If you moved to WorkflowMax by BlueRock (now sold as WorkflowMAX) after Xero switched off the original WorkflowMax on 26 June 2024, and Xero no longer agrees with your jobs, the cause is usually one of six things: invoices stuck in draft or failing to push, payments not syncing back, duplicate contacts from the first import, account code and tracking category mapping that was never finished, supplier costs entered in the wrong place, or WIP and history that stayed behind in the old system. Most of these can be found in an afternoon with the checklist below. Some are settings, some are process, and a few are genuine product issues to raise with the vendor.
This post is for firms that have already moved. If you're still deciding where to go, our guide to replacing WorkflowMax covers what to check before you choose.
What people are reporting
The new product is a separate system built by BlueRock, not the old WorkflowMax under a new owner, and customers had to move their own data across. Experiences vary a lot. According to the Xero App Store (Australia) reviews page, the app rates 3.8 out of 5 from 201 reviews, with 55% five-star and 24% one-star when we checked in October 2026. Plenty of reviewers say it integrates with Xero smoothly and that it has improved since launch.
The unhappy reviews cluster around the Xero connection. On Trustpilot, one reviewer in November 2024 wrote that the "Xero integration isn't functioning correctly and hasn't for over a month", and another in January 2025 said an invoice that "didn't export to Xero" was still unresolved after two months. More recent Trustpilot reviews in 2026 are mostly positive about the Xero integration.
The honest picture: it works for many firms, but when it goes wrong the symptoms land in Xero at month end and can sit unnoticed for weeks.
The symptoms, in plain English
You probably have a sync problem if any of these sound familiar:
- An invoice shows as sent in WorkflowMAX but isn't in Xero, or it's sitting there as a draft nobody approved.
- A client has paid in Xero, but the job still shows the invoice as outstanding, so aged debtors in the two systems don't match.
- The same client appears two or three times in Xero, with slightly different names.
- Revenue lands in the wrong account, or your Xero tracking categories (service line, office, division) are blank on invoices from WorkflowMAX.
- Subconsultant bills, disbursements and materials are in Xero but not on the job, so job profit looks better than it is.
- Your WIP report starts in mid-2024, because unbilled time from the old system never came across.
- Reports that used to reconcile (fees by partner, profit by client, revenue by service line) no longer add up to the Xero P&L.
A checklist to work through
Work through these in order. The first few are quick and catch the most common problems.
1. Check the connection and the failed items
In WorkflowMAX's Xero settings, confirm it's connected to the right Xero organisation (multi-entity firms sometimes connect the wrong one) and look for failed or pending sync items. If you reconnect an expired connection, check for duplicates afterwards.
2. Check invoice status: draft or approved
WorkflowMAX's Xero page says invoices can flow to Xero as draft or approved, your choice. If yours are set to draft, someone has to approve each one in Xero. If nobody knows that's their job, invoices pile up in draft, aren't in debtors and never get paid through Xero. Decide which system invoices are sent from, and who approves them.
3. Check payments flow back
Payments should sync back from Xero to WorkflowMAX automatically. Pick five invoices paid last month and check each shows as paid in both systems. Invoices re-created by hand in Xero, or edited there after syncing, often lose their link.
4. Clean up contacts once, then pick a master
Duplicates usually come from the move itself: a client imported from the old export and again from Xero. Merge them in Xero, then agree which system new clients are created in. The sync is two-way, so a typo in either spreads to the other.
5. Finish the account code and tracking category mapping
According to the vendor, revenue account codes and tracking categories can be mapped at three levels: a default, by job category, or by individual task and cost. In a rushed move, many firms set only the default. That's why everything lands in one sales account with no tracking. Write down what your Xero P&L needs to show (for example, fees by service line or by office), then set the mapping to match. Remember that Xero only allows two active tracking categories, so stage-level and project-level detail belongs in the job system, not in Xero. If stage budgets didn't survive the move, read why fixed-fee projects lose money unseen; it's the problem a broken mapping hides.
6. Check where supplier costs are entered
The vendor's page says supplier invoices entered in WorkflowMAX create a bill in Xero and update job profitability, and that purchase orders themselves don't sync. Receipting a PO creates the cost and the bill. If your accounts team enters subconsultant bills straight into Xero (or through Dext or Hubdoc), they won't reach the job. Pick one entry point for job costs, and make it a rule.
