There is now a direct integration option for QuickBooks Online! This will allow you to transition invoices, payments and refunds to your QuickBooks account without having to use a third-party service any longer. For instructions on how to get started, please see our article on QuickBooks Online Integration.
Sera provides a process called batching to help transfer invoices, updates to invoices, initial payments, updates to payments, and journal entries over to Quickbooks to ensure your financial data is present within Quickbooks as well as Sera.
The process below will detail the steps to batch into Quickbooks Online using Saasant. For information on how to sign up with Saasant, or for more information on their offering, please see our Saasant article.
Batching via Saasant
For instructions on how to get started, please see our Batching article.
Reminder: Because not all 6 Excel files described will contain data in every batch, open all 6 files prior to attempting to import them into Saasant to avoid any unnecessary work and errors being generated. If there is even a single line of data under the headers that file will need to be imported into Saasant. In order to avoid errors and duplicated work, most if not all, invoicing and payment collection should be done in Sera to allow the batch process to work completely.
Saasant currently offers two UI views - classic or new. Please choose your instructions based on your current view.
Note: you can change your Saasant view by clicking the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner and selecting the opposing view.
Classic UI
Log into your Saasant account. Select New Import and Browse File.
Note: You will want to import the files in the proper, numerical order listed above to ensure that there are no unnecessary errors.
Select the Invoice Inserts file previously saved to the computer and select Open. Select Submit from the next window. The following screen will be asking you which Quickbooks Entity to use while importing. Selecting the proper option here ensures that the fields are being mapped properly. Select Invoice from the dropdown for Quickbooks Entity. The fields on the Invoice file map automatically and unless you have a specific need for different fields to be used, you can select the Import to Quickbooks button at the bottom of the screen.
Note: Because of new functionality with the Sales Tax release, please verify 'Discount Amount' and 'Apply Tax After Discount' columns map appropriately into their respective fields.
If alternate mapping is required, change the dropdown on the specific item that needs to be mapped to a different field and then select the Import to Quickbooks button. There is a Preview Mapping button at the bottom of the screen if you have questions about which invoice field will be used for mapping. The alternate mapping can be saved by selecting the More button at the top of the screen and selecting Save Mapping. Enter a name for this mapping that will be easy to remember as you will need to select this one when mapping invoices in the future. Saasant does not allow you to remove the previous default mapping option at this time.
Selecting the Review button at the bottom of the screen will allow for visibility of the data being uploaded within the proper columns that are being used for mapping.
Select Upload once you have reviewed the data for accuracy of the placement, if necessary.
The upload will process all invoices within the file and after import will generate a number of successes and a number of failures. By clicking the number of failures you can see the reason for failure. There is a suggestion button if the error message is not specific enough but Saasant or your Sera rep can also assist with any errors received.
Once any errors have been corrected from the previous file, if any, please proceed to the Modify selection from the left-hand bar.
If there is not any data in the Invoice Updates file, please proceed to the next file.
To verify your intent to modify invoices within this next step, you will select OK from the Update warning message that appears.
If there is data in the file, select Submit once you have uploaded the Invoice Updates file. Select Invoice from the Select QuickBooks Entity dropdown. Similar to the Invoices file that was previously imported, the fields on the Invoice Updates file will map automatically and unless you have a specific need for different fields to be used, you can select the Import to Quickbooks button at the bottom of the screen. Because of new functionality with the Sales Tax release, please verify 'Discount Amount' and 'Apply Tax After Discount' columns map appropriately into their respective fields
If alternate mapping is required, you can also change and save an alternate mapping within this screen as well.
Selecting the Review button at the bottom of the screen will allow for visibility of the data being uploaded within the proper columns that are being used for mapping. Select Upload once the data is reviewed for accuracy of the placement.
The upload will process all invoices within the file and again, will display the number of successes and failures. Similar to the file before, the number of failures can be selected to see the specific error messages. There is a suggestion button here as well if the error message is not specific enough but your Saasant and Sera reps can also assist with any errors received.
