Your First 30 Days with Gradient's Reconcile: A Success Playbook
Welcome aboard. This guide walks you through the first 30 days of using Gradient's reconcile so that you finish the month with a clean reconciliation, an accurate dashboard, and confidence that your billing is matching reality.
If you read nothing else, read this: Gradient Reconcile is most useful when you give it one focused, uninterrupted setup pass. The partners who get the most value treat the first 30 days as a project, not a side task. The ones who struggle are almost always the ones who tried to fit setup into 20-minute gaps between client work.
What this guide covers
This is the recommended path, not the only path. If you already have your PSA connected and a few integrations live, jump to Session 2.
If you are setting up Microsoft Module, MSP Studio+, or ExpandIQ as well, those have their own getting-started guides linked at the end.
In this article
Session 1: Connect your PSA and decide your scope
Goal for the session: your PSA is connected, the right agreement types are syncing, and you have decided which 3 to 5 vendors you will focus on first.
Connect your PSA
Your PSA is the foundation. Everything else depends on it being clean and correctly synced. Use the connection guide for your platform:
- ConnectWise Manage Integration Guide
- Datto Autotask Integration Guide
- HaloPSA Integration Guide
- Kaseya BMS Integration Guide
- Pulseway PSA Integration Guide
- Syncro Integration Guide
Pro tip — set scope when you connect
During PSA setup, you can choose which agreement types to sync. We recommend syncing all of them on day one so nothing is hidden, then narrowing later if you find noise. Re-narrowing is easier than discovering missing data three weeks in.
Validate the sync
Once the initial sync completes, do a quick reality check before going further. If something is off here, every later step inherits the problem.
| What to check | Where to look | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Are your customers appearing? | Advanced Configuration → Account Mapping | Most customers auto-mapped on exact name match. Unmapped is fine for now, you will handle those next. |
| Are agreements syncing? | Reconcile dashboard → look for service cards | You see service cards for active agreements. If empty, see the troubleshooting note below. |
| Are products on agreements showing? | Open a few service cards | You see PSA quantities populated, even if vendor counts are still blank. |
If your dashboard is empty
The most common causes:
- Agreement billing cycle is set to None (Gradient only syncs recurring billable agreements)
- Account type is not set to Customer (Autotask specifically requires this)
- Sync is still running — large PSAs can take 30+ minutes on first sync
Decide your starting vendor list
Resist the urge to connect every vendor at once. Pick 3 to 5 that meet these criteria:
- They represent your highest billing volume (where reconciliation errors cost you the most)
- They are billed on a per-seat or per-device basis (where Gradient's automation shines)
- They have a native Gradient integration (skip custom and self-hosted scripts for the first session)
For most MSPs, this list starts with: Pax8, your RMM (NinjaOne / Datto RMM / N-able), your security stack (SentinelOne / Huntress / Sophos), and your backup (Veeam / Cove / Dropsuite).
Session 2: Connect your first vendors and map accounts
Goal for the session: your top 3 to 5 vendors are connected, accounts are mapped, and you have a working sense of how account mapping works.
Connect each vendor
Each vendor has its own integration guide in the Vendor Integration Guides section. The pattern is the same across all of them:
- Gather credentials from the vendor portal (API key, OAuth login, or admin credentials)
- Enter them in Gradient
- Wait for the initial sync to complete
- Map accounts, then map services
Accounts vs. services — what is the difference?
Account mapping tells Gradient which company in your vendor portal corresponds to which company in your PSA. Example: “Acme Inc” in Pax8 maps to “Acme Industries” in your PSA.
Service mapping tells Gradient which vendor product corresponds to which PSA service line. Example: “Microsoft 365 Business Premium Monthly — 1 Year” in Pax8 maps to your PSA service called “M365 Business Premium”.
Handle unmapped accounts
After each integration is connected, you will likely see a handful of unmapped accounts. This is normal. The most common reasons:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Account appears in vendor portal but not in Gradient's mapping list | Account is inactive in the vendor portal | Activate it in the vendor portal, then run a fresh sync |
| Vendor account and PSA account have different names | No auto-match | Drag the PSA account from the left to the vendor account on the right |
| You see two PSA accounts with similar names | ConnectWise recycle bin contains the old version | Use the active RecId, ignore the recycled one |
| Multi-site customer has separate vendor accounts but one PSA company | Many to one scenario | Map all vendor sites to the same PSA company |
Pax8 specifically
Pax8 only exposes Active companies. If a company is missing, check that all three required contact roles (Billing, Technical, Primary) are assigned in Pax8. Once they are, Pax8 flips it to Active and Gradient picks it up on the next sync.
