RosterElf Xero Integration Guide [2026 Updated]

Connecting your rostering software to your accounting platform is one of the most effective ways to reclaim hours of administrative time each week. If you're using RosterElf for scheduling and Xero for payroll, you can automate the entire process from timesheet approval to payslip generation. This guide provides a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough of how to set up the RosterElf and Xero integration, ensuring your data flows accurately and your payroll runs on time, every time.

Why Integrating RosterElf and Xero Is a Game-Changer

RosterElf excels at building compliant schedules, managing shift swaps, and capturing accurate clock-in and clock-out data. Xero is a powerful accounting tool that handles payroll, invoicing, and financial reporting. When used alone, you're left with a manual gap: exporting timesheets from one system and keying them into the other. This creates unnecessary work and introduces the risk of costly data entry errors.

Integrating the two platforms closes that gap. The connection creates a direct pipeline for payroll information, giving you several key advantages:

• Eliminate Manual Data Entry: Once timesheets are approved in RosterElf, the data is pushed directly to Xero Payroll. This removes the need to manually enter hours, overtime, and allowances, saving your admin or payroll team significant time.
• Reduce Payroll Errors: Manual data entry is a primary source of payroll mistakes. Automation ensures that the exact hours worked are the exact hours paid, reducing the risk of overpayments, underpayments, and compliance issues.
• Improve Data Accuracy: The integration syncs employee details and pay items, maintaining consistency across both platforms. This ensures every figure in your payroll run is tied to an approved timesheet.
• Accelerate Your Payroll Cycle: With timesheet data flowing into Xero instantly, you can finalize payroll runs in a fraction of the time. This means employees are paid correctly and on schedule with far less effort.
• Gain Real-Time Labor Cost Visibility: By pushing timesheet data into your accounting software, you get a clearer, more immediate picture of a project's or location's labor costs, improving budget management and financial reporting.

Prerequisites: What You Need Before You Start

Before you jump into the setup process, a little preparation will ensure everything goes smoothly. Double-check that you have the following in place:

• An Active RosterElf Account: You need an active subscription to RosterElf with administrative-level or owner-level permissions to access the integration settings.
• An Active Xero Account: Your business must have a Xero subscription that includes the payroll module. You will also need "Standard + Payroll Admin" access rights to authorize third-party applications.
• Aligned Employee Data: For the sync to work properly, employees must exist in both systems. The integration matches employees based on their name. Ensure the names of your staff members in RosterElf are identical to their names in Xero to avoid matching errors.
• Configured Pay Items in Xero: Before connecting, it's best practice to have your primary pay items already set up in Xero. This includes categories like "Ordinary Hours," "Overtime T1.5," "Saturday," and "Sunday" rates, which you will later map to RosterElf's pay templates.

Connecting RosterElf and Xero: A Step-by-Step Guide

RosterElf offers a native, built-in integration with Xero, which makes the setup process straightforward. Follow these steps to get your systems connected and communicating.

Step 1: Log in to Your RosterElf Account

Begin by signing into your RosterElf web dashboard. You must be an administrator or user with sufficient permissions to manage integrations and payroll settings for your organization.

Step 2: Navigate to the Integration Settings

Once you are logged in, locate the "Settings" tab in the main navigation menu. From the settings menu, find and click on the "Integrations" section. This is the hub where you can manage connections to all third-party apps, including Xero.

Step 3: Locate and Activate the Xero Integration

Within the integrations list, you will see a card for Xero. Click the "Connect to Xero" button. This action will initiate the authorization process and redirect your browser to the Xero login portal.

Step 4: Authorize RosterElf to Access Your Xero Data

You will be prompted to log in to your Xero account if you aren't already. After logging in, Xero will display a consent screen asking for your permission to allow RosterElf to access your organization's data. This includes information like employee lists, payroll details, and timesheets. Review the permissions and click "Allow access" to proceed. You will then be automatically redirected back to your RosterElf dashboard.

Step 5: Configure Your Integration Settings and Map Data

This is the most important part of the setup process. After authorization, you will be taken to the Xero integration configuration screen within RosterElf. Here, you'll map the data from RosterElf to the corresponding fields in Xero.

