Integrate Zoho ERP with Zoho Projects
If you use Zoho Projects, an online project management platform to manage your projects, then you can integrate with Zoho ERP to track your projects and manage their financial transactions effortlessly.
Once you integrate, the projects along with their primary customers, tasks, bugs, timesheets, and users will be synced with Zoho ERP, and made available within the Time Tracking module. Next, you can track time and create transactions such as quotes, invoices, recurring invoices, expenses, and recurring expenses for these projects.
Benefits of the Integration
- Save time and effort by managing the projects and their finances in one place.
- Create invoices for milestones, task lists and tasks in your Zoho Projects application.
- Access timesheets, tasks, bugs and users associated with the projects in your Zoho ERP organization.
Set Up the Integration
Prerequisite:
You must be an admin in your Zoho ERP organization and the owner of the Zoho Projects portal to set up this integration.
To integrate with Zoho Projects:
Go to Settings.
Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
Click Connect near Zoho Projects.
In the next page, click Connect Now.
Select the required project portal from the Portal Name dropdown.
Select the modules to be synced in this integration:
- Projects: This module will be selected by default. However, only the projects associated with the primary customer will be fetched. Any tasks or bugs associated with the projects will also be fetched.
- Timesheet: Select this module to fetch billable and approved timesheets to your Zoho ERP organization. All users associated with the timesheets will also be fetched as Project Staff Users in Zoho ERP. Users from Zoho Projects who are not part of Zoho ERP will be fetched as Inactive Timesheet Staff Users. Similarly, general timesheets will be synced to your Zoho ERP organization.
- If you are managing projects either using a different accounting software or manually, you can select a date before which the timesheets from Zoho Projects will be marked as Invoiced. Timesheets logged on or after that date will be marked as Unbilled.
- Alternatively, you can also choose to import all the timesheets as Unbilled.
Select the duplication preferences for the customers to be synced from Zoho Projects. You can either Clone or Overwrite them in your Zoho ERP organization.
- Overwrite: The existing customer’s details in Zoho ERP will be replaced with the primary customer’s details.
- Clone: A new customer will be created in Zoho ERP using the primary customer’s details, while the existing customer will also be retained.
Select the Enable Automatic Users Sync checkbox to automatically sync users associated with projects from Zoho Projects as Employee Submitters in Zoho ERP. Once enabled, choose whether the synced users should be granted portal access:
- Sync with portal access: The synced users will be granted portal access in Zoho ERP. If your plan’s portal access limit is reached, the remaining users will be synced without portal access.
- Sync without portal access: The synced users will be added without portal access. You can enable portal access for them later if required.
Note:
Even if automatic sync is disabled, any employee you create manually in Zoho ERP who already exists as a user in Zoho Projects will be automatically associated with their projects.
Note:
If you’ve already synced your Zoho Projects portal with Zoho CRM, the projects and customer details synced from Zoho CRM to Zoho Projects will take priority when you sync your Zoho Projects portal with Zoho ERP.
- Check the Restrict project creation in Zoho ERP option to prevent users in your organization from creating projects in Zoho ERP.
- Click Next.
- In the Map Field page, the fields to be synced from Zoho Projects to Zoho ERP will be displayed. You can also map the custom fields between Zoho ERP and Zoho Projects, provided they have the same data type.
- Click Save and Sync.
Now, your Zoho Projects portal is integrated with your Zoho ERP organization.
Check the Status of the Synced Data
The status of the sync will be displayed in the The modules have been synced with Zoho Projects section.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Sync in Progress | The modules and their data are being synced. |
| Active | All the modules are synced. |
It may take a while to sync your data. To view the latest status of your sync, click Refresh near the Delete icon in the top right corner of the page.
If you create new projects, tasks, timesheets, or other modules in Zoho Projects after integrating with Zoho ERP, you can sync them instantly. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click Instant Sync at the top of the page.
The new projects and other entities created in Zoho Projects will be synced with Zoho ERP.
To view the details of the modules synced during the integration, click Show Sync History.
Hover over the required modules list and click View Mapped Fields to view the synced fields.
Update Customer Duplication Preferences
You can also update your customer duplication preferences after you’ve set up the integration. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click the Gear icon next to Customer Duplication under Integration Preferences.
- In the pop-up that appears, select the required duplication preference and click Save.
Error Summary
The Error summary contains a module-wise list of the errors that occurred during the sync.
To view the error summary for your integration:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click View Error Summary.
You can view the list of errors that occurred during the sync in the Error Details page.
Create Transactions for Your Projects
Once you set up the integration, the active projects will be instantly synced to Zoho ERP, and you can create transactions for them. Here’s how:
- Click the More icon on the left sidebar and select Time Tracking.
- In the Projects tab, select a project that was fetched from Zoho Projects.
- Click the Create Invoice or New Transaction dropdown in the top right corner of the project’s Details page.
From here, you can create transactions for your projects and send them to your customers, if required.
Similarly, the timesheets, tasks, bugs, and users associated with the projects will also be present in your Zoho ERP organization.
Note:
You can also create, update, and delete the quotes, invoices, and expenses in Zoho Projects.
Disable the Integration
Once you disable your integration, the sync between Zoho Projects and your Zoho ERP organization will be paused.
To disable the integration with Zoho Projects:
- Go to Settings in your Zoho ERP organization.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click Disable Integration in the top right corner of the page.
- In the pop-up that appears, click Disable to confirm.
The integration with Zoho Projects will be disabled. You can re-enable the integration, if required.
Re-enable the Integration
Once you’ve disabled the integration with Zoho Projects, you can re-enable the integration and connect with the Zoho Projects portal again. To do this:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click Enable Integration in the top right corner of the page.
The integration will be set up again, and the modules will be synced automatically from the last sync time.
Note:
You can re-enable the integration only with the Zoho Projects portal that was previously connected.
Delete Integration
If you want to connect your Zoho ERP organization to a different Zoho Projects portal, or if you no longer want to sync projects with your Zoho ERP organization, you can delete the existing integration.
Once you delete the integration, the projects that were synced from Zoho Projects will be available as standalone projects in the Projects module of Zoho ERP.
Warning:
You can re-enable the integration only with the Zoho Projects portal that was previously connected.
To delete the integration with Zoho Projects:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Zoho Apps under Integrations.
- Click Show Details next to Zoho Projects.
- Click the Delete icon in the top right corner of the page.
- In the pop-up that appears, click Delete to confirm.
The integration with the respective Zoho Projects portal will be deleted.
Troubleshooting
| Errors | Why did it happen? | How do you resolve it? |
|---|---|---|
| Projects could not be fetched. | The projects were not associated with the primary customer. | 1. Ensure that the projects created in Zoho Projects are associated with the primary customer. 2. Check if the primary customer already exists in Zoho ERP with a different currency, and try changing the currency if necessary. |
| Timesheets could not be fetched. | Case 1: The timesheets will not be fetched if: 1. They are not Billable. 2. They are not approved in Zoho Projects yet. 3. They belong to projects that are not associated with a primary customer. Case 2: The timesheet’s related tasks or projects could not be fetched. | Ensure that the timesheets are billable, approved, and associated with projects that have a primary customer. |
| Tasks could not be fetched. | The task’s related projects could not be fetched. | 1. Ensure that the related projects are associated with the primary customer. 2. Verify whether the primary customer already exists in Zoho ERP with a different currency, and try changing it if necessary. |