QuickBooks Client File Integration

 

When using QBXML integration in Tabs3, the QuickBooks Customer File integrates with the Tabs3 Client File. Integration occurs both ways but is handled differently depending on which system the client is added to.

• Tabs3 posts information to QuickBooks automatically at the same time the information is saved in Tabs3.
• Tabs3 pulls information from QuickBooks whenever the Merge QuickBooks Data with Tabs3 program is run.
  

The following explains how adds, changes, and deletions of client records are supported:

• In the client file, adds and changes are supported (with a few field exceptions as noted).
• Deleting a client in either system will not delete the client in the other system.
• Deleting a client in Tabs3 will delete all of the fees and costs for that client in Tabs3. However, the corresponding QuickBooks customer and its Bill records will not be deleted.
  

Note: In order to integrate clients with QuickBooks, the Integrate with QuickBooks check box must be selected on the Setup tab in the Client file.

The following shows how Tabs3 client fields are posted to QuickBooks and vice versa. Field lengths are shown in parentheses. Fields that have more data than the other system allows will be truncated (with a few exceptions as noted).

Tabs3	QuickBooks	Notes
Client Name (255)	Customer Name (41)	Changing the Tabs3 Client Name field does not change the name of the existing QB client. Instead, a new client is added to QB. Clients with a blank name are not allowed in QB. Client names can include any keyboardable character except for a colon. QB does not allow the use of colons in the Customer Name field.
Work Description (Max 255)	Job Name (41)	Only integrates for Jobs. If a Work Description is not specified in Tabs3, no job is created in QB.
Selected Address (Line 1) (50)	Address (Line 2) (41)	For its Address (Line 1) field, QB uses the Tabs3 Client Name field. Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3. Deleting an address line in either system will not delete it in the other system.
Selected Address (Line 2) (50)	Address (Line 3) (41)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3. Deleting an address line in either system will not delete it in the other system.
Selected Address (City) (50)	City (31)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Selected Address (State) (3)	State/Province (21)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Selected Address (Zip) (10)	Zip/Postal Code (13)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Selected Address (Country) (20)	Country/Region (31)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Phone 1 (Business) (31)	Phone (21)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Phone 2 (Home) (31)	Alt. Phone (21)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Phone 3 (Business Fax) (31)	FAX (21)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Email (Selected) (100)	Email (99)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Contact Name (255)	Contact (41)	Changes are passed from Tabs3 to QuickBooks. Changes are not passed from QuickBooks to Tabs3.
Primary Timekeeper Initials (3) and Primary Timekeeper Name (35)	Sales Rep (5) and QB Sales Rep First Name (25)	Tabs3 will add a lookup record to QB if a matching record does not exist. If the Tabs3 timekeeper has no initials, the client will not be added to QB. Changes made in Tabs3 are not passed to QB. Changes made in QB are passed to Tabs3, but changes only the Primary Timekeeper field. If no Sales Rep is specified in QB, the client will not be added to Tabs3. Sales Reps added through QB must exist as timekeepers in Tabs3 or the client will not be added.
Client ID (13)	Account No. (99)	If no Account Number is specified in QB, the client will not be added to Tabs3. In order to integrate Jobs, both the Customer and the Job must have an Account Number specified in QB. A numeric, alpha or mixed Key Type can be used.
Date Opened (4)	Job Start Date (4)	If no Work Description is specified in Tabs3, this field is not passed to QB. New Customers and Jobs added in QB without a Job Start Date will merge into Tabs3 with a Date of the current system date. Changes made in Tabs3 are not passed to QB. Changes made in QB are passed to Tabs3.
Date Closed (4)	Job End Date	If no Work Description is specified in Tabs3, this field is not passed to QB. New Customers and Jobs added in QB without a Job End Date will merge into Tabs3 with a Date Closed of mm/dd/yyyy. Changes made in Tabs3 are not passed to QB. Changes made in QB are passed to Tabs3.
Billing Category Desc (30)	Job Type (31)	Tabs3 will add a lookup record to QB if a matching record does not exist. Jobs added through QuickBooks must be assigned a Job Type that exists as a Tabs3 Billing Category. If you create a Customer and a Job in QB and want the same Category assigned to both, you must do the following: Add the customer and assign a Job Type. Then, add a Job and assign it the same Job Type. Changes made in Tabs3 are not passed to QB. Changes made in QB are passed to Tabs3.

   

Tabs3 Client/Matter vs. QuickBooks Customer/Job

Whenever a client is added to Tabs3, a corresponding customer or job file is added to QuickBooks. QuickBooks uses Customer and Job terminology whereas Tabs3 uses Client and Matter terminology. In order to maintain an accurate one-to-one relationship between Tabs3 Clients and QuickBooks Customers; and Tabs3 Matters and QuickBooks Jobs, there are some data entry conventions that must be observed when integrating the two systems.

