QBO clients frequently ask if we provide FTP sites for integration with their clients and vendors. We can provide this using existing Amazon S3 account and an FTP-like client called CloudBerry Explorer. To set up an "FTP Site" for a third party: - Ensure an Amazon S3 account exists for the QBO client (see Appendix C of the QBO Product Data Sheet - Attachment Module),
- Create a dedicated bucket for the third parties to access (e.g. "VoiceMemos")
- Download and install CloudBerry Explorer PRO ($40) (this will be required for setup, but not for ongoing access),
- Create user accounts for the third parties that will need access to the "FTP Site"
- note that you need two policies; one to list the bucket, one to read/write files; this is mentioned in the article but easy to miss
- Provide the third parties with:
- a hyperlink to download CloudBerry Explorer (free version is fine)
- the access key and secret key create when creating user accounts above
Note that QBO systems can be configured to read from these dedicated buckets, so that automated processing of files from the QBO site can be configured. |