master for your customer database to have as little maintenance work as possible.

Linking customer databases

Click Link customers to get started. This change the view to four tabs as listed below:

• One match: Customer pairs which are readily recognisable
• More matches:  Exact Online customers with several matches in TimeLog
• No match: Exact Online customers with no matches in TimeLog
• Ignored customers: Customers in Exact Online not needed in TimeLog (you can ignore customers on each tab, which you can read more about below the four scenarios for linking customers)

On all four tabs, it is possible to link the customer information in four ways:

• Link and use data from Exact Online: This action links customer pairs, overwriting customer data in TimeLog with those of Exact Online. Fields left empty in Exact Online will not be overwritten in TimeLog.
• Link and use data from TimeLog: This action links customer pairs, overwriting customer data in Exact Online with those of TimeLog. Fields left empty in TimeLog will not be transferred.
• Import to TimeLog as a new customer: This action creates a new customer in TimeLog based on Exact Online data.
• Ignore customer(s): This actions ignores customers from Exact Online and add them to the tab Ignored customers

Once you have linked or imported the new customers in TimeLog, we recommend that you correct your customer number series in the System administration -> General settings -> Number series, so the new customers you create in TimeLog get a customer number continuing the series from Exact Online. In this way, the customer numbers in the two systems will be the same.

Please note: To transfer customers from TimeLog to Exact Online and link customer pairs, the customer number in TimeLog must only consist of numbers, as Exact Online does not accept special characters or letters in the customer number. The customer number can be up to nine numbers.

The linking procedure depends on one of the typical scenarios below:

1. No customer data in Exact Online or TimeLog
2. Customer data in Exact Online and none in TimeLog (new TimeLog customer)
3. Customer data in TimeLog and none in Exact Online (new Exact Online customer)
4. Customer data in TimeLog and Exact Online

The four scenarios are detailed in the following.

Scenario 1: No customer data in Exact Online or TimeLog

In this case, linking customer databases is not necessary, so you can skip this step. Customers will be created continuously in Exact Online, by linking with the TimeLog customer database or in connection with invoicing.

Scenario 2: Customer data in Exact Online and none in TimeLog

Begin by transferring the relevant Exact Online customers to TimeLog. The tabs One match and More matches will be empty, and you can skip these. All Exact Online customers are shown in the No match tab. Mark the customers you would like to create in TimeLog and select Import to TimeLog as new customer under Select action and click OK.

The customers are now created in TimeLog and linked to their matches in the Exact Online customer database.

Scenario 3: Customer data in TimeLog and none in Exact Online

In this case, linking customer databases is not necessary, so you can skip this step. Customers will be created and linked continuously in Exact Online, the first time you transfer an invoice to Exact Online.

Scenario 4: Customer data in TimeLog and Exact Online

This linking is the most time consuming, as you will need to manually link each customer pair. Luckily, the system helps you find matching customer pairs.

Please note that if you have many customers in either TimeLog or Exact Online, only the first 200 will be shown, and the list can be updated by clicking the little arrow next to the number of customers.

Once you are done linking the customers, you click Back to integration configuration to continue your setup of the integration.

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Ignore customers

You have the option to ignore customers from Exact Online, which you not need in TimeLog, in all three tabs with match suggestions for linking customers.

You ignore by marking the customers in the checkboxes to the right and select Ignore customer(s) in the Select action menu. Then you can load more customers from Exact Online.

When you ignore the customers, they are moved to the Ignored customers tab, where you can get a total overview. From here, you have the option to import or link the, if you need them at a later point in time.

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Maintenance of customer databases

You have three options to choose from when it comes to the ongoing maintenance of your customer databases.

• Manually control link of customers and contacts
• Automatically transfer and link with invoice transfer (recommended)
• Creation in Exact Online and manual import via Link customers

1. Manually control link of customers and contacts

If you select this option, you can transfer your customer manually from TimeLog to Exact Online via the three dots on the customer card. Here you select Link customer with integration, which opens a pop-up, where you click the grey dot to make the link. The system will ask you to confirm that you would like to create the customer, and you click OK. You can do the same with contacts.

You can remove the linking in the same way by finding the customer or contact in question and using the three dots. This opens the same pop-up, where you now have the option to remove the checkmark to break the link. Afterwards, you can check the integration log to see if the action was successful.

