QUESTION

 

How are Time Activities imported into QuickBooks Online using Transaction Pro Importer?

 

RESOLUTION

 

Payroll data can be imported from outside Time Clock and Scheduling applications into QuickBooks Online as a Time Activities import using Importer. The data imports into Time/Enter Single Activity within QuickBooks Desktop. The imported data can be used to pay Employee and Contractors as well as invoice Customers.

 

Time can be imported as a day-by-day detail or can be imported for a week by using the last day of the week and importing the total hours for the week. Each day can have multiple time entries, if the time needs to be split to invoice different Customers.

 

STEPS TO IMPORT

 

CHOOSE IMPORT TYPE: Select TIME ACTIVITIES as your import type by clicking on the box, which take you to the next window.

 

 

UPLOAD FILES: On this window, either DRAG AND DROP into the gray box your file to import or click in the gray box to BROWSE AND ATTACH your import file. Importer can import any flat file format into QuickBooks Online such as .csv, .txt, and Excel.

 

BEFORE ATTACHING FILE

 

 

AFTER ATTACHING FILE

 

 

NOTE: If any changes are made to the import file after it has been attached to Importer, the file will need to be re-attached for Importer to recognize the changes.

 

Click SELECT FILE AND SHEET in the lower right-hand corner to proceed to the next window.

 

SELECT FILE AND SHEET: If your workbook has multiple worksheets (tabs) and/or if you have attached multiple files, you will see a list of the all available options to import. You can only work with one worksheet in one workbook at a time. Therefore, select the workbook and worksheet combination that contains the data that you wish to import by clicking the IMPORT SHEET button next to the correct one.

 

 

MATCH COLUMNS: On this window, you will tell Importer what columns in your import file contains what data for available QuickBooks Online fields.

 

Any field that has a blue asterick (*) is a required field that must either be included in your import file or have a default value assigned to the field.

 

Each field has two options for mapping. You can enter information in either column but never both.

 

• The first column is to map the info that is in the import file. Your import file column headers will be available on the dropdown menu for each field under the IMPORT COLUMN column.
• Any data that is not in your import file, needs to be included in the import, and has the same value for all imported transactions can be entered as a default value under the DEFAULT VALUE column.

 

Available fields to import are:

 

• TXNDATE:  Date of the hours worked. If importing a week at a time, use the last date of the week. If no date is imported, then QuickBooks Online will default the date to the date that the import was performed.
• NAME:  Required field. It is the Employee's or Contractor's name. It must exist in QuickBooks Online prior to importing. It must match QuickBooks Online exactly (spelling, punctuation, spacing, etc).
• TIME:  Total number of hours to import for the Date and Employee specified. It may be formatted as time or as a number. Example: Five and a half hours can be imported as 5:30 or 5.5. Either Total Time or Start and End Time should be imported but never both for the same detail transaction entry.
• STARTTIME:  Start Time for the Date and Employee specified. Must be formatted as hh:mm am/pm for 12 hour time cycle or hh:mm. for 24 hour time cycle. Start and End Time must be formatted the same. Either Total Time or Start and End Time should be imported but never both for the same detail transaction entry.
• ENDTIME:  End Time for the Date and Employee specified. Must be formatted as hh:mm am/pm for 12 hour time cycle or hh:mm. for 24 hour time cycle. Start and End Time must be formatted the same. Either Total Time or Start and End Time should be imported but never both for the same detail transaction entry.
• DESCRIPTION:  Any description desired to explain the time entry, if needed.
• BILLABLESTATUS:  Billable status as to whether the time should be billed to a Customer. If nothing is imported, defaults to Not Billable. Acceptable values to specify that the time is billable are 1, t, true, y, yes, or Billable. Acceptable values to specify that the time is not billable are 0, f, false, n, no, or NotBillable.
• CUSTOMER:  Required field. Name of Customer to be billed for the imported time. If the time is not to be billed or does not need to be associated with a Customer, it is suggested to create a generic Customer to use for Time Activities import. The Customer can be created on the fly during import, if needed.
• SERVICEITEM:  Service Item to use on the Invoice when billing the time to a Customer. Required field if imported time as been imported as billable. Service Item can be created on the fly during import. However, it will create the Service Item with the default accounts Uncategorized Income and Uncategorized Expense and will need to be updated manually in QuickBooks Online after importing. It is suggested that all Service Items be set up first in QuickBooks Online before importing Time Activities.
• HOURLYRATE:  Rate that the Customer will be invoiced for time. If nothing imported, it will default to the Hourly Rate specified in the Employee's or Contractor's setup in QuickBooks Online . 
• TAXABLE:  Taxable status of hours on Invoice for Customer. If nothing is imported, it will default to Not Taxable. Acceptable values to specify that the time is taxable are 1, y, yes, t, true, or Tax.
• CLASS:  Class for imported time, if Classes are used in QuickBooks Online.
• LOCATION:  Location for imported time, if Locations are used in QuickBooks Online. Note that the Locations label in QuickBooks Online can be set to a different name in QuickBooks Online Account Settings, but it will still be imported with the Location field in Importer.

 

 

Once you have completed your map, click SAVE MAPPING OPTIONS on the left-hand side of the window. You may save the map as any name that you choose. You may save an infinite number of different maps for each import type and access the different maps by selecting the drop-down button for CHOOSE SAVED OPTIONS.

 

 

Click PREVIEW AND IMPORT to proceed to the next window.

 

PREVIEW AND IMPORT: This window provides you with a preview of your data, showing what data is importing into which QuickBooks Online field.

 

You may deselect any data row that you do not wish to import by clicking the box in the first column for the row.

 

You may select OPTIONS for your import, if necessary.

 

To select OPTIONS, click on the button above the import data.

 

 

The OPTIONS that you may want to select are:

 

• DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ADD ITEMS FROM YOUR IMPORT DATA THAT ARE NOT IN QUICKBOOKS: This option will stop Importer from creating a new Service Item if it encounters a Service Item that does not currently exist in QuickBooks Online. Instead, that record will fail to import, allowing you to manually set up the Service Item in QuickBooks Online.
• DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ADD CUSTOMERS FROM YOUR IMPORT DATA THAT ARE NOT IN QUICKBOOKS: This option will stop Importer from creating a new Customer if it encounters a Customer that does not currently exist in QuickBooks Online. Instead, that record will fail to import, allowing you to manually set up the Customer in QuickBooks Online.
• DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ADD CLASSES FROM YOUR IMPORT DATA THAT ARE NOT IN QUICKBOOKS: This option will stop Importer from creating a new Class if it encounters a Class that does not currently exist in QuickBooks Online. Instead, that record will fail to import, allowing you to manually set up the Class in QuickBooks Online.
• DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ADD LOCATIONS FROM YOUR IMPORT DATA THAT ARE NOT IN QUICKBOOKS: This option will stop Importer from creating a new Location if it encounters a Location that does not currently exist in QuickBooks Online. Instead, that record will fail to import, allowing you to manually set up the Location Item in QuickBooks Online.

 

 

Be sure to click the SAVE button at the bottom of the OPTIONS window to save the options that were selected.

 

Return to the TRANSACTION TO IMPORT by clicking on the tab along the top of the window.

 

Click IMPORT in the lower right-hand corner to begin the import into QuickBooks Online.

 

A confirmation window will appear to confirm that you are ready to import. Click YES to import or NO to return to Importer to make changes.

 

 

If the data imports without any issues, the data will move to the IMPORTED TRANSACTIONS tab with a message displayed in green along the top saying your import was successful.

 

You may download an import log by clicking on either the EXPORT TO EXCEL tab or SEND TO EMAIL tab.

 

 

If Importer finds any issues with your import data while validating with your QuickBooks Online data, a message will appear along the top of the TRANSACTION TO IMPORT tab in red, explaining what issue has been found. Be sure to click on one of the highlighted cells (highlighted either red or yellow) to receive the specific error message.

 

 

It is possible that some data will import, and other data will not. If this is the case, all data that imported successfully will be moved to the IMPORTED TRANSACTIONS tab, and only the data that failed to import will be found on the TRANSACTION TO IMPORT tab.

 

You can make changes directly to the import data on the TRANSACTION TO IMPORT tab, correcting any data as necessary. Remember that when importing Time Activities, the Employee or Vendor must exist in QuickBooks Online prior to importing.

 

Once you have corrected the data that did not import, you may click IMPORT again to import only the data on the TRANSACTIONS TO IMPORT tab. The data on the IMPORTED TRANSACTIONS tab will not re-import.

 

Verify in QuickBooks Online that your Time Activities imported correctly. You can find the most recent transactions entered or imported into QuickBooks Online by click on the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner of the QuickBooks Online window.