What is the need / problem ?
Cannot import sales data into Xero
Who does it impact ?
Anybody who has to submit accounts and deal with GST/VAT globally
What is the current impact of the problem ?
Utter despair. In the UK we rely on being able to generate financial data to enable us to make VAT ( GST) returns which in affect are a government subsidy for agriculture. Also we need data for applying for grants and also for producers who are often reliant on state benefits and have to submit accurate estimates or actual earnings/income to gov. depts.
The organisation I work with was sold OFN on the basis that they can integrate it with Xero but as it happens there is no integration at all.
the current system, of what comes across as indifference, forces people into using excel or paper which is time consuming and discriminates against producers who do not have either the skills or ability to manipulate excel or the maths skill to manually calculate VAT etc.
What is the benefit of focusing on this ?
Less overhead costs in time spend messing around with excel spread sheets greater accessibility for people globally. OFN is affectively preventing people from being able to use accountancy software to manage their finances, claim GST or VAT refunds, it hampers us claiming grants and managing and budgeting etc. It makes it costly as we have to pay people to do the extra work on exporting and manipulating data in excel.
If this cannot be done then I think OFN needs to be honest about this so our hub and others can know how we stand in terms of accounts so we can choose to move to another platform.
Potential solutions that will solve the problem ?
[brainstorming to list feature candidates]
Just adding a box in the products page so you can add a nominal code. Link this to the VAT then format the report to gather this data. Xero very kindly produces a CSV file format of what it needs for Sale Invoice imports.
Experienced developers sitting down and sorting this
Selection of a feature candidate
[value x ease matric if needed]
T-shirt size of our selected feature candidate
No idea what this means
Metrics to measure if need is satisfied after feature is implemented
Er you can sell more subs to OFN
Feature owners
Epic/projet where you can follow implementation
Connected wishlist and discovery discussions*
[list precedent discussions]