Xero
Connecting to Xero for the first time
Integrating Worknice with your Xero platform makes your Worknice set up an absolute breeze. Connect Xero, choose the employees you want to import, and all your employees along with their personal and payroll data is ready and waiting in Worknice.
Always backup your payroll data before connecting integrations
Managing leave with Xero
Leave with Xero has been upgraded. Your team requests leave in Worknice against the balances Xero holds, you send approved leave to Xero in one step, and Xero stays the source of truth. There is no second set of leave numbers to keep in line.
Leave runs through the Xero leave app, installed from the Marketplace tab under Apps, separately from the connection described above.
If you already have an older Xero integration connected, approved leave does not reach Xero by itself on that one. See Upgrading to the Xero leave app before your next pay run.
Setting up leave
Setting up the app and sending leave to Xero needs an account owner. Employees request leave and managers approve it as they always have.
Go to Apps, then open the Marketplace tab.
Find Xero in the leave section and select View details.
Select Create integration. You will be sent to Xero to authorise the connection.
Choose the Xero organisation to connect, and approve the request.
Back in Worknice, select Sync. This first sync brings across your people’s leave balances, leave types and leave history.
The first sync takes a few minutes. It matches your Worknice people to their Xero records, so anyone left unmatched needs matching before their leave will sync.
The first sync brings across the last 12 months of leave history. Older leave stays in Xero.
Sending approved leave to Xero
Approved leave waits in the app until you send it, so you can send each request as it is approved or hold them until just before the pay run.
Go to Apps and open your Xero integration.
Select Open app. Every approved leave request that is ready to go to Xero is listed.
Tick the requests to send, then select Submit to Xero.
Each request becomes a leave application in Xero and is marked Processed in Worknice, so you can see what has and has not gone across.
Marking a leave request as processed by hand does not send it to Xero. Leave only reaches payroll through the integration.
To check a balance before you send, use the leave page as usual. The app handles the transfer only.
Leave hours and balances
Xero works out the hours. A leave request in Worknice carries the dates, and Xero calculates the hours once it receives the request, using the employee’s pay template.
Worknice does not use its own work pattern data to calculate leave hours for Xero. This is the difference from the MYOB integration, so if you have used that one, expect the calculation to sit with Xero here.
Leave balances sync back live, so the balance an employee sees in Worknice is the balance in Xero.
Changing leave after it has been sent
Where you make the change depends on whether the request has gone to Xero yet.
The request is | Change it in |
|---|---|
Approved, not yet submitted | Worknice. Xero does not know about it yet. |
Submitted and marked Processed | Xero. The change syncs back to Worknice. |
Cancel it, deny it or move the dates in Xero, and the next sync brings the change back to Worknice and refreshes the employee’s balance.
Two Xero behaviours worth knowing:
Leave submitted for future dates appears in Xero as Upcoming, and comes off the balance straight away.
Back-dated leave appears as Not yet paid, and does not move the balance until a pay run.
Leave that has already been included in a Xero pay run cannot be deleted in Xero.
Leave entered directly in Xero
Leave does not have to start in Worknice. Anything entered in Xero comes into Worknice on the next sync, so the two never hold different answers.
Requests carry the logo of where they came from, so you can tell at a glance which is which: a Xero logo where the approver’s photo would otherwise be.
Leave that came from Xero is read-only in Worknice. Everyone can see it, and it is changed in Xero.
What your team sees
Your team requests leave from the same place they always have, using the same button. Where they used to book leave somewhere else, in Xero Me or on a form, that moves into Worknice. Payslips and pay history stay in Xero.
The one difference in Worknice itself: an employee sees no balance for a leave type whose balance is hidden in Xero. They can still request that type of leave. Worknice follows Xero’s visibility settings rather than holding its own, so you set what is visible in one place.
Overlapping leave of the same type can no longer be approved twice, so a duplicate request can be denied rather than paid.
Xero and Worknice data Flow
The table below outlines the major flows of data between the two systems.
Worknice | Direction | Xero |
|---|---|---|
Personal Details | 🔁 ⬅️ | Personal Details |
Bank Account | 🔁 ⬅️ | Bank Account |
TFN | 🔁 ⬅️ | TFN |
Superannuation | 🔁 ⬅️ | Superannuation |
Leave Requests | 🔁 see Managing leave with Xero | Leave Requests |
Leave Balances | ⬅️ | Leave Balances |
Personal, bank, TFN and super details are synced to Xero for new hires but not after this point. Then, if these details are changed in Xero, they will sync back and update Worknice.
Completing a new payroll profile
The integration can’t do 100% of the Xero payroll set up. Areas include;
Leave types
Pay template
HECS debt
File to ATO
Please check each and every profile for completion.
You're all done!
If you have any questions please reach out to our support team at help@worknice.com or through the help section within Worknice.
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