Getting Started with the ServiceTrade Accounting Connector

Important Note: The ServiceTrade Accounting Connector (STAC) requires a Premium or Enterprise ServiceTrade Subscription and is a paid add-on. Please contact your ServiceTrade Salesperson or your Account Manager if you want to learn more about STAC.

Integrations vs. STAC

ServiceTrade provides built-in integrations to several accounting platforms, including:

• Sage Intacct
• QuickBooks Desktop
• QuickBooks Online

These integrations are possible because these systems provide APIs -- interfaces that let cloud applications such as ServiceTrade connect to them and exchange data without user intervention.

However, many other accounting platforms -- particularly legacy server-based accounting systems -- do not have these interfaces, and so it is not possible for ServiceTrade to have rich integrations with them.

Fortunately, while those systems don't offer full integration opportunities, many of them do have the capability to batch-import data such as customers and invoices, usually by flat-file import (CSV or some other type of text file) that is performed by a user.

ServiceTrade Accounting Connector (STAC)

By leveraging those import capabilities, the ServiceTrade Accounting Connector makes it possible to avoid double data entry into your accounting system by importing data from ServiceTrade into the accounting system in a semi-automated way.  An example workflow might be:

• At the end of every workday, you want to import all invoices created in ServiceTrade into your accounting system.
• You use the Accounting Connector to retrieve all of the current day's invoices from ServiceTrade's API.  The Connector will automatically format those invoices to match the import template that your accounting system expects and will download the flat file for import onto your computer.
• You use your accounting system's import feature to import that flat file.

This process eliminates the need to hand-enter every invoice into your accounting system, which saves time and eliminates errors.  See this video for a demonstration of this workflow.

To get started with the Accounting Connector, please contact ServiceTrade Customer Success to discuss an engagement to configure the Accounting Connector to meet your needs.

FAQs

Does the Accounting Connector work with my accounting system?

The Accounting Connector officially supports ComputerEase and Sage 300 CRE.

For other accounting systems: Maybe.  Can you import records into your accounting system through a flat-file import (CSV, TXT, etc), or some other structured file format such as XML?  If so, then the answer is probably yes.  Contact your accounting system vendor to determine if it supports importing data, and what types of records can be imported.

What kinds of records can the Accounting Connector import into my accounting system?

It depends on what kinds of records your accounting system allows to be imported. Contact your accounting system vendor to determine what types of records can be imported.

Since imports enabled through the Accounting Connector are not fully automated, we strongly recommend that you focus on critical transactions such as invoices, rather than attempting to integrate every possible type of record.  

How does ServiceTrade know what import format my accounting system requires?

You should contact your accounting system vendor to determine the import file specifications for the types of records that you want to import.  Once you have those specifications, you will enter into an engagement with the ServiceTrade customer success team to configure the Accounting Connector to create import files that match those specifications.

Can I use the Accounting Connector to transfer data out of my accounting system and into ServiceTrade?

In most cases, no.  While many legacy accounting systems support some level of batch data entry through flat-file import, they typically do not provide useful exports of records (for instance, an export of all customers added to the accounting system in the current business day). 

Since there is typically no way to get newly added or updated data out of your accounting system in a batch/automated manner, it's not possible for the Accounting System to batch-import that data back into ServiceTrade.

How do I get a complete integration between ServiceTrade and my accounting system?

Encourage your accounting system vendor to provide a full and complete set of APIs that allow it to integrate with cloud applications!  APIs are a key component of good, modern software applications.   ServiceTrade already supports full integrations with several API-enabled accounting systems, listed at the top of this article.