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 Desktop using Saasant. For information on how to sign up with Saasant, or for more information on their offering, please see our Saasant article.
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.
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.
Open your Quickbooks Desktop program and your downloaded Saasant program. Select Import from the top left box on the Dashboard.
All six files will be imported using the Import process. The downloaded batch files will need to be loaded in numerical order and will always be in the following order - invoice inserts, invoice updates, payment inserts, payment updates, journal entries and credit memos.
From the File Selection screen, select the 'Quickbooks Transaction/List Type'. This will match the type of file that you are trying to import, i.e. invoices, received payments, credit memos or journal entries. Browse File and select the file that was downloaded to your computer. Hit the Next button. The Mapping screen should only be adjusted on the Journal Entries file where you will pick the Journal No column from the Journal Entry No Quickbooks field row. Select Next.
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. 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.
A special note for Quickbooks Desktop users: From your Import settings within Saasant, click General and then ensure that you have Action When a Matched Transaction Found is set to Replace Existing Transaction and then hit Save. The Invoice Updates file is generated within the batch to provide updated information about invoices that have been edited within your Sera Admin Portal.
Once the errors have been corrected, if any, proceed back to New Import, 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. If there is data in the file, ensure you have selected the Update button at the bottom of the page.
Select Submit once you have uploaded the Invoice Updates file. 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 the second 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 files 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.
Select the fourth file in the batch Payment Updates. If there is not any data in the Payment Updates file, please proceed to the next file. If there is data in the file, ensure you have selected the Update button at the bottom of the page.
Select Submit once you have uploaded the Payment Updates 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.
After the payment updates have been loaded, 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 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 canceled and/or updated within Sera and will pass the knowledge of that canceled 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 be blank.
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. 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 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.