Integrate Severa with Visma.net Financials to automate your invoicing and project cost flows.

The integration has been designed to support following work process:

  • Work hours and expenses are added into Severa.
  • Sales cases are handled in Severa.
  • Project management is done in Severa.
  • Customer and product registries are integrated and can be updated in both systems.
  • Visma.net Financials controls the invoice numbering and customer numbering.
  • Severa controls the project numbers.
  • Invoices are sent out to customers from Severa and into bookkeeping in Visma.net Financials
  • Invoice reminders are sent out from Visma.net Financials.
  • Severa will fetch invoice payment information from Visma.net Financials (both partial payment and paid).
  • Supplier invoices and other transactions are fetched into Severa as project costs and/or billable items from Visma.net Financials.

Invoices are sent out to customers from Severa and it's recommended to use AutoInvoice to automate the invoice sending flows.

A guided wizard will help you to take integration into use.

Important to know

Before starting the synchronization of data, it's important to check that customer numbering, project numbering and item numbering lengths are set correctly in Financials. For example, if your projects in Severa have 4 digit numbering, you must set the project numbering lenght in Financials to be 4 digits. Otherwise synchronization of data will fail. Check the lengths from Segmented keys (CS203000) and Numbering sequences (CS201010) in Financials.

After the applications are linked and all data is synchronized, the numbering of existing customers, projects and items shouldn't be changed. The user interface allows changing but this will lead into serious errors in the transfer and will prevent data to flow between the systems. This is because the customer number, project number and item number (product, worktype & travel codes) are used to link the data together.

What is integrated and how?

Authentication and automation

When integration is taken into use, it will first ask user to enter Visma.net credentials. This user must have Visma.net Financials Administrator and Visma.net Financials User role given in Visma.net Admin in order to connect successfully.

The authentication token is then stored for a hidden system user who will be used in all the upcoming transactions.

Severa organization and Visma.net company can be connected only if they have the same organization number.

In addition, the organization needs to be under the same company (license) in Visma.net Admin. If they belong to two different companies (licences), you must contact your local business unit to get them connected.

After the initial setup is done, integration will run automatically every 5 minutes.

Business units/Branches

This section applies only to those companies who are using Branch/multicompany support in Visma.net Financials and/or Organizational hierarchy addon in Severa and in Severa some of the business units have been defined to be companies by giving them a VAT number. Both are required in order for the mapping to work.

When branches are mapped with their matching companies in Severa invoices can be transferred under correct branches in Visma.net Financials.

Product register

Product registries are in sync. New products can be added and information can be updated in both systems. In Severa product registry is divided into three different registries; Work types, Products and Travel expenses.

The integration introduces Visma.net Financials Inventory classes in Severa. In Visma.net Financials Inventory class defines the VAT handling and general ledger accounts for each product. Inventory class can be selected for each product, work type and travel expense in Severa in order it to be immediately correct when it's transferred to Visma.net Financials. Inventory classes do not have any other logic in Severa and therefore it is important to always remember to select the correct Invoicing VAT percentage in Severa.

When new product is added into Visma.net Financials, it's Inventory class type defines into which Severa registry the product will go:

  • Products: Non-stock Item, Service Item
  • Work types: Labor Item
  • Travel expenses: Expense Item

Products are mapped together using their codes and they are therefore mandatory. Because Severa's three registries are combined into one Visma.net Financials registry, codes must be unique through all three registries.

Identifier usage setting in Settings > Work time, travel expense & product registries > Registry settings is locked when company is using this integration.

Customers

Customer registries are in sync. New customers, addresses and contacts can be added and information can be updated in both systems. Severa's internal customer is not transferred into Visma.net Financials. When integration is taken into use, inactive customers from Visma.net Financials are not transferred into Severa.

Visma.net Financials is the master for customer numbering. This means that when integration is taken into use existing customers in Severa will get a new customer number from Visma.net Financials.

