Use Universal ERP

Set up Universal ERP, import or add the accounts of your chart, map them with the sync rules, and export the journal as a file to import into any accounting system.

Where to find it:your-organization.conta.financeERP

Universal ERP is for an accounting system that Conta Finance does not connect to, such as Xero, Sage or Odoo. Holded has its own connection: see Connect Holded. Nothing is sent to it. You import your chart of accounts, the sync rules say which account each journal entry posts to, and you export the journal as a file. You then import that file into your ERP by hand.

The two file formats, the chart of accounts and the journal, are Conta's own. Your ERP may need you to change some columns before it accepts the journal file.

Before you start

You need Read and edit access to set up Universal ERP, import or add accounts and change the rules. With Read only access, you can download the template, read the tabs and export the file. See Roles and access levels.
To unconfigure the ERP, you need Full access.
Have the chart of accounts of your ERP ready, as a spreadsheet.
An organization works with one ERP at a time. While QuickBooks Online or Holded is set up, Universal ERP refuses to set up until a person with Full access unconfigures the ERP.

Set up Universal ERP

Open ERP in the sidebar. While no ERP is set up, the page shows one card for each ERP. Select Universal ERP.
In Books currency, pick the currency of your books: USD, EUR or GBP. The page offers the currency of the organization when it is one of these three.
Select Use Universal ERP.

Screenshot pendingThe ERP page with one card for QuickBooks Online and one for Universal ERP, each with its state

The currency decides how Conta values every amount in the file. You cannot change it later. To change it, you unconfigure the ERP.

Until you select Use Universal ERP, you can select All ERPs at the top of the page to go back to the cards. After that, ERP in the sidebar opens Universal ERP straight away.

Import the chart of accounts

On the Rules tab, find the Chart of accounts card and select Download template.
Fill the template with the accounts of your ERP. Keep the header row.
Select Import accounts.
Drop the file in the window, or select browse. When the chart already has accounts, pick Add new accounts or Replace the whole chart. Select Import.

Screenshot pendingThe Import accounts window with the choice between adding and replacing, the guide to the columns and the area where you drop the file

You can import a CSV file or an Excel file. The file can be up to 5 MB and 50 000 rows. Conta reads the format from the content of the file, not from its name. An Excel file must also have nothing below row 50 000 or to the right of column BL, not even an empty cell that only has formatting. If it does, delete the rows below your data and the columns to the right of it, save the file and import it again.

Column	Required	What it holds
`Code`	Yes	The id of the account. The rules remember an account by its code.
`Name`	Yes	The name of the account, as your ERP shows it.
`Type`	Yes	Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense, or the name your ERP gives the type. Write Class for a class instead of an account.
`Currency`	No	The three letters of the currency of the account.
`Active`	No	Write no to keep the account out of the rules. Empty means yes.

Conta also reads Revenue for Income, the plural forms, and the Spanish words Activo, Pasivo, Patrimonio, Ingreso and Gasto. Capital letters and extra spaces do not matter.

Conta also reads the type names that QuickBooks Online, Xero and similar systems use, such as Other Current Assets, Accounts Payable (A/P), Credit Card, Other Income, Cost of Goods Sold or Direct Costs. It looks for these words in the name: receivable, prepaid, asset, inventory (asset); liability, payable, credit card, loan (liability); equity; income, revenue, sales (income); expense, cost, overhead (expense). Bank and Bank Accounts are assets. When a name holds the words of two types, the first of these wins: equity, then a receivable or a prepayment (asset), then a liability, then an asset, then an expense, then income. For example, Income Tax Expense is an expense and Loan Receivable is an asset. If a name has none of these words, the import stops and the message lists the words that Conta reads. Write one of the six plain words in that case. A row with the code EXAMPLE is skipped. The template read as it is holds one account of each type and one class, so it is a valid chart.

Conta reads the whole file or none of it. When one row is wrong, a message names the row and the column, and the chart you had stays. Fix the cell and import again.

When the import works, a message counts what changed: the accounts and the classes it added, updated and removed.

Add new accounts or replace the chart

When your ERP has a few new accounts, import a file with only those. Add new accounts is the default:

An account with a code that is new is added.
An account with a code you already have is updated with the data of the file.
No account is removed, so a rule never loses its account.

Replace the whole chart makes the file your chart. An account that is not in the file is removed. The window warns about it. The message says how many accounts are added, updated and removed.

