Using Planday and Xero together gives you a robust solution for staff scheduling, vacation management, time tracking, payroll, reporting, and more.
This integration will support you in managing core employee and payroll data between the two applications, as illustrated on the picture below.
To set up this integration, follow the steps below.
Please note: At present this integration is available to UK customers only.
If you have questions on the Xero integration with Planday, you can also check our FAQ section below.
Connect to Xero organisations and configure the integration
First, go to Settings > Integrations > Overview, locate the Xero integration, and select Add.
Next, select Connect Xero Organisation:
You will be directed to the Xero login page, and once logged in you will see an application authorization prompt for Planday. To continue setup, grant access.
Please note that you need to have Payroll Admin access in Xero, in order to authorize this integration - more details in this guide.
Also, Payroll must be already set up, in Xero - check out this guide for the setup steps.
You will be then be redirected back to Planday, where you can find the Xero integration and select Add as in the previous step. Above the Connect Xero Organisation button, you should see a prompt letting you know that the connection was successful.
Next, toggle Employee sync and Payroll data on, then select Activate:
Configure Employee sync by entering the Xero organisation that you want to sync with, along with the Planday Department that these employees should be added to. Select Continue and you will be shown the employees that have been automatically mapped in both systems, and employees that only exist in one system. In the example below we have several employees who exist in Planday but have not been automatically mapped to a user in Xero. You can either manually map them to an existing user, or have them created by selecting Continue to confirm:
A confirmation screen will give you an overview of how many users will be synced to Planday, synced to Xero, and those who have been matched in both systems. If the details are correct, select Sync. You can also select or deselect the check box next to each user to tailor who is and is not synced. Once the sync has been confirmed completed select Back to Integrations. You can confirm that your Xero users were successfully synced to Planday in the People section. In Xero you can also confirm via Payroll > Employees.
When creating a new Employee in Planday, or when editing an existing employee, you can now choose whether or not they should be synced to your Xero Organisation.
If you choose to sync the Employee data between Planday and Xero, the following fields will be synced:
First and Last name;
Email address;
Address
Tax ID
Birthday
Set Salary Codes in Planday
Salary codes are not fixed in Planday, so it is up to you to set the salary codes. We recommend to use numeric values
First, enter the salary code for normal worked hours in Settings > Payroll > General > Salary codes.
Shift types
If you are using Planday to register alternate shift types you can also apply salary codes to that specific shift type. Go to Settings > Schedule > Shift types and edit the shift type you want to apply the salary code for.
Note: You need to mark the shift types you do not want to include. In the salary code field just code the shift types to non-applicable or NA so they do not pull through into Xero.
Employee groups
If you want to separate the hours between different employee groups for the employees payroll, you can apply specific salary codes to different employee groups. Apply salary codes to employee groups in the top menu People > Employee groups > and edit the employee group to enter the salary code. The salary code for the employee group will then overwrite the salary code for normal worked hours.
Supplements
Finally, if you want to apply salary codes for payroll supplements you need to create the payroll supplements and then add the salary code. Create the payroll supplements in Settings > Payroll > Payroll supplements. Create or edit the supplements to enter the specific salary code.
Setup Shift Types to Handle Vacation & Holiday
The holiday will be handled by shift type in Planday. You will see a shift type in your portal setup as Holiday - Xero
In Planday you will be using Fixed Vacation Accounts or Accrued Accounts. Planday will handle the request and scheduling of holidays where as Xero will handle the payment and balance of holidays.
Planday will only send the date range of holiday taken to Xero. Therefore any payment or balances will be managed from within Xero. For any questions on how to add absence in Xero please contact the Xero support team or your Account Manager at Xero.
Salary code mapping
Next, Configure sync of payroll data by mapping Xero earning rates and leave types with salary codes in Planday.
Export Timesheets and Employee Leave to Xero
To export to Xero go to Payroll > Xero export:
Here you can select the employees that will have their payroll hours synced to Xero, and generate a preview:
When viewing the preview you can select individual employees to ensure that their hours are correct. Use the Show details button to see granular information for each employee:
Select Sync report to complete the process. Back over in Xero, go to Payroll > Timesheets to find the approved timesheets.
