Connecting Xero ERP with Power BI

Power BI
1

HI there,

My organisation is looking to integrate the EPR system Xero with Power BI, in order to enhance and automate much of the financial reporting process. In the absence of a direct API that could connect the two together, the support staff at Xero has recommended me two third-party connectors: Etani and Acterys. Does anyone has any experience with these? Is there any alternative solution to using third party connectors?
In my previous organisation, I was working with a fairly obscure ERP system called Pronto, and an ODBC connector could refresh the Excel data sets in Sharepoint every hour, and these datasets would be fed into the dataflows in Power BI. Would that approach work well with Xero as well?

Regards

Musa

2

Answer:

Hi @musa.fasih,

I’ve never worked with this system but i’ve seen posting within the EDNA forum related to Xero but no solution stated within the forum.

Did you check youtube for any solution? Did you use Data Mentor/chatgpt or some kind of AI tool?

I asked Copilot to see what comes back.
The answer came up this way:
Question: xero erp and power bi. is there a way to get results from the xero erp system?

Copilot

Certainly! When integrating Xero ERP with Power BI, you’ll need to use a third-party connector since Power BI doesn’t offer a direct native connection to Xero by default. Here are some options to achieve this integration:

  1. Third-Party Connectors:
  1. Manual Integration:
  • If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can manually set up the integration:
    • Install Xero Application in Power BI: First, install the Xero application within Microsoft Power BI.
    • Import Data: Import all relevant data from Xero into Power BI using the installed application.

Remember that each organization’s requirements may vary, so choose the method that best suits your needs. With the right connector or manual setup, you can create custom metrics and reports based on your Xero data within Power BI34. Happy reporting! :bar_chart::chart_with_upwards_trend:

You might have to contact Microsoft Fabric team and asked the question about some kind of connector.

Good luck in the search.

Thanks
Keith

3

@Keith Thanks for your response,

I contacted Xero prior to reaching out to the EDNA community and did some research, all of which pointed to the use of third party connectors such as the ones you have mentioned. I am trying to avoid the costs associated with these so thought of reaching out to the community for some suggestions.

4

there was some posting within the forum but there was no solutions to it.

My suggestion is to contact Microsoft to see if it on their roadmap to be part of the fabric for the connector. Microsoft might have another connector that might be better option.

I found this on youtube.

did you see this video?

1 Like
5

Thanks @Keith ,

One last question that I have is will the third party connector also allow me to connect Xero with Excel via datasets and dataflows in power bi service? I’ll be looking for a connector that could connect Xero to both.

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Hi @musa.fasih

I won’t know as I have never worked with it. I would say that you might want to contact Microsoft or just test it.

thanks
Keith

7

Hi @musa.fasih ,

we use SyncHub to push our xero data to azure sql on schedule, works a treat.

cheers

8

@melgar Thanks for your response. Is managing Sync Hub and azure sql costlier than working with third party connectors? I am working for a small/ medium sized company so cost would be a great consideration.

9

Hi, Musa, if you want a cost effective soution try out Odatalink.com. We have a free PowerBI solution at https://paradigmbi.com.au/ that uses Odatalink. Please get in touch if you have any questions. Odatalink had a free trial as well, so you can try all this out before you commit. You can use this for Excel as well.

1 Like
10

@mike.allen Thank you, how often does it allow PBI and Excel data to be refreshed?

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I think the limits are mainly around the Xero API and your PowerBI account, with Excel you can refresh on the dektop. You can do your 48 refreshes with Pemium no problems. The people at Odatalink.com can awswer your question better. Also my name isn’t berneice.reinger it’s Mike Allen, I’ll try to update my profile :rofl: