Auto-create Project Tracking in Xero

Deep Space creates the Xero tracking option for a project the moment the project enters Delivery, and adds the mapping row for you. This guide covers turning it on, catching up projects that are already running, the rows it creates, and what to do when Xero says no.

Admin → Finance → Finance Integrations → Xero tab · For workspace administrators and finance leads · October 2026

1The 60-second brief

Every bill, purchase order and invoice Deep Space pushes to Xero carries the project's tracking option, so Xero can report by project. Until now someone had to create that option in Xero and map it on the Finance Integrations page for every new project. Auto-create Project Tracking in Xero does both the moment a project becomes live.

Three rules that explain most of what you will see

It is off until a workspace administrator turns it on and picks the Xero tracking category that holds your projects (usually a category called Project, Job or similar).

It fires when a project enters Delivery or DLP. A project created directly from the Home page starts in Delivery, so it is set up at creation. A project won from a tender or opportunity is set up when it is awarded.

It never blocks the project. The stage change always goes through. If Xero refuses the option, the project is listed under Project Mapping with the reason and a Retry all button.

The option is named after the project. If an active option with the same name already exists in the category, Deep Space links the project to it instead of creating a duplicate. Rows it creates are marked Auto-created in the Project to Tracking Category Mapping table and can be edited or removed like any other row.

2Before you turn it on

Deep SpaceYou need workspace administrator access

The Admin group must be visible in your left menu. The switch applies to the whole workspace, every project included.
XeroA tracking category for projects must exist in Xero

In Xero: Accounting → Advanced → Tracking categories. Xero allows two active tracking categories per organisation. If Deep Space already uses one of them for the Second Tracking Category (TC2) card (cost types or departments), the project category must be the other one.
Deep SpaceXero must be connected with permission to create tracking options

Connections made before 23 October 2026 only had permission to read tracking categories. If the switch refuses with the message below, reconnect Xero once: Disconnect from Xero on the Organisation Configuration card, then Connect and approve the Xero consent screen. Reconnecting the same Xero organisation brings back your mapping configuration, switches and default accounts.

Deep Space's Xero connection does not include permission to create tracking options — reconnect Xero to grant it

If your existing mappings already point at two different categories

The card shows Existing mappings span two categories — check them before enabling. Decide which category is the project category and fix the odd rows in Project Mapping first (see section 7), otherwise they will be flagged the moment the switch is on.

3Turning it on

Deep SpaceOpen Finance Integrations

Left menu → Admin → Finance → Finance Integrations. Stay on the Xero tab and scroll past GL Account Mapping to the Auto-create Project Tracking in Xero card. It sits directly above Project to Tracking Category Mapping.
Deep SpacePick the project tracking category

The Project tracking category dropdown lists your active Xero categories, minus the one TC2 uses. If your Project Mapping rows already all point at one category, it is pre-selected for you. If the dropdown is empty you will see Create a tracking category for projects in Xero first.
Deep SpaceSwitch on and save

Turn on Enabled for this workspace. The card turns orange with an Unsaved Changes badge; press Save Changes (or Discard Changes to back out). Before saving, Deep Space checks with Xero that the category is active, not used by TC2, and that the connection may create options.
AutomaticFrom now on, new Delivery projects are set up on their own

Nothing else to configure. If projects are already in Delivery without a mapping, a blue banner offers Review and create — see section 5.

Left menu with the Admin group expanded, showing the Finance group and the Finance Integrations entry — **Left menu.** Finance Integrations sits in the Finance group under Admin, next to Financial Model, Labour Rates and Delegation of Authority.

The Auto-create Project Tracking in Xero card with the switch off and the Project tracking category dropdown set to Project — **Auto-create Project Tracking in Xero card, switch off.** The switch *Enabled for this workspace*, the *Project tracking category* dropdown (here: Project) and the Save Changes button. The description reads: when a project enters Delivery (or DLP), its tracking option is created in Xero and added to the mapping below; projects created directly start in Delivery.

The same card with the switch on and a blue banner saying 5 active projects (Delivery or DLP) are not mapped yet, with a Review and create button — **Card after saving with the switch on.** The blue banner *5 active projects (Delivery or DLP) are not mapped yet* appears whenever live projects still have no tracking mapping, with the *Review and create* button that sets them up in one go.

If Xero refuses the switch

Saving can come back with one of these messages. The switch stays off until the cause is fixed.

Message on save	What it means	What to do
Deep Space's Xero connection does not include permission to create tracking options	The Xero connection pre-dates this feature.	Reconnect Xero once (section 2), then save again.
Xero is not connected	The workspace has no live Xero connection.	Connect Xero on the Organisation Configuration card.
Tracking category … is not an active category in Xero	The category was archived or deleted in Xero.	Pick another category, or restore it in Xero and refresh the page.
That category is used by the second tracking category (cost types); choose the other one	TC2 already writes cost types or departments into this category.	Choose the other Xero category for projects.

