How Toggl Delivered a Custom Xero Integration

A technical consultancy operating across multiple regions faced a challenge: improving visibility into time spent on projects while seamlessly turning Toggl Track time tracking data into detailed, accurate invoices in Xero.

Each month, they needed to generate over 180 invoices — each one tailored to specific client tax rules, currencies, and project details.

The Challenges

1. Complex data:
   • Projects, tasks, and clients followed structured naming conventions, including codes for departments and tax regions.
   • Non-billable work needed to be excluded from invoices automatically.
2. Detailed invoices:
   • Line items had to include task names, logged hours, projects and task-specific rates.
   • Tax rates, billing entities, and currencies varied by client location.
3. System stability and scalability:
   • The steady volume of invoices required a system that was stable and error-free.
4. Regulatory compliance and tracking:
   • Invoices needed to adhere to tax regulations while maintaining tracking categories for internal reporting.

The Solution: Custom Toggl Track ↔️ Xero integration

Toggl Custom Solutions engineered a bespoke integration between Toggl Track and Xero, automating the invoicing process from start to finish. With an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process at its core, the integration tackled complexity and scale.

What was the approach?

1. Automated data handling:
   • Data extraction: The integration pulled all time entries from Toggl Track, grouping them by project and task, while filtering out non-billable work.
   • Line item creation: Each line item included task names (with unnecessary codes removed), logged hours as quantities, projects and rates sourced from Toggl Track task data.

2. Custom invoice creation:
   • Tax and currency management: Taxes were calculated based on client location, with support for multiple tax codes and regions. Invoices were generated in the correct currency for each project.
   • Entity assignment: depending on the client’s location, invoices were billed from the appropriate regional account in Xero.

3. Smooth Integration:
   • Direct API sync: Invoices were formatted and sent directly to Xero, ensuring compatibility and consistency.
   • Duplicate prevention: After invoicing, time entries were tagged as “Invoiced,” ensuring any new entries were handled in the next billing cycle.

The Results

1. Timely Delivery: The custom Xero integration was delivered on schedule, supporting the company’s time tracking system rollout.
2. Hours saved on invoicing: Automating invoice generation freed the team from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value work.
3. Ready to scale: The integration handled steady invoice volumes effortlessly and was designed for future growth.
4. Error-free invoicing: Invoices were accurate and consistent, eliminating the risk of manual mistakes.
5. Regulatory confidence: The system applied the correct tax rates and tracking categories automatically, ensuring compliance with local regulations.

Custom time tracking system that works the way you do

The Toggl Custom Solutions team collaborates with you to design, build, and implement customizations that integrate seamlessly into your workflows.