7. Compare timesheets and costs
Compare last month's hours by job in WorkflowMAX with what reached Xero Payroll (if you use the timesheet export) and your cost reports. Check staff cost rates too: if they weren't migrated, the hours look right while every job's margin is wrong.
8. Deal with WIP and history from the old system
The original WorkflowMax can no longer be accessed, so your pre-June 2024 exports are all the history you have. Check someone knows where they are and can open them. For jobs open at the move, check the unbilled time and costs came across as opening WIP, not just the job names. If not, those jobs show losses or gains that never happened, and WIP is understated.
9. Rebuild the reports that matter, then reconcile once
List the reports partners and managers actually use, and reconcile one month of each to the Xero P&L or balance sheet. Any difference usually points back to one of the steps above.
What to raise with the vendor
Some things are product issues and belong with BlueRock's support team, not your bookkeeper. Raise a ticket when:
- An invoice fails to push to Xero and the error doesn't explain why, or retrying doesn't fix it.
- Payments made in Xero consistently don't come back, even on invoices that were never edited in Xero.
- The sync creates duplicates on its own, without anyone re-importing.
- A mapping setting is saved but not applied to new invoices.
Give them invoice numbers, dates, the Xero organisation, screenshots and what you expected. Keep a log of each issue and when it was raised: it turns "the sync is flaky" into something support can fix, and gives you facts if you later decide to move.
Is it the process or the product?
It's the process if the issues trace back to who enters what, where and when: bills entered in two places, invoices nobody approves, contacts created in both systems, timesheets done weekly from memory. No product fixes that alone; agreeing how work should flow, and writing it down, usually does. It's more likely the product if you've set things up as the vendor describes, your team follows the process, and the same failures keep happening.
When moving again is worth considering
Moving job systems twice in a couple of years is disruptive, so it shouldn't be the first fix. Consider it when logged issues stay unresolved for months, when the product can't support how you price and stage work (fixed fees by stage, retainers, progress claims for trade work), or when price rises change the sums. If you do move, plan the WIP and history from the start this time. Our WorkflowMax replacement guide and our guide to Xero and MYOB integration and migration cover what to check.
When it's worth getting help
If you've worked through the checklist and Xero still doesn't agree with your jobs, or nobody has the time to do it properly, that's when outside help pays off. This is a common pattern across professional services firms: the integration only half works, so finance fixes it by hand every month.
Our WIP and project accounting work for professional services sets up the mapping, job costing, WIP and reporting so the numbers agree. If the problem is wider than one integration, the $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps how work, time and money move through the business and gives you a written report on what to fix first. We're independent: we don't sell job management software, so we'll tell you honestly whether to fix what you have or move.
Frequently asked questions
Why are my WorkflowMax invoices not showing in Xero?
Check three things: that WorkflowMAX is connected to the right Xero organisation, whether invoices are set to arrive as drafts (they won't appear in debtors until approved), and whether there are failed sync items waiting. If an invoice still won't push and the error isn't clear, raise it with the vendor with the invoice number.
Why do I have duplicate contacts in Xero after moving to WorkflowMax by BlueRock?
Usually because contacts were imported twice during the move, from the old export and from Xero. Merge them in Xero, then decide which system new clients are created in.
Can I get my old WorkflowMax data back?
The original WorkflowMax was switched off on 26 June 2024, so data can no longer be exported from it. Whatever exports you took before then are your history. Keep them somewhere safe and make sure someone can still open them.
Why doesn't my WIP report match the accounts since the move?
The most common reasons are unbilled time and costs from open jobs that weren't brought across as opening WIP, staff cost rates that weren't migrated, and supplier bills entered in Xero instead of against the job. Reconcile one month at a time to find which one it is.
Should we move off WorkflowMax by BlueRock?
Not as a first step. Fix the settings and process, and log genuine product issues with the vendor. Consider moving only if logged issues stay unresolved or the product can't handle how you price and run jobs.
If your jobs and Xero haven't agreed since the move, book a free initial chat. We'll tell you plainly whether it's a setting, a process fix or something bigger.