4What happens when a project enters Delivery

With the switch on, these events set a project up in Xero. Nobody has to open Finance Integrations.

Event in Deep Space	Where it happens
A project is created directly	Home → New → New Project. Direct projects start in Delivery, so the option is created as part of creation.
A tender is won	Preconstruction → Tenders → the tender is marked won and its project advances to Delivery.
An opportunity is won	Preconstruction → Opportunities → the opportunity is converted to a live project.
The stage is changed by hand	Project Settings → Stage set to Delivery or DLP.
A project is restored	An archived project in Delivery or DLP is restored.

AutomaticDeep Space looks for an option named after the project

The option name is the project name with surrounding and doubled spaces removed, cut to Xero's 100-character limit. Capitalisation does not matter when matching.
AutomaticIt creates the option, or links the existing one

No option with that name in the project category → Deep Space creates it in Xero. An active option with that name already exists and is not mapped to another project → Deep Space links to it. No duplicates are created.
AutomaticIt adds the mapping row

A row project → category — option appears in Project to Tracking Category Mapping with the Auto-created date chip. From here every push for that project carries the option.
AutomaticIt writes an Activity Log entry

The Activity Log card at the bottom of Finance Integrations records the creation. If Xero refused, the project is listed under Project Mapping instead (section 8) and the project still moves to Delivery.

Project to Tracking Category Mapping table with five rows, each showing the project, the option in the Project category, an Auto-created date chip and a delete icon — **Project to Tracking Category Mapping after a few projects went live.** Each row pairs a Deep Space project (Asher1, DeepLiz, Horizon Dev, Leo Tesing Project, COM-663 Smoke 2026-10-26) with its option in the Project category, shows the green *Auto-created* chip with the date, and has the red bin icon to remove the row. Add Project Mapping and Save Changes sit below the rows.

The New menu on the Horizon Home page, open, showing New Opportunity, New Tender and New Project — **Home → New menu.** *New Project* creates a project directly in Delivery, which is the most common trigger for the auto-created option. New Tender and New Opportunity set the option up later, when they are won.

5Catching up projects that are already in Delivery

Turning the switch on does not touch projects that are already live. Instead the card counts them: N active projects (Delivery or DLP) are not mapped yet. The same banner reappears later if a project ends up in Delivery without a mapping, for example after an auto-created row was removed.

Deep SpacePress Review and create

The dialog Create tracking options for existing projects lists every Delivery or DLP project with no tracking mapping, with its stage. All are ticked; untick any you do not want in Xero yet.
Deep SpacePress Create in Xero

Each ticked project is set up exactly as in section 4: an option is created or an existing one linked, and a row is added. The button reads Creating… while it works.
AutomaticRead the summary

A toast such as 3 created, 1 linked confirms the result. If it ends with … could not be set up (see Project Mapping), scroll down: the failed projects are listed with their reason (section 8). The banner count drops to whatever is still unmapped.

Dialog titled Create tracking options for existing projects listing five Delivery projects with ticked checkboxes, and Cancel and Create in Xero buttons — **Review and create dialog.** *Create tracking options for existing projects* lists the unmapped Delivery/DLP projects (Burger King Project, COM-1209 Matland SoV fixture, January 2025 Testing Project, Starbucks Cafe Project, William Test), each with a checkbox and its stage. *Create in Xero* creates an option in Xero, or links to an existing one with the same name, and adds a mapping row for every ticked project.

6Auto-created rows in Project Mapping

Rows created by the feature behave like rows you added yourself, with one marker: the Auto-created dd/mm/yyyy chip. Hover it to see Created by Deep Space when the project entered Delivery.

Re-point a row by choosing a different option in its dropdown and pressing Save Changes. While the switch is on, the dropdown only offers options from the project category (section 7).
Remove a row with the red bin icon, then save. Removing the row does not delete the option in Xero. If the project is still in Delivery, the banner counts it as unmapped again and the next stage event, or Review and create, recreates the row.
To keep a live project out of the project category on purpose, map it by hand to the option you want instead of deleting its row. A mapped project is never touched by the feature.
Saving from a page that has been open for a while is safe. Rows the feature added in the meantime are kept; your save only changes the rows you edited or removed.

7Keeping manual mappings in the project category

While the switch is on, Deep Space treats the chosen category as the project category. Manual rows are held to it so that Xero reports stay consistent:

The option dropdown in Project Mapping only lists options from that category.
A saved row that points elsewhere gets the amber chip Not in the Project category, and the auto-create card warns 1 project mapping is outside the Project category — fix it in the mapping below.
Saving is not blocked. Fix the row by re-pointing it to an option in the project category, or remove it, then Save Changes. The warning clears as soon as the save goes through.

