What do I need to get started with Otto?

You'll need to:

• Create bank rules/make sure you're happy with your existing ones. We've made a quick guide to help you with this.
• Invite Otto to your Xero practice.
• Give him access to your chosen clients. We'll help you with this on the onboarding call.

What's SmartMatch?

SmartMatch is our secret sauce. Rather than trying to work out whether a payment on the bank statement relates to an invoice or bill in Xero based on the payee and reference details, SmartMatch looks at one year of previous reconciliation data for each of your clients to learn how you have reconciled in the past.

With that data, Otto can find patterns in those past reconciliations to reduce mistakes and reconcile some trickier matches than other bookkeeping bots.

For each green match on the bank reconciliation page, Otto will use this training data to decide whether it's a match or non-match, and a confidence level from 0 to 100%. For example, he could be 90% sure something is not a match, or 50% sure something is a match. By default, we require Otto to be at least 90% sure the match is correct before he will reconcile.

What are the pros and cons of SmartMatch?

Our primary goal with Otto is that he should not make an incorrect match. We don't want you to have to constantly check what he has done because you can't trust he's done the right thing. SmartMatch allows us to make sure Otto is really unlikely to do the wrong thing.

Sometimes SmartMatch will mean Otto is not as confident about a match as you might expect. This is more likely if the information on the bank statement is confusing. This could be where the description contains the payee, reference, date, address, etc., or where the payee is completely blank.

SmartMatch needs a certain amount of previous reconciliation data to train with–around 100 matches in our testing. Accuracy will be higher with more examples but Otto is trained to skip reconciliations he is not sure of so you should not see incorrect reconciliations.

We are constantly working to improve how accurate Otto's work is and you will automatically benefit from these improvements.

Does he need to be trained?

He doesn't. He will reconcile any bank rules you have set up, from day one. You just need to make sure that the rules only match what you want them to, and that they don't require any information to be entered during the reconciliation.

SmartMatch works using information about previous reconciliations so you don't need to do anything there–we take care of it all.

Will Otto just reconcile any green match he sees?

Absolutely not. We're about matching the correct transactions, and avoiding mistakes, not clicking the OK button as many times as possible. We would rather skip some possible matches than match something incorrectly.

Is there anything Otto can't (or won't) reconcile?

Otto currently skips these types of green matches:

• Bank transfers These are a little more complicated than bills and invoices but we plan to introduce transfer matching later.
• Other possible matches Otto will skip a possible match if there are multiple possible matches for the payment. We're working to make this feature available shortly.
• Multiple bills or invoices for a single payment It often requires specific knowledge of your client to make the correct decision so Otto is very unlikely to ever be able to match these.

I only want to reconcile bank rules. Can I skip SmartMatch?

The Growth and Advanced plans allow you to enable or disable bank rule and SmartMatch for each client, so you have complete control over what Otto does for those clients.

Can I carry unused reconciliations to the next month?

Allowances reset at the start of the new month and cannot be carried over.

I don't currently have many bank rules set up. What can I use them for?

Bank rules are great for transactions where you don't get a bill, such as bank account fees, payment processing fees, and transfers. They are also helpful where the sales invoice or receipt has been generated outside of Xero, for platforms like Stripe. For companies with payroll, rules can normally be created for the wage payment, PAYE, and pension payments.

Read our quick guide for more ideas, as well as tips for making the most of rules and avoiding unexpected issues.

Is Otto secure?

Otto has a Xero account for each practice he is invited to. Otto can only access the clients for the practice he is working on at the time, and only for the clients you have invited him to.

A unique, random password is generated for each Otto account. The password contains upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

The Xero credentials are encrypted and only read when logging into your practice.

Otto enables 2FA for all accounts to keep them extra secure. The details that allow the 2FA code to be generated are also encrypted.

How does Otto handle 2FA?

2FA is enabled for all accounts for extra security.

How is Otto monitored and supported?

Otto records status messages so we can see that his work is running as expected. Any issues will be logged for further investigation. Errors are escalated so they can be reviewed by the developer, in case a fix or other change needs to be made.

How does Otto access and use our data?

Otto accesses your clients' Xero accounts the same as a person would, but he only looks at certain pages:

• Whilst reconciling, he will first visit the dashboard, then the bank accounts page, and then works through each reconciliation page for each bank account.
• Whilst saving previously reconciled transaction information for his training, Otto again starts at the dashboard and visits each bank account. This time he views the bank statements pages, and checks the transaction details and transaction pages to learn how transactions were reconciled against bills and invoices.

Statement and bill/invoice information is saved to train Otto, and also to record what he has reconciled so you can review this.

Training data is kept for no longer than 18 months from the date of the transaction on the bank statement.

The training data is turned into a Machine Learning (ML) model. The model stores the underlying data as several numbers for each transaction, and whether that is a match or a non-match. The model only uses training data that is 12 months old at the point the model is trained.

How is my client's data handled and transmitted?

Otto interacts with Xero using a Chrome-based web browser using HTTPS. Saved client data relates only to information that you would see on the Xero bank reconciliation page, excluding transaction amounts. Data stored in the database for training and reporting is secured using a secure password and access is limited to ensure it is only used for valid purposes. Any passwords and 2FA codes are encrypted with a secure key.

How often is Otto retrained on my client's data?

Otto is retrained on a monthly basis to keep his knowledge up-to-date. Practices on the Advanced plan can choose for Otto to be retrained fortnightly.

What happens if Otto reconciles more transactions than are included in my plan?

Each reconciliation outside of your monthly allowance will be billed at the end of the month. Each plan has different overage fees. Please check the current pricing.

Does Otto need a separate computer?

No. Otto runs on servers in the cloud so you don't need to buy any new equipment. There are no extra costs outside of the monthly fee and any overage charges based on how much Otto has reconciled that month.

What will my clients see?

Otto is a Xero user the same as you and your staff. You can choose a profile photo and name to fit in with your practice image and your clients' expectations.