InflatableOffice knows nothing of your business expenses, so it is recommended to use an accounting software such as Intuit’s QuickBooks (QB) that will track both your income and expenses. Our software has a beautiful integration with QuickBooks (QB) that will keep it up to date without any manual importing.
What version does it work with?
InflatableOffice is compatible only with the Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) desktop version of QuickBooks for the USA or Canada. If you are in another country and wish to use it, you’ll need to contact us at: (440) 385-4080 or by email at: Support@inflatableoffice.com. It is not currently compatible with Mac versions of QuickBooks Desktop. We also support the online version which will work on any computer, but again, only USA or Canada at this time.
Setting up the Link
Instructions are provided on the Settings -> QuickBooks page. You will need to install the QB web connector in order to setup the link. You can download it here: http://marketplace.intuit.com/webconnector/ (click the download link half way down the page).
Click the download link to get the QB Web Connector.
Account Structure
InflatableOffice creates a standard account structure to properly categorize and record information in your account. A sales tax account is created for each sales tax rate and is named after the rate. Additionally, accounts are created for each line item on a lead and sub accounts are created for each rental item. Accounts are not created until they are needed by an invoice that is being imported. When importing customer records, InflatableOffice first tries to find a match that already exists in your QB account. If it cannot, we create a new record. If there is a conflict we cannot resolve, we append "_IO" to the customer name. We use the organization name if it exists and otherwise the first and last name of the customer as the display name in QB.
How it Works
Now that the link is complete, InflatableOffice will automatically keep your QB file up to date. Any lead with a payment associated with it, or any lead in the confirmed or complete status will be imported into QB. Imports are triggered by leads. When a lead is imported, the customer record and payments are also imported. If something with the lead or a payment is changed, these records will be updated in your QB file. However, InflatableOffice never deletes any items from your QB file. So, if an event cancels, you will have to manually remove the corresponding invoice and payments from your QB file as necessary. The pre-saved lead filter titled "Delete from QB" will show you records that are in QuickBooks that need deleted. InflatableOffice does not import refunds or negative payments associated with leads. You will have to enter those manually. Any changes that need made to something InflatableOffice imported should be done first in InflatableOffice. Changes made in QB can potentially be overwritten by the data in InflatableOffice if an update to that item is triggered in InflatableOffice. Updates are triggered by changes to a lead that has already been imported into QB.
When the Import Occurs
InflatableOffice queues items for import every hour. The QB web connector activates the InflatableOffice QB App every 5 hours to import these queued items. There is no need to have your QB file open, but if you have a different QB file open when the web connector runs, it will fail. Error messages are shown in the web connector. If you see an error message, run the web connector manually until they clear out. Most of the time these errors will correct themselves. To run the InflatableOffice App sooner than 5 hours, change the time inside the web connector. To force it to run on demand, select the InflatableOffice App in the web connector and then choose 'run selected'.
Reviewing Import Information
You can review queued items by clicking the appropriate link from the QuickBooks settings page in InflatableOffice. After the web connector runs completely, these items will be removed from the queue. You may also review the log for more information on what was imported and whether it errored or not. The log only contains a limited number of the latest entries and is helpful for troubleshooting. It will also explain some of the errors and how they have corrected themselves.
Click the View Queue or View Log links at the top-right of the Settings -> QuickBooks page.
Using the Web Connector When the File is on a Server or Network Computer
You can have your QuickBooks file on a server or network computer and still use the IO integration. For these situations, your best to call Intuit to determine the best way to set this up. However, from our experience with customers that use this method, there are 2 options that seem to work well.
- Have a copy of QuickBooks on the network computer. Also install the Web Connector on the network computer. Make sure the Web Connector is setup to start automatically every time the network computer power is cycled. From this point, setting up the integration is the same as doing it on your own personal computer. You may however need an additional license of QuickBooks if you want to access your file from your personal computer over the network.
- Map the network drive on your personal computer to access the QuickBooks file from your personal computer. In this scenario, you will not install QuickBooks on the network computer - only the QuickBooks server database tool. Setup the integration the same as usual now on your personal computer. The only difference is that you need to make sure the path to your QuickBooks file is pointing to the file on your network drive. If you need to change your file path, you can do so by going to Settings -> QuickBooks -> Enable QuickBooks Integration, click the show/hide link, and then update the path field under step #4 and click "Save Location."
QuickBooks Log
You can view a log of your QuickBooks integration by going to Settings -> QuickBooks, then click the link on the left of the page that says "View Log"
Here you can view all of the transactions that have gone to QuickBooks
