Integration with Generic Practice Management Systems

FYI provides an option to connect with generic practice management systems. This allows Clients, Contacts, Users (that is, Staff) and Jobs to be uploaded and updated in FYI via previously defined .csv files. The .csv files are put in your practice's OneDrive, in the folder FYI - Practice Sync. The files are then picked up by FYI on a scheduled basis and used to synchronise your Clients, Contacts, Users and Jobs in FYI.

The update is to FYI only, for example, Job States are not updated back to the practice management system.

Not all data that is available can be imported using this method. FYI will be extending this and adding more over time, but certain fields (that are available from Xero Practice Manager) are not available using this sync.

File Format, Filenames and what to Send

• For information about the format in which the .csv files must be created, contact the FYI Support Team at support@fyidocs.com.
  
  
• The .csv filenames must start with the following as relevant for the type of information they hold.
  
     clients
     staff
     jobs
     contacts
  
  
• The .csv files can include all the Clients, Contacts, Users and Jobs every time you send them, or you can send only new and updated information. Any duplicate or unchanged information is detected and not updated in FYI.

Step 1 - Select the OneDrive Admin Account to Use

The first step is to connect the OneDrive Admin Account to use. This is a one-off step and can only be done by an FYI administrator. This OneDrive Admin Account is used for all the common activities across the practice. Refer to Link your Practice's OneDrive Admin Account.

Step 2 - Enable the Practice Sync Process

1. Login into FYI as an FYI administrator.
2. Click the Automation menu option.
3. Go to the Processes tab.
4. In Practice Sync, click the cog icon to edit this process.
   
   
5. Set this to "On" to enable the generic Practice Sync.
   
   

Step 3 - Add the folder "FYI - Practice Sync" to the OneDrive

1. In a separate session/profile, login to OneDrive as the user you specified when linking the OneDrive Admin Account in FYI in Step 1 above.
   
   
2. In the OneDrive for this account, create a folder called FYI - Practice Sync.
   This folder needs to be at the top level within the OneDrive.

Step 4 - Add the .csv files to the "FYI - Practice Sync" folder

Arrange for your exported .csv files to go to the FYI - Practice Sync folder with the correct filenames. FYI will check the FYI - Practice Sync folder for files with a filename starting with "clients", "staff”, "jobs" or "contacts".

Files are Picked up by FYI, which then Updates your FYI Data

As long as the Practice Sync process is enabled:

• Every hour FYI picks up the .csv files in the FYI - Practice Sync folder.
• Your Clients, Contacts, Users and Jobs are uploaded or updated as relevant to FYI.
  Any duplicate or unchanged information is not updated in FYI.
• The .csv files are then removed from the FYI - Practice Sync folder.

Inactive or Archived Data

Currently, if you need to archive a Client, this cannot be done using this method of syncing data.  Also, the sync will not disconnect a Contact from a Client. If required, for information purposes, you can use the sync to update the Client or Contact name to indicate it is no longer active.

You can change the status of a User to "Inactive" directly in FYI (refer to Making a User Inactive in Managing Users).

You can change the Status of a Job to a "completed" Job Status (refer to Job States and to the section Working with Jobs).

Making Changes to Users in FYI after the Initial Sync

Once FYI has picked up the users in the user.csv once, it will add those users to FYI.

If you then change any user settings in FYI and update anything, such as setting up the User Groups or Approval levels, these changes will be overridden when the users.csv is next synced.

To avoid this happening, after the initial sync of users, do not sync the entire user list again. Only sync a list of any new staff who you need to add to FYI.