Retention Track is a software platform that helps trade and construction businesses track and recover retention money. It integrates with Fergus via Xero - your Fergus invoices flow through to Xero, and Retention Track picks them up to manage your retention balances, upcoming claim dates, and the legislative process for recovering what you're owed.
Before you begin
To use the Retention Track integration, you will need:
An active Fergus account
A Xero account connected to Fergus
A Retention Track account - your first 3 contracts are free. Visit retentiontrack.com to sign up
Note: The Retention Track integration works through Xero as the connecting layer. Make sure Xero is already connected to Fergus before continuing.
Step 1: Connect to Retention Track
To find the integration in Fergus:
Go to the Integration Centre
Find Retention Track and click Visit the website to set up your Retention Track account, or Request a demo if you'd like to see it in action first.
Step 2: Set up your Retention Debtors account in Fergus
You need to tell Fergus which Xero account to allocate retention to when creating invoices. This is a one-time setup:
In Fergus, go to the Integration Centre and open the Xero configuration page
Create a new sales account code and name it Retention Debtors (or similar, to match whatever you've set up in Xero)
Link to the corresponding Retention Debtors account in Xero
This ensures that every time you record retention on a Fergus invoice, it flows through to the right place in Xero automatically.
Step 3: Create a Retention Withheld price book entry
Rather than manually entering retention amounts each time, set up a custom price book entry to make adding retention to an invoice a one-tap step:
In Fergus, go to Settings and open your Price Book
Create a new entry with the following details:
Item name: Retention Withheld
Cost price: $0.00
Sell price: -$1.00 (this acts as a template - you'll adjust the amount on each invoice)
Sales account: Retention Debtors (the account you set up in Step 2)
Recording retention on invoices
Once set up, here's how to record retention when creating an invoice in Fergus:
Create your invoice in Fergus as normal
Add a line item and type Retention Withheld to select the price book entry you created
Enter the retention amount as a negative value (e.g. -$190.00)
Save and issue the invoice as normal
Fergus will push the invoice to Xero with the retention correctly separated. From there, you can add the invoice to the relevant contract in Retention track to track the balance and trigger payment claims when the time comes.
✅ Why this matters: Recording retention correctly at the invoicing stage keeps your Retention Debtors account reconciled, prevents GST overpayment on money you haven't received yet, and ensures Retention Track has accurate data to track your balances and trigger payment claims at the right time.
Need help?
For more information, visit the Retention Track Help Centre. for questions about your Fergus account, contact us at support@fergus.com.