Follow the below steps to connect to your company, complete one time setup and create revenue schedules (step 9 summarizes costs). Refer to the screenshots at the bottom of this page, and watch the demo video for a brief overview.


  1. Log in to Flowrev (or sign up - welcome!).

  2. "CONNECT" to and authorize Flowrev with organizations in your cloud based accounting system. [Home page]

    On connect, and after you authorize it, Flowrev pulls over the needed chart of accounts, Product/Service Items (if any), tracking categories for Xero or Department and Class for QuickBooks.

    Tip 1: Review the prep work solution article prior to connecting to your accounting system, and review the how to connect to Xero or the how to connect to QuickBooks solution article too.

    Tip 2: After the first connect you can Choose the company and click "SELECT ORG | SELECT COMPANY" to select the company to work with vs. "CONNECT."  It will automatically re-connect when needed.

  3. Complete the MAP ACCOUNTS  [Org | Company > Accounts page]

    Select values for all six selectors in the map accounts section and save by clicking the MAP ACCOUNTS button. This is typically a one time setup per company. For details, see this article. Flowrev supports multiple deferral and recognition accounts too as is detailed in linked articles.

  4.  Optionally, specify the recognition parameters for your Products/Services Items. [Items page]

    For example, Monthly, Per Diem - for details, see this article. The Monthly (or Once or Quarterly or Yearly) setting specifies how often you want amounts recognized on the PnL/Income Statement. The Per Diem (or Even Period, etc.), specifies how the amount to be recognized in each accounting period is to be computed as a function of transaction line amount and the contract duration specified in Step 6.

    If you plan to use the "auto-date" service date rules for Items, these can be set at this point too. For details, see the last part of this article.

    Note: For transaction lines not based upon Products/Services Items, the recognition parameters can be set from the invoice (or bill) details page, or by utilizing a company wide default setting.

  5. To load or update transactions from your accounting system click UPDATE SELECTED [Org | Company > Change/Update page]

    Ensure that the elements shown under the update selected button that you wish to load or update are checked e.g. invoices and bills that are the basis for cost and revenue recognition.

  6. Set the service start and end dates of invoices and its individual lines.  [Invoices or Invoice details page]

    For details, see this article. Do this for all transaction lines that need a schedule.

    Note: You can set the dates in bulk from the Invoices page, or individually from each invoice detail page. Use the latter approach if you need to set different dates for different invoice lines.  Date setting can be automated using the auto date feature described in this article.

    If you do not use or set recognition parameters for Product / Service Items, in addition to service dates, you would also specify/check the recognition cadence and recognition computation for each invoice line from the invoice details page.

  7. Generate the revenue recognition schedule by going to the "Revenue" page, and clicking on the "GENERATE REVENUE SCHEDULE" button (see screen shot below). [Revenue page]

    Note: The schedule generation process will evaluate all transactions in the selected fiscal year and create schedules on lines if one is needed based upon the recognition parameters and service dates specified. The individual line schedules roll-up to create the overall schedule. More details are in this article.

  8. Sync the recognition schedule(s) with your accounting system from the "Revenue" page by clicking the sync button above each month's label - see the screen shot below. You can choose when to sync, which months to sync etc. [Revenue page]

    Note: Flowrev recommends reviewing each schedule prior to sync. If a schedule needs to be replaced, first cancel the existing schedule using the topmost "Trash->" button on the schedule, then set the line parameters again and run this step. See this article for details.


  9. Repeat steps 6. to 8. from the "Bills" and "Costs" page for bills to generate cost recognition schedules. On the COSTS page, bill lines mapped to EXPENSE accounts will show in the "costs" row, and non-expense mapped lines in the "Review for CostRec" row.
     
  10. Use the download icon on the Revenue or Costs page to download detailed schedule data as CSV for any external analysis or to create custom reports. See this article for details.


You will see the below process / workflow on the home page after log in.  Follow the steps in sequence the first time for each organization.  You can subsequently go directly to the steps that are relevant to you e.g. Step 1, 3, 4 and 5.


PROCESS



Clicking the numbered process step buttons shown above will take you to specific pages from where you run the actual operation. 

Note: After accounts have been mapped, the MAP ACCOUNT button changes to "UPDATE ORG." which can be used to visit the Org page from where one can update the org data and load new invoices, etc.  



MAP THE ACCOUNTS


Note: This is a one time setup. Select values for all six selectors and save by clicking "MAP ACCOUNTS" or change values and save using "UPDATE MAPPED ACCOUNTS"  Also read this article. Flowrev also supports multiple deferral and recognition accounts, as detailed in linked articles.



SET PRODUCT/SERVICE ITEMS (if any) RECOGNITION PARAMETERS TO SPECIFY TYPE OF SCHEDULE


Note: Typically this is a one time setup. Your recognition parameters selections are saved only after you click "Update Parameters."  Recognition parameters can also be set per invoice or bill line, to override that set automatically by the Product/Service item setting, from the invoice or bill details page. Once, Monthly, Quarterly, Years specifies the frequency of recognizing amounts to the PnL/Income statement, and is not duration of contract nor billing frequency. The duration of the contract is specified via service dates in the step below. Also read this article.



SET INVOICE (or INVOICE LINE) SERVICE START AND END DATES TO SPECIFY CONTRACT DURATION


Note: Click "Update service dates" to save selected dates (dates are selected only when highlighted in blue and "Apply" is clicked). You can set dates for all invoices shown on the "Invoices" page and save using "update service dates" at one time. To set different dates for each invoice line on an invoice, or to override recognition parameters for an invoice (or bill line), visit the invoice (or bill) details page (OPS column). Also read this article.



GENERATE THE REVENUE RECOGNITION SCHEDULES FROM THE REVENUE PAGE


Note:  When you click "Generate Revenue Schedule" Flowrev will process every line on every invoice with invoice date within the selected fiscal year, and generate schedules for invoice lines that need to have one based upon the recognition parameters, and the service dates. It will report any setup issues or those requiring attention as it cross checks each line. See this article for details.

Note: To sync the recognition schedules to your accounting system, click the square button above each month's label in the Revenue table on the Revenue page.