- Why connect Xero and Deputy?
- Before connecting Xero
- Establishing the connection to Deputy
- Configuring your integration
- Region-specific information (AU UK NZ US)
- Next steps
Why connect Xero and Deputy?
If you are using Xero for your business in Australia, New Zealand, US or the UK you can quickly connect Deputy to your Xero Organisation.
There are three main benefits to connecting Xero and Deputy:
- You can sync your employee's details between the two systems
- 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.
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
- Payroll Admin or higher level of 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. What is the source of truth for my employee's pay rates? 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.
Read more about some possible data flows scenarios between Deputy and Xero depending on your organisation's needs.
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.
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.
Configuring your Xero integration
Once you have connected your Deputy location to Xero, you may now start to activate the Xero integration extensions you need for the required data to flow 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. You may like to consider some possible data flow scenarios.
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 extensions that are able to be activated with this extension.
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.
For the other extensions, you can turn them on by clicking Activate next to the extension 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 extension.
4. You can see the extension is now activated as it is listed under the Activate heading. You can click Edit if you need to further manage this extension.
5. On this screen you can disable the extension, 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 extension to run as it automatically runs once a day at midnight in your Deputy account’s timezone.
Region-specific information (AU UK NZ US)
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.
UK
There are additional steps you need to configure if you are connected to Xero in the UK. Please read:
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 Deputythat you always add and edit your employee pay rates in Deputy.
US
Please read this workaround for a Xero pay template error (US Xero customers only).
Next steps
Now that you have established a connection to Xero and configured your extensions, you are ready to:
- sync your employee information and leave balances between Deputy and Xero
- export Deputy timesheet information for payroll
- export Deputy timesheet information for Xero invoicing