A rule keeps its account when the code stays the same. If a new chart leaves a rule unable to post, a warning lists the rule and the slots. The cause is one of three: the code is not in the new file, the account is now inactive, or its type no longer fits the slot (for example, an account that was an expense is now an asset). Conta does not change the rule. The documents that need that account are blocked on the Sync tab, and each one says why. Pick another account in the rule to unblock them.

Add one account by hand

When you need one account, you do not need a file.

On the Chart of accounts card, select Add account.
Fill Code and Name, and pick the Type. Pick Class to add a class instead of an account. The currency is optional, and Active is on by default.
Select Add account.

The form reads the fields as the file does. When a field is wrong, the message shows under that field. When the chart already has the code, the form refuses it: an account you add is never changed by mistake. To change an account that exists, import a file with the same code.

The rules can pick the new account at once.

Map the accounts with the rules

The rules work as they do for QuickBooks. Each slot of a journal entry posts to one account of your chart, and each picker offers only the accounts its slot accepts. Follow Map categories to accounts.

Until the chart has accounts, the tab says that there is no chart of accounts yet, and you cannot save a rule.

Export the journal

Open the Sync tab and pick the dates to export.
Read the report. Fix what the card of blocked documents lists, and read the range again.
Select Export for import, then Excel (.xlsx) or CSV.

Screenshot pendingThe Sync tab of Universal ERP with the range, the figures, the blocked documents and the Export for import button

The button is off while no document in the range is ready. Point at it to read why. A range that holds more than 5 000 transactions is refused, because one report cannot read it whole. Pick a shorter range and export it in parts.

The file holds one row for each journal line. Every document balances.

Column	What it holds
`Journal No`	The number of the document. For a transaction, the day and 10 characters taken from its hash, such as `20260201-952cc4033f`. The same transaction always gets the same number. For a rollup, the reference of the rollup.
`Date`	The date of the document.
`Account Code`, `Account Name`	The account of the line, from your chart.
`Debit`, `Credit`	The amount, with two decimals, on one side. The other side is empty.
`Currency`	The currency of your books.
`Description`, `Memo`	What the line is for.
`Class`	The class of the line. Empty when there is none.
`Platform`	The blockchain or exchange of the movement.
`Transaction Hash`	The hash of a transaction. Empty for a rollup.

The documents are in date order. The oldest document is first. Two documents of the same day are sorted by Journal No. In the Excel file, amounts show two decimals.
Only ready documents are in the file. A blocked or ignored document is not. The Excel file lists them on a second sheet named Not exported, with the same number in Reference, the hash beside it, and the reason. A CSV file holds the journal only.
The number format follows your organization. With a decimal point, the CSV uses commas between columns. With a decimal comma, it uses semicolons. The file never groups digits.
A CSV protects the text you wrote. A spreadsheet reads text that starts with =, +, - or @ as a formula. In a CSV file, Conta puts an apostrophe before such text in every text column, for example Account Name, Memo or Transaction Hash. An amount gets no apostrophe. The Excel file needs no apostrophe.
The export does not mark anything. Export the same range twice and you get the same file. Conta does not know which files you imported, so import each range once.

The Export review button next to it writes a report with two sheets to read the range, not to import: the summary by account and every line with its mapping. It has no Post-Sync sheet, because nothing is sent from Universal ERP. See Send to the ERP.

What is different from QuickBooks Online

Nothing connects, and nothing is sent. The page has no Connect QuickBooks Online, Connect Holded, Refresh accounts or Send to QuickBooks Online.
A document is never Synced. The Sync tab has no views for synced or changed documents, and no undo.
The Debug tab shows each transaction as the rows of the file. See Check an entry before sending.
The Transactions page has no ERP column for Universal ERP.

Unconfigure the ERP

To change the currency, begin with a clean setup, or move to another ERP, select Unconfigure ERP at the top right of the page. It needs Full access.

Read the window. It lists what Conta deletes: the setup, the rules, the settings and the chart of accounts.
Select Delete and unconfigure.

Files you already exported do not change. Nothing changes in your ERP. QuickBooks Online and Holded are not touched. Afterwards, ERP in the sidebar shows one card for each ERP again, and you can set up any of them.

If your ERP does not accept the file

Conta does not promise that the file fits the import of your ERP. The columns are Conta's own. Open the file in a spreadsheet, rename or reorder the columns to match the import template of your ERP, and save it. Journal No has 19 characters for a transaction. The full hash is in the column Transaction Hash, so you can always find the transaction.

Use Universal ERP

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