Cloud Feeds

Overview

Cloud Feeds allow you to automatically import your bank and credit card account transactions, called feeds, from your bank or financial institution into BQE CORE. CORE offers you the ability to connect to your bank, credit card, and investment accounts to download transactions instead of manually entering them. The main benefit of this is that you do not need to download your bank statements to get the transactions into CORE. You can set up the cloud feeds, download the transactions, and then match the transactions that are produced as a result of these feeds or include them in CORE as new transactions. You can also create time and expense line items from the cloud feeds so as to integrate these transactions with the existing A/R and A/P system in CORE. Click to watch this video on managing cloud feeds in CORE.

The goal of this feature is to help you with: 

• reconciling accounts
• avoiding double entry 
• automating expense entry

CORE connects to your financial accounts by using the services of a third party, online banking solutions service provider that collaborates with other banks to provide you with cloud feeds. These companies provide APIs to connect to the actual bank and credit card accounts, and then download transactions categorized by type. An example is cloud feeds provided by Yodlee, a third-party service provider that securely accesses your online bank accounts.

CORE also allows you to define rules for importing cloud feeds and processing the transactions based on conditions using the Manage Rules screen.

Note: To use this feature, you need to subscribe to the right Accounting package. Please check with your Sales Account Manager to purchase the required subscriptions.

You can check the Cloud Feeds FAQs here.

Field Descriptions

How To

Add Accounts

Download Transactions

View Transactions

Find Matching Transactions

Add New Transactions

Add Split Transactions

Transfer Transactions

Ignore Transactions

Refresh Cloud Feeds

Update Credentials

Edit Cloud Feeds Settings

Link Employees

Import Feeds from CSV

Import Transactions of Existing Account

Import Transactions of New Account

Disconnect Cloud Feeds

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Manage Rules

Export Cloud Feeds

View Reports

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Field Name	Field Description
Cloud Feeds >
Institution Name/ Account	ID or Name of your bank account or other account in your financial institution that is connected to the CORE account.
CORE Account	Name of an account in CORE that is connected to your bank or financial institution. You can change the CORE account associated with your cloud account in the following cases: There is no CORE account assigned when the cloud account was added. The CORE account has been assigned, but you want to change it to update the existing feeds to the new account. CORE allows this only if no feeds have been matched or added yet.
Nick Name	User-friendly name given to your mapped or connected accounts. This is useful if you are linking multiple accounts with a single account, and so helps in identifying the account feeds.
Account Type	The account connected to CORE can be a bank account or a credit card account.
Balance	This is the balance amount of your bank account or other account in your financial institution.
Balance (CORE)	This is the balance amount of your account in CORE.
Pending Transactions	Transactions downloaded from the bank but are yet to be added in CORE.
Linked Employee	CORE employee (Time & Expense User) associated with your account's cloud feeds, say to the company's credit card account. This is useful if you have multiple corporate credit cards given to employees and need them to have access to their credit card feeds for expense reporting only.
Status	Status of the connected accounts. It can be active or inactive.
Refresh Details	You can view the refresh details of the cloud feeds from your bank accounts. Last indicates when the cloud feeds were retrieved the last time. If you want to retrieve the latest bank transactions at any time, you can do so by refreshing the cloud feeds manually. Next indicates the date and time when you can expect the next automatic refresh of your cloud feeds.
Cloud Feeds > Transaction Details >
Date	Date of the downloaded transaction from cloud feeds.
Payee	Payee associated with the downloaded transaction.
Category	Category of transactions downloaded such as ATM withdrawals, transfers, deposits, reimbursements, etc.
Type	Shows the different types of transactions for the cloud feeds such as Credit Card Charge, Credit Card Charge Expense, Credit Card Credit, Check, Deposit, etc.
Amount	This is the amount associated with the downloaded transactions.
Action Type	This represents the type of action taken on the downloaded transactions, if any. It can be Added Ignored  Matched
CORE Entry Details	Details of all the downloaded transactions included in CORE. It includes the type of transaction, date and amount.
Cloud Feeds > Add New Transaction >
Type	It can be Accounts or Items. You can enter the new transactions by directly posting them to an account or entering them as service or expense line item against a project.
Item	You can select a service or an expense item from the drop-down if Items is selected as type. You can even check or uncheck the item as Billable, depending on how you want to add the transaction in CORE.
Payee or Resource	This depends on what type you select for the transaction. You can choose a client, vendor, employee or contact as the payee from the drop-down. This is an optional field.
Ref #	Reference number for the new transaction being added, such as a check number.
Remember as rule	This option allows you to remember these settings for similar transactions in the future. CORE’s business intelligence allows you to define these rules for imported cloud feeds so that they can be posted automatically to the pre-defined accounts, making the process even faster.
Line Memo	This allows you to add a line item memo in case the project rule 'Memo is required for time/expense entry' is set (if Accounts is selected as type).
Description	This represents the item description, but can be changed if needed.
Resource	This can be an employee or a vendor associated with the activity or expense item (if Items is selected as type).
Split Type	This can be Percentage or Amount, depending on whether you want the future transactions to be split based on the exact amount as in the current transaction or based on the same percentage as of the current amount.
Cloud Feeds > Import Transactions via CSV >
CSV (UTF-8)	CSV (UTF-8) encoded UTF stands for Unicode Transformation Format. It is character encoding format that can be as compact as ASCII (if the file is plain English text), but can contain Unicode characters as well. It uses 8-bit blocks to represent each character that is encoded. UTF supports many languages and can accommodate pages and forms in any of those languages.