• Select Xero Organisation: If you manage multiple entities in Xero, choose the correct organization to connect.
• Map Employees: The system will attempt to automatically match employees between RosterElf and Xero based on their names. Review this list carefully. If any employees are unmatched, you may need to adjust their details in one of the systems or manually link them here.
• Map Pay Items (Pay Templates): This step connects RosterElf's pay rates to Xero's earning rates. For each pay template in RosterElf (e.g., standard weekday, weekend penalty rate), you must select the corresponding earning rate (pay item) you've already created in Xero. Accurate mapping here is crucial for correct pay calculations.
• Configure Tracking Categories: Xero's Tracking Categories are a powerful feature for segmented reporting. You can map RosterElf's "Sites" or "Locations" data to a tracking category in Xero. This allows you to run profit and loss reports by location, giving you detailed insights into labor costs for different parts of your business.

Step 6: Send Approved Timesheets to Xero

Once your settings are saved, the integration is active. The dataflow is not automatic; you retain control by manually pushing the data for each pay period.

To do this, navigate to the "Payroll" tab in RosterElf. Select the pay period you want to process and review all the timesheets for accuracy. Once approved, you will see an option to "Send to Xero." Click this button, and RosterElf will package the approved timesheet data and push it directly into the payroll section of your connected Xero account.

Step 7: Verify the Data in Xero and Process Payroll

Log in to Xero and go to the "Payroll" menu. You should see the timesheet data from RosterElf populated under Draft Pay Runs or in the "Timesheets" section for the relevant employees. Verify that all hours, rates, and totals are correct. From here, you can complete your payroll process as usual within Xero by finalizing the pay run, issuing payslips, and managing tax obligations.

Common Trouble Spots and How to Fix Them

Even with a direct integration, you might encounter a few hiccups. Here are some common sync issues and how to resolve them:

• Authorization Errors: If the connection breaks, it's often because the authorization token has expired or a user's permissions have changed. The easiest fix is to go back to RosterElf's integration settings, disconnect Xero, and immediately reconnect it by following the authorization steps again.
• Employee Matching Failures: The "Employee not found in Xero" error is typically caused by a mismatch in names (e.g., "Jon Smith" in RosterElf vs. "Jonathan Smith" in Xero). Ensure names are identical, including middle names or initials if used. Also, confirm the employee has been fully set up in Xero Payroll, not just as a general contact.
• Incorrect Pay Rates in Xero: If an employee's pay is wrong after the sync, the cause is an incorrect pay item mapping. Return to the integration settings in RosterElf and meticulously check that each RosterElf pay template is linked to the correct Xero Earning Rate item.
• Timesheets Don't Appear in Xero: If you've pushed the timesheets from RosterElf but can't find them in Xero, first check if a draft pay run has been created for that period. Sometimes the data populates there directly. Also, confirm you are looking at the correct pay calendar in Xero.

Thinking Beyond the Native Integration

For most businesses, the direct native integration is more than sufficient. However, if your needs are more complex, you can explore other options:

• Third-Party Connectors: Tools like Zapier can create more advanced, custom workflows between RosterElf and Xero. For example, you could create a "Zap" to add a new employee in RosterElf and automatically trigger the creation of a draft employee profile in Xero. These platforms offer greater flexibility but may come with additional subscription costs.
• Custom API Integration: For large enterprises with bespoke requirements, both RosterElf and Xero offer APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). This allows your development team to build a completely custom integration tailored to your specific operational workflows. This approach offers the highest degree of control but requires significant technical expertise and resources.

Final Thoughts

Integrating RosterElf with Xero bridges the gap between workforce management and accounting, turning a disjointed, manual process into a streamlined, automated workflow. By investing a small amount of time to set up the connection correctly, you remove the risk of manual data errors, speed up your payroll cycle, and free up your team to focus on more valuable work.

While connecting tools like RosterElf and Xero automates the data flow for payroll, accounting professionals still spend countless hours researching tax questions. When complexities arise around payroll taxes, fringe benefits, or state withholding rules, your team needs accurate answers with legal backing. That’s why we built Feather AI; it provides instant, citation-backed answers from authoritative tax sources like the IRC and state codes, helping you resolve complex issues in seconds, not hours.