• When adding a new client in Tabs3, you must first add a master client record with no Work Description. This master client record is also referred to as a base client file record. After saving the master client record, you can then add a matter (or job) for the client. The master client record and matter for the client must have different Client IDs. For example, "808726.00" represents a master client record that would be added first and "808726.01" represents a job or matter added afterward. If this procedure is not followed, a job will be created improperly in QuickBooks (i.e., no Job Start Date or Job Type will be posted to QuickBooks and further changes will not be integrated). Keep in mind that adding a separate master client record only applies for the first Matter for the client.
• When adding a new customer and job in QuickBooks, use the following guidelines:
• When adding a new customer, you must specify a Sales Rep (i.e., a valid Tabs3 timekeeper) and an Account No. (i.e., a new Tabs3 Client ID). Do not fill out any information on the Job Info tab.
• After saving the customer, you must then add a job for the customer by filling out the information on the Job Info tab and specifying an Account No., which is located on the Payment Info tab, that is different from the account number for the customer. On the Job Info tab, you must specify a Job Type (i.e., a valid Tabs3 Billing Category Description).

Note: Customers and Jobs must have different Account Numbers. If this procedure is not followed and the job has the same account number as the customer, the Job Type, Job Name and Start Date information will not pass from QuickBooks to Tabs3. Additionally, if the customer and job have different address, contact name, phone numbers, etc., when the Merge QuickBooks Data with Tabs3 program is run, the job information will be pulled into Tabs3 and will also be posted to QuickBooks, thus overwriting the QuickBooks customer information.

Tabs3 to QuickBooks

Information is posted to QuickBooks automatically whenever a client is added in Tabs3 or an integrated field is changed in Tabs3. Client deletions are not supported. Deleting a client in Tabs3 does not delete the client or job in QuickBooks; you must manually delete the client or job in QuickBooks.

If no Work Description is specified in Tabs3, a job is not created in QuickBooks. Therefore no information is posted to the Job Type, Job Start Date, and Job End Date fields in QuickBooks (even though there may be information in these Tabs3 fields).

When adding a client matter in Tabs3, in order for it to be passed to QuickBooks as a job, the client must have the exact same Client Name contact as the main client.

Only the fields listed above will integrate. There are several fields that could integrate with Tabs3 but are not supported by Intuit's QBXML (such as the QuickBooks Mobile Phone field).

Changes made to the Date Opened, Date Closed, or Primary Timekeeper fields in Tabs3 will not be passed to QuickBooks.

Changing a client's name in Tabs3 will create a new customer in QuickBooks. The corresponding old QuickBooks customer is not affected.

Adding a client in Tabs3 with the same client name and work description as an existing customer in QuickBooks will generate the following error message and the customer will not be added to QuickBooks: "The name XXXXXX of the list element is already in use."

Adding a client in Tabs3 with the same client name as a QuickBooks Sales Rep will generate the following error message and the customer will not be added to QuickBooks: "The name XXXXXX of the list element is already in use." Tip: Change the client contact's name in Tabs3 slightly (e.g., by adding or deleting a middle initial, etc. using the Rename Contact program).

Tabs3 will add a record to the QuickBooks Sales Rep and Job Type lookup lists if the corresponding information specified in Tabs3 does not already exist in QuickBooks.

Although allowed in Tabs3, duplicate values in certain fields will cause unpredictable results. Make sure you do not have duplicate values for the following fields in Tabs3: Timekeeper Name, Timekeeper Initials, Category Description, Tcode Alpha Code.

Secure client information in Tabs3 is passed to QuickBooks (provided the Tabs3 user has adequate rights). QuickBooks does not have secure clients, so secure clients will move to QuickBooks and be viewable.

The Tabs3 Data File Integrity Check program will generate errors for clients with no name and employees with no initials. Addressing these issues helps eliminate rejected records and duplicate employees.

Clients marked as Inactive in Tabs3 will move over to QuickBooks, but are not marked as Inactive in QuickBooks. An Inactive client's payments, costs and fees will also move over from Tabs3 to QuickBooks.

Renumbering a client in Tabs3 will renumber the Account Number in QuickBooks.

The Change Key Type program will write all clients and matters to QuickBooks at one time for clients that do not already exist in QuickBooks.

QuickBooks does not allow colons in their Name fields. When you attempt to save a record containing a colon in the Client Name, Timekeeper Name, or Category Description files, the message "Invalid QuickBooks Name. Colon not allowed." will be displayed.

Renumbering a category forces Tabs3 to write all clients and matters to QuickBooks at one time for clients assigned to that category that do not already exist in QuickBooks. Changes are not made to the QuickBooks Job Type because it is the category description that links the records, not the category number.

Renumbering a timekeeper forces Tabs3 to write all clients and matters to QuickBooks at one time for clients assigned to that timekeeper that do not already exist in QuickBooks. Changes are not made to the QuickBooks Sales Rep because it is the timekeeper's initials and name that link the records, not the timekeeper number.

QuickBooks to Tabs3

Whenever a customer or job is added in QuickBooks or an integrated client field is changed in QuickBooks, the information will be posted to Tabs3 the next time the Merge QuickBooks Data with Tabs3 program is run. Deleting a customer or job in QuickBooks does not delete the client in Tabs3, you must manually delete the client in Tabs3.

Customers or jobs added in QuickBooks without an Account Number will not be brought over to Tabs3. This situation is not reported in the Error Log because there may be certain clients in QuickBooks that you do not want brought over to Tabs3.

QuickBooks to Tabs3

Clients marked as Inactive in QuickBooks will not move over to Tabs3; however, costs and fees will move over to Tabs3 from an Inactive client in QuickBooks.