To get started with the Citation HR Software-Xero integration, you need to execute the following actions:
- Understand what is synchronised and the limitations: What employee and payroll information can be updated and created?
- Authorise the relationship between the Xero and Citation HR Software and complete the Employee Import: Import Employees from Xero to Citation HR
- Configure the integration in Citation HR Software by following the steps below
How can I configure the integration?
After establishing the link between Xero and Citation HR Software (see Step 1 above), it is important to complete some configuration steps to ensure that the correct automations are in place.
There are different options and considerations to executing these create/update operations, which are explained in the sections below:
- The Authoritative System to set the source of truth in case of a conflict;
- Automatic imports with the scheduler;
- Automatic exports with the scheduler;
- Matching Xero records to existing Citation HR Software employees and Citation HR Software candidates;
- Using branches when importing Xero employees into Citation HR Software and allowing for the transfer of employees between branches (Can be found here: [refer to article])
Before we start the steps: It is recommended during set-up that you should follow this whole configuration process before running the connector for the first time. Pay particular care to the Authoritative System option.
Configure the Citation HR Software-Xero Integration
To access the configuration page, click on “Settings ” and then “Account Settings”.
Click on the “Account Details” tab and then the “Integration” sub-tab. Select “Edit”. You are now in the integration tab, where the Xero configuration can start.
Authoritative System - The ‘source of truth’
The Citation HR Software-Xero Connector is a two-way integration, which means that data flows from Citation HR Software to Xero and vice versa.
Because of this, it is possible to be in a situation where some data has been updated on both systems and needs to be synchronised. In these cases, we need to know what data should be treated as the source of truth - this is called a merge conflict. Below is an example of a conflict.
We handle these situations by using the notion of Authoritative System, a mechanism by which we define what system is to be considered the source of truth when dealing with merge conflicts.
The Authoritative System can be set to one of the three following options:
- Unselected (blank): In the case of a merge conflict, nothing is done (neither system is updated). An email is sent to the account administrator who needs to manually fix the mismatch. This is the default value;
- Xero: In case of a merge conflict, Xero is considered the source of truth and therefore the Xero version of the data will be used. An email is sent to the account administrator with the before and after values (for reference);
- Citation HR Software: In case of a merge conflict, Citation HR Software is considered the source of truth and therefore the Citation HR Software version of the data will be used. An email is sent to the account administrator with the before and after values (for reference).
Below is an example of how a merge conflict is managed.
Note: The Authoritative system is only activated when some data was modified on the two systems since the last import. If this data was only activated on one system, whether it is Xero or EnableHR, this update will be synchronised to the other system.
To setup your Authoritative System please navigate to “Account Details” and then select“Integration” and “Authoritative System”.
Automatic import with the scheduler
Once you have configured the Xero integration, you can select to automatically run the import process every 3 hours. In this case, you will not have to regularly do the import manually.
This is done by selecting “Automatic Import” in the configuration page.
Automatic export with the scheduler
Once you have configured the Xero integration, you can select to automatically run the export process every 3 hours. In this case, you will not have to regularly do the export manually.
This is done by selecting “Automatic Export” in the configuration page.
IMPORTANT: Matching Xero records to existing Citation HR Software employees
When you first run the import process, your Xero employees are going to be created in Citation HR Software. This is fine if they do not already exist in Citation HR Software, but what happens if the employees already exist in Citation HR Software?
The import process can try and match Xero employees with records already in Citation HR Software. If there is an employee record in Citation HR Software with the same “First Name”, “Last Name” and “Birth Date”, then it is a match and the update will merge into the existing record. If there is no match, a new employee record will be created.
This is done by selecting “Merge Employees by Name and Date of Birth (or Post code)” in the configuration page.
Matching Xero records to existing Citation HR Software candidates
Citation HR Software also uses the notion of candidate records.
When the import process is running, a Xero employee might not exist as an Citation HR Software employee, but it could be a candidate. In this case, you can instruct the import process to convert the Citation HR Software candidate into an Citation HR Software employee. The search for an existing candidate will be done using the “First Name”, “Last Name” and “Birth Date” (or "Post Code").
This is done by selecting “Merge Candidates by Name and Date of Birth (or Post code)” in the configuration page.
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