For many customers, Xero export is one of the most important parts of Urhere. It is the moment you rely on the system to get payroll data across accurately, clearly, and without unnecessary stress.
We have been working hard on a major rewrite of the way Urhere connects to Xero and other payroll systems. The goal is simple: a smoother, clearer, and more reliable export experience.
Most customers will not need to do anything differently. For some customers, Urhere may ask a few questions during the first export after this update. These questions help us confirm how you want Urhere and Xero to work together.
Some of the changes below may sound a little technical, but the end result is a better export process with clearer warnings, better visibility, and fewer surprises.
This update allows us to significantly update our Award Rate Library which will be updated in the coming weeks.
What is changing?
Urhere can now manage pay items and earnings rates in a few different ways:
You can match hourly rates in Urhere to Pay Items or Earnings Rates in Xero.
You can let Urhere manage the Earnings Rates in Xero for you.
You can use a combination of both.
We have kept this flexibility because different businesses use Xero differently. Some customers want Xero to remain the source of truth for employee rates. Others want Urhere to send the correct rate into Xero during export.
On your first export, Urhere may ask you which option you prefer.
You can read more about the export process here:
Timesheet Categories Support
Timesheet categories are now available in Urhere. If you have timesheet categories on, Urhere will detect this on export and inside your areas. You must set a timesheet category for each area
Read more:
Multi Xero Organisation support in one account
Urhere can now support multiple Xero organisations in a single account. This will allow multi-location businesses that have separate payroll to operate within a single account.
A single employee can be linked to multiple Xero organisation after this update.
If you are a customer that wishes to migrate multiple accounts to a single Urhere account, please contact us at [email protected] and we will help with your migration.
Choosing between Urhere rates and Xero rates
During export, you may be asked whether you want to use the rate from Urhere or the rate already set in Xero.
If you want employee rates in Xero to be updated when you export from Urhere, choose:
Let Urhere send rates to Xero
This means if you update an employee’s hourly rate in Urhere, Urhere can carry that change across to Xero.
If you would prefer to keep using the employee’s existing rate in Xero, choose:
Keep the rates already set in Xero
This is best if Xero is your source of truth for employee pay rates.
You can also set this preference by employee.
Read more here:
Syncing rates from Xero
You can now sync an employee’s rate from Xero when setting up their salary details in Urhere.
When you select an Earnings Rate, Urhere will automatically pull the relevant rate from Xero.
One important thing to know: if you later change an employee’s pay template directly in Xero, that change will not automatically appear in Urhere unless you re-sync it.
However, Urhere will detect the difference during export. If the rate in Urhere does not match the rate in Xero, you will be warned and given the option to continue using either Urhere’s rate or Xero’s rate.
New Earnings Rate warnings
Urhere will now warn you when it needs to create a new Earnings Rate in Xero.
Previously, this could cause an export error for some customers. While that error was useful because it told you an employee had an unmatched rate, it could interrupt the export process.
Now, this appears as a warning instead. Urhere will show you what needs to be created and which employees are affected, then allow you to continue if everything looks correct.
Read more here:
Rate differences between Urhere and Xero
If an employee’s rate in Urhere is different from their rate in Xero, Urhere will now warn you during export.
For example, this may happen if you update an employee’s hourly rate in Urhere but have not yet updated their pay template in Xero.
In most cases, you will want to send the updated Urhere rate to Xero. The warning gives you a chance to review the difference before continuing.
Read more here:
Pay templates and Urhere’s rate library
When using pay templates or Urhere’s rate library, Urhere can now create dollar-based rates in the employee’s pay template in Xero not multiplier rate.
This helps make sure that what you see in Urhere is what is sent to Xero.
It also helps support payroll scenarios where dollar-based rates are required, including leave-related calculations and other payroll workflows.
You may see new entries in employee's pay templates. Please check your payrun for any issues.
Account selection for Earnings Rates
You can now choose which account an Earnings Rate should be journaled against in your payroll platform.
This gives you more control over how payroll costs are reported in your accounting system.
Export audit log
After export, you can now view an audit log showing exactly what was sent to Xero and what was created in Xero.
This gives you better visibility and makes it easier to review or troubleshoot an export if needed.