Xero retired the original WorkflowMax in June 2024. BlueRock bought the WorkflowMax name and released a new product, WorkflowMax by BlueRock, which is in the Xero App Store alongside other job and project management apps. If your business ran its quotes, timesheets, jobs and invoicing through WorkflowMax, choosing the replacement is only half the job. The other half is making sure job costing, work in progress (WIP) and reporting still work once you have moved.
What happened to WorkflowMax
Xero stopped new trials and integrations for WorkflowMax in March 2023 and switched it off on 26 June 2024. BlueRock acquired the WorkflowMax brand and built a new job management product under that name. The new product is a separate system, not the old one under a new owner. Xero Practice Manager, which grew out of the same technology, is aimed at accounting and bookkeeping practices rather than other businesses.
That leaves most businesses that used WorkflowMax with a choice between WorkflowMax by BlueRock and another job management app that connects to Xero. Many have already moved. Some moved in a hurry before the deadline and are still living with the gaps.
Who this affects
WorkflowMax was popular with businesses that sell time and expertise by the job:
- Architects, engineers and surveyors running fee-based projects with stages and variations.
- Consultancies and agencies tracking hours against fixed fees or retainers.
- Trade and service businesses quoting jobs, tracking labour and materials, and invoicing progress.
- Accounting practices, many of which moved to Xero Practice Manager.
The common thread is that the job system holds the numbers the business is run on: hours, costs, budgets and what has been invoiced.
What to check before you choose a replacement
Feature lists all look similar. The differences show up in how the new system handles your data and your process. Before you choose, check:
- How your jobs are really costed. Write down how you work out the cost of a job today: staff cost rates, charge-out rates, materials, subcontractors and overheads. Make sure the new system can do the same, or decide what will change.
- How you report WIP. If you report unbilled time and costs each month, check how the new system calculates WIP and whether your accountant will accept it.
- What goes to Xero, and when. Decide whether invoices, bills, timesheet costs or only totals should flow into Xero, and which system is the master for clients and suppliers.
- What history you need. Decide how many years of closed jobs, timesheets and invoices you need to keep, and whether they must be in the new system or can sit in an archive you can still search.
- Where the spreadsheets are. Most businesses have a few spreadsheets beside WorkflowMax for things it didn't do, such as resourcing, budgets or profit by client. List them now, because they tend to be forgotten until month end.
Moving the data without losing the numbers
The move itself is a data job:
- Export everything while you can. Clients, contacts, jobs, tasks, timesheets, quotes, invoices, costs and staff rates. If you moved in 2024, check that you still have the exports and that someone knows where they are.
- Decide what moves and what is archived. Open jobs usually move in full. Closed jobs often go to a searchable archive or a reporting database instead.
- Match the structure. Job numbers, task names, cost codes and client names should line up between the old data, the new system and Xero, or reports won't reconcile.
- Check the totals. For a sample of jobs, compare hours, costs, invoiced amounts and WIP in the old data and the new system before you rely on it.
- Run month end once in both. If you can, close one month using both the old figures and the new system, and compare.
When the replacement doesn't cover everything
Job management apps are built for the common case. If your business has its own way of pricing, staging or reporting jobs, there will be gaps. The usual signs are reports rebuilt in Excel each month, the same details entered in the job app and Xero, or a partner asking for profit by client and nobody being able to produce it quickly.
Those gaps are usually fixed by connecting the systems properly rather than switching again: an integration between your job system and Xero, reporting that combines both, or WIP and project accounting set up for professional services. We look at this kind of problem across professional services firms.
Frequently asked questions
Is WorkflowMax still available?
The original WorkflowMax by Xero was switched off on 26 June 2024. WorkflowMax by BlueRock is a separate, newer product sold under the same name, available from BlueRock and through the Xero App Store.
Can I still get my old WorkflowMax data?
Once the original product was switched off, the data could no longer be exported from it. If you moved before then, your data is in whatever exports you took or in the system you moved to. Check those exports are safe and that someone knows how to read them.
Is Xero Practice Manager a replacement for WorkflowMax?
For accounting and bookkeeping practices, often yes; it is built for them. For architects, engineers, consultancies and trade businesses, it usually isn't the right fit, and a job management app is more suitable.
Do I need to replace WorkflowMax with one system?
Not always. Some businesses use a job management app for quotes, time and invoicing, keep Xero for the accounts, and build their WIP and profit reporting from both. What matters is that the numbers agree and nobody re-keys them.
We already moved and the reports are worse. What now?
That is common after a rushed move. Start by listing the reports you used to get and how you get them now, then look at whether the missing ones can be built from the new system and Xero rather than rebuilt by hand.
If your jobs moved off WorkflowMax but your reporting never came back, book a free initial chat. We'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix or something bigger.