2. Automatically transfer and link with invoice transfer (recommended)

When you select this option, your new customers from TimeLog will be transferred and created automatically in Exact Online when you transfer the first invoice for the customer. At the same time, the contact on the invoice is created in Exact Online.

We recommend this form, as it gives you the least administration, you avoid manual maintenance and you can invoice your customers much faster.

3. Creation in Exact Online and manual import via Link customers

No matter which option you select in TimeLog, you must use the Link customers interface to import customer to TimeLog, if you create a customer in Exact Online first. If you create the customer both in TimeLog and Exact Online without linking them, you risk that the invoice is not transferred correctly or that you have duplicated customer pairs.

If you change the customer number in Exact Online, you will experience errors on the integration, when you transfer invoices the next time. Read how to solve it in our FAQ.

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Importing product numbers

Start by clicking the Import product numbers link. A list of active product numbers in Exact Online are loaded, and you can mark the product numbers you would like to use in TimeLog. Select the Activate action and click OK.

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Configuration of product numbers

An important element in the integration between TimeLog and Exact Online is the creation of a product number catalogue in TimeLog. Exact Online demands that each invoice line has a product number attached, which decides how the invoice line is booked in relation to the yearly books with VAT and revenue statistics. You cannot book the invoice in TimeLog, if you have not selected a product number for each invoice line, and only booked invoices can be transferred to Exact Online.

The product number setup is carried out in TimeLog and consists of the following steps:

1. Configuring default product numbers for project work and external expenses
2. Adding product numbers to each of TimeLog’s different data types

The integration may work despite the setup of default standard numbers not being completed. If this is the case, manually select a number for each invoice line when creating an invoice in TimeLog.

We recommend a setup of default product numbers, as you will save a lot of time in your invoicing process, when the right product number is added to the invoice lines already when they are created on the invoice draft. It is especially a big advantage, if you are many people sharing the invoicing responsibility. The setup of default product numbers strengthen the data quality in your reporting and yearly books, and you save time as you do not need to double check each other’s work.

1. Configuring default product numbers for project work and external expenses

To expedite invoicing, you can configure TimeLog to suggest product numbers for invoice lines based on the data to be invoiced. For each data type and settlement form in TimeLog, you can select a principle for default product numbers. You also have the option to select, if product numbers should be selected when invoicing, or you can select a specific product number for each data type in TimeLog.

2. Adding product numbers to each of TimeLog’s different data types

When you have selected the principles for your default product numbers, you can move on to selecting which product numbers should suggest which data. After this setup, you have different options under Actions to the right. Click e.g. Add product numbers to hourly rates. In Hourly rates, you will find a new column, Product number. Click the name of an hourly rate, or click Edit and select a product number. The same product number can be used for multiple hourly rates. If you cannot select a single product number for an hourly rate, simply omit it and select a product number on each single invoice line.

When adding a product number to the different data types, you have three options: Select when invoicing, Select dimension or one of the imported product numbers

• Select when invoicing: Here the product number is selected on each single invoice line when you build your invoices
• Select dimension: Here the selected dimension must be updated in the system administration afterwards
• If you select a specific product number: The product number is automatically added to invoice lines containing the data type

If you have e.g. selected Hourly rate for the data type Time & material, you need to add a product number for each of the hourly rates in the System administration -> Finance -> Hourly rates. Click the name of an hourly rate, or click Edit and select a product number. The same product number can be used for multiple hourly rates. If you cannot select a single product number for an hourly rate, simply omit it and select a product number on each single invoice line.

If you have selected Project type, Project category, Expense type or Task type, you do the product number selection in the System administration -> Finance -> Linking product numbers. Here you select the data type in the top filter, and you select a product number per unit in the list.

The same product number can be used for multiple dimension names.

Click Back to integration configuration to return and continue to the next type.

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Confirm integration setup

You complete the setup by confirming you have been through and completed all steps in the setup. See it as a checklist to make sure you have done everything. In particular, lacking configurations in linking customers may result in TimeLog creating customers in Exact Online which are already there.

Mark the checkboxes, click Activate and the integration is completed and ready for invoice transfer.