V8 - Setup checklist for new QuickBooks Online and SOS Inventory accounts

This section provides a step-by-step process for successfully setting up a new SOS trial account and integrating it into a new QuickBooks Online. Some steps must be executed in QuickBooks Online. They are detailed here as well.

We recommend that you register for “Setting Up SOS Inventory” via SOS Inventory’s Training page on our main website. The class covers much of the information given in this checklist, but with greater detail.

To be completed by the user who will serve as the master administrator for the QuickBooks Online and SOS Inventory accounts:

1. Start a new QuickBooks Online account.
    
2. If QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced is used, in QuickBooks Online go to Settings > Account and settings, Sales tab to turn off Quantity on hand tracking to eliminate possible duplicate entries in your journals.
    
3. Complete the Chart of accounts. Account numbers are optional, but names must be unique.
    
4. Complete the Sales tax center (if needed).
    
5. Specify the Sales form settings.
   1. Under Settings > Account and settings, Sales tab—Under Sales form content, enable Shipping, Discount, and/or Deposit in QuickBooks if you will use these features in SOS Inventory.
   2. Under the Advanced tab
      1. If you enabled Shipping and/or Discount, go under Chart of accounts and choose the associated Shipping account and/or Discount account. (Deposits automatically go to Undeposited funds.)
      2. If you are going to use classes and/or locations (called departments in SOS Inventory), go under Categories, then enable Track classes and/or Track locations.
         1. For Track classes: In the Assign classes dropdown, choose One to each row in transaction.
         2. For Track locations: Choose the desired option under the Location label. (Note: Regardless of the label chosen, in SOS Inventory, it will always be called Department.)
             
6. Start SOS account using one of these two methods:
   1. From Apps tab in QuickBooks Online, find SOS Inventory and select Get app now.
      1. This will present you with the page stating to pick a plan. Select one by clicking the button under the plan you desire.
      2. It will give you a message to please wait while creating your account.
      3. It also starts the initial sync to send a copy of needed information from QuickBooks Online to SOS Inventory.
      4. Once the initial sync is complete, you will receive an email saying the sync is complete, and you can starting using SOS Inventory.
   2. From SOS website, https://www.sosinventory.com, click on Free trial to create a new SOS Inventory account selecting whatever level you would like to start at.
      1. Once created, you can go in SOS to the Settings menu > QuickBooks setup page and click on the button Connect to QuickBooks. Then follow the steps to authorize the connection.
      2. This starts the initial sync and retrieves a copy of the chart of accounts, sales tax center, and sales terms for use in SOS settings and functionality.
   3. Whether you followed a or b above, wait for an email from SOS stating that the sync is complete before proceeding.
       
7. Log out of SOS and then log back in to make sure your company name from your QuickBooks Online account is shown in the Company menu in SOS.
    
8. Go to the Users menu (your login name) and go to User settings. Set your time zone, and if desired, the date format and notification method. then go to User Profile to update your password and security question.
    
9. At this point in the setup process, you may want to delegate or share the completion of the remainder of the setup process to one or more persons who will serve as company administrators in SOS Inventory. You can define those users by going to Company menu > User administration. Be sure to check the Administrator box for each of these individuals so that they have the appropriate permissions. Every user will receive an email from SOS asking them to log in and complete their profile.

To be completed by any user with administrator privileges:

10. In SOS, go to the Settings menu and walk through the Inventory settings, Purchasing settings, and Sales settings pages to ensure all appropriate defaults and other settings are completed before loading any data.
     
11. Go to the Company menu (your company name) and complete the following as needed:
    1. Company settings – At a minimum, add company header, set the automated time zone, and upload the logo.
    2. User administration – Define more users here. The users will get an email from SOS asking them to log in and complete their profile.
    3. Account info – Check to make sure the account is at the plan level you desire. This is especially important if SOS Inventory was enabled via the App center in QuickBooks Online.
    4. Locations – Specify the default location so that you have the location address for Purchase Orders and other transactions. If you are a Plus or Pro plan subscriber, add any additional locations you may need for your inventory management.
        
12. Now you can begin loading your data.
    1. Go to the Company menu > Bulk edit and complete Step 1 to download the Items spreadsheet.
    2. Complete this spreadsheet with all the information that you know for each item.
       1. At minimum, you should enter:
          1. Name
          2. Sales description
          3. Sales price
          4. Purchase description
          5. Cost
          6. Item type (e.g., Inventory Item, Service, Assembly, etc.)
          7. Quantity on hand
          8. Value on hand (total value of stock)
          9. Income, inventory asset, cost of goods sold (COGS), and expense accounts, as appropriate to item type
       2. See more information in Bulk editing items. Make sure you are following the Guidelines for editing data as you complete the process.
    3. Go to the Import data page (Company menu > Import data) and upload your items into SOS.
       1. This should have created an inventory adjustment if you added Quantity on hand and Value on hand data for your items in the sheet.
       2. Go to the left side menu, Inventory > Inventory adjustments to find the adjustment created by the data export/import. Click on Edit to load the transaction. Change the account at the bottom to Opening balance equity and Save the adjustment. This will send journal entries to QuickBooks Online to load the values in Inventory Asset and the offset in Opening Balance Equity.
           
13. Go to the Sync menu and click on Sync now to send all new items and the journal entries from the adjustment to QuickBooks Online to update your account.
     
14. Now you can load any other data you need, such as vendors, customers, and BOMs (if you created Assembly-type items in Step 10b).
     
15. Go to the Company menu and review the options in its Miscellaneous section. Set up any of these options that you want to use.

If you have any questions as you are going through this, please contact SOS Inventory Support. Email support hours are 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Central, Monday through Friday, as well as 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The SOS Support team is available by phone from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday.