Lightspeed K-Series to Accounting | Setting Up Your Integration through Base

Thank you for your interest in connecting your Lightspeed K-Series software to your accounting system through Omniboost. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the onboarding process on our platform, Base, and will help you understand what to expect at each stage.

Our Lightspeed K-Series integration supports a wide range of accounting platforms, and regardless of which accounting system you use, the general onboarding process remains largely the same. If you'd like to see which accounting platforms we connect to, please view this overview of all our supported systems connected to Lightspeed on our website.

Important: Although the overall onboarding workflow is consistent across all of these integrations, it is important to note that the specific questions asked during setup, the available mapping options, and the method of connecting to your accounting system may vary depending on the platform you are using.

Once the necessary agreements are in place between all parties, we will initiate the onboarding process. You will receive an invitation from your Omniboost agent to begin setting up your integration through our platform, Base. This invitation will outline the steps required to complete the onboarding.

The onboarding process consists of the following steps:

Please note that the specific settings and questions presented during setup may vary depending on your accounting system and the nature of your integration. Each customer's setup is unique, and the configuration will be tailored to your specific requirements.

The connection method for your accounting platform can also differ. Most platforms connect directly through Base via OAuth, while others require you to manually enter your connection details. In some cases, such as Sage Intacct, we obtain the necessary credentials from you in advance and configure the connection on your behalf, removing this step from your onboarding entirely.

Important: We strongly recommend that you complete this setup in collaboration with your bookkeeper, accountant, or finance controller. The integration involves financial logic and account mappings that directly affect how transactions are recorded in your accounting system. It is essential that the configuration aligns with the requirements of the person responsible for managing your books.

This is the most important step of the onboarding process: completing the form within Base by providing all the required information and working through the steps outlined above.

The first step is to review and accept our Terms & Conditions. If you have any questions or feedback regarding these, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Omniboost agent.

Following this, you will be asked to create your account. Please note that for multi-location integrations, your Omniboost agent will typically have already created your account in advance, allowing you to manage all locations from a single user. For single-location integrations, we ask that you create your user account yourself.

Note: We always recommend that both the venue and the bookkeeper have access to Base. You can create additional users yourself at any time within the platform, so please feel free to invite any relevant parties once your account has been set up.

Please refer to the image below as a reference:

Now that you have accepted the Terms & Conditions and created your account, the next step is to connect your Lightspeed K-Series environment to Base. This connection allows us to automatically retrieve your product categories, payment methods, and the necessary VAT percentages from Lightspeed. It also provides the permissions required to retrieve your sales and payment data and send these to your accounting system once the integration is built.

To establish this connection, click "Connect" and follow the instructions on the page. You will be asked to sign in with your Lightspeed account. Once signed in, please ensure that all permission sliders are selected before pressing "Authorize". If any of the sliders are left unselected, we will not have the full permissions required to facilitate the integration.

Important: The connection must be established by a Lightspeed user with administrator permissions. A standard user with limited access within Lightspeed won't have sufficient permissions to complete this step. Please note the link may mention QuickBooks, but this can be disregarded and ignored.

Please refer to the following images below as a references:

The next step is to connect your accounting system to Base. This connection allows us to retrieve your chart of accounts and, where applicable, your cost centres or other relevant financial structures. The specific data retrieved will depend on your accounting system and how it has been configured, as each platform differs in what it makes available through an API connection.

Upon completing the authentication steps, you will be redirected back to your onboarding within Base to confirm the success of the connection.

Upon completing the authentication steps, you will be redirected back to your onboarding within Base to confirm whether the connection was successful. If the connection is established successfully, a green confirmation message will appear. If there is an issue, a red error message will be displayed explaining the problem. In this case, please double-check your credentials and try again. If the issue persists, consult your accounting system administrator or reach out to your designated Omniboost agent or contact support@omniboost.io.

Please note that some systems may require you to select a specific tenant or environment if you manage multiple accounting environments under a single user.

Important: The fields and questions displayed during this step may vary depending on your accounting system. In this guide, we have used Xero as the primary example, where the connection is established through OAuth. However, for platforms such as NetSuite or Datev, you will be asked to manually enter your credentials instead. Regardless of the connection method, the required steps are clearly outlined within the onboarding form itself. Please follow the provided tooltips and instructions to complete this step.