 

Add Accounts

You can add external banks or financial institutions to CORE to get feeds from your accounts.

To add an account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click Add Account. Verify with the Captcha security check that you are human.
3. On the Connect Site dialog, select your institution from the given list or search for it.
4. Next, enter your online account credentials to log in:
   • Online ID/Username
   • Password
     
     
     
     
5. Click Submit to let CORE verify your credentials and connect to the bank. You can view all your related accounts and also link another bank account, if needed.
6. Confirm that all your accounts have finished processing and are ready to be added to CORE. Then click Done.

Note: You can remove any of the connected accounts by clicking on the gear icon next to it and deleting it. You can also add nicknames for your accounts from there.

Download Transactions

CORE allows you to download your bank transactions by connecting to those online accounts. After the transactions are downloaded, you need to match the imported transactions with the corresponding transactions in CORE.

To download your bank transactions in CORE, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click Add Account. Verify with the Captcha security check that you are human.
3. Using the Connect Site dialog, connect to your bank or financial institution and verify the account information.
4. On the Connect Accounts dialog, select a corresponding CORE account for each of your bank account. 
   
   
   
   Note: If you do not want to connect all your accounts, say personal accounts, to the CORE accounts, you have an option to ignore them by clicking Exclude on that row. Ignored accounts do not show up here in the future. You can reconnect to such excluded/ignored accounts by first disconnecting and then signing in again.
5. Click Connect Securely to add the accounts. Then, you can download your account transactions or feeds into CORE.

You can view all your imported and matching transactions in CORE.

View Transactions

To view your bank transactions in CORE, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to view and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select an option from the Show and Period drop-down, depending on what transactions you want to view.
4. The transactions imported from your bank account display on the grid. You can then compare them with the ones in CORE and take any relevant action, such as find a matching transaction in CORE if it does not find a match itself or add it as a new transaction.

Find Matching Transactions

To find the matching transactions between your bank and CORE accounts, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to match and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select Pending from the Show drop-down and choose a Period to view transactions.
   
   
   
   
4. Compare your imported bank transactions with the ones in CORE. Click Find Match to look for a matching transaction, if needed.
5. On the Find Match screen, look for a matching transaction on the grid and click Match.
   
   
   
   
6. If there is a perfect match, the task is done. If there is a discrepancy and the imported amount is more than that in CORE, it displays the Fix Discrepancy dialog asking you to create a transaction for the difference. If the imported amount is less than that in CORE, it does not allow you to create a transaction for that difference.
7. Enter the required information for the new transaction. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Payee
   • Account
8. Click Create New. A new adjustment transaction is created for the difference.

