Loading Profile...
Importing existing invoice data from another system
I currently use a home-grown invoicing system - it's basic but is at least built on a database. It's got about 2 years of invoices in it - is it possible to import these into FreeAgent somehow? I can get the data into a CSV format or whatever's easiest.
Thanks in advance
Nick
nick@rainjam.com
Thanks in advance
Nick
nick@rainjam.com
I’m hopeful
1
person has this question
I have this question, too!
Tell me when someone answers.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
-
Inappropriate?Hi Nick
We don't have the facility to import directly from CSV or another database I'm afraid, but we do have an API which provides programmatic access to your FreeAgent account.
Check out the Invoices section in our API guide:
http://www.freeagentcentral.com/devel...
It would be pretty easy to write a script using, say, Ruby (the language FreeAgent is built with) or Python, to get your invoice data in, if you have those skills of course.
Is this an approach which would work for you?
-
Inappropriate?Hi Olly
Thanks very much for that. I think that might be a bit beyond me... I'd have to look into it (I'm not really a web developer, I just dabble, and I know PHP but not Ruby). I might try finding someone who can do that for me though, if it's not a big job. I'd imagine it'd be useful for other people too...
Cheers
Nick
I’m cheerful
-
Inappropriate?Hi Nick
Out of interest, how many invoices are you looking to import and how many items are generally on each invoice? It might not take you that long to do this manually, I reckon a couple of hours would do it.
I’m confident
-
Inappropriate?There are about 1400 items in all, over 148 invoices... I'd rather not do it by hand really but if that's the only way it might be an "evening project" for the next few months...
I’m a cake, apparently
-
Inappropriate?Ok, that's quite a lot of invoices and items ;-)
How easy would it be for you to generate the required data in CSV (or XML!) format? If you could do this I can take a look at giving you a hand importing the data -- just email olly at freeagentcentral dot com.
Before you can import any invoices though, you'll have to set up relevant Clients (which you can import) and Projects in FreeAgent. Each invoice in your CSV data will then have to be assigned to an appropriate project, preferably with the Project ID (the number you see in the URL, e.g. /projects/123.
Does this make sense or are you now wholly baffled?
I’m confident
-
Inappropriate?Hey Olly
No, that makes sense. The way my system's set up at the moment is similar to the FreeAgent way - ie there's a table for clients, a table for invoices, one for work types (which can be per hour or per day etc) and then a long list of invoice items. I can have a crack at generating an XML file based on your schema, I don't want to make extra work for you :)
One thing I noticed was that with FreeAgent you seem to need to create a client contact and then their company, ie you can't create a company and then just add names to it. It's be useful to be able to do this as I've got a couple of big clients with a number of contacts at each one, and they ask me to invoice the contact/department directly rather than sending things directly to the finance department. Is this easy to do, or is it just a case of setting up the same company multiple times, for as many contacts as I have there? ... if that makes sense!
I’m eating lunch
-
Inappropriate?oh and also - these invoices go back before I was limited or VAT registered, would that create a problem?1 Comment
Add a comment
This answers the question
-
As long as you have your VAT registration date set up correctly, this shouldn't be a problem -
Inappropriate?Hi Nick
Regarding the multiple contacts for one client, we're going to be providing a workaround for this within the next couple of weeks. Take a look at this thread:
http://getsatisfaction.com/freeagentc...
When this is released you'll be able to specify a Project Contact Name when you create an invoice, which will override the client name.
We will be improving the Client/Project area at some stage in the not-too-distant future, but in the meantime hopefully this workaround will suffice. -
Inappropriate?that'd be fab. I just tried adding another person at a company I'd already inputted, and was told I couldn't as the name was already taken.
Cheers
Nick
I’m having a nice cup of tea
EMPLOYEE