Now that the connections between both systems have been established, the next step is to configure your general integration settings. This is where you provide information about how specific financial elements, such as tips, rounding, service charges, surcharges, and merchant fees, should be handled within your accounting system.

Please note that the fields shown below are for example purposes only. The specific settings required from you will differ depending on the accounting system you are connecting to. In this guide, we are using Lightspeed K-Series to Xero as the primary example.

If you successfully connected your accounting system in the previous step, certain fields will appear as dropdown menus populated with data retrieved from your accounting software. Depending on your platform, this may include your chart of accounts, tax codes, or cost centres (also referred to as departments or tracking categories, depending on the terminology used within your accounting package). Select the appropriate values from the available options for each field. Additionally, some settings are controlled through toggles that allow you to enable or disable specific functionality, such as whether merchant fees or detailed discount reporting should be sent to your accounting system.

If you are unsure what to enter for a specific field, please refer to the tooltip icon located next to each field. These tooltips provide additional context and guidance on what information is expected.

Please also note that some fields are mandatory, indicated by a red asterisk in the top right corner of the field. These represent default values that are always required regardless of your specific setup or accounting preferences. The number of required fields is generally limited, but may vary between integrations.

Once you have completed all the required fields, click "Confirm and Continue" to proceed to the final step of the onboarding process.

Please refer to the image below as a reference:

The final and most important step of the onboarding process is configuring the mapping between your Lightspeed K-Series environment and your accounting system. This mapping determines how your sales and payment data is categorised and recorded within your books, so it is essential that a logical and accurate relationship is established between both systems. The mapping consists of three sections:

Accounting Categories
This section lists all of your accounting groups (sometimes referred to as product categories) from Lightspeed K-Series. For each group, you are required to select the corresponding ledger account from your accounting system. You also have the option to assign a line description and a tracking category or cost centre, depending on what is available and how your accounting software refers to these (e.g., departments, tracking categories, or cost centres).

It is also possible to group certain transactions together by assigning the same line description to multiple categories. While this is not commonly used, it allows you to consolidate transactions from separate categories into a single line within your accounting system.

Payment Methods

This section displays all payment methods configured within your Lightspeed K-Series environment. For each payment method, you are required to select the corresponding ledger account in your accounting system. As with the accounting groups, you may optionally assign a line description and a tracking category or cost centre.

This isn't required in all cases. For Xero, for example, we offer a solution where only sales are sent in invoice format, meaning payment method mapping isn't necessary.

Taxes
The final section is the VAT or tax mapping. Here, you will select the appropriate tax code from your accounting system for each VAT or tax percentage configured within Lightspeed K-Series. Please note that the handling of tax information may vary between integrations. For example, for Datev integrations, VAT information is not included in the same manner. For customers in the United States or Canada, VAT can be configured to post to specific ledger accounts rather than tax codes.

The layout and structure of the mapping page may differ depending on your accounting system. For example, Datev requires a split between VAT percentages to account for differences between dine-in and takeaway transactions, so your mapping page may look different from the Xero example shown here.

Important: We strongly recommend completing this step in consultation with your bookkeeper, accountant, or finance controller to ensure the mapping reflects the correct financial structure. Your Omniboost agent can assist with general guidance, but the decision on which accounts and values to select should come from your accounting team. Please also keep in mind that you are always able to modify these mappings after reviewing the initial test data, as well as at any point during the lifetime of your integration.

After completing your onboarding form, you will be redirected to a page outlining the next steps. At the same time, your Omniboost agent will be notified that the onboarding has been completed and will review your configuration. If any adjustments or clarifications are needed, they will reach out to you directly. If everything has been provided as expected, your agent will proceed to build the integration based on the information you submitted.

Once the integration has been built, your Omniboost agent will get in touch with you to share a test journal or invoice generated from your actual Lightspeed data. They will ask you to validate this test entry against your Lightspeed sales and payments to ensure that the data is recorded correctly. We recommend comparing the output against your Lightspeed Business report to confirm accuracy.

Once you have validated the test data and confirmed to your Omniboost agent that everything is correct, we will process the required 30 days of historical data and enable the automatic synchronisation. From that point onwards, your data will flow to your accounting system on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, depending on what was configured and agreed upon during the onboarding process.
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