Tab 1 – Zahara
The first tab is all about your connection to Zahara.
- First off the Zahara tick box needs to be enabled if you plan to use Zahara.
- Secondly, enter your API key – you will find this in Zahara in Admin > Settings – it’s the tenancy API key we require.
- With the Zahara URL set to https://api.myzahara.net/ click Test Connection
- You should now see a list of the available Business Units in your tenancy – click the relevant one
You now have some options to choose
Option
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Explanation
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Download invoices raised in Zahara
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Any invoices manually created in Zahara will be downloaded to the local database and most likely posted into Sage 50 (assuming Sage 50 is being used)
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Upload PDF’s to Zahara
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Used with SmartInvoice, any invoices processed in SmartInvoice, will have the PDF’s uploaded into Zahara within the Zahara invoice record.
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Enable workflows in Zahara
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Invoices will respect the default workflows set in Zahara for the Division or invoices will use the pre-set approval workflow set in SmartInvoice
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Force workflows in Zahara
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If an invoice PDF fails to upload temporarily, the workflow will be attached once the PDF subsequently uploads.
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Batch Sizes
The batch sizes determine how many invoices will be downloaded from Zahara. Use the default setting unless prompted to make a change by the support team.
Help
Notice how when settings are changed, the help section on the right-hand panel adjusts.
Tab 2. Sage
The Sage tab controls all of the settings around Sage 50. First off, enable Sage 50 if you are a Sage user.
Sage Path
Secondly, enter the path where SmartSync can find your Sage data. This is typically:
C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\
As per the install guide for SmartSync, this cannot be
- Sage 50 Cloud / One Drive
- A Network share
It must be a
UNC path or a local path
Get Sage Companies
If you have the correct path and Sage Data Objects (SDO) has been enabled, SmartSync will now show all the available companies provided all is well when you click “Get Sage Companies”
select the company you wish to map/connect with
Sage Credentials
We recommend you create a dedicated username and password for SmartSync to use for Sage. Enter these and click Test Connection
You now have some options to choose from:
Skip Invoice Posting –
This means that invoices will be uploaded into Zahara from say SmartInvoice but will never be posted into Sage using this SmartSync profile. This may be used if you have a multi-user environment and want to run multiple personal SmartSync with only one posting invoices into Sage.
Ref:
You can choose how to populate the Ref field in Sage 50. This could be:
- Blank – Nothing
- Zahara ID – A unique number
- Invoice Number – The invoice number
Ex-Ref:
The ex ref is used in numerous ways and we offer:
- Blank
- Invoice Number
- Zahara ID
- Purchase Order Number
- Supplier Account Reference
- Supplier Name
- Project Code
Export PDF to Memo field of Supplier:
With this enabled, the PDF of the invoice will also be filed in the Supplier memo field. As standard, we also put a document link into Sage 50 as well as linking back to Zahara.
Compress Line Items
With this enabled, line items are consolidated down to nominal codes/department IDs etc. Our algorithm flattens the invoice down to the minimum number of line items you can have with unique coding.
Sync suppliers Since
This date field enables staging of suppliers in Zahara and then only new ones added to Sage since a certain date.
Invoice & Invoice Line Narrative
This allows you to build up the invoice narrative with the fields available in Zahara. Remember you have limited characters to play within Sage so keep it simple.
Invoice Document Link
This is set by default to take you to the respective record in Zahara.
Sync Nominal Control Codes
Sage Departments
Sage departments are used in an arbitrary way. You can choose how you want your Department ID populated from the Zahara invoices
- Zahara Divisions – populate the respective ID in the Division in Zahara
- Zahara Projects – the Project code will need to match your Department ID
- Zahara Costs Codes – A very obvious choice if you don’t use Sage projects.
Create Supplier in Sage
- On invoice posting
- During Data Sync
Sync Overrides
If Zahara is already set up, just the way you want it, it may be that you don’t want to download all of the Department information (Department ID’s) from Sage. You can turn this off.
Enable Exchange Rate Postings
SmartSync will download and keep updating Exchange rates on a daily basis. This means when posting multi-currency invoices we can pass over the exchange rate to Zahara as well.
Tab 3 – Database
On this tab, you can create an Access database or there will be a connection string for the SQL server.
The Mappings File is the all-important file that decides the behaviour of SmartSync – it could be you keep the profile on a shared drive.
Tab 4 – Settings
Custom business name
This is useful in SmartSync if you want to have your business name recognised by a shorter word or another value.
PDF Path
This is the path where the PDF documents of the invoices will be held – they are usually placed here by SmartInvoice pending upload into Zahara.
Clear successfully uploaded PDF’s
You can choose to have the cache of PDF’s cleared. You can enable this and have the folder purged regularly. Alternatively, you can keep this store forever.
Invoice Amounts Tolerance
We recommend leaving this at 2 pence. It provides leeway when line items and VAT amounts are marginally off.
Sage 50 Disputes
There are 4 options here that you can use. This will determine when an Invoice is posted to Sage 50 and whether it will be placed on Dispute. Our thinking here is that a newly created invoice from SmartInvoice can be placed in Sage immediately on dispute. Following approval in Zahara, it can be taken off dispute.
- Enable Sage 50 disputes – leave blank if you don’t want to use this feature
- Enable dispute approvals in Zahara – You will need to tick this if you want the approval to determine taking off Dispute
- Post to Sage 50 if not disputed – if the invoice is set to “Not Dispute” in SmartInvoice, it will go straight into Sage 50
- Take off dispute if approved in Zahara – Following approval, the dispute flag will be taken off.
Our preferred method is to not use this feature and use Zahara for approvals and logic/rules in Zahara to determine when the invoice is exported.
Read-Only Mode
Depending on the settings, it could be SmartSync is set into Read-Only mode.
Tab 5 – FileDirector
FileDirector is our document management system. If you are a
FileDirector user, this could be relevant to you.
Tab 6 – Schedule
On this tab, we can set the schedule for how often SmartSync will check for invoices and carry out a full sync with Sage. You also have the option of specifying when invoices will be exported into Sage – perhaps when Sage isn’t being used.
Tab 7 – Logging
We recommend you leave this as Event Viewer. You can find SmartSyncs trace in Event viewer and you will be able to see clearly what any issues are – like cannot connect or SDO error.
Tab 8 – Run Sync
Here you can force a Sage / Zahara sync. We recommend you skip Sage invoices – otherwise, you could wait a very long time for historic invoices to download out of Sage.
Tab 9 – Default Tax Code
Once you have synced with Sage you need to set the Default Tax Codes – one for each rate. Select from the left and move over to the right.
Tab 10 – Project Status
Here you can override Sage project mappings – assuming you use Sage Projects.
Tab 11 – Profile Settings
Here you can rename the profile and set how long you wish to retain auditing data. Zahara logs can become very large so don’t set this for more than 3 months if you are a high volume user (1000+ invoices per month)