Note: You cannot update the connected cloud feed accounts that have matched transactions with a CORE account.

Add New Transactions

You might want to create a new transaction in CORE to match your bank account transaction, say, when you cannot find a match due to some discrepancy. You can enter the new transactions by directly posting them to the accounts or entering them as time or expense line items against projects. The latter is relevant for credit cards and checks because then CORE is able to integrate these cloud feeds with its existing A/P and A/R system. CORE informs you as to what type of transaction is being added, say deposit, check or credit card. You are provided with the print option for the check transactions.

To add as a new transaction, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to view and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select Pending from the Show drop-down and choose a Period to view transactions.
   
   
   
   
4. Compare the imported bank transactions with the ones in CORE. Select the relevant transaction on the grid (mismatch or no matches found) and click Add New on that row.
5. On the Add New Transaction panel, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Type - whether Accounts or Items
   • Account (if Accounts is selected above)
   • Project (if Items is selected above)
   • Item (if Items is selected above)
   • Memo
   • Payee or Resource - depending on what type you select
   • Class
   • Description (if Items is selected)
   • Ref #:  for the new transaction
6. Check the 'Remember as rule' option if you want CORE to remember these settings for similar transactions in the future. Check Field Descriptions above for details. Enter the Rule Name here.
7. Click Add. So now you added a new transaction and also created a new rule.

Note: You can select multiple entries on the grid and then click Actions > Batch Add to add selected transactions as new transactions in a batch mode.

Add Split Transactions

While adding the imported transactions as new transactions in CORE, you can split those transactions into multiple line items with their own memos. You can create a multi-lined entry from the incoming feed. CORE is able to split the amount of feed in the following ways:

• Automatic equal split
• Custom amounts
• Custom percentages

To split a transaction, follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to view and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select Pending from the Show drop-down and choose a Period to view transactions.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the relevant transaction on the grid and click Add New on that row.
5. On the Add New Transaction panel, enter the required information as usual.
6. Else, click Split Transaction.
7. On the Split - Create New dialog, enter the first transaction details. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   
   
   
   
   • Type - whether Accounts or Items
   • Account/Ref # (if Accounts is selected above)
   • Payee/Line Memo (if Accounts is selected above)
   • Project/ Ref # (if Items is selected above)
   • Item: service or expense item/ Description
   • Resource: employee or vendor (if Items is selected above)
   • Class
   • Amount
8. Click Done. Then enter another transaction with the remaining amount in the same way.
9. Optionally, enter a Memo for the entire transaction.
10. You can choose to remember this split transaction as a rule for future similar transactions by checking the 'Remember as rule' option. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
11. In that case, enter a Rule Name, say DESC Deposit.
12. You can specify the Split Type as a Percentage or Amount. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
13. Click Create Transaction.

The new transaction is split and saved into multiple transactions in CORE.

Transfer Transactions

For some reason, if there is no matching transaction found in CORE, you can add the imported bank transactions to CORE as a 'transfer'.

To transfer a transaction, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to view and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select Pending from the Show drop-down and choose a Period to view transactions.
   
   
   
   
4. Select a transaction on the grid and click to select 'Add as Transfer'.
5. On the Add as Transfer panel, select an account to which you want to transfer the imported bank transaction.
6. Enter a description, if needed.
7. Click Transfer.

Note: You can select multiple entries on the grid and then click Actions > Batch Transfer to transfer selected transactions in a batch mode.

Ignore Transactions

If you do not want to connect all your accounts, say personal accounts, to CORE, you have an option to exclude them by clicking Exclude on that row while connecting your accounts. You can even ignore some transactions after connecting the two accounts. Excluded accounts and ignored transactions do not show up here in future, even after refreshing the feeds. You can reconnect to such accounts by first disconnecting them and then signing in again.

Note: CORE Cloud Feeds has an in-built mechanism to detect duplicate feeds from third-party feeds sources and automatically mark them as ignored.

To ignore an imported bank transaction, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
2. Select an account on the grid whose transactions you want to view and click on that row.
3. In the detail view, select Pending from the Show drop-down and choose a Period. You can see the relevant pending transactions in CORE.
   
