Importing Creditor/Supplier Invoices, Bills etc. into AbtracOnline
AbtracOnline allows you to import disbursements via two methods:
If you are using MYOB Account Right or Xero the available API connections to these systems will allow you to import your disbursements with the click of a button.
If you don’t use MYOB or Xero, or if you want to import things such as PaperCut files, Linz Fees, Uber Receipts etc., then you can import your disbursements through a file-based import.
Either way, with our import disbursement functionality you don’t have to spend hours re-keying information that you probably have available from other systems.
Integrated Import
Go to: Time & Disbursements → Import Disbursements → Import Using Accounting Interface
Step 1 :
Select the Accounting interface and enter in the Date From and Date To.
If you have nothing showing in the accounting interface combo box then you can set this up in the Accounting → Interface Settings section in Abtrac.
Step 2 :
The Abtrac Integrated import is comprised of two main templates.
A System template and a Custom (User-defined) template.
The system defined template will have predefined column mappings set by Abtrac.
The Custom Template allows you to map the columns from Abtrac to the integrated system how you want to import them.
In the example below we have selected the custom template option.
The custom template will start with a default name. Give it a meaningful name by clicking on the edit button.
Step 3:
Map the columns from Abtrac to the integrated system.
To do this, edit the rows and under the Import File header, you will use the combo box selection to say what column you want to import where.
Mandatory columns for the import are:
- Job Code
- Date
- Disbursement Type
- Units
- Cost Per Units
In any absence of data in your import, you can specify default values that will be filled into Abtrac for each column in the Default Value column. e.g the default date can be set to the day of the import, or an activity can be set to match what is in Abtrac etc.
Once the mapping is done, close the popup and click the import button. This will redirect you to an external link to get access to your accounting system.
The progress bar will be shown to the user indicating the import process.
Finish: Verify and Submit
You can validate the data being imported and the validated rows can be submitted to a Disbursement Sheet.
Subsequent imports using the saved templates
You can use the template you have set up to import disbursements regularly. When you open the Import Disbursements page, you may see your own (user-created template), and any unfinished import attempts. You can either ignore them and continue or review and correct your previous attempt.
File-based Import
Time & Disbursements => Import Disbursements=> Import Using File
This import option runs on a step by step wizard. If you are setting up the import for the first time, you have to give the information in all the three steps. The example shown below is for an office disbursement import and the steps are similar for employee disbursement.
Step 1 :
This wizard page allows you to select a CSV file which you have exported from the third party application. The CSV needs information like where the CSV file’s header row is, what is the delimiter that separates the columns in CSV file etc.
In the sample CSV file shown below, the header row starts on row #1 and the columns are separated by commas.
For a brand new import template for importing office disbursement, select the file and specify the settings shown below and click NEXT button.
Step 2 :
Map the columns from Abtrac to the imported file columns. To do this, you have to edit the rows and select the columns available in under the Import File header.
Mandatory columns for import are:
- Job Code
- Date
- Disbursement Type
- Units
- Cost Per Units
You can specify default values for each column in the Default Value. Supplier Invoice No column in Abtrac can be used to keep the unique reference number from the CSV file.
Once the mapping is done click NEXT button.
Step 3 :
The template you are creating will have a default name for it. Give a meaningful name for the template and click Finish.
Finish: Verify and Submit
This is the final stage of the import where you can validate the data being imported and the validated rows can be submitted to a Disbursement Sheet.
a. When you land on this page, if the Validation column has nothing in it means the rows are valid and ready to be submitted. Sometimes, in a large amount of data, the grid may have multiple pages and you need to click the heading label of validation to sort in descending order to see any validation. The validation will say what is wrong with the row and you can correct it and save the corrected information using the save button (shown as C).
b. When you import data from the third-party application, the Disbursement Types coming from the third party application can be mapped. This will be handy to validate the disbursement types validation issues.
These mappings will be remembered with your template and will be used by the import routine to validate disbursement types. Once you have done the disbursement types mapping, click the Save button at the bottom and click the Back arrow button.
c. Save button will save your corrections and you can even close the page and come back to this page to continue with corrections later.
d. The dropdown will show all the disbursement sheets and you can select one to import the disbursement into.
If you haven’t created the disbursement sheet yet, open a new tab and then create the disbursement sheet and then come back to this page and refresh the page.
The submit button will actually submit all the valid entries in this page into the selected Disbursement sheet. Invalid entries will remain in this page until you correct and submit again or you can delete or abandon them.
Any leftovers will be shown as a warning you next import attempt. You can either review them or mark them for deletion as shown below.
Subsequent imports using the saved templates
You can use the template you have set up to import disbursements regularly. When you open the Import Disbursements page, you may see your own (filtered by the user) unfinished import attempts. You can either ignore them to continue or review and correct previous attempt data.
Remember that the routine expects that the new file you are trying to import has the exact same format as the file you used to design the template.
- Choose the template
- Choose the File
- Click Next the two time to the final page of the Wizard and click Finish button
For Employee disbursement import, you can follow the same steps except change the option to Employee Disbursement.
Abtrac KB# 2106