Note: Xero users in the UK should also read Setting up Xero UK.
- Why connect Xero and Deputy?
- Before connecting Xero
- Establishing the connection to Deputy
- Import your team from Xero into Deputy
- Configuring your integration add-on
- Region-specific information (AU NZ)
- Next steps
Why connect Xero and Deputy?
If you are using Xero for your business in Australia, New Zealand, or the UK you can quickly connect Deputy to your Xero Organisation.
There are three main benefits to connecting Xero and Deputy:
- You can import your employees from Xero into Deputy when you first set up Deputy as well as sync your employee's details between the two systems ongoing if desired
- You can export Deputy timesheet information to process payroll in Xero
- You can sync your employee leave balances between the two systems
There are other optional functionalities you can activate when configuring the Xero integration, however, the three listed above are the most commonly used features of the integration.
Note: It is recommended to set up your team member pay rates in Deputy as the source of truth and they will automatically be created in Xero when you export timesheets to Xero. If you have, in the past, decided to assign and sync Xero pay rates to your team members in Deputy then you will not be able to use Deputy to manage your team member's leave entitlements as it will be assumed that you will manage leave within Xero along with the pay rates.
Before connecting Xero
In Deputy - ensure you have:
- Location Manager, System Administrator or Advisor level of access to your Deputy business
In Xero - ensure you have:
- At least one active Organisation within Xero AU, NZ, US or UK
- Standard or Advisor access to your Xero Organisation
- Configured your Xero payroll settings (https://central.xero.com/s/article/Prepare-for-payroll)
Consider the data flow in your organisation
Before connecting Deputy to Xero it is important to consider how you want the data to flow in your organisation. Some questions you may like to consider are:
- Which Xero integration functionalities do I need to implement? ie. Why am I connecting Xero and Deputy?
- Which system will be the source of truth for each data component? eg. You may want to say Xero is the source of truth for my employee details and Deputy is the source of truth for timesheet information. We do recommend setting pay rates in Deputy as the source of truth. The answer to these questions will inform how the data flows between each system and how you will configure the integration.
- Will I have a separate Xero organisation to connect to each Deputy location or will I connect the same Xero organisation to each of my locations in Deputy? Note: you are able to connect multiple Xero organisations to different Deputy Locations within the one Deputy account but you can not connect more than one Xero account to one single Deputy Location.
Establishing the connection to Xero
Once you have considered the way you would like information to flow between Deputy and Xero, you can begin to connect Xero. Connections to any payroll provider including Xero are initially made from a single Deputy Location. You can connect other Deputy locations to Xero as required.
1. In Deputy, open the drop-down menu under your name on the top right-hand side of the screen, then click on the link to access Integrations.
2. Select Xero from the integrations.
3. Click Connect add-on.
4. Select the location you would like to connect to Xero and click Connect. Note once you have set up the connection for the first location you can return and connect the other locations if required.
5. You will now be taken to Xero to provide your email and password to log in to Xero.
6. The name of the organisation you are trying to connect to in Xero will be displayed. Click Allow access to allow Deputy to connect to Xero.
If you have access to multiple organisation files in Xero via the login you used in Step 5, then you will be asked to choose which Xero organisation from the dropdown menu you wish to connect to this Deputy Location.
Note: We do not recommend connecting multiple Xero accounts to one single Deputy Location as this can create authentication issues. You can however, connect different Xero organisations to different Deputy Locations.
7. Once you have connected your Deputy location to your Xero organisation you can click Configure to configure your Xero integration or click Connect new location to connect other Deputy locations to your Xero organisation.
Watch these steps as a video:
Disconnecting Xero
If you need to disconnect a Deputy location from Xero:
1. Click on Configure for the connected location you wish to disconnect.
2. Then click Disconnect add-on.
Import your team from Xero into Deputy
While setting up your Deputy account, you will be asked to add your team members to Deputy.
If you have an existing Xero account with your team member information stored there you can connect your Xero account to Deputy and bulk add your team from Xero.
Configuring your Xero integration add-ons
Once you have connected your Deputy location to Xero, you may now start to activate the optional Xero integration add-ons if you require data to regularly sync between the two systems.
Before you start to configure your integration it is recommended to consider your plan for how you wish data to flow between the two systems.
1. Click on Configure for the location you would like to configure.
2. On the next screen you can see a list of the general Xero settings and optional Xero add-ons that are able to be activated with this integration.
If you have the General setting Auto sync employees toggled ON then this will update the employee profile information in Deputy to Xero and Deputy will be the source of truth for this information and overwrite existing information in Xero. Read more about syncing people information between Deputy and Xero.
Note: If you turn on Autosync with Xero you will be unable to edit the Payroll ID for your team members in Deputy locations connected to Xero.
For the other add-ons, you can turn them on by clicking Activate next to the add-on you wish to use.
3. In this example we will demonstrate activating [Xero] New Employee > [Deputy] Invite team member which means that every time you add a new employee to Xero their information will flow to Deputy, and they will be invited to join Deputy.
Click Save to activate this configuration.
4. You can see the add-on is now activated as it is listed under the Activate heading. You can click Edit if you need to further manage this add-on
5. On this screen you can disable the add-on, delete it or command it to run for the past hour, day, 3 days, week or month. Note: you don't normally need to manually command the add-on to run as it automatically runs once a day at midnight in your Deputy account’s time zone.
Region-specific information (AU NZ)
Australia
- If you are using Australian awards to pay your employees in Xero you should read Export timesheets using Deputy pay rule library awards to Xero.
- Pay by Area is also available when connecting to Xero in Australia.
- Superannuation is processed through your payroll provider. Deputy does not set up pay items with super. This is all handled within Xero. Please reach out to Xero for further assistance with superannuation.
NZ
Xero NZ currently only supports base rates and 1.5x multipliers, which syncs employee pay rates as they are entered into the employee's profile in Deputy. It’s important when using Xero NZ connected to Deputy that you always add and edit your employee pay rates in Deputy.
Next steps
Now that you have established a connection to Xero, imported employees from Xero to Deputy and configured your add-ons, you are ready to: