Accounting templates and the order to install them
The ready-made workflows that send and receive for Xero, QuickBooks and Holded, in the order to install them, and what each one does.
Account administrators create and publish workflows from templates. Everyone else sees the templates with “Only administrators can create workflows”.
Xero, QuickBooks Online and Holded are being rolled out. If the card shows «Coming soon» in your account, or its «Workflows» tab says that automations are coming soon, they aren't available to you yet.
Keeping the books in step means many small jobs: send each invoice once it's approved, send each payment, bring back what your accountant records, warn someone when something stops matching. You don't want to design those from scratch.
An is one of those jobs, ready to install. Each template becomes a workflow of your own that does one task and nothing else, the way a single rule in your email sorts one kind of message. Xero, QuickBooks Online and Holded share the same templates; only the destination and what each program supports change.
Install a template
- Open the integration Go to «Settings» → «Integrations» → «Xero» and open the «Workflows» tab.
- Pick a template The templates appear in numbered groups. Click the one you want: Filmo creates the workflow and opens it as a draft.
- Fill in what's empty Most templates need nothing. The ones that bring payments into Filmo ask for a treasury account and a payment method.
- Publish it Click «Publish and activate». Until then it doesn't run.
When you publish, Filmo checks that the connection has what the template's steps need. If something is missing, it won't go live and lists it under ; see Fix Xero pending configuration. For the editor itself, see Create a workflow from a template and Publish and activate a workflow.
The order to install them
Order matters because each payment needs its invoice in Xero first. Even so, if a payment arrives before its invoice, the payment step sends the invoice first.
| Group | Templates | What for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Filmo invoicing to Xero | Approved invoices, recorded collections, validated supplier invoices, recorded supplier payments, contacts that change | Everything that starts in Filmo, in Xero. Install this group first, starting with invoices. |
| 2. Collections from Xero | Collections recorded in Xero, supplier payments recorded in Xero | If your accountant also records payments in Xero, bring them into Filmo. |
| 3. Credit Notes | Approved credit notes | Filmo's credit notes, in Xero too. |
| 4. Optional | Void invoices and credit notes, delete collections and payments | Reflect in Xero what you void or delete in Filmo. Irreversible in Xero. |
| 5. Warnings | Voids and deleted payments in Xero, weekly reconciliation | Know at once when Xero and Filmo stop matching. |
Below the groups, «More templates» lists other templates that use the integration outside this guide. The warnings group currently shows its title in Spanish, «5. Avisos».
Every template, and which program has it
| Template | Starts when | What it does | Xero | QuickBooks | Holded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send the invoices validated in Filmo | Invoice validated | Creates the invoice with its client, lines per tax and due date, and links it | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send the collections recorded in Filmo | Payment recorded (collections) | Adds the collection to its invoice; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send the validated supplier invoices | Supplier invoice validated | Records the supplier invoice with its purchase taxes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send the supplier payments recorded in Filmo | Payment recorded (payments) | Adds the payment to its supplier invoice; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Update the contacts that change in Filmo | Contact updated | Sends the new name, email and tax ID of a contact already sent; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Register in Filmo the collections recorded there | Invoice paid in the program | Registers the collection on the Filmo invoice; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Register in Filmo the supplier payments recorded there | Supplier invoice paid in the program | Registers the payment on the supplier invoice; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send the validated credit notes | Credit Note validated | Creates the credit note and links it | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Void the invoices voided in Filmo | Invoice voided | Optional. Voids the linked invoice | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Void the credit notes voided in Filmo | Credit Note voided | Optional. Voids (Xero) or deletes (QuickBooks) the linked credit note | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete the collections and payments deleted in Filmo | Payment deleted | Optional. Deletes what Filmo sent; if it can't, creates a task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Warn when a valid invoice is voided there | Invoice voided in the program | Creates a task. Changes nothing | Yes | Yes | No |
| Warn when a valid supplier invoice is voided there | Supplier invoice voided in the program | Creates a task | Yes | Yes | No |
| Warn when a valid credit note is voided there | Credit note voided in the program | Creates a task | Yes | Yes | No |
| Warn when a Filmo payment is deleted there | Charge or payment removed in the program | Creates a task | Yes | Yes | No |
| Warn when a Filmo payment changes there | Charge or payment modified in QuickBooks | Creates a task if the amount or date changes | No | Yes | No |
| Reconcile open invoices every week | Every Monday at 08:20 | Compares open invoices and supplier invoices and creates a task if any doesn't match | Yes | Yes | Yes |
In total, Xero has 16 templates, QuickBooks 17 and Holded 11. Holded has no warnings, so the is its only way of spotting a void or a deleted payment.
Where the tasks appear
When a template can't finish its job, for example a collection split across two invoices, it creates a task with the reason. The task is dated the day of the run, has no owner and isn't linked to the invoice. You'll find it in «Calendar» → «Task list» and in the company calendar, with a title in Spanish, such as “Cobro pendiente de enviar a Xero”. To give these tasks an owner, edit the task step of the workflow. See See upcoming and overdue tasks.
Good to know
- One template, one step. What a send needs (client, lines, accounts, taxes) comes from the document and the connection, so the template doesn't ask for it.
- Running twice doesn't duplicate. A second send of the same document finds the link and writes nothing.
- Warnings never change Filmo. Undoing what was undone in Xero is a decision for a person.
- Once created, the workflow is yours: change it in the editor and the template stays as it was.
Installing isn't retroactive
A template acts on what happens after you publish it. Invoices approved earlier aren't sent. To send one, create a workflow with the «Manual execution» trigger on invoices and the «Send invoice to Xero» step, then use «Run workflow» on each invoice. An invoice already in Xero is only linked. See Run a workflow manually.
Note: The void templates and the «4. Optional» group say that a task is left when the document can't be voided. That's what happens in Holded. In Xero and QuickBooks the run fails with the program's reason, and no task is created: check the workflow's failed runs.
Up next
Start with Send invoices and credit notes to Xero.