The auto-create card with the switch on, an amber warning that 1 project mapping is outside the Project category, and the blue banner about unmapped projects — **Auto-create card with a category warning.** The amber bar reads *1 project mapping is outside the Project category — fix it in the mapping below*; the blue banner still counts the unmapped projects. Both disappear once the rows below are fixed.

Project Mapping table where the last row, William Test, points at Region — Eastside and carries an amber chip Not in the Project category, while the other rows show green Auto-created chips — **The flagged row in Project to Tracking Category Mapping.** William Test is mapped to *Region — Eastside*, an option from the other Xero category, so it carries the amber *Not in the Project category* chip instead of the green Auto-created chip. Re-point it to a Project option or remove it, then Save Changes.

8When a project “could not be set up in Xero”

If Xero refuses or is unreachable, the project still enters Delivery, and an amber panel appears at the top of Project to Tracking Category Mapping:

2 projects could not be set up in Xero Burger King Project — An option with this name is already mapped to another project Starbucks Cafe Project — Xero was unavailable [Retry all]

Hover a line to read Xero's full message. Retry all runs the setup again for every listed project; projects that succeed drop off the list and get their row.

Reason shown	Why	Fix, then Retry all
Xero is disconnected	The workspace lost its Xero connection.	Reconnect Xero on the Organisation Configuration card.
Xero permission to create tracking options is missing	The connection pre-dates the feature (read-only permission).	Disconnect and reconnect Xero once (section 2).
The chosen tracking category no longer exists in Xero	Someone archived or deleted the category in Xero.	Pick the category again on the auto-create card and save, or restore it in Xero.
An archived option with this name exists in Xero	Xero will not create a second option with an archived option's name.	In Xero, restore the archived option (Deep Space will link to it) or rename it.
An option with this name is already mapped to another project	Two Deep Space projects share a name, or an older project already owns that option.	Rename one of the projects, or map the new project by hand to the option it should use.
The Xero tracking category is full	Xero caps the number of options in a category.	In Xero, archive options for finished projects, then Retry all.
Xero rejected the option / Xero was unavailable	A Xero-side error or outage.	Wait a few minutes and Retry all. If it keeps failing, hover the line and send Deep Space support the message.

Done when

The amber panel is gone, the project has a row with the Auto-created chip, and the option shows under the project category in Xero (Accounting → Advanced → Tracking categories).

9What it does not do

It does not rename or archive options. Renaming a project in Deep Space leaves the Xero option with its old name; archiving a project leaves its option active. Change those in Xero if you need to.
It only acts on Delivery and DLP. Projects in Opportunity, Tender or any earlier stage get nothing until they are awarded.
It does not touch projects that already have a mapping, whether you created the row or the feature did.
It does not change what is pushed. Bills, purchase orders and invoices carry the project's option exactly as they did with manual mappings; a project without a row is still pushed without tracking.
Turning the switch off stops new options from being created. Existing options in Xero and existing rows stay as they are.
Xero limits still apply: two active tracking categories per organisation, 100 characters per option name (longer project names are cut), and Xero's cap on options per category.

10Questions we get asked

We have 40 live projects already mapped by hand. Do we need to do anything?

No. Turn the switch on and pick the category your rows already use (it is pre-selected when all rows agree). Existing rows are left alone; only projects without a row are counted in the banner.

Why did the switch refuse with “does not include permission to create tracking options”?

Your Xero connection was made before this feature existed and can only read tracking categories. Disconnect and reconnect the same Xero organisation once; your configuration comes back and the new permission is granted.

A project was created but no option appeared in Xero. Where do I look?

Open Finance Integrations and scroll to Project to Tracking Category Mapping. If the project is listed under could not be set up in Xero, read the reason and use Retry all (section 8). If it is simply missing, the switch was off at the time: use Review and create on the auto-create card.

Two projects have the same name. What happens?

The first one gets the option. The second is listed as An option with this name is already mapped to another project. Rename one project, or map the second project by hand to the option it should use.

Can I delete an auto-created row?

Yes, with the bin icon and Save Changes. The option stays in Xero. While the project is in Delivery it counts as unmapped again and will be set up on the next stage event or Review and create; to opt a project out for good, map it by hand instead.

Does the option name follow the project code?

No. The option is named after the project name, trimmed to 100 characters. If your Xero reporting prefers codes, rename the option in Xero; Deep Space keeps the link by the option's identity, not its name.

Who can see or change this?

Workspace administrators who can open Admin → Finance → Finance Integrations. The switch, the category and the mapping rows are shared by the whole workspace.