Xero Tracking Categories have come a long way since they were first introduced many years ago. Back then, they seemed a little insipid compared to MYOB jobs or QuickBooks classes. Xero departmental reporting is now powerful and agile in tracking business performance. The selected tracking categories are included as part of the invoice export process removing the need to manually set these within Xero. You are also able to change the tracking category on invoice lines as required.

How do I compare a tracking option with its budget in Xero?

  1. In the Accounting menu, select Reports.
  2. Under Financial, click Budget Variance.
  3. Select the Compare Periods tab.
  4. Under Compare With, select None.
  5. Under Budget, select the budget for your tracking option.
  6. Click More options.
  7. Under Filter by, select the tracking option.
  8. Click Update.

Any account codes you specify in a job category will be used instead of the default (Level 1 above) sales and income accounts. Xero tracking categories help you filter your reports when you manage a network of locations in Nexudus. Nexudus adds tracking https://bookkeeping-reviews.com/how-to-use-xero-tracking-categories/ options as you transfer invoices from the different locations in your network. For example, you might set up your Catering – Weddings and Catering – Functions job categories so that they use a Xero tracking category called Sales Region.

How to Use Xero Tracking Categories in Dext Prepare

Select the object, make the necessary changes to it and Update the template or Update and Execute the new query. Latest news, events, and updates on all things app related, plus useful advice on app advisory – so you know you are ahead https://bookkeeping-reviews.com/ of the game. It’s possible that there is a data sync delay between Xero and Ignition. We suggest you either wait one business day before trying again or trigger a manual sync by going to Apps → Xero → clicking the Sync button.

  • Just repeat this process for each individual client you want to set tracking categories on.
  • You’ve successfully created a tracking category for your network.
  • If no account mapping is specified at Level 3 (task/cost) or Level 2 (job category), transactions will be coded to Level 1 (the default income and cost of sales accounts).
  • Latest news, events, and updates on all things app related, plus useful advice on app advisory – so you know you are ahead of the game.
  • When raising an invoice for the project the default tracking categories set for the project will be used for each invoice line.
  • The selected tracking categories are included as part of the invoice export process removing the need to manually set these within Xero.

You can imagine, adding the reports to a report bundle made delivery simple every month. As a result, the charity improved the accountability of their managers internally as well as achieving their external responsibilities to their funders. If you prefer to set tracking categories on multiple clients at once, you can do this using the Client Import Template. Keep in mind that this method below is for when you have clients already in Ignition. If you do not have a client list yet, you can assign the tracking categories when you are importing your clients for the first time.

How to Enhance Xero Tracking Categories Reporting

Tracking categories can be set up in Xero and be used as a way to categorise (or tag) invoices and expenses. They allow another level of reporting such as identifying which geographic region or division the revenue or expenses are reported against. You can update tracking categories on your clients in bulk by first exporting and making changes to your current client record and then importing them back into the system. Once the tracking category is setup in Xero, click here to learn how to map it to Jirav department. To add to the complexity, sometimes there was a need to report on an entire project.

How To Use Xero Tracking Categories

Traditional management reporting was based on statutory style reports. Essentially, these are based of variations of Profit and Loss Reports and Balance Sheet Statements. These reports are structured by the underlying chart of accounts. Hence, you will find most show the report as a list of accounts. Alternatively, you can remove a tracking option already set on a client by selecting the “None” option from the dropdown menu. Here’s how you set tracking categories on a client one-by-one in Ignition.

If you use tracking categories in Xero, you can include those on your Projectworks invoices and have them flow through to Xero.

If at any time you want to change a tracking option already set on a client, you just need to repeat the above steps selecting a different tracking option from the dropdown menu. For meaningful actuals vs plan analysis, it is recommended to track departments in Xero as a tracking category. You can also use the Xero Tracking category fields to link your WorkflowMax job categories to Xero tracking categories.

Xero has the ability to add tracking categories to items, so you can break down income & expenditure by category. So, it would be very useful if invoices coming from WooCommerce were automatically tagged with the right sales channel. If you set up one Tracking Category list in Xero as Departments, the other as Projects, it’s easy to add the 2 options to every transaction. And in Xero, you can report on any one of them (or a single combination).

Once you code your transactions with the Xero tracking categories, you can then combine these into Xero departmental reporting showing these in their relevant groups. Xero Tracking Categories lets you see how different areas of your business are performing, so you can make proactive business decisions. For example, let’s say you’re a business with multiple work locations.

How does Xero Projects work?

  • Create a project for a new or existing contact.
  • Assign the relevant staff members to the project.
  • Add tasks to break down the work.
  • Estimate your expenses and send the customer a quote.
  • Record time worked against tasks.
  • Add actual expenses and track them back to your estimates.

If you have been thinking of using Xero Tracking Categories, talk to us. In the meantime, watch our webinar recording on Business Unit Reporting. The solution was to set up Combinations for each project that each donor funded. Once you have successfully connected Projectworks and Xero you can simply activate the use of tracking categories for the organisations that require it. Consider a business with a number of departments such as engineering, service, marketing, administration. Then in the item details page you have the ability to assign the Tracking Category and the options you have created in Xero to any document that has been submitted.

In Calxa you would have previously budgeted for each project and then set the department budget to be the sum of its constituent projects. Then you could have reported on all or some of the departments, all or some of the projects or the whole organisation. From this point onwards, all invoices created in Xero for the client will automatically show the tracking option(s) you’ve set on that client in Ignition. Using Calxa for your Xero Tracking Categories reporting gives you exactly the flexibility you need for your Xero Departmental Reports. The result was that they could easily report to donors on how they had spent their funds while project managers had a clear view of what they were responsible for.

Mapping of account codes between WorkflowMax and Xero is possible at three different levels. You are able to allow the use of tracking categories on invoices within Projectworks, letting you do the categorising at the point of creating your invoice. We have 13 Xero files and about 700 tracking categories in a complex hierarchy that we are able to manage this using Calxa – for an absolutely reasonable price that NFPs can afford. It allows you to filter your Xero account by job much more easily, and in splitting your reports by job. This article will guide you on how you are able to use Xero’s Category Tracking to track your jobs in Xero for reports.

Just repeat this process for each individual client you want to set tracking categories on. Add the ability to set the tracking category(s) for invoices sent to Xero. Create a tree for each department when you want to report on them separately and you have full flexibility to report the way you need. See your department totals side by side for the company or compare actuals to budgets for one or more projects. That’s a great way of displaying your Xero departmental reports. Here are some real-life examples on how Calxa customers are leveraging their Xero tracking reports.

  • This would allow you to report (in Xero) on your catering work, broken down by region.
  • Xero departmental reporting is now powerful and agile in tracking business performance.
  • Hence, you will find most show the report as a list of accounts.

This was most useful for the manager of the project and other internal users. Donors wanted reports on each project they had funded, but only the portion they funded. When raising an invoice for the project the default tracking categories set for the project will be used for each invoice line. And provide the name of the template in Template Name field, for instance, Template 1.