Exact Online – how the sync works

Integrating Exact Online with Scoro allows you to sync all your bills and invoices as well as payments between the two platforms and maintain a full overview of your finances in both systems. Automated data transfer helps to ensure data quality and integrity by minimizing the need for manual data entry and migration. 

This article will explain in detail how data moves between the systems once they have been connected. If you want to learn how to set up the integration with Exact Online, read our setup guide.

What data moves between the systems?

Data moving between Scoro and Exact Online can be divided into two groups:

• Main data – these are the items for which the user can toggle the sync on or off under the Exact Online integration page in Scoro. Main data includes:
  • Products and services
  • Contacts
  • Invoices
  • Bills
  • Receipts
    

• Background data – these items are necessary for the sync to work and the user has no control over the moving of this data. Background data includes:
  • Tax rates (VAT rates in Exact)
  • Finance objects (G/L accounts in Exact)
  • Journals
  • Product groups
    

The following paragraphs will deep dive into both types of data and relevant data mapping.

When does the data move between the systems?

You can customize data transfer settings on the integrations page under Settings > Site Settings > Integrations > Exact Online. 

You can choose to sync main data in four different ways, depending on your preference:

• Full automatic sync – all items that are toggled ON are synced automatically every 5–10 minutes. The Synchronization setting under the integration page needs to be set to Automatic.
  
• Full manual sync – full sync has to be initiated by the user via the Synchronize now button under the integration page. This will send all toggled unsent items to Exact Online together. If you want to use this approach, keep the Syncronization setting as Manual.
  
• Manual sync via quick actions – items can be sent over one by one via the quick actions button in the document view. You can read more about the quick actions button in the next paragraph. If you want to use this option, keep the Syncronization setting as Manual.
  
• Automatic + manual sync – you can have some items sent over automatically, while syncing others manually. If you want to use this approach, keep the Syncronization setting as Automatic, but toggle off the items you prefer to send over manually via the quick actions button. Let’s look at the example screenshot below – with these settings, products and services, invoices and receipts would be synced automatically in every 5-10 minutes, but contacts and bills would be sent over only when you use the quick actions button in any document view.
  

Note that the sync direction for all items is predefined and can’t be modified.

With the ON/OFF toggle, you control which data you want to include in full automatic and full manual sync. If you use only the quick actions button, all relevant document data will be sent to Exact Online each time.

What are quick actions?

You can use quick action buttons to send over bills and invoices manually one by one. Once you have Exact Online integrated, relevant users can see quick action buttons in any bill, invoice, contact or product/service view.

• Go to Exact Online – opens the document in Exact Online.
• Send to Exact Online – sends the new/updated document over to Exact Online.
• Import payments from Exact Online – imports payment info and marks the document as paid in Scoro if it is marked as fully paid in Exact Online.
• Print invoice – prints the invoice. Once you print the invoice, it can no longer be modified. This option appears only on invoice documents.
• Show errors – shows the number of errors that occurred during the sync. Click on the button to open the error log and see the exact issues.
• Delete from Exact Online – deletes the document from Exact Online but keeps it in Scoro. If the document cannot be deleted from Exact Online for some reason, the system will show an error.

You can control who sees the button from the integration page with the setting Quick-add buttons can be used by.

Background data

What is background data?

The following items are considered background data:

• Tax rates (VAT rates in Exact)
• Finance objects (G/L accounts in Exact)
• Journals
• Product groups

Why is background data needed?

Background data is vital for the sync to happen. It is sent over automatically and users cannot turn it off. It includes items that are mandatory for the data, such as documents, to move between the two systems. It also helps avoid duplicate data entries between two systems and simplifies the overall process as Scoro can set up default finance accounts, taxes, and product groups, which can be used to prefill documents automatically.

How is background data exchanged between the systems?

• Background objects are brought over to Scoro from Exact Online after the initial sync and updated after every automatic or full manual sync.
  Important! Background data is not fetched when you use quick actions for manual syncing. If you want to update background objects, you need to initiate the full manual sync every once in a while.
• Sync direction for all background data is from Exact Online to Scoro.
• When the integration is active, background objects cannot be modified in Scoro. All modifications have to be done in Exact Online. The next automatic or full manual sync will bring the updates over to Scoro.
• Background data is not matched with any existing items in Scoro (except for product groups). If the background objects already exist in Scoro prior to establishing the integration, they are made inactive in Scoro. New data is fetched from Exact Online and it will continue to be updated based on Exact Online until the integration is active.

The following paragraphs will cover in detail the movement of each type of background data.