The integration introduces Visma.net Financials Customer classes in Severa. In Visma.net Financials Customer class defines the VAT handling and general ledger accounts for each customer. Customer class can be selected for each customer in Severa in order it to be immediately correct when it's transferred to Visma.net Financials. Customer classes do not have any other logic in Severa and therefore it is important to always remember to select the correct Invoicing VAT percentage in Severa.

Customers are mapped together using a number and a name. Customer names are unique in Severa. Therefore if same customer name exists multiple times in Visma.net Financials only one can be left active.

Projects

Sales cases and projects are transferred only from Severa into Visma.net Financials. These are used to map invoices correctly and transfer supplier invoices and other transactions into Severa's sales cases/projects.

When project is closed or sales case is lost in Severa, the project in Visma.net Financials is inactivated.

Internal projects are not transferred to Visma.net Financials.

Project numbers are controlled in Severa, but Visma.net Financials has a setting for the length of the project number series which need to match the numbering used in Visma Severa. Project number lenght is controlled in the Segmented keys settings in Financials. So, if your numbering sequence in Severa is 4 digits long, make sure Project segmented keys in Financials allows 4 digits.

Invoices

This integration transfers invoices and credit notes into Visma.net Financials for bookkeeping. Invoices and credit notes are sent out to customers from Severa. Financials controls the invoice numbering because it is possible to send invoices from Financials which are not project related and invoice numbering must be intact. Payment reminders should be send from Financials. Severa will receive the partial payment and paid information from Financials.

For sending invoices out to customers, we recommend that you enable AutoInvoice integration for Severa. AutoInvoice sends your invoices electronically, through printing service or via email.

The invoicing process is:

  1. Invoice or credit note is created in Severa, without invoice number.
  2. If there's an approval process for invoices, it should be done next.
  3. Invoice/credit note is sent to bookkeeping into Financials.
  4. Invoice/credit note number and reference number is updated to Severa's invoice from Financials.
  5. Invoice/credit note is sent to customer from Severa or from Severa to AutoInvoice to customer.
  6. Payment reminders are sent from Financials to customer.
  7. Partial payment or paid information of invoice/credit note is updated into Severa from Financials.

Invoice attachments can be send to Visma.net Financials along with the invoice.

When invoice is being transferred into Visma.net Financials, Severa's invoice total including VAT is compared to the same figure in Visma.net Financials. If the total differs more than 0.05, invoice is not created in Visma.net Financials and it's set into the "Cannot be added into Financials"-status in Severa. This issue happens if the VATs are not properly set on Severa's invoice. The solution is to check the invoice rows, fix the row with the incorrect VAT percentage and set invoice again into "Transfer invoice into Financials"-status. Create an Invoices-report filtered by this status, and place it to a dashboard in Severa to keep an eye on failed invoices.

In Severa, invoice statuses define the invoicing process and this is customizable. The integration counts heavily on correct order and settings of the statuses, so make sure to plan the process through carefully. The statuses and flows differ depending for example if there's an invoice approval process in place, or if there is an AutoInvoice integration in place. See examples on how to set up the invoice statuses correctly below. The documentation will also describe the settings each status must have. Invoice statuses are created and managed in Severa's settings.

How to set up invoice statuses

Here are few examples of how invoice statuses should be set up in Severa. The invoice status name doesn't have any significance in the transfer, instead it's the settings and the order of the statuses.

The first status should be for those invoices which fail to go over to Visma.net Financials but this should not be the default status. Default means a status that invoices will get in Severa when they are first created.

The invoice number should be enabled for the status of when invoice has been sent to Visma.net Financials and then always from that status forward.

Invoice numbering

In Settings > Invoicing > Invoicing defaults, set Generate invoice number for credit note setting off, to get Invoice Number for Credit Note from Financials.

In Settings > Invoicing > Invoice statuses, set the Default after credit to be the status from which invoices are automatically transferred to Visma.net Financials. This way, when ever a credit note is created, it will immediately get the status to go over into Visma.net Financials.

First example: Invoice approval process in place and invoices are send to customers using AutoInvoice.

Invoice status name Not editable Invoice number Sent Paid
Failed invoices
Draft
Waiting for approval
Approved, ready for Financials x
In Financials, send to customer x x x
Sent x x x
Partially paid x x x
Paid x x x x

Default status for credit note: Approved, ready for FinancialsSend to Financial

Second example: No invoice approval process in place and invoices are send to customers from Severa.

Invoice status name Not editable Invoice number Sent Paid
Failed invoices
Draft
Send to Financials x
In Financials, send to customer x x x
Sent x x x
Partially paid x x x
Paid x x x x

Default status for credit note: Send to Financials

Supplier invoices and other transactions

Supplier invoices and other transactions are transferred into Severa as project costs when the transaction rows have been given a project and the document is released.

Attachments are also transferred over. If the attachment is for the transaction row, it's added for that row's project in Severa. If the attachment is on the document level and the rows belong to different projects, then attachment is added to all of the mentioned projects.

The description of the project cost and attachment in Severa will consist of "transaction row description, reference number, supplier number and supplier name".

Project costs can be added into Severa only as costs or as costs and re-invoiceable fees. When the transactions come only as costs, then unit price of all items is always 0.00. When the transactions come as cost and billable fees, it is possible to affect the billable price using a multiplier. When the multiplier is 100% unit price and unit cost are the same. If the multiplier is for example 150%, then unit price = unit cost x 1.5.

Enable integration

First go to Visma.net Financials to enable Severa integration from the Settings (Menu > More items > System > Licensing > Enable/Disable features).

Then go to Severa and enable Visma.net Financials from the Integrations view under Settings > Subscription/Features.

Then in Severa, go to Settings and locate Visma.net Financials. A wizard is launced to help you set up the integration and verify existing data in both system. The wizard has it's own help texts and also some pointers to solve most common issues.

Sending invoices to customers

Using AutoInvoice

To fully automate your invoicing process, it's recommended to use AutoInvoice.

Go to Settings > Visma.net ERP > Invoicing and enable Send all project invoices from Severa through AutoInvoice. The setting prevents sending the invoices to customer again from Visma.net ERP, and limits the possibility of duplicates.

It is recommended that you first set up AutoInvoice, then Visma.net Financials integration, because this affects the invoicing statuses in Severa.

Invoice statuses when using both AutoInvoice and Visma.net Financials:

Invoice status name Not editable Invoice number Sent Paid
Failed invoices
Draft
Send to Financials x
In Financials, send to customer x x x
Sent x x x
Partially paid x x x
Paid x x x x

Invoice statuses for AutoInvoice integration:

  • Status of invoices to be transferred: In Financials, send to customers
  • Status of invoices after transfer: Sent
  • Status of invoices after error:

The invoicing process with AutoInvoice & Visma.net Financials is:

  1. Invoice or credit note is created in Severa, without invoice number into the default status.
  2. If there's an approval process for invoices, it should be done next using invoice statuses.
  3. Next, set invoice into the "Transfer invoice into Financials" status to sent to bookkeeping into Financials. Invoice still doesn't have invoice number.
  4. Integration transfers invoice into Visma.net Financials and sets invoice in Severa into status "Invoice in Financials, can be send out to customers". Now invoice has number.
  5. Now transfer invoices to AutoInvoice from Data transfer. "Status of invoices to download" should be the same as "Invoice in Financials, can be send out to customers" status is.
  6. Invoice/credit note is sent to customer from AutoInvoice and invoices will get "Sent" status in Severa.
  7. Visma.net Financials integration will automatically update invoices into partially paid and paid statuses.

Using Severa

From Severa, invoices can be sent to customers via email or downloaded as PDF files for printing purposes.

When the invoice has transferred into Visma.net Financials and gotten an invoice number, invoice can be sent to customers. After invoice has been sent to customer using email or mail, then invoice status must be changed to "Sent" manually. After this Visma.net Financials will change the status to partially paid or paid when customer pays the invoice.

Because invoices are transferred to Visma.net Financials into bookkeeping, it's very important that the invoiced amounts are consistent with the amounts customer pays.

Some rounding differences always exist, specially when sending invoices with different currencies, but these differences are normally less than 0.05 out of the total amount.

When invoice is sent from Severa into Visma.net Financials, the integration checks do the invoice totals match. If the difference is more than 0.05, invoice is deleted from Visma.net Financials and it's set into the "Invoice cannot be added into Financials" status in Severa.

Create Invoices-report filtered by the above mentioned status, and place it to a dashboard in Severa to keep an eye on failed invoices.

Invoice totals do not match because of VATs. When invoice is rejected by Visma.net Financials, it means that the VATs on Severa's invoice are set incorrectly. As an ERP Visma.net Financials has a lot more sophisticated VAT handling than Severa and we trust it to be correct.

To fix failed invoices, check the VATs on invoice rows and fix them to be correct. Then set invoice into the status from which it's transferred to Visma.net Financials again. To avoid issue to occur on next invoice, check that you have set Invoicing VAT correctly for the customer and the product register for products used on the invoice.

The initial synchronization will be run with the help of the wizard. Errors discoverd in the initial sync are immediately displayed for the user on the screen and those need to be fixed in order for the synchronization to go through.

Once integration is set up and is running automatically, errors can be seen in the Visma.net Integration settings page in Severa. In that settings page, there's a tab called "Error log".

Product register

Severa: Product Severa: Travel Expense Severa: Work type Financials:Non-stock items Comments
Name Name Name Description
Code Code Code Inventory ID
Unit price Unit cost Default price
Is active Is active Is active Item status
Financials inventory class Financials inventory class Financials inventory class Item Class

Customers

Severa: Customer Financials: Customers Comments
Name Name
Number Customer ID
Vat number VAT Registration ID
Currency Currency ID
Payment terms Terms
Email Main contact Email
Website Main contact Web
Notes Main contact Attention
Headquarters Main address
Is Active Status
Financials customer class Financials customer class
Address Address line 1, Address line 2, Address line 3
Postal code Postal code
City City
Country Country
State State
Address type: Billing Bill-to address
Address type: Postal Shipping address
Address type Office Main address
Contact salutation title
First name First name
Last name Last name
Title Job title
Mobile Cell
Phone Phone 2
Email Email
Do not email Do not email
Status Active

Projects

Severa: Project Financials: Project Comments
Number Project ID
Name Description
Customer Customer
Start date Start date
Billing period Mandatory, always "OnDemand"
Template Mandatory, always "Z"
Hold Mandatory, always "Hold"
Status Status

Invoices

Severa: Invoice header Financials: Invoice header Comments
Customer number Customer ID
Customer name Customer name
Address Location
Account contact Contact
Invoice number Reference number
Reference number (KID code) Payment reference number
Invoice date Document date
Due date Due date
Our reference Invoice text
Your reference External ref
Order number Customer order
Payment terms Terms
Billing contact Invoice text
Notes Invoice text
Free text above and below invoice rows Invoice text
Currency Currency ID
Exchange rate Exchange rate
Business unit Branch ID
Project Project
Do not send invoice to autoinvoice Always set as true
Attachment/invoice PDF Attachment Only if selected to be transferred in settings
Severa: Invoice rows Financials: Invoice rows Comments
Product/Work type/Travel expense code Inventory ID
Description Transaction description
Quantity Quantity
Unit price in base currency Unit price
Unit price in invoicing currency Unit price in currency
measurement unit Uom
Business unit code Branch ID
Project task Mandatory, always set as "10"
Project Project

Project costs

Severa: project fees Financials: Supplier invoices and other transactions Comments
Project Project
Description Collected from "transactionDescription, referenceNumber, customerSupplier customerSupplierName"
Date Transaction date
Quantity Always 1
Unit price Transaction row: Debit amount
Unit cost Transaction row: Debit amount
VAT % Given by Severa's logic.
Product type Given by Severa's logic.
Product Given by Severa's logic.
Attachment description Collected from "transactionDescription, referenceNumber, customerSupplier customerSupplierName"


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