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Using Classes in QuickBooks & Novi AMS

Organize and track transactions at an item level

Jenn Norman, CAE avatar
Written by Jenn Norman, CAE
Updated over a week ago

Classes can be a powerful tool to organize and track transactions at the line item level.

Essentially, a Class is a tag that you can assign to a certain line item - such as an event ticket, promo code, dues rule, or product - that tracks and gives you the ability to pull detail and summary reports on these categorized items within QuickBooks.

To be clear, the item itself isn't assigned a class, it's the line item on the transaction that is assigned the class. This allows for a scenario such as:

  • Invoice is created for an event using the "event registration" item. The line item on the invoice is mapped to the "virtual event" class.

  • Another invoice is created for a different event using the same "event registration" item. This time, the "dinner meeting" class is assigned on the line item.

  • In this scenario, you could run a report that breaks event registration income for a particular period into "virtual event" income vs "dinner meeting" income.

  • This is just one example. We have seen Novi customers use classes in hundreds of different ways. Our one piece of advice is to make sure that you have a strategy in place for how you plan to use the data.


Enabling Classes in QuickBooks

Classes must be enabled and defined within QuickBooks prior to using Class tracking in Novi. Novi's automatic sync will detect changes, but you might want to consider running a manual sync if you made changes to Classes in QuickBooks within the last few hours.

To enable Class tracking in QuickBooks Online:

  1. Login to your QuickBooks Online account and click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page

  2. Select Account and Settings

  3. Go to the Advanced tab

  4. In the Categories section, click the edit icon

  5. Within the edit dialogue, enable Track Classes

  6. In the Assign Classes dropdown, we recommend assigning Classes "One to each row in transaction." This way, if a transaction includes multiple items, such as an event registration with a product add-on, each can be assigned to a separate Class for tracking individually.


Enabling Classes in Novi AMS

With Classes enabled in QuickBooks, you will see the option to add a Class to your items in Novi. Once mapped to a Class, transactions including these items will be properly categorized without any additional work by members or association staff.

To Require Class Tracking in Novi:

  1. From the backend, click on the gear icon (top right) to open Association Settings

  2. From the QuickBooks tab, check the box to Require classes for entities linked to QuickBooks

When Classes are required, as you edit or create a new item in Novi, you will be prompted to add a Class before saving.

If you do not enable requiring Classes, you can decide whether to apply a Class on a per-item basis.

Adding a Class in Novi

Classes can be added to the following:

  • Dues Rules

  • Event Tickets

  • Products

  • Promo Codes

  • Shipping

When creating a Dues Rule, Event Ticket, or Product, you will see the option to add a Class in the Accounting section:

Promo Codes provide two options:

  1. Use the Ticket/Product/Dues Rule's Item & Class
    OR

  2. Assign a Custom Item & Class

*Assigning a Custom Item & Class to a Promo Code allows for tracking and reporting in QuickBooks of the details on the use of a particular promo code.

Assigning Shipping Class in Novi

If you are using Shipping for your Ecommerce, you have the option to assign a Class from your Association Settings, under the Ecommerce tab:


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