Setup & Configuration
Setting up a New Account
Step 2 – Make connections
Step 3 – Sync Settings
Synchronize Historical Data
VEND Registers
Sync for existing ServiceM8 and Vend users
Synchronization Rules
Synchronization Rules
Customer Sync
Operation:
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Creating a customer in VEND creates the customer in ServiceM8
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Contact details are created as a billing contact in ServiceM8. When the first job for this client is raised ServiceM8 defaults the job contact from the billing contact details
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Creating a customer in ServiceM8 creates the customer in VEND
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The client’s Billing contact details are created as a customer in VEND
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Job address and Billing address become the physical and postal addresses in VEND
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Editing customers in either system will update the customer in both systems
Notes:
VEND and ServiceM8 have differing methods of tracking customers. In Vend there is a single customer record with a physical and a postal address. In ServiceM8 a customer can have multiple contacts, including a job contact and a billing contact.
ServiceM8 uses Client Name as the unique client ID and VEND has Customer Numbers. These are therefore the fields mapped when connecting the two systems. As a result, in most businesses ServiceM8 Client Name fields will often appear as Alpha-Numeric/Numeric.
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AppIntegrate syncs ServiceM8’s Billing contact with the Customer record in VEND.
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ServiceM8’s job address will default to VEND’s physical Address and ServiceM8’s Billing address will default to VEND’s Postal Address
Address Fields
ServiceM8 and VEND have differing approaches to the capturing and maintenance of address fields, and AppIntegrate works to continually improve the validating of addresses before updating the appropriate fields in each system. We are generally pleased with the outcome, we hope you are too, but please feel free to let us know how this may be improved.
Trading Terms
VEND and Xero synchronise trading terms from the general settings in Xero. Details on this are available from VEND here. All invoices going from VEND to Xero inherit these terms, and not the terms applied to individual Customers in Xero.
For payment due dates to go accurately from ServiceM8 to VEND and then to Xero, ServiceM8’s trading terms should be set to be the same as the default trading terms specified in the invoice settings in Xero.
Product Sync
Operation:
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Creating a Product in VEND creates that material in ServiceM8
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Creating a Material in ServiceM8 creates that product in VEND
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Editing products in either system will update that product in both systems
Notes:
Stock Updates
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VEND is the ‘owner’ of inventory; ServiceM8 is not an inventory system and does not track stock movements. However, ServiceM8 does have both a field for Stock Quantity and (live VEND) the option to nominate if an item is inventoried.
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The ‘item is inventoried’ switch is mapped to VEND
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ServiceM8’s Stock Quantity is only occasionally updated but currently only under limited circumstances. i.e. when a product is first added or updated in VEND the stock quantity comes across to ServiceM8; and when a product is invoiced out of ServiceM8 AppIntegrate manually reduces the Stock Quantity in ServiceM8
Invoice Sync
ServiceM8 offers extensive flexibility for its invoice template designs as well as automations to assist with sending invoices and integrated payment options.
Currently many users creating account sales are generating their invoices in VEND however printing/transmitting them to clients from the Xero/QB accounting package as this offers invoice layout, design and integrated payment options nearly on par with ServceM8
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Invoices generated out in the field are available in ServiceM8’s Invoicing function to check and approve and send these.
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When an invoice is checked and Approved in ServiceM8 > Invoicing > Awaiting Approval, it will be created in VEND as an ‘On Account’ register transaction. This includes fully paid, zero balance invoices.
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Customers and Products are re-validated in VEND prior to creating the on-account sale
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Any payments already applied in ServiceM8 are also created in VEND
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Once invoices are approved in ServiceM8, VEND and Xero/QB, edits to the invoice cannot be made to the invoice in any of the 3 systems. As is currently the case with invoices created in VEND to Xero/QB.
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Payments against this invoice can now be taken in VEND or Xero, with payments applied in Xero now automatically being applied in VEND. At this stage these payments made to invoices in VEND are not applied to the invoice in ServiceM8. This functionality is in development planning at the moment.
[Note: ServiceM8 recently deprecated the Preferences configuration for payments being made in other systems (and not in ServiceM8). Now this option is gone the ‘Awaiting Payment’ and ‘Paid’ tabs always appear on the Invoices page. However, as there is no significant follow-on Debtors functionality or reporting provided in ServiceM8, and this is all managed in VEND and Xero/QB, tracking of payments to invoices in ServiceM8 is not critical for most/all users at this time]
Bulk Imports
(and API Volume Limits)
WARNING: When using the Synchronise Historical Data, or when doing bulk record updates in either system, in instances where a large number of records i.e. greater that a total of 150 to 200 records (products and customers), are to be synchronised at once things slow down quite considerably.
VEND and ServiceM8, like all other app’s API’s, commonly impose data volume or data rate limits. These limits are quite reasonable for general use or even with modest volume updates, however, in some instances attempting to synchronise more than a few hundred records at once (customers and products) can result in long processing times.
If you could use some assistance with this please email us at info@appintegrate.com before proceeding.
