QuickBooks Syncing

IMPORTANT NOTE: QuickBooks has removed their "Timer Activities" import feature effectively disabling integration and imports for QuickBooks Desktop 2022 and later. If you are unable to integrate or import into QuickBooks, check your QuickBooks version for compatibility. If you are no longer able to follow the processes outlined below, we recommend reaching out to QuickBooks for support. 

This article will address and guide you through the processes for syncing the uAttend Connect application with your Quickbooks company file.  This includes details with images for the steps of the syncing process and descriptions of possible errors. The last section also addresses the sync history and sync detail screens.

 

Syncing

• Upon the completion of a sync, uAttend hours are imported into and available in QuickBooks as one “Timesheet” per mapped employee per calendar week in the selected pay period.

• Only hours for “active” status employees are imported (i.e. hours for “archived” and “temporarily inactive” employees are not imported).

• All QuickBooks “Payroll Items” mapped to uAttend “Pay Codes” in the application’s settings, are displayed on their own row on the timesheet.

• Hours from uAttend are imported into the appropriate QB “payroll item” row on the timesheet according to their mapped uAttend “Pay Codes”.

• If multiple uAttend pay codes are mapped to one QuickBooks payroll item, the hours for those pay codes should be combined on the same payroll item row (i.e. a payroll item can’t be on more than one row).

• Hours from uAttend are imported into the appropriate day on the timesheet as indicated by the day of week/date column header on the timesheet.

• No hours have been imported or otherwise edited on timesheets for QuickBooks employees who are not mapped to uAttend employees in the settings.

• Hours for uAttend employees that have not been mapped to QuickBooks employees are not imported into QuickBooks. 

• A successful sync should effectively delete and rewrite hours for all employees and days effected by the sync pay period and mappings (i.e. existing hours on QB timesheets for the relevant pay period prior to the sync are erased and overwritten).

• Existing QB timesheet hours, on days not within the selected pay period to sync, should not be edited, deleted or otherwise altered (i.e. if the synced pay period ends on a Friday, the hours for Saturday on the same QB timesheet should not be affected).

• Missed punches, i.e. an in with no out, or an out with no in, in uAttend, do not affect the total hours imported into QuickBooks.

• Timecard approval bears no effect on which timecards or which hours are imported into QuickBooks.

 

Actively Syncing

While uAttend Connect is actively syncing, the “SYNC NOW” button instead displays “SYNCING” and includes a small animation of a “Loading” icon rotating clockwise.

• While uAttend Connect is syncing, the “Payroll Period” cannot be changed.

 

Sync Preview and Progress

Clicking “preview sync” displays a loading screen with an animation that indicates the application is loading, as requests are made and totals are calculated to display preview information for the selected pay period.

• You can preview the following information BEFORE any data is synced to QuickBooks:

• uAttend company name

• QuickBooks company file name

• Pay period date range

• Total number of employees

• Total hours (including minutes)

• Total number of missed punches (if applicable)

• number of unmapped pay codes (if applicable)

• number of unmapped uAttend employees (if applicable)

• number of approved timecards (if timecard approvals are enabled on acct)

• Note: “approved” means that the timecard is not “pending” at any level of required approval

• number of not approved timecards (if timecard approvals are enabled on acct, and if applicable)

• Note: “not approved” means the timecard is “pending” at one or more levels of required approval

• Clicking “start sync” displays a loading screen with an animation that indicates the application is loading, as timesheet data is imported into QuickBooks.

• If an error occurs during the sync, an appropriate error message is displayed to you and the error is handled according to the uAttend Cloud - Integrations (2020) spec.

• Once a sync is finished, you will be notified that the sync was completed and two buttons are displayed giving you the option to return to the sync screen or view sync totals, which navigates to the sync detail screen for the finished sync.

 

Failed Syncs

If an application error, lost internet connection, or a forced quit of the application through the windows task manager or otherwise, prevents the application from successfully finishing a sync, the status of that sync on the sync will be indicated as “failed” in the sync history log.

• When a sync fails, information recorded in the “Synced Time Card Data” .csv and the “Sync Details” section on the Sync Detail screen for that sync, accurately reflects the hours that were imported into QuickBooks Desktop during the failed sync.

• If a sync error occurs while writing to QuickBooks for a subset of employees or pay codes, and the sync can be continued for the remaining time card data, the hours for the remaining time card data will be synced to QuickBooks and recorded in the "Synced Time Card Data" .csv.

• If a sync fails because your computer loses its internet connection, an error message is displayed which prompts you to reconnect to the internet.

• If a sync fails because the application is unable to successfully communicate with uAttend Cloud to retrieve time card hours, an error message is displayed which notifies you that there’s an issue related to connecting to uAttend, and prompts you to contact support if the issue persists.

• If a sync fails because the application is unable to successfully delete or write to QuickBooks Desktop, an error message is displayed which notifies you that there’s an issue related to importing data into QuickBooks Desktop, and prompts you to contact support if the issue persists.

• All error messages resulting from a failed sync, where your QuickBooks company file data has been altered, should be communicated to you at the end of a sync and should include a “VIEW SUMMARY” button which navigates to the “Sync Detail” screen for the failed sync.

 

Sync History Screen

Failed and successful syncs are displayed in a list as rows, where one row represents one sync.

• Status (failed or success), date (system date), start (system time), end (system time), and pay period dates for the applicable pay period are accurately displayed for each sync on the list.

• Clicking anywhere within the container for a sync, takes you to the “Sync Detail” view for that sync.

 

Sync Detail Screen 

A “Sync Details” section of this screen displays the following information regarding the sync:

• status (success or failed)

• start (time in HH:MM:SS)

• end (time in HH:MM:SS)

• employees (total # included in import)

• hours (total # imported)

• missed punches (total # in pay period)

• The hours and employees in the “Sync Details” section accurately reflect the information that was imported into QuickBooks.

• The total number of missed punches matches the total number of punches for the applicable pay period in uAttend Cloud at the time of sync.

• If you click on the “Request Support” text in the top right corner, they’re taken to the “Request Support” screen/form (screen X).

• Blue “Download Synced Timecard Data” text lets you save a .csv containing the total hours by uAttend employee and payroll item/pay code, at a designated location on their computer.

• The resulting .csv accurately reflects the time imported into QuickBooks.

• The resulting .csv includes the same information and follows the general structure of the .csv linked here.

• A “Sync Errors” section contains a list of error messages if errors were experienced during the sync.

• A sync with a status of “completed” should never have error messages in the “Sync Errors” section.