Xero v2 Integration - Create and Link the App

Overview

If you use Xero as your accounting platform, you can Astute's integration that allows you to seamlessly send invoices, payroll and customer data across to Xero. The integration works by connecting a Xero App to your Astute portal. 

Before you Start

This is a paid integration that needs to be enabled in your portal. If you need this set up, please contact Support to assist you with this process. 

Before you can export invoice and payroll data from Astute to Xero, you will need to configure the integration settings in Xero and Astute.

You will need a minimum of Standard user access in Xero, as you will need to authorise Astute to link to your Xero organisation during an export.

Create a Xero App

You will need to create an App using your Xero login first, so you can generate a Client id and Client secret. These are then used to establish the link between your Xero organisation and your Astute entity.

To create the App and access the Client id and client secret:

1. Go to https://developer.xero.com/myapps.

2. If prompted, log in with your Xero username and password and enter your 2FA authorisation.

3. Click ‘New App’ from the top right of the screen.

4. Enter an App name (eg ‘YourPortalNameAstuteIntegration’). Don’t include any spaces or non-alphanumeric characters.

5. Select 'Web app' as the Integration type. 

6. In the Company or application URL field, enter https://astutepayroll.com.

7. Enter the Redirect URL as follows: https://yourportalname.astutepayroll.com/yourportalname/xero/token/exchange (if you copy/paste this, please change the red text to your own portal name) 

8. Confirm that you have read the Terms and Conditions by ticking the checkbox.

9. Click ‘Create App’.

Once the app is created, you'll be directed to the App details landing page. Here, you can add optional links to a  Privacy policy URL and Terms and Conditions URL. 

To access you Client ID and generate a secret, click Configuration in the left column menu. You'll need to copy the Client ID and secret and enter these in your Astute portal to finalise the link between your portal and Xero. You'll be able to copy the Client id that has been generated. To generate the secret, click 'Generate a secret'.

Link your Xero App to your Astute Entity

Once you have created the App in Xero, you can link it to your Astute Entity. If you have multiple Astute entities that you need to use the Xero integration for, you will need to have one Xero App for each one. You can not link multiple entities to the same Xero App.

To lInk the Xero App:

1. Log in to your Astute portal and go to Config > Company Management > select the entity to link > Integrations

2. Copy the prefilled values for Client id and Client secret from the Xero App Details page and enter them in the relevant fields in Config > Company Management > select the entity > Integration.

3. Click ‘Authorise’ to Link to Xero
   

4. Click 'Allow Access' in the next screen

5. Select the Xero Organisation you want to provide access to and then click 'Connect' 

Once you’ve successfully linked Xero and Astute, you’ll be taken back to your Integration screen in Astute and you’ll see the details of the Link to Xero. The Client Id will be greyed out and the Client secret field will disappear. You will see the name of the Xero organisation that has been linked to the entity, along with the unique Xero organisation ID.

Remove the Link Between Astute and Xero

Once Astute and Xero have been successfully linked, you’ll see a ‘Remove’ button under the API heading in Config > Company Management > select entity > Integration, under the API heading. If for some reason you need to unlink your Astute entity and Xero organisation, you can click this button. 

If you remove the link it will impact any existing Astute > Xero mapping, so it’s important that you take this into account before clicking ‘OK’. You may like to check things such as GL Accounts that are being used, or customer profiles that may be linked to Xero contacts.