Quick Overview

Understanding the data flow between Operations and Finance

Introduction: The Autotask to Xero Integration

The Autotask to Xero integration is a critical automation bridge that connects your operational engine (Autotask PSA) with your financial engine (Xero Accounting).

For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), these two systems act as the "left brain" and "right brain" of the business. Autotask handles the technical service delivery, ticketing, time tracking, and contracts, while Xero manages the resulting financial health. Without an integration, these two systems remain isolated, forcing finance teams to manually copy-paste data between them.

Why It Matters

The primary goal of this integration is to achieve a "Single Source of Truth." It ensures that the work your technicians do in Autotask is accurately and instantly reflected in your accounting ledgers without human intervention.

Eliminates Double Data Entry: You no longer need to manually re-key invoices or purchase orders from Autotask into Xero.

Reduces Human Error: Automated syncing prevents typos, wrong GL codes, and missed line items that often occur during manual transfer.

Streamlines Cash Flow: By syncing payments back from Xero to Autotask, your project managers and account managers can see real-time payment statuses (e.g., "Paid" vs. "Overdue") directly inside Autotask without asking the accounting team.

 

 

Core Capabilities

A standard integration workflow typically handles:

Invoices: Pushing approved invoices from Autotask to Xero (often as "Drafts" for final review).

Purchase Orders: Transferring procurement data to Xero as Bills or POs for accounts payable.

Contacts: Ensuring client details (addresses, phone numbers) are identical in both systems.

Payments (Bi-Directional): The "Round Trip" feature where reconciling a payment in Xero automatically updates the invoice status in Autotask to "Paid."

In summary, this integration transforms billing from a manual monthly chore into a background automated process, allowing MSPs to scale their client base without scaling their administrative workload.

Configure your invoice options.

Our sync platform offers a comprehensive set of configuration options, enabling you to tailor the appearance of your Xero invoices to your business requirements. We recommend starting with the "Draft" invoice setting to validate that all data is syncing accurately before finalizing your process.

Mapping your Autotask contacts to Xero customers

 

By default, our integration matches Autotask accounts to Xero customers using the Autotask account name as a unique, case-sensitive identifier. Since an Autotask account can include multiple contacts, we recommend configuring a User-Defined Field (UDF) to guide the sync process in selecting the most appropriate contact for Xero. If your Autotask account names do not, or for operational reasons cannot, align with your Xero customer names, consider enabling account number matching as an alternative method.

 

Link your account codes (Recommended)

Account code mapping establishes a direct link between your GL account codes in Autotask and those in Xero. Unless specifically configured otherwise, all accounts will default to the account codes assigned during the initial setup process.

Purchase Orders (Optional)

You can import purchase orders from Autotask into Xero either as purchase orders or as bills for accounts payable. Most organizations choose to sync Autotask POs as bills in Xero. Please note that the imported purchase order data is limited to the fields made available by Autotask’s API.

Tracking category mapping (Optional)

Tracking category mapping is optional and only necessary if you require enhanced general ledger reporting within Xero.

Branding Mapping with Autotask and Xero (Optional)

This feature is optional but can add value if your business uses Xero branding themes that you want consistently reflected in Autotask branding templates.

Tax Mapping  (Optional)

Tax mapping enables you to align tax codes between Autotask and Xero, ensuring consistent tax treatment across both systems. By default, Xero manages all tax calculations. For organizations operating within a single tax environment, configuring this module is typically unnecessary.

Xero products and Services (Optional)

The Xero Products and Services module enables precise mapping and population of service and product details onto Xero invoices, ensuring that each line item reflects the corresponding attributes defined in your Autotask configuration.