Once the errors have been corrected, if any, proceed back to New Import and select the third file in the batch Payment Inserts and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Payment Inserts file, please proceed to the next file.
If there is data in the file, select Submit once you have uploaded the Payment Inserts file. Select Received Payments from the Select QuickBooks Entity dropdown. Similar to the Invoices file that was previously imported, the fields on the Payments Inserts file will map automatically and unless you have a specific need for different fields to be used, you can select the Import to Quickbooks button at the bottom of the screen.
If alternate mapping is required, you can also change and save an alternate mapping within this screen as well.
Selecting the Review button at the bottom of the screen will allow for visibility of the data being uploaded within the proper columns that are being used for mapping. Select Upload once the data is reviewed for accuracy of the placement.
The upload will process all payments within the file and again, will display the number of successes and failures. Similar to invoices, the number of failures can be selected to see the specific error messages. There is a suggestion button here as well if the error message is not specific enough but your Saasant and Sera reps can also assist with any errors received.
Once any errors have been corrected from the previous file, if any, please proceed to the Modify selection from the left hand bar.
To verify your intent to modify payments within this next step, you will select OK from the Update warning message that appears.
The Payment Updates file is generated within the batch to re-assign existing payments to their updated invoice(s) within your Quickbooks account. Select the fourth file in the batch Payment Updates and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Payment Updates file, please proceed to the next file.
If there is data in the file, select Submit once you have uploaded the Payment Updates file. There is a red bar that appears at the top of the Sheet/Entity screen validating, again, your intent to modify. You can dis-regard that message for this type as we do intend to modify existing transactions. Select Received Payments from the Select QuickBooks Entity dropdown. The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous two files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
Please proceed to the New Import selection. The Journal Entries file is generated within the batch to capture refunds done within your Sera account after the payment has been processed through a batch and pass the knowledge of that refund over to your Quickbooks account. Select the fifth file in the batch Journal Inserts and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Journal Inserts file, please proceed to the next file.
If there is data in the file, select Submit once you have uploaded the Journal Entries file. Select Journal Entries from the Select QuickBooks Entity dropdown. The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous four files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
Once any errors have been corrected, if any, please proceed to the New Import selection from the left hand bar. The Credit Memos file is generated within the batch when a previously batched invoice is cancelled and/or updated within Sera and will pass the knowledge of that cancelled invoice over to Quickbooks. Select the sixth file in the batch Credit Memos and select the Open button.
Note: Credit Memos were a previous concept in Sera and you will only have to complete this step one additional time after January 17, 2024. After that time, your account will no longer generate Credit Memos and this file will no longer exist.
If there is not any data in the Credit Memos file, your batching process is complete.
If there is data in the file, select Submit once you have uploaded the Credit Memos file. Select Credit Memos from the Select QuickBooks Entity dropdown. The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous four files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
The batching process from Sera into your Quickbooks account is now completed.
As a reminder, previous batches are always available for review and download in Reports → Previous Batches.
New UI
Log into your Saasant account. Select New Import and select the Transaction button.
Note: You will want to import the files in the proper, numerical order listed above to ensure that there are no unnecessary errors.
Select Invoice. You can use the Drag and drop, browse file or Google link feature to select your file for upload. Select the Invoice Inserts file previously saved to the computer and select Open. The fields on the Invoice file map automatically and unless you have a specific need for different fields to be used, you can select the Import to Quickbooks button at the bottom of the screen. Because of new functionality with the Sales Tax release, please verify 'Discount Amount' and 'Apply Tax After Discount' columns map appropriately into their respective fields
If alternate mapping is required, change the dropdown on the specific item that needs to be mapped to a different field and then select the Import to Quickbooks button. There is a Preview Mapping button at the bottom of the screen if you have questions about which invoice field will be used for mapping. The alternate mapping can be saved by selecting the More button at the top of the screen and selecting Save Mapping. Enter a name for this mapping that will be easy to remember as you will need to select this one when mapping invoices in the future. Saasant does not allow you to remove the previous default mapping option at this time.