Session 3: Map services and run a test reconciliation
Goal for the session: services are mapped, vendor counts are populating against PSA counts, and you have run a practice reconciliation to see how the workflow feels.
Service mapping fundamentals
Service mapping is where most of the value comes from, and where most setup mistakes happen. A few principles to live by:
- Map to the version with a billing and commitment term, not the no-term version (Pax8 surfaces both — only the term version produces accurate counts)
- Many-to-one mapping is fine when your PSA has multiple products that all correspond to the same vendor SKU
- If a vendor product is not currently sold, you do not need to map it
- Service names in your PSA can change without breaking mappings — Gradient maps to the PSA ID, not the name
Run a practice reconciliation
Once at least one vendor is mapped, pick five customers and walk through the reconciliation flow end to end. This is the moment Gradient “clicks” for most people.
- Open the Billing Reconciliation dashboard
- Filter to one customer
- Look at each service card — PSA count on one side, vendor count on the other
- Where they match, click Approve
- Where they differ, decide: was vendor right (Reconcile) or was PSA right (No Change)?
Use the practice run to find naming gaps
If you finish the test reconciliation and notice services that are unmapped or counts that look weird, that is your signal to standardize. Vendor and PSA naming drift is the single biggest source of ongoing friction, and the time to fix it is now, before you have a month of bad data.
Session 4: Run your first real reconciliation
Goal for the session: you use Gradient to reconcile your billing for the current cycle, and you finish the month with a working rhythm you can repeat.
Best practice timing
Gradient is designed to run alongside your existing billing cadence, not replace it. The recommended rhythm:
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Last week of the month | Run a Full PSA Sync, then connect any new vendors or fix any drift you noticed |
| Last 2 to 3 days of the month | Work through service cards in Reconcile, action each one (Approve, Reconcile, No Change) |
| First day of the new month | Invoice out of your PSA as usual — your counts are now accurate |
What to do when you get stuck
In the first few months, the most common stuck points are predictable. Here is where to look:
| If this is happening | Read this article |
|---|---|
| A vendor sync is failing or stuck | My Vendor Sync Is Failing |
| PSA counts and Gradient counts don't match | Counts and Discrepancy Troubleshooting |
| A customer is not appearing | PSA Account Visibility Troubleshooting |
| A custom or self-hosted script set up but data is missing | Custom and Self-Hosted Integration Troubleshooting |
| You are using CSV imports and something failed | CSV Import Troubleshooting |
| A Microsoft module question | Microsoft Module: Scope, Value, and Pricing |
Common reasons partners get stuck (and how to avoid them)
Reviewing patterns across new partners, these are the five most common reasons setup stalls. If you see yourself in any of these, the fix is usually small.
1. Trying to do it in 15-minute gaps
Setup needs uninterrupted time. Block 2 hours for Session 1, 3 hours spread across Session 2, and 2 hours for Session 3. Trying to squeeze it in between client tickets leads to half-finished mappings and frustration.
2. Inconsistent PSA product names
If “M365 Business Premium”, “Microsoft 365 Premium”, and “Business Premium” all exist in your PSA referring to the same thing, you will spend forever mapping. Standardize before you map, or use many-to-one mapping to handle the inconsistency in Gradient.
3. Skipping account mapping for “just a few” customers
Unmapped accounts are the most common cause of “missing vendor count” tickets. Take the time to map every customer you actively bill for. Inactive vendor accounts can be ignored.
4. Connecting too many vendors at once
Each integration has its own quirks. Connecting eight on day one makes it impossible to know which one is causing a problem when something goes wrong. Stick to 3 to 5 for the first month.
5. Not running a Full PSA Sync after PSA changes
If you change agreement types, add a new customer, or modify products in your PSA, Gradient will not see those changes until the next sync. Run a Full PSA Sync any time you make a meaningful change.
Where to go from here
You have made it through the first month. From here, the partners who get the most value tend to:
- Add 2 to 3 more vendors per month rather than all at once
- Explore the Microsoft Module if Microsoft licensing is a big part of their book
- Look at custom or self-hosted integrations for niche vendors that do not have a native integration
- Use the Liongard integration for environments where they want metric-level reconciliation
Helpful follow-on articles
Stuck on something specific? Email support@meetgradient.com with the customer name, vendor, and a screenshot. The more context, the faster we can help.