Configuring Xero
After connecting Xero, set the pay calendar, wages and super accounts, and timesheet settings — and understand exactly what each choice does when Shiftly exports timesheets to Xero.
Connecting Xero only authorises the link. Before any pay data flows, you tell Shiftly where it should land in your Xero organisation — which pay calendar to use and which accounts to record wages and super against. Until you do, the connection shows as Not configured.
This guide covers each field, the two timesheet switches, and — so the choices make sense — exactly what Shiftly does in Xero when you export timesheets.
Who this is for
Owners and managers using the Shiftly web platform who have already connected Xero — directly or via an accountant — and need to finish the setup.
Before you start
- The business is connected to a Xero organisation (the Xero card shows Manage connections).
- Your Xero organisation has Xero Payroll set up with at least one pay calendar.
- You can see your Xero chart of accounts — you'll point Shiftly at your wages and super accounts. If one is missing, create it in Xero first.
Open the configuration
Go to Manage connections
From the account menu, open Integrations, and on the Xero card select Manage connections.
Edit the connection
Open the connection — double-click its row, or use the row's actions menu and choose Edit configuration. A connection that still needs setting up is marked Not configured.
Set the pay calendar and accounts
These fields are required — an export won't run until they're set. Shiftly reads the options straight from your Xero organisation, so they always match what's in Xero.
- Pay calendar — the Xero payroll calendar that sets your pay periods and pay dates. Shiftly posts into the draft pay run for this calendar.
- Weekday – ordinary hours — the Xero earnings rate Shiftly uses for ordinary weekday hours. (Shiftly can create the other rates it needs — Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, overtime — automatically; see below.)
- Wages expense account — the expense (or direct-costs) account wages are recorded against, and the account any earnings rates Shiftly creates are pointed at.
- Super expense account — the expense account super contributions are recorded against.
- Super liability account — the liability account that tracks super payable.
Select Save. The connection then shows as Configured.
Shiftly pre-fills the usual defaults
Shiftly suggests the standard Xero accounts where it can — Wages (account 477), Superannuation expense (478) and Superannuation liability (826) — and if your organisation has only one pay calendar or one earnings rate, it selects it for you. Always check the suggestions match your chart of accounts before saving.
If a calendar or account is missing from a list, create it in Xero first and come back — Shiftly only shows what already exists in your organisation. Pay calendars come from Xero Payroll.
Choose your timesheet settings
Under Timesheet settings, two switches decide who owns the rates and super in each employee's Xero pay template. They save as soon as you toggle them.
Use Shiftly hourly rate
This controls the employee's ordinary and penalty rates on their Xero pay template each time you export.
- On — Shiftly writes its calculated rates over the pay template every export, so the award-interpreted rates from Shiftly stay the source of truth. Turn this on if you want Shiftly to drive the rates.
- Off — Shiftly only fills in a rate that isn't already there and leaves anything you've set in Xero untouched. Turn this off if you maintain rates directly in Xero.
Use Shiftly superannuation
This does the same for super — the employee's fund and contribution lines on the pay template.
- On — Shiftly reconfigures the super lines from the employee's super details in Shiftly on each export (this needs the super expense and liability accounts above).
- Off — Shiftly only adds super if none is set up yet, and otherwise leaves your Xero super configuration alone.
Timesheet settings apply only on a supported award. On an award Shiftly doesn't fully support they're switched off, and Shiftly sends tracked time only to Xero — see the next section.
What happens in Xero when you export timesheets
When you post approved timesheets to payroll, Shiftly doesn't run your pay — it assembles a draft pay run in Xero for you to review and finalise. Here's the sequence, so you can see what your configuration above controls:
Shiftly finds (or starts) a draft pay run
For your configured pay calendar, Shiftly uses the current draft pay run, or starts one if there isn't a draft yet. It posts into the period whose end date you're exporting — posting into the wrong period is blocked. Shiftly never finalises or pays the pay run — that stays your job in Xero.
It makes sure the earnings rates exist
Shiftly checks that Xero has an earnings rate for every category in the timesheets — ordinary, Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, overtime tiers, and any allowances. Any that are missing, it creates for you in Xero, against your wages expense account (allowances are created as fixed-amount rates). You can pre-map your own rates instead — see Advanced below.
It updates each employee's pay template
Depending on your two switches, Shiftly writes its hourly rates and/or super onto the employee's Xero pay template — overwriting if the switch is on, only filling gaps if it's off.
It pushes the worked hours as an approved Xero timesheet
Shiftly creates (or updates) the employee's Xero timesheet for the period, with the hours split by category per day. On a supported award that's the full breakdown (ordinary, weekend, public holiday, overtime); on an unsupported award it's plain weekday hours only — tracked time, with no pay breakdown.
On a supported award, it adds the pay detail to the payslip
For supported awards Shiftly also fills the draft pay run's payslip — earnings by rate, allowances, and super — so the estimated numbers are there for you to check. Unsupported awards get the timesheet hours only, and you set the rates and super in Xero.
Everything lands in draft. Open the pay run in Xero to review, adjust if needed, and process it — Shiftly's figures are an estimate to start from, not the final pay.
A few things that can stop or skip an export
- The employee must be linked to Xero. If someone isn't matched to a Xero employee yet, they're skipped and left for you to link — the rest still post.
- You can't re-post a timesheet Xero has already approved. Revert that timesheet to draft in Xero first, then export again.
- Contractors are skipped — in Xero they're paid via bills, not payroll.
- If an employee's deductions would exceed their earnings, that timesheet is flagged with a warning instead of posting, so you can look into it.
Approved leave isn't part of the timesheet export — it's pushed to Xero when you approve the request, separately. See What syncs with Xero.
Advanced: map your own earnings and allowance rates
Under Advanced configuration (available on supported awards) you can map specific earnings rates and allowance rates to your own Xero rates instead of letting Shiftly create them.
- You can leave these blank — Shiftly creates the earnings rates it needs in Xero for you, against the wages expense account you selected, the first time each one is exported.
- If you'd rather keep control, create the rates in Xero yourself and map them here. Only Xero Ordinary Earnings Rates with a rate type of Rate per Unit can be mapped.