Tax rates

In Scoro, there is no option to include tax rates in the selling price on the document. Tax is always excluded and added as a separate line. For that reason, the following tax rates are NOT brought over to Scoro from Exact Online:

• Including
• Blocked
• Period has ended in Exact Online

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Name	Description
Tax rate	VAT percentage	The percentages have two decimal places after comma. When a VAT code has had different percentage values at different time periods in Exact Online, all versions will be saved as separate tax rates in Scoro.
Tax type	Transaction type	B = Both P = Purchase S = Sales NB! This cannot be updated after the initial sync!
Tax rate code	Code
-	Blocked	When a rate gets blocked in Exact Online, it will become inactive in Scoro.
-	Type	“Included” tax rates are not sent over to Scoro because Scoro doesn’t support this option. 0% – will be added to Scoro as 0%. No VAT – will be added to Scoro as 0%, since it’s “Not applicable”.

Finance accounts 

Only finance accounts that are not blocked in Exact Online will be synced to Scoro.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Symbol	Code	Mandatory and unique field in Exact Online.
Name	Description
Classification		All finance accounts are automatically marked both as sales and purchase accounts, but you can update this classification manually in Scoro if you want to:

Journals

Journals are mandatory in order to sync documents from Scoro to Exact Online. Users can assign a journal to invoices and bills in Scoro on a document level, using the designated custom field in the document modify view.

Only the journals that are not blocked in Exact Online will be synced to Scoro.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Journals are named with the logic of Code + Description + (Type)	Code	Mandatory and unique in Exact Online.
	Description
	Type

Product groups

In order to sync new products from Scoro to Exact Online and use them on documents, products need to be linked to product groups. Product groups have more functions in Exact Online than in Scoro – in Exact Online, product groups can have default finance accounts and these are mandatory when creating documents.

For this reason, product groups are synced from Exact Online to Scoro as background objects. Product groups are the only background objects that Scoro tries to match with existing data first. If no matching product group is found, new one is created. Matching is done by product group name.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Name	Code	Mandatory and unique field in Exact Online.
Comments	Description

Main data

What is main data?

The following items are considered main data:

• Products and services (Items in Exact Online)
• Contacts (Accounts in Exact Online)
• Invoices
• Bills
• Receipts of payments

How is main data exchanged between the systems?

You can decide sync settings for main data objects under the integration page in Scoro: Settings > Site Settings > Integrations > Exact Online.

You can choose whether you want to move main data automatically or manually. 

Altogether there are four different ways you can decide to move data between the systems. Refer back to the paragraph When does the data move between the systems? to learn more about the approaches.

Keep in mind that the ON/OFF toggle controls which main data is included in full automatic or full manual sync.

The following paragraphs will cover in detail the movement of each type of main data.

Products

If a new product is sent over from Scoro to Exact Online, the system will first check if a product with that code already exists in Exact Online. Upon a match, the products are matched. If no match is found, a new product is added to Exact Online.

Important! Even if you have ‘Products and services’ toggled OFF under the settings, products and services still get automatically synced to Exact Online when they are included on the bills and invoices that you sync.

In order to sync over products and services, it is important to first manually map the units between Scoro and Exact Online. You can find more details in the integration setup article.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Code	Code
Name	Description	There is no name field in Exact Online. Name is matched with the description field.
Unit	Unit
Product group	Item group	If a product is not assigned to a product group, Exact Online will apply the default product group from Exact Online. If a product group is not synced with Exact Online, the system will give an error.
Sales account	Revenue
Purchase account	Costs
Buying price	Purchase price	Uses the price from the default price list.
Description	Extra description
Sales tax rate	VAT code: Sales
-	Purchase	All products are also marked as “Purchase” products, so it’d be possible to use them on bills.

Contacts

If a new contact is sent over from Scoro to Exact Online, the system will first check if a contact (= account) with that name already exists in Exact Online. Upon a match, the contacts are matched. If no match is found, a new contact is added to Exact Online.

Only companies can be sent over to Exact Online as contacts. People are not synced!

Important! Even if you have the ‘Contacts’ toggled OFF under the settings, contacts still get automatically synced to Exact Online when they are included on the bills and invoices that you sync.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Company name	Name
Phone	Phone
E-mail	E-mail address
Website	Website
Fax	Fax
Description	Remarks
Address Street address City Postal code County/State Country	Address Address City Postcode County Country	County name has to be identical with the one in Exact Online, otherwise Exact Online will not recognize it.
Reg. No	Company number	Chamber Of Commerce should be same as Business Register in other countries.
Tax/VAT No	VAT number
Currency	Currency	When using multi-currency, currency is taken from the client profile in Scoro.
Is client	Status	When a contact has no status assigned to it in Scoro, the system will apply the default contact status that you've defined under integration settings in Scoro: Suspect Prospect Customer
Is supplier	Supplier

Invoices (Sales Invoice)

If a new invoice is sent over from Scoro to Exact Online, the system will first check if an invoice with that invoice number already exists in Exact Online. Upon a match, the invoices are matched. If no match is found, a new invoice is added to Exact Online.

Both regular invoices and credit invoices are sent over with the invoice sync.

Important! Invoices are synced over automatically only once. Any modifications made to an invoice after the initial sync have to be sent over via quick actions using the Send to Exact Online button.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
INVOICE HEADER
Invoice No	Order number	It’s not possible to use the invoice number field in Exact Online because it cannot be sent over. Therefore, Scoro invoice number is sent over as Order Number.
Date of issue	Order date
Due date	Due date
Payer	Ordered by/ Delivered to/ Invoice to
Comment	Description
Reference number	Your rer.
Currency	Currency	Exact Online will use its own currency rate. If you want to match it between Scoro and Exact Online, you have to adjust the values manually.
Discount	Discount	Additional discounts are not supported.
Payment method	Type	Sales invoices or sales credit. The value can be updated only once.
-	Status	It’s possible to print invoices using the quick actions button.
Journal	Journal	If it’s not specified in Scoro, the system will apply the default one from Exact Online.
Total	Total
INVOICE LINES
Product group	-	The product group value is always taken from Exact Online. Even you change the product group name in Scoro, the system will still use the product group name from Exact Online.
Finance account	G/L account
Product	Item
Line description	Description
Quantity	Quantity
Unit	Unit	Unit is always taken from the product/service card. It’s not possible to send over a different unit via API.
Unit price	Unit price
Line discount	Discount (%)
VAT	VAT code
Amount	Amount excl. VAT
Subheading	-	Is not sent over to Exact Online

Bills (Purchase Invoices)

NB! If you want to sync bills, ensure that the Purchase Invoices module is available in Exact Online and users have the right to create purchase invoices.

Every new bill sent over to Exact Online will be added as a new bill in Exact Online. There is no matching with existing bills because bill reference number is not unique in Exact Online.

Bills are synced over automatically only once. If you make any changes to the info in the bill header after the initial sync, you have to send the modifications over via quick actions using the Send to Exact Online button.

If you make any changes to bill line items after the initial sync, it's not possible to sync these changes over to Exact Online anymore.

That's because the Exact Online API doesn’t allow to modify bill lines after initial the sending. So if you want to modify bill line items after the initial sync, follow these steps:

1. Delete the existing bill from Exact Online using the Delete from Exact Online quick action button.
2. Modify bill line items.
3. Resend the bill to Exact Online as a new bill using the Send to Exact Online quick action button.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
BILL HEADER
Bill No.	Your ref.	Sent over as Your ref because bill number is added by Exact Online automatically.
Date of issue	Invoice date
Due date	Due date
Payer		Can’t be updated in Exact Online after the initial sync.
Comment	Description
Currency/ Exchange rate	Currency/ Exchange rate
Payment method	Type	Only regular bills are supported.
Journal	Journal	Can’t be updated in Exact Online after the initial sync. API won’t give an error, but it also won’t update the info.
	Financial year	Year value based on the recognition date year. Can’t be updated in Exact Online after the initial sync.
	Period	Month in numbers – based on the recognition date month. Can’t be updated in Exact Online after the initial sync.
Total	Total
BILL LINE
Product group	-	Comes from the product in Exact Online, can’t be updated via API.
Product	Item
Line description	Description
Quantity	Quantity
Unit price	Unit price
Line discount	Discount (%)
VAT	VAT code
Amount	Amount excl. VAT
Subheading		Subheading are not sent over.

Payments

Payments can be synced for:

• Invoices
• Bills
• Credit invoices

The integration won’t sync over partial payments. A document is marked as paid in Scoro only when it is marked as fully paid in Exact Online.

Automatic payment sync works both for invoices and bills. 

If you use manual sync, you can sync payments via the Import payments from Exact Online button from quick actions. This option is only available for documents that are already connected with Exact Online.

Data mapping between Scoro and Exact Online:

Scoro	Exact Online	Comment
Date	Date	Bills – EndData Invoices – Last payment date
Client	-	Document client from Scoro
Sum	-	Invoice sum from Scoro
Currency	-	Invoice currency from Scoro
Receipt account	-	-