V8 - QuickBooks Online integration and connection overview

The sections below provide an overview of how SOS Inventory works with QuickBooks. It will walk you through preparing for and initiating the connection between the two applications and their first sync.

QuickBooks Online integration

SOS Inventory was designed to work with QuickBooks Online from the ground up. SOS Inventory integrates tightly with QuickBooks Online to produce a world-class experience for the user. The integration works via a two-way synchronization process in which data are exchanged server to server.

Connecting to QuickBooks Online

SOS Inventory communicates with QuickBooks Online via a “connection,” which is simply an authorization that you provide, giving permission for SOS to communicate with QuickBooks Online on your behalf. If a connection is not active, the sync functions will not be available to you.

Considerations before connecting

Before you connect SOS Inventory to QuickBooks Online, you should understand possible situations that may need to be corrected first.

• If you are connecting a brand-new account, you should be good to go for creating the connection.
   
• If you are connecting SOS to an existing QuickBooks Online company account, ensure that all data is ready to sync (charts of accounts, tax center, vendors, customers, products and service). Note the following:
   
  • Bundles. The bundle feature in QuickBooks Online is comparable to SOS Inventory’s item groups (also known as kits), but bundles are not compatible with SOS Inventory and will cause a sync error when QuickBooks attempts to send bundled items or a transaction with bundled items to SOS Inventory.
     
  • Inventory tracking. Another consideration is if you are tracking inventory in a QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced account. For SOS Inventory to be your inventory management solution, you MUST turn off QuickBooks Online’s Track inventory quantity on hand in your account settings.

If you use bundles or inventory tracking in QuickBooks Online, please contact Support to obtain assistance in recreating these as items compatible with SOS Inventory.

Converting from QuickBooks Desktop, Premier, or Enterprise to QuickBooks Online

If you are moving from QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Premier, or QuickBooks Enterprise to a QuickBooks Online account, please contact QuickBooks Online Technical Support for more details on that process.

As part of this conversion process, the recommended steps are:

1. Create a QuickBooks Online account. Make sure that Track inventory quantity on hand is turned OFF by going to the gear icon in the upper right, selecting Account & settings, selecting the Sales tab on the left, and the option is under Product and services.
2. Import your QuickBooks Online account into QuickBooks (QuickBooks Online support can answer questions). When asked in a pop-up message during the import if you want to track inventory, answer No. This will save you time later.
3. Proceed to the next section, Creating the connection.

Creating the connection

You can create the connection through one of two methods:

1. From SOS Inventory. At sosinventory.com, select the Free trial logo in the upper right corner. Alternatively, you can go to the SOS Inventory login page, live.sosinventory.com and click I need an account. Either way, you just need to provide your email address (which should also be an administrator in the QuickBooks Online account), your display name, and select the plan level you want to start. This will create your new SOS account.
   1. For security, you should set your user profile password before continuing.
   2. Now you need to connect to QuickBooks Online by clicking on the Settings menu (gear icon) and then QuickBooks settings. Clicking on the Connect to QuickBooks button will open a pop-up window that will walk you through authorizing your QuickBooks Online Company to connect to SOS. Again, you must be an administrator on QuickBooks Online to accomplish the connection. SOS finds your QuickBooks Online Company by using your email address, so make sure it matches in QuickBooks Online. See QuickBooks Setup later in this guide for more on the automated sync.
       
2. From QuickBooks Online. In QuickBooks Online, go to the Apps option in the left-hand menu. You should find SOS Inventory listed in the All apps list. Click on Get app now to connect and answer the questions to complete the process as in the other method. Using this method, it connects the products for you so you do not have to authorize the connection separately.

No matter which method you use, as the person creating the connection you should now see an icon in your My apps list in QuickBooks Online for SOS inventory. Only the person making the connection will have this option.

Refer to Setup checklist for new QuickBooks Online and SOS Inventory accounts or the Setup checklist for adding a new SOS Inventory account to an existing QuickBooks Online account for complete step-by-step instructions on setting up SOS Inventory.

First sync

When you first make a connection from SOS to QuickBooks Online, SOS will begin synchronizing your data by retrieving the relevant data in your QuickBooks Online account. All customers, vendors, and items that are in QuickBooks Online will sync to SOS Inventory. But only 1,000 of the most recent of each transaction type will be synchronized to SOS.

This initial synchronization between QuickBooks Online and SOS Inventory typically takes much longer than subsequent synchronizations. The first sync generally takes 15 minutes to an hour to complete, depending on the volume of data in your account. You should not use SOS Inventory while it is synchronizing. Wait until the process completes. When the sync completes, you will get an email at the address used for your login letting you know.

If you need to sync more transactions than allowed for the initial sync, use the Retrieve from QuickBooks data utility (Company menu > Data tools > Data utilities) to obtain the additional transactions. If you have defined automated order processing (AOP) rules (Company menu > Miscellaneous > AOP rules) or have turned on Auto functions in the Sales settings (Settings > Sales settings), the system will display a message stating that you must disable these features before using the Retrieve from QuickBooks function. Once you are finished retrieving transactions, you can enable those options again.

After the initial sync, you can synchronize SOS Inventory with QuickBooks Online at any time by selecting Sync now (Sync menu > Sync now). See Manual vs automatic synchronization for more information.

Inventory tracking in QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online Plus includes an inventory tracking setting called Track inventory quantity on hand that allows you to keep track of your quantity on hand and cost of goods sold. If you decide to use SOS Inventory because the inventory functionality in QuickBooks Online is insufficient for your business needs, you do not want to manage inventory in both SOS and QuickBooks Online. Use SOS Inventory only. For that reason, SOS customers should turn off inventory tracking in QuickBooks Online.

If you are having duplicate cost of goods sold entries showing up in QuickBooks Online, the cause is that inventory tracking has been enabled for some items in QuickBooks. Consequently, both QuickBooks Online and SOS are posting to cost of goods sold—resulting in duplicate entries.

If you have questions, please contact SOS Support to discuss.