Syncing is the process of updating the data for a linked account. Once you add your clients to Xero and QBO they will be considered ‘Linked‘ and therefore syncing can occur every 24 hours or manually by team members who have the permission to do so.
- Syncing data from Xero & QBO
- Syncing Timeframes
- Initial Sync Failures
- Managing the accounting software connection
- Disconnecting Precision from Xero & QBO
What you need to know:
- In order for Precision to continue syncing data between the products your clients must remain linked or we are unable to sync the data.
- Syncing occurs automatically every 24 hours or can be manually synced by you if you require data to be updated as you work.
- Team members who have access to Xero as Standard or Advisor can perform a sync.
- Initial sync failures for Xero – larger Xero clients can sometimes error during the sync process. This is because of Xero’s Daily Rate limiter: Rate Limiter is a service that controls the amount of incoming and outgoing traffic to or from Xero. If a User exceeds the rate limit, then any further requests will be denied until the rate limit timeframe resets. We are always working to improve and expand at our side, however, we don’t have control over Xero’s daily limit.
Syncing the data
When a client is first linked to Precision, the initial sync imports all the historical information available from the general ledger/accounting software (Xero or QBO).
Once the initial sync is complete, subsequent syncs only look for and import the changes since the last sync, which is much faster. You can see the last time a client was successfully synced on the Client List, and on the Client Overview.
Precision will sync with your accounting software to get the latest changes each night. If you make some changes in your GL and don’t want to wait for the overnight sync, you can also start a manual sync. This can be done using the Sync Now button available in the top left hand side of the navigation bar or to right of the sidebar when viewing a client.
TIP: Think your sync is taking too long? Our troubleshooting may help.
Syncing Timeframes
During the initial sync, you’re most likely to encounter a bit of a wait when first adding a client to Dext. We import as much data as we can from Xero & QBO – the more we bring in, the more powerful and flexible your reporting can be.
Syncing of a new client can take up to 45 minutes for clients with a long history where hundreds of thousands of journals entries, invoices and bank transactions are in play. Rest assured that we’ve optimised this process to be as fast as possible – the primary limiting factor here is Xero’s & QBO’s API: even as certified partners we still have restrictions on how fast and how much data we can pull out. (If you’re interested in the tech side of things, you can read about Xero’s API rate limits here.)
Subsequent syncs, either manual or automated overnight, only retrieve the Xero records that have changed since the last sync, so should be substantially faster in comparison. Think your import is taking too long or has failed? See the next section for synch failures or Get in touch with our support team, we’re here to help.
Initial Sync Failures
Errors could occur when data is synced for the first time. This section provides an overview of different types of sync errors, some of the possible scenarios that cause those errors and potential ways to fix the errors.
This section includes the common error types and may not cover all the possible errors.
- Xero auth failed. Could not sync client: Check that you are using the correct account credentials, and have the required access rights to the client in Xero/QBO, before trying again. Please see Permissions above for more information.
- Daily Xero Rate limit exceeded: Rate Limiter is a service that controls the amount of incoming and outgoing traffic to or from Xero. If a User exceeds the rate limit, then any further requests will be denied until the rate limit timeframe resets. We are always working to improve and expand at our side, however, we don’t have control over Xero’s daily limit. The most common error occurs due to a large amount of data that needs to be fetched from Xero, which can lead to exceeding this daily limit and generate an error. Please try again after the cooling period (24 hours). For further information please click here.
- Could not sync client: Something has failed during the sync process please get in touch with our support team via the in-app chat.
Managing the accounting software connection
Your client will remain linked and in sync with your accounting software unless you tell Precision otherwise. Disconnecting a client from the accounting software will mean that the client will remain in Precision in its current state – it will no longer receive updates from your accounting software. You can do this via the Unlink button on the Client Overview page.
If a client is not connected to any accounting software this will be indicated by the open padlock and the Link to Xero/QuickBooks Online button. If you wish to link a client back up, clicking this will redirect you to Xero or QuickBooks Online for re-integration. Precision will do a sync after re-linking, so that it is up to date with any changes.
Disconnect Precision from Xero & QBO
If you want to disconnect the Precision integration from Xero or QBO you will need to do this from within the accounting software settings.
For information on how to disconnect an app within QuickBooks, see their help here.
Xero also provide a way of removing connected apps directly from their site.
WARNING: Even if disconnected, your client’s data will remain in Precision until the client is deleted.
Next Steps:
Now that you have clients linked and syncing data it is time to Create Workflow Templates and assign your team their jobs to do.