Setting up a New Account
Start creating your AppIntegrate account by completing the Sign up to AppIntegrate page.
When everything is ready click ‘Sign Up’ and you will be sent an identity confirmation email. If you don’t receive this please check your junk email box, or click ‘Resend EMAIL’ on the welcome screen.
Passwords need to be at least 6 Characters and have at least one:
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Non letter or digit character (!,@,#,$, ...)
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Numeral ('0'-'9').
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Uppercase letter ('A'-'Z')
It is important at this stage to ensure that (if available) the ServiceM8 Invoicing Preferences setting for Payment Tracking is switched to 'Yes, allow me to track when invoices are paid'.
Step 1 - Business Information
Enter your business information and click Next
Step 2 - Connect your Apps
Starting with VEND:
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Enter a name for the connection (or leave the default)
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Click ‘Link your account’, a VEND pop-up will appear
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Log in and allow AppIntegrate to connect, and
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Select an Outlet and Register to use
And Next ServiceM8
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Enter a name for the connection (or leave the default)
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Click ‘Link your account’, a ServiceM8 pop-up will appear
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Log in and allow AppIntegrate to connect
Step 3 - Sync Settings
The AppIntegrate Synchronization Rules page allows you to selectively turn on or off parts of the syncing between both systems, including which direction the synchronization should work.
Here you configure the connector to sync the adding, updating,
and/or deleting of both product and/or customer records between VEND and ServiceM8; You can also turn on/the off posting of approved invoices from ServiceM8 to VEND.
It is a condition of using the Invoices sync that the Product and Customer sync is also on.
Existing users of both ServiceM8 and VEND please STOP here and go to section below Existing ServiceM8 and VEND Users for detailed instructions
When you have selected your preference click Finish.
You will now be taken to the AppIntegrate Dashboard. If you have selected to Synchronize Historical Data we ask that you do not close this tab until the synchronization is complete (you can still use other tabs). You will be notified by email as soon as the historical synchronization is completed and then free to shut the tab down.
Synchronize Historical Data
This is generally a once off function that when selected will, using your configuration settings, synchronize all of the products and customers currently on both systems. If a product’s SKU/Item Number or customer’s Customer Code/Client Name already exists in both systems a duplicate record will not be created.
At present, due to the respective business app's current API volume limits restricting the number of records AppIntegrate can transmit between systems at once, activating the ‘Synchronize Historical Data’ function will take minutes to hours for hundreds of records and many hours for thousands of records. Please keep this min mind when setting up for the first time.
VEND Registers
In some respects it is appropriate to think of ServiceM8 as being another VEND register. And so it follows that the preferred configuration to connect ServiceM8 to VEND is for ServiceM8 to have its own register or in some cases its own outlet in VEND as well.
When connecting ServiceM8 to vend it is recommended to either create a dedicated Register or at least to connect to a register that is not running consistently in the retail or any other higher transaction volume environment.
Existing ServiceM8 and VEND Users
If you have been using VEND and ServiceM8 systems for some time it is likely that your customers and products in both systems are not fully matched. While it is possible to run the historical data sync to copy all the records between both systems, this almost certainly leads to the undesirable duplication of a large number of records in both systems - and is therefore a full (bi-directional) historical data synchronization is generally not recommended.
With VEND as the ‘owner’ of customer and product records, the recommended method for connecting VEND and ServiceM8 is to clean out the current clients and materials in ServiceM8, to then be replaced with full list of records from VEND. Please note that using this approach will not delete any of your job history or the ability to inquire on those past jobs/customers in ServiceM8.
The procedure is as follows:
In ServiceM8
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(Optional) Download a copy of the complete client list and materials currently in ServiceM8
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For materials go to Settings>Materials & Services > Export Items and select Download Material/Service Item List
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For Clients go to Reports > Export > Client List
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Run the Account Cleanup Wizard:
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https://go.servicem8.com/help_me/StartAccountCleanup (you must be the Account Owner to use this tool)
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Select Remove both all existing customers and all existing materials/services (This will not effect the existing jobs in ServiceM8)
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Now in AppIntegrate at the Synchronization Rules screen:
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Switch all of the ServiceM8->Vend switches to off, including Product, Customer and Approved Invoices
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Switch all VEND->ServiceM8 switches to on
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Switch the Synchronize historical data switch to on
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Click on Finish and confirm (this should look like below)
AppIntegrate will now take you to the Dashboard and start synchronizing all existing customers and products from VEND to ServiceM8. Please do not close this browser tab until this process is complete. If you have thousands of records this should take several hours (due data volume limits from the apps).
When complete, you will receive an email notification from AppIntegrate. After the email notification has been received please return to the Synchronization Rules page [Configuration > Synchronization] and re-configure the switches for future use according to your preferences. Usually this will be to set all switches to on except the Synchronize historical data switch which must be set to off (see below). Next click finish.
If you could use some assistance with this please click below, email us at info@appintegrate.com or call 1800-317-559 before proceeding. We’re here to help and would be happy to hear from you!