Selecting the Review button at the bottom of the screen will allow for visibility of the data being uploaded within the proper columns that are being used for mapping. Select Upload once you have reviewed the data for accuracy of the placement, if necessary.
The upload will process all invoices within the file and after import will generate a number of successes and a number of failures. By clicking the number of failures you can see the reason for failure. There is a suggestion button if the error message is not specific enough but Saasant or your Sera rep can also assist with any errors received.
Once any errors have been corrected from the previous file, if any, please proceed to the Modify selection from the left hand bar.
The Invoice Updates file is generated within the batch to provide updates to Quickbooks about changes made to invoices in Sera. Select Transaction, and then Invoice. You can use the Drag and drop, browse file or Google link feature to select your file for upload. Select the second file in the batch Invoice Updates and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Invoice Updates file, please proceed to the next file.
There is a red bar at the top of the screen that will advise you that you are only able to modify the transactions that are available within Quickbooks. If the invoices are part of a closed time period in Quickbooks, you will receive an error for those and will not be able to modify them. The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous file. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
Once the errors have been corrected, if any, proceed back to New Import, select Transaction and then Received Payments. You can use the Drag and drop, browse file or Google link feature to select your file for upload. Select the third file in the batch Payment Inserts and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Payment Inserts file, please proceed to the next file.
If there is data in the file, similar to the Invoices file that was previously imported, the fields on the Payments Inserts file will map automatically and unless you have a specific need for different fields to be used.
If alternate mapping is required, you can also change and save an alternate mapping within this screen as well.
Selecting the Review button at the bottom of the screen will allow for visibility of the data being uploaded within the proper columns that are being used for mapping. Select Upload once the data is reviewed for accuracy of the placement.
The upload will process all payments within the file and again, will display the number of successes and failures. Similar to invoices, the number of failures can be selected to see the specific error messages. There is a suggestion button here as well if the error message is not specific enough but your Saasant and Sera reps can also assist with any errors received.
Once any errors have been corrected from the previous file, if any, please proceed to the Modify selection from the left hand bar.
The Payment Updates file is generated within the batch to re-assign existing payments to their updated invoice(s) within your Quickbooks account. Select Transaction, and then Received Payments. You can use the Drag and drop, browse file or Google link feature to select your file for upload. Select the fourth file in the batch Payment Updates and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Payment Updates file, please proceed to the next file.
There is a red bar at the top of the screen that will advise you that you are only able to modify the transactions that are available within Quickbooks. If the payments are part of a deposit, you will receive an error for those and will not be able to modify them. The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous two files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
Please proceed to the New Import selection. Once again, select Transaction, and then Journal Entries. The Journal Entries file is generated within the batch to capture refunds done within your Sera account after the payment has been processed through a batch and pass the knowledge of that refund over to your Quickbooks account. Select the fifth file in the batch Journal Inserts and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Journal Inserts file, please proceed to the next file.
The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
Once any errors have been corrected, if any, please proceed to the New Import selection from the left hand bar. Select Transactions for the final time and then Credit Memos. The Credit Memos file is generated within the batch when a previously batched invoice is cancelled and/or updated within Sera and will pass the knowledge of that cancelled invoice over to Quickbooks.
Note: Credit Memos were a previous concept in Sera and you will only have to complete this step one additional time after January 17, 2024. After that time, your account will no longer generate Credit Memos and this file will not exist.
Select the sixth file in the batch Credit Memos and select the Open button.
If there is not any data in the Credit Memos file, your batching process is complete.
The remainder of this process follows the same steps as the previous files. You will upload your desired mapping and be able to view successes and failures.
The batching process from Sera into your Quickbooks account is now completed.