Import project expenses

Introduction

If you have expenses such as supplier invoices, employee expenses, travels, etc. in your financial system that you want to import into TimeLog, you can easily do so from a comma-separated file containing the expenses. This saves time on entering expenses manually.

If you use one of TimeLog’s standard integration for financial systems, it is possible to import expenses directly from the financial system, if the integration is activated and configured.

Description

Import from file

You do the following

Select the file to be imported by clicking the Browse button. Under Import options to the right you must select:

• The delimiter used in the file
• The format the expenses were made in, this selection defines which number and date formats are used in the import
• If the import file includes column headers, you must check My import file contains column headers

Click Continue.

If the file does not contain errors, the import file data will be shown in table format on the Select expenses tab. If the import file cannot be loaded, the cause will be shown at the bottom of the screen. These errors are often caused by the import file data not matching the formatting requirements. If an expense contains errors, they must be corrected in the file, before it can be imported again.

Here, you can read how to format the import file.

We recommend that you import max 100 expenses at a time to keep the overview and make sure all expenses import correctly.

Import from financial system

If you are importing from the financial system, you just need to mark the financial system and click Continue. The import functionality will load the items from selected accounts in the financial system not previously imported.

Ready for import

After loading into TimeLog’s import tool, each expense in the import file is shown in a row in the results list.

View shows the number of expenses that are ready and not ready for import. Click All, Ready for import (x) or Not ready for import (x) to filter the import view. This is useful for tables with many rows.

Import-ready expenses are shown in light-grey cells, and expenses containing errors are shown in pinkish cells.

A typical error is expenses lacking information that TimeLog needs to do the import, e.g. which project the expense belongs to in TimeLog. Often information that is not selected in the financial system.

You do the following to prepare the data for import:

• Point to the triangle to the left in the row to display an error description. Typical error messages include “You must select a project”.
• Correct the error, e.g. by selecting a project for the relevant expense in the Project column.

Importing expenses

When there are no more red lines in the results list, it is time to import the data on selected projects.

• Check which expenses to import. You can use the top check box to check all expenses.
• Open the Select action menu, select Import and click OK.

This shows a message above the table listing the number of expenses that were imported. Any errors or warnings are shown at the top of the screen.

Now the import is completed.

Removing expenses

If an expense contains an error, you can remove the expense type before importing. The top blue row of the table is for selecting expense types, projects and employees for all expenses in one go. Similarly, it allows for selecting or deselecting all expenses by using the check box.

• Check which expenses to remove from the list.
• Thereafter, open the Select action menu, select Remove and click OK.

Expense type and account number

Expense types MAY be required in TimeLog. If the expense type is empty in the import or unrecognised by TimeLog, but still required, this will show as a warning triangle in the first column of the table. If so, the expense type must be selected in the table before importing the expense.

The amounts in the table are rounded off according to the settings selected in the System administration in TimeLog.

Setting up expense type account numbers

The System Administration allows you to include an account number for certain expense types. This enables TimeLog to recognise account numbers from financial systems, which appear in import files or the direct import. If so, the Expense type column will already be filled in following import.

Table columns

Date: The date on which the expense was paid.
Expense no.: The financial system’s unique identifier for this particular expense. This field is a prerequisite for importing the expense.
Supplier: Unique identifier for a supplier. In the import file or the direct import, this field is a number; in the system’s import table, it is a name. This number must exist as a customer number in the TimeLog customer database (TimeLog CRM or Customers and Contacts). The customer in question must have Supplier status.
Comment: A description of the expense retrieved from the import file.
Invoice no.:If the expense is from an invoice registered in the financial system, the invoice number may be added to this field.
Account no.: The number of the account for which the expense is registered in the financial system. If account numbers are added to the expense types found in TimeLog, these are used to determine the type of expense
Currency (¤): The currency used for paying the expense.
Exchange rate: The exchange rate used for paying the expense.
Amount incl. VAT: VAT: The purchase price including VAT in the currency used for paying the expense. The amount is rounded off according to TimeLog settings.
VAT: VAT is retrieved from the import file or the direct import and shown as a percentage. The rate is converted to the amount shown in the table.
Expense type: This field shows the expense type as retrieved from the import file and shown in TimeLog. Expense types shown in TimeLog are linked to account numbers. If an account number has been specified for the expense in the import file or direct import, the expense type will automatically match the linked account number. If TimeLog does not recognise the account number, the Expense type field is empty
Project: Shows a project number retrieved from the import file or the direct import and the pertinent project in TimeLog. If the project number is not specified or recognised in the import file or the direct import, or if the project is inactive, the project must be selected in the table next to the relevant expense.
Employee: Always the employee logged in to TimeLog and importing the data (editable if needed). The data in this column is not retrieved from the import file or direct import, but the employee must be specified in the table for the expense to be imported.