Prerequisites

Prior to performing this import, you must have your Chart of Accounts and Customer Accounts set up in Accounting Seed. Please refer to the following for more information:

• Design Your Chart of Accounts
• Set up a Customer or Vendor

Overview

All open and unpaid invoices your company issued in your legacy system prior to your changeover to Accounting Seed will need to be imported into Accounting Seed as Billing records so future customer payments (or necessary credits) can be properly matched and applied against their respective invoices. The steps below will guide you through the process of importing your open Accounts Receivable (A/R) balances.

Note: These balances will represent the open and unpaid balances on each sales invoice (billing) at the end of your final accounting period utilizing your legacy system. The total of these amounts must agree with your ending/opening General Ledger (GL) balance for A/R. If they do not, then you should reconcile your A/R Detail information to your A/R GL Account. 

Billings in Accounting Seed are comprised of two data records: the Billing Header and the Billing Lines. The data relationship between the Billing Header and the Billing Lines must be maintained in order to properly import the A/R detail information. This is done by (1) first importing the Billing Headers for each billing to be imported and then (2) importing the individual Billing Lines related to each Billing Header that was created. 

Step 1 - Upload Billing Headers

1. Download the Opening A/R Template located in the Import Templates article.
2. Read the Guidance Tab on the Opening A/R import template carefully and completely before moving forward.
3. Using the information exported from your legacy system, complete the Billing Header worksheet within the Opening A/R import template.
   • Required Fields:
     1. Customer Name or Customer Salesforce (SF) Identification (ID)
        Note: It is best to use the Customer SF ID when possible, however if you use the Customer Name, make sure it is entered exactly as it appears in Accounting Seed.
     2. Original Billing Date
     3. Accounting Period
   • Optional Fields:
     1. Due Date
     2. Proprietary Billing Number: this should be entered and is used to enter the invoice/billing number from your legacy system.
     3. Posting Status: set to Approved
     4. Ledger: only needed if you are using the Accounting Seed Multi-Ledger functionality.
4. RECOMMENDATION: Save the Billing Header worksheet.
5. Delete all the worksheets in the import file except the Billing Header worksheet.
6. Delete any rows and columns that are not pertinent to the upload (i.e., Row 1: Instruction row, Key legend, etc.).
7. If you are using the Customer SF ID column, delete the Customer Name column. If you are not using the Customer SF ID, then delete the Customer SF ID column. 
   
8. Save the file as a CSV file.
9. Using either the Salesforce Data Loader or the Data Import Wizard, import this file.
   Refer to the Salesforce knowledge articles on the importing process and how to use the Data Import Wizard or Data Loader.

Using the Data Import Wizard

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup. Then, search for and select the Data Import Wizard.
2. Under Import your data in 3 easy steps! click Launch Wizard.
3. Select the Custom Objects tab.
4. Scroll through the list of Objects and select Billings.
5. Under Import your Data into Salesforce, click Add New Records.
6. Under What do you want to do:
   • For Which Account field in your file do you want to match against to set the Customer lookup field? select either Name or Salesforce ID (depending on what you used).
7. In the “Where is your data located?” section click on Choose File and select the file that you saved in Step 1 - Upload Billing Headers sub step 8 to upload.
8. Click Next and follow the prompts to complete the upload.
9. Open the Results file (generated after the import is complete) and verify that the upload was successful. Address any errors as necessary.
10. Keep the Results file open to use in Step 2 - Upload Billing Lines.

Step 2 - Upload Billing Lines

1. Open the template file that was saved in Step 1 - Upload Billing Headers sub step 4.
2. Copy the newly created Salesforce ID's for the Billing Headers from the Results file into the import template. Paste this data into the column labeled Billing SF ID on the Billing Lines worksheet.
3. Using your legacy systems data and the SF ID created in Step 1 - Upload Billing Headers, complete the information on the Billing Lines worksheet.
   • Required Fields:
     1. Billing SF ID
     2. Revenue GL Account or Revenue GL Account SF ID
        Important: Set this GL Account to your Opening Balance clearing account (i.e., 3999-Opening Balances) as noted in Creating/Entering Opening Balances Overview.
        This field cannot be set to your A/R Control Account, your A/P Control Account, or any other Equity Account.
        If this is set to another existing GL account that you plan to use as the clearing account, then note the account used (you will need this when entering/uploading your opening Trial Balance). This account is used as a clearing account for the upload of your opening A/R and A/P balances and will be offset during the import of your opening Trial Balance. 
        Note: It is generally best to use the SF ID for the GL account.
     3. Quantity
     4. Unit Price: this will equal the total remaining unpaid balance for this Billing.
     5. Date: the original invoice date from your legacy system.
   • Optional Fields:
     1. Comment: this field can be mapped into Accounting Seed as either an Internal Comment or an Invoice Comment.
4. Delete all the worksheets in the import file except the Billing Lines worksheet.
5. Delete any rows and columns that are not pertinent to the upload (i.e., Row 1: Instruction row, Key legend, etc.).
6. If you are using the Revenue GL Account SF ID column, delete the Revenue GL Account column. If you are not using the Revenue GL Account SF ID, then delete the Revenue GL Account SF ID column.
   
7. Save the file as a CSV file.
8. Using either the Salesforce Data Loader or the Data Import Wizard, import this file.
   Refer to the Salesforce knowledge articles on the importing process and how to use the Data Import Wizard or Data Loader.

Using the Data Import Wizard

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup. Then, search for and select the Data Import Wizard.
2. Under Import your data in 3 easy steps! click Launch Wizard.
3. Select the Custom Objects tab.
4. Scroll through the list of Objects and select Billings Lines.
5. Under Import your Data into Salesforce, click Add New Records.
6. Under What do you want to do:
   • For Which GL Account field in your file do you want to match against to set the Revenue GL Account lookup field? select either Name or Salesforce ID (depending on what you used).
   • For Which Billing field in your file specifies the Master/Detail relationship? set this to Salesforce ID.
7. In the Where is your data located? section, click on Choose File and select the file you saved in Step 2 - Upload Billing Lines sub step 7 to upload.
8. Click Next and follow the prompts to complete the upload.
9. Open the Results file (generated after the import is complete) and verify that the upload was successful. Address any errors as necessary.

Step 3 - Post the Billings

Once your Data has been successfully uploaded into Accounting Seed:

1. Navigate to Accounting Home and click the Create Entries tab. Then, under the Revenues menu, click Billings.
2. Select the All list view.
   
3. Select all the Billings by clicking the check box located to the left of the Billing Number column header.
   
4. Click Post Billings.

Congratulations. Your A/R detail balances are now entered and available to be applied against.