   
   
   
4. Select a transaction on the grid and click to select Ignore. This transaction gets excluded from CORE.
5. You can view all the excluded transactions in CORE by selecting Ignored in the Show drop-down.
   
   
   
   
6. You can then undo the action by clicking on that row or perform a batch 'undo' action by selecting multiple rows and then clicking Actions > Revert.

Note: You can select multiple entries on the grid and then click Actions > Ignore to exclude selected transactions in a batch mode.

Refresh Cloud Feeds

If you want to retrieve the latest bank transactions or feeds at any time, you can do so by refreshing the cloud feeds manually. The manual refresh is slower as it accesses your bank accounts. CORE also performs automatic refresh of your accounts, which does not involve any prompts and happens quickly in the background without your input as it accesses the cached feeds. However, auto refresh is not triggered until you log in and navigate to the Cloud Feeds screen. It is performed only on active accounts in the interval of about 24-48 hours. It cannot be done on accounts that need a 2FA code or Captcha, or those that experience site issues or errors from Yodlee.

To refresh the cloud feeds, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. You can choose to view the Refresh Details on the grid using More > Show/Hide Columns. It displays the Last and Next refresh time. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
3. Select the account on the grid that you want to refresh and click to select Refresh.
4. On the Connect Site dialog, you can view the latest information about your account.
5. Confirm that all your accounts have been updated and are ready to be synced with CORE. Then click Done.

You can view and download the latest transactions for your bank accounts.

Update Credentials

CORE allows you to update your login credentials for the bank or financial institutions connected to CORE. Although the Time & Expense users are not allowed to add new accounts here, they can update the credentials of the connected accounts.

To edit your login credentials for the bank account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the account on the grid that you want to update and click to select Update Credentials.
3. On the Connect Site dialog, enter your new login credentials.
4. Click Update.
5. Confirm that all you have successfully updated your credentials. Then click Done.

Edit Cloud Feeds Settings

To edit cloud feed settings, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the account on the grid that you want to edit and click to select Edit.
3. On the Edit Cloud Feed Settings dialog, enter or change the details. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Nick Name
   • CORE Account
   • Linked Employee
4. Click Save. This action updates the existing cloud feeds to the new account or settings.

Note: You cannot update the connected cloud feed accounts that have matched transactions with a CORE account.

Link Employees

Expense entry automation has been by far the most important aspect of Cloud Feeds and to accommodate its wide use, this feature is accessible to the regular Time & Expense users. Consider a typical medium to large company that provides all its employees, including rank and file employee, with corporate credit cards and expect them to record their expenses in CORE to prepare expense reports. Those employees would need to have access to their credit card feeds for expense reporting. In CORE, you can link CORE employees (Time & Expense users) to the relevant accounts connected through Cloud Feeds, say to the company's credit card accounts, and have them add the feeds as expenses. This can be done at the time of adding new connected accounts as well for already connected accounts.

To link an employee to your connected cloud feeds, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the relevant account on the grid that you want to assign to an employee and click to select Edit.
3. On the Edit Cloud Feed Settings dialog, select or change the Linked Employee. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
4. Click Save.

The employee gets assigned to the connected cloud feeds.

Import Feeds from CSV

CORE makes it easy for you to get your bank feeds and credit card transactions into CORE. Besides allowing you to download the feeds from the cloud, it also allows you to import the accounts without having to link to your financial institution and add transactions for offline accounts from a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file format. You can import the transactions either for an account that is already linked or manually connect a new cloud feed account to import its transactions. The csv data being imported must contain the following: Date, Description and Amount (Payee being optional).

Note: You can download a sample import file to see how your import file should be and what kind of data it should include.

You can also check the detailed video on importing data into CORE.

Import Transactions of Existing Account

To import transactions from a .CSV file into an existing cloud feed account, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the linked account on the grid whose feeds you want to import and click to select Import Feed via CSV.
3. On the Import Transactions via CSV dialog, choose the CSV (UTF-8) file to be imported. You can drag-and-drop the file or click to browse to its location. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
4. Click Upload.