You are ready to process your payrun! 🎉
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Xero FAQ's
Integration Setup
What information is required to add an employee in Planday and Xero?
In Planday we only need first name, last name, gender, and email to add employees to the system.
With the Xero integration, we need to ensure the below fields are marked as required in your Planday portal in order for the users to sync. These are required to add a user into the Xero software. Going forward you will be adding employees to Planday and pushing them over to Xero.
When adding a new employee the following fields will be required :
Address
Post Code
City
Date of birth
Remember to always create and update employees from Planday, as this is a one-way sync.
The employee data that will be synced is gathered from the following fields:
First and Last name;
Email address;
Address
Tax ID
Birthday
How will holiday be managed with Planday and Xero?
The holiday will be handled by shift type in Planday. You will see a shift type in your portal setup as Holiday - Xero.
In Planday you will be using Fixed Vacation Accounts or Accrued Accounts. Planday will handle the request and scheduling of holidays whereas Xero will handle the payment and balance of holidays.
Planday will only send the date range of holiday taken to Xero, therefore any payment or balances will be managed within Xero. For any questions on how to add absence in Xero please contact the Xero support team or your account manager at Xero.
Employees Syncing
What if my employees belong to different groups and have different wages?
In this case Xero will hold the earning rate. You must have multiple earning rates setup within Xero for each wage variation.
I have done the initial sync and have some leavers/deactivated employees still showing up
On the initial user sync, you will see deactivated users. We will not need to sync these users so you can untick them prior to the sync.
What happens with my leavers/deactivated employees?
Planday will still push all of the worked hours in that date range into Xero so you do not need to worry about the hours, however you will need to mark the employee as a leaver in Xero and process the last pay run through here. Xero will also hold all of the information in regards to paying out or recovering any holiday.
Time & Payrun Syncing
Are all the hours synced with Xero (including sickness and time off)?
In your Planday portal you have the option to mark the shift types you do not want to include in the sync. In the salary code field just code the shift types to “non-applicable” or “NA” so they do not get synced into Xero.
You can also salary code the shifts if you navigate to Settings - Payroll - General and scroll down to Salary Codes and enter the code for hourly workers in the Hours worked (as per shifts) field.
Are the pay rate and bank details updated in Xero?
The pay rate and bank details of an employee will need to be maintained in both Planday and Xero. At the moment we are only sending over address and date of birth details to Xero.
Why is the minutes count different in Xero and in the Planday payroll preview?
Time can be expressed either as fractions, decimals, or as minutes and hours. In order to calculate payroll, time needs to be in decimal form so that it can be multiplied by an employee’s pay rate. Xero is an accounting software and will therefore report in decimal minutes.
I can’t seem to see the correct date range in the Planday payrun
You need to ensure that you have created a draft pay run setup in Xero before you can see the information in the Planday dropdown.
I got an error code stating my employees need calendar ID’s setup
This means you have no employment record in the Xero setup. This could potentially be a new starter or someone who needs to be added into Xero.
Can I redo the hours export to Xero for some employees?
Yes, you can export the hours again, but you need to remove any existing timesheets in the draft payrun for the specified employees in Xero before exporting the hours from Planday.
Supported functionalities & limitations
Does the integration support tips or service charge?
Service charge and tips are usually handled outside of Planday and directly through Xero. However if you wish to manually enter tips into Planday you can do so by using a manual payroll supplement. We will then match the Xero earning rate to the payroll supplement in Planday.
In some cases, this can be time consuming and it may be quicker to manage supplements directly into Xero.
Does the integration support my salaried staff?
At the moment, the integration supports hourly workers only. Salaried staff in Xero will be paid out the same each pay period so there is no need to send the hours over to Xero. We will still keep the historical shift data on salaried employees in Planday but push it through to Xero.
Do we support Xero in other countries?
At the moment Xero and Planday is only supported in the UK
What are the supported earning categories and rate types ?
Xero only allows the following earnings categories and rates for timesheets to be imported through the integration:
1. Earning Categories
Regular Earnings
Overtime Earnings
2. Rate types
Rate per unit
Rate per hour