Populating Autotask lists with QuickBooks items
NOTE This step applies if you are transferring invoices and/or purchase orders to QuickBooks (QB).
Once you have decided how to map each item type to QB, you are ready to populate the lists that contain the items.
NOTE The Product List features an import tool that allows you to easily add your Inventory and Non-inventory Parts to Autotask. Refer to Populating the Products import template.
If you are setting up Autotask and QB at the same time...
If you are setting up Autotask and QB at the same time, set up your items in Autotask only. When the item is transferred to QB for the first time, a QB item is created automatically.
If you want to use your existing QB item list...
If you want to ensure that Autotask plays nicely with your existing QB Item list, you must recreate the QB items in Autotask. The following table indicates where items of different types will need to be entered.
NOTE It is possible to create Autotask billing items that resolve as QB Item:Subitem. Refer to Using the tilde for mapping sub-items.
| QB All item types appear on one list |
Example | Autotask Billing Item Types appear on separate lists |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly Service
Services where the unit of measure is 1 hour, or where the price is listed per hour. |
Consulting | Work Type
 > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Work Types tabRefer to Introduction to billing for labor |
| Managed Service
Services where the unit of measure is 1 month [quarter, year], or where the price is listed per month [quarter, year]. |
Web Hosting | Service or Service Bundle > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Services and/or Service Bundles Refer to ADMIN: Setting up your products and services portfolio |
| Lump Sum Service
Progress payment on a fixed price contract. |
Milestone Payment | Milestone Code
> Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Milestone tab Refer to Milestone codes |
| Inventory and Non-inventory Part Hardware or software billed to the customer |
HP Deskjet, Adobe Premiere | Product
> Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Products Refer to Searching and managing products. |
| Other Charge
T & E billed back to the customer |
Airfare, Parking | Expense Category
> Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Expense Categories Refer to Adding expense categories |
Step by step
Export your QB item list
- In QB, open the Item List and sort it by Item Type. Then go to Reports > Lists > Item Listing. Export the list to a new Excel spreadsheet.
- On the Excel spreadsheet, do a Find and Replace and replace the colons “:” with tildes “~”.
Add QB Services to the right list
- Identify the services that are priced by the hour. Copy the service names and enter them into Autotask on the > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Work Types tab. Refer to Introduction to billing for labor.
- Identify the services that are priced by the month, quarter, or year. Copy the service names and enter them into Autotask on the > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Services list. Refer to Setting up your services.
- If you will be using fixed price contracts, find the item name you are using for a lump sum payment in QB and copy it into > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Milestone tab. Refer to Milestone codes.
Add inventory parts and non-inventory parts to the Products list
- In Autotask, open the > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Product Categories list. Categories will not be transferred to QB; they are intended to make selecting products on quotes and tickets easier. They are not required. Add or delete categories as needed.
- In Autotask, open the > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Material Codes tab. This is a required field that will determine the tax category of the product. If all products you sell have the same tax rate, you may only need one material code called Taxable. Refer to Material codes and Configuring your tax table.
- In Autotask, open the > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Products list and clickImport.
- Click Import on the Product Import History page.
- Download the recommended template and copy the columns you exported from QB into the template. Populate all required fields and save the file.
- Browse to the file location of the .csv file.
- Select a duplicate handling option:
- Do not update or import existing product: When this option is selected, the duplicate record will be returned in the Exceptions report.
- Update existing product: The information in the import file will overwrite information for the existing product. However, if a field is blank in the import file, but it has a value in the existing inventory item, we will not overwrite the value with a blank.
- If there are multiple matches based on Name + Category + Period, we will NOT perform the update.
- Click Import. Autotask will validate that the file is a .csv file smaller than 5 MB, that all required columns are populated, and that no extra or duplicate columns are in the file.
- A dialog box will inform you that the import is processing and that you will be informed via email when it is complete.
Add QB expense items to the Expense Categories list
If you will be billing your customers for expenses your resources have incurred, add expense and travel-related items to > Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Expense Categories. Refer to Adding expense categories.