5. On the Map Your Statement Fields dialog, you can match the CORE Fields (Cloud Feeds) with the available column headers from the CSV file (Statement Fields). Also, select the relevant Field Format, say for Date, you can select mm/dd/yyyy.
   
   

6. Depending on how your amount is displayed in the csv file, you must choose the File has amounts in option:

   • 1 column: Here both positive and negative numbers are displayed in a single column, representing both the Deposits and Payments (in case of bank accounts) or Charges and Credits (in case of credit card accounts).

   • 2 columns: Here there are separate fields for Payments and Deposits (in case of bank accounts) or Charges and Credits (in case of credit card accounts).

7. Next, select the CSV field for the Payments or Charges, and click Continue.

8. All the transactions fill the Import Records grid. You can now select the transactions to import into CORE. Click Import.

You can check the imported transactions in the edit view and take action, as needed (Add New, Find Match, etc.).

Import Transactions of New Account

To add an account and import its transactions from a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   

2. Click More > Add Account from CSV.

3. On the Add Account from CSV dialog, enter the details for the new account to be added. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

   • Institution

   • Nickname

   • Account Type

   • CORE Account

   • Institution Account: ID or name of your bank account  

4. Click Next.

5. On the Import Transactions via CSV dialog, choose the CSV (UTF-8) file to be imported. You can drag-and-drop the file or click to browse to its location. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   
   

6. Click Upload.

7. On the Map Your Statement Fields dialog, you can match the CORE Fields (Cloud Feeds) with the available column headers from the CSV file (Statement Fields). Also, select the relevant Field Format, say for Date, you can select mm/dd/yyyy.
   
   

8. Depending on how your amount is displayed in the csv file, you must choose the File has amounts in option:

   • 1 column: Here both positive and negative numbers are displayed in a single column, representing both the Deposits and Payments (in case of bank accounts) or Charges and Credits (in case of credit card accounts).

   • 2 columns: Here there are separate fields for Payments and Deposits (in case of bank accounts) or Charges and Credits (in case of credit card accounts).

9. Next, select the CSV field for the Payments or Charges, and click Continue.

10. All the transactions fill the Import Records grid. You can now select the transactions to import into CORE. Click Import.

You can check the imported transactions in the edit view and take action, as needed (Add New, Find Match, etc.).

Disconnect Cloud Feeds

Accounting users using Cloud Feeds can set their connected accounts as inactive or disconnect them altogether to stop the feeds. The former takes away the need to disconnect certain accounts like expired credit cards and so avoid losing matched data. Sometimes there are issues with the cloud feeds provider wherein it is recommended to disconnect and then re-connect the accounts by adding them back. In such cases, CORE retains the feeds that have been added, matched or ignored by you. After reconnecting, only the missing and new incoming feeds are added to avoid duplicate entries.

To stop your cloud feeds, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the account on the grid that you want to disconnect and click to select Disconnect.
3. You can also select multiple accounts on the grid and click Actions > Disconnect.
4. You are prompted to confirm the action. Click Submit.

Note: If CORE detects matched entries in your cloud feeds, it prompts you to save and reuse these mappings after reconnecting.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Last Refresh.
3. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Balance.
4. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Manage Rules

To set up and manage cloud feed rules, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Manage Rules. You can access this option from the transactions list view also under the More menu.
3. On the Manage Rules screen, click Add Rule and enter the required information. Check Manage Rules for details.

CORE allows you to edit the rules in the Manage Rules screen. You can also edit the rules directly from the Cloud Feeds> Transactions list view by clicking on the rule in the Matching Transactions column, which opens the Edit Rule dialog. 

Note: For the Time & Expense user with access to Cloud Feeds, the Manage Rules option is not available.

Export Cloud Feeds

In CORE, you can export cloud feeds to the Comma Separated Values. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export cloud feeds to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

Note: For the Time & Expense user with access to Cloud Feeds, the Export as CSV option is disabled.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

View Reports

To view a report, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.
3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Cloud Feeds screen from the side menu > Accounting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the top-right.
3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.