Xerocon London - Xero Product Sneak Peek

by

XEROCON London (2018) is just around the corner, and no, I won't be attending; however, Xero has been in the process of updating their GUI (graphical user interface) and that excites us because it is going to be universal (or should I say 'global') when the roll-out is finalized.  Xero will begin rolling-out these changes later this month. In the mean time, let's take a look at a few of them.

The new navigation moves around a lot of tasks and features from their traditional locations, but nothing has been abandoned. This new look begins with an Organization Menu at the top left hand side. If you have access to more than one 'organization' you will be able to easily switch between them from this menu. This menu provides access to the file library, settings for your organization, and links to the various Apps that have been connected to Xero.

As I mentioned, your files and settings have moved here to insure that everything related to your organization is in one place, easy to find.

Click on Settings within the Organization menu to open Organization settings where you can configure your organization details like addresses, log and basic information. This is also where you set-up, modify or remove authorized users and their access. You can add and manage 3rd-party Apps from settings, and configure both your Invoices and Email settings. You will also manage your Xero subscription and billing from this window, and also manage your payroll settings.

Back in the Organization Menu, take note of the 'Do more with Xero' option (as shown below). From here you can easily connect to apps within the Xero App Marketplace, or to Xero modules like 'Xero Payroll' or 'Xero Projects'.

But, the Organization menu isn't the only change. There is more! Even though the Dashboard and Contacts are still found within the new navigation (highlighted in black boxes below), as well as access to the Payroll and Projects menus (highlighted in yellow boxes) if you have subscribed to those modules, there you will notice that both Business and Accounting are now listed (highlighted in white boxes).

To provide more centralized access to the everyday tasks you perform, the Business menu contains the various features and tasks that small businesses use. These include Invoices, Quotes, Purchase Orders, Bills to Pay and Expense Claims.

Note the 'blue arrow' (in the illustration above) pointing to Products and Services; this is the navigation item that has replaced 'Inventory.' Xero made this change because this new name better describes all of the components that are in the list, Products (including Inventory) and Services.

The next new navigation area is Accounting. This new menu provides access to the most commonly used items and features that accountants and bookkeepers rely on for compliance purposes. This includes Bank Accounts, Reports and much more. By the way, any items you 'favorite' in either Reports or Advanced get added to this Accounting menu to streamline you access.

Within the Accounting menu you will find Advanced (highlighted by the Blue Arrow in the illustration above) that is home to both Advanced Features and Advanced Settings. 

  • Advanced Features include 'Find and recode,' 'Manual journals,' 'Fixed assets,' and the 'Assurance dashboard' which allows you to monitor the accuracy of financial data within the organization.
  • Advanced Settings include 'financial settings' [set the tax periods and lock (closing) dates], your 'Chart-of-accounts,' 'Tax rates,' 'Tracking categories' and more.

Xero researched how users were actually interacting with their product, and also garnered comments from users, bookkeepers and accounts while they were in the process of making these enhancements. And, that's really what these charges are, 'enhancements' designed to make Xero even easier and more efficient when it comes to doing the work you do every single day.

Don't forget, if you are in Europe, or definitely in the UK, then make certain to attend XEROCON London, Tuesday November 13 thru Thursday November 15 (2018) at CentreEd, Excel London (England). It's not too late to register.