Ensuring a smooth and accurate synchronization of your client contact data between Xero and Karbon starts with preparing your data in Xero. This guide outlines key steps to clean and organize your Xero contacts, minimizing matching issues and ensuring data integrity in Karbon.
How the Integration Works: Contact Matching Explained
When you connect Karbon to Xero and start the contact sync, here's how Karbon tries to match your contacts:
Karbon looks for two key pieces of information to link contacts:
Contact Name: The exact name of the contact in both Xero and Karbon.
Billing Email: The primary email address in Xero, which Karbon uses as the Billing Email for matching.
Based on these two criteria, here's what happens:
Full Match: If the Contact Name AND the Billing Email are exactly the same in both systems, it's a perfect match.
Result: The contacts are automatically linked, and information like name, email, phone number, and address will stay in sync between Karbon and Xero.
Partial Match (Conflict): If the Contact Name OR the Billing Email matches, but the other one doesn't, it's a partial match.
Result: Karbon flags this as a potential issue in the "Resolve Match Issues" screen. You'll need to review these and decide if they are the same contact or different ones. You can either confirm the match or create a new contact.
No Match: If neither the Contact Name NOR the Billing Email matches any existing contact in Karbon.
Result: Karbon will create a brand new contact in Karbon using the information from Xero.
Contact Matching Logic: A Quick Guide
Does the Contact Name match? |
| Does the Billing Email match? | Result | Action Required? |
Yes | AND | Yes
| Full Match: Contacts are linked. | No |
Yes
| AND | No | Partial Match (Conflict): Name matches, email differs. | Manual Review Required |
No | AND | Yes | Partial Match (Conflict): Email matches, name differs. | Manual Review Required |
No | AND | No | No Match: A new contact is created in Karbon from the Xero contact. | Usually No |
Steps
Review and Cleanse Xero Contact Data: Carefully review your Xero contact list, focusing on:
Full Names: Verify complete and accurate full names for each contact. Consistent naming is crucial for matching.
Primary Email Addresses: Ensure the primary email field is accurate for all contacts. This is a primary matching field for Karbon.
Phone Numbers: Check for accuracy and consistency in phone numbers for comprehensive contact information in Karbon.
Billing Addresses: Standardize the format of billing addresses for more accurate data in Karbon.
Identify and Resolve Duplicate Contacts: Find and address any duplicate entries in Xero. Merge or archive duplicates before syncing to avoid issues in Karbon.
Best Practice Tip: Use Xero search and reporting to find potential duplicates by name, email, or phone number.
Remove Unnecessary Contacts: Delete any test, placeholder (e.g., "[email address removed]"), or outdated contact records to keep your Karbon environment clean.
Verify Billing Email Consistency: Remember Karbon matches using the billing email from Xero against the Billing Email field in Karbon. Ensure the primary email in Xero is the correct billing email for each client.
Consider Contact Segmentation (Optional): If you plan to segment clients differently in Karbon later (e.g., different ContactTypes), consider if any Xero data attributes can aid this post-sync. Clean data facilitates easier organization in Karbon.