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raldred
New Member

Connecting to Xero data from Desktop application?

Whilst I know of the Xero Content Pack, available through the web service - I cannot find a way to connect to Xero data from the PowerBI desktop application.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this?

 

Thank you,

 

Ryan.

38 REPLIES 38

hi @jllau84 the Xero app only works from the Power BI Service and can't be edited in Power BI Desktop. You have limited editing options on the Power BI service but for example can't add all the other sources to the report that you normally have in the Desktop. Acterys is a paid service at a reasonably price of $49 per entity (with quantity discounts for advisors and entities >10). The app works with either Power BI Pro or Premium in the same way as described above.  

 

Martin

 

Planning With Power BI -> https://www.acterys.com

Hey Martin,

 

I disagree with you.  I am consulting to few business's where I have created Visual dashboards linking Xero data directly with Power BI Desktop.  Reports that take days to prepare, I have automated, reducing business cost.

 

The three issues you have implied are not  relevant for SME's.  I would agree for corporations but not small business such as business's that use Xero.   I know this because I have not encountered the 3 issues you have implied.

 

I have created bespoke dashboards in Power BI desktop without having any issues with the allowed API's calls per day limitations.  In addition consolidation of the few organisations in power BI desktop is doable using the tools provided in the Power BI Desktop such as DAX and calculated measures.  Power BI Desktop is built to gather data from many different sources, mash up the data using the Power BI desktop tools to create visual business insights.  The Desktop product is amazing once you understand the basics.

 

There is no need to complicate the process by introducing another loop such as Clear Jelly, especially for SME's.  In addition what you are sugggesting will increase the cost to develop the dashboards and is taking a step backwards in terms of technology advancement.  

 

Elizabeth Tachjian CPA B.BUS

Business Intelligence Developer

Analytics Realtime

elizabeth@analyticsrealtime.coma.u

Elizabeth Tachjian

Hi Marin,

 

I am sorry you are feeling agitated by my success in creating visuals without the need to use clearjelly.

 

I am not sure which website you are referring to since my website does not have any spelling errrors.

 

The Xero organisations I deal with are of various sizes and none of them are grocer stores.

 

Warm Regards

Elizabeth Tachjian CPA B.BUS

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER

 ANALYTICS REALTIME

Deliver more for less in a digital age environment.

61 417 457 054

Suite 749, 585 Little Collins Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Elizabeth Tachjian

Elizabeth,

 

I am not "agitated" but interested (and admittedly sceptical) in regards to the details of your approach for which so far, you haven't provided any details. Your "web site" is an under construction page. Your answer that your focus is on your "success in creating visuals" shows me that your and our respective focus and services are different. 

 

I am still very interested to see details of your approach and potentially be proven wrong.  Details of our solution are openly available. Show us yours!

 

Martin

 

 

Hi Elizabeth,

How you link your PowerBI Desktop to XERO?

 

Hi,

 

I have worked out how to connect Power BI Desktop to Xero to create customised dashboards.

 

For clear instructions on how, send me an e-mail and I will forward you the instructions. 30 minutes is all you need to get started.

 

 

Elizabeth Tachjian

Analytics Realtime

elizabeth@analyticsrealtime.com.au

Elizabeth Tachjian
Anonymous
Not applicable

hi elizabeth 

can you please shae me the steps i sent you email 

or can you send me the instructions to moataz-ahmed1988@hotmail.com

 

 

thanks

 

Hi Lau,

 

I connected to  Xero using a Cdata ODBC driver.  In the Power BI desktop there is an option to get data via ODBC.

 

Cheers

Elizabeth@analyticsrealtime.com.au

Elizabeth Tachjian

Hi, 

 

Are you in Australia?

 

Cheers

Elizabeth Tachjian.

Elizabeth Tachjian

Hi Elizabeth,

I am not from Australia.
Now in Brunei.

Hi,

 

Are you able to send me a e-mail to elizabeth@analyticsrealtime.com.au.

 

Cheers

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Tachjian
ElizabethTachji
Helper III
Helper III

Hi All,

 

I have worked out how to connect Power BI Desktop to Xero to create customised dashboards.

 

I  have bypassed the limitations of the Xero app / Content pack and

I created a direct connection from Xero to Power BI. 

 

Xero and Power BI work seamlessly together.        30 minutes is all you need to get started.

 

For free clear instructions on how, refer to blog page on analyticsrealtime.com.au.

Follow step by step for the connection to work.

Elizabeth Tachjian

Analytics Realtime

elizabeth@analyticsrealtime.com.au

61 417457054

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Tachjian
karaoan
Kudo Commander
Kudo Commander

Hi @raldred,

 

My company (www.managility.co) specialises in professional business intelligence solutions for Xero. The Acterys Connector for Xero enable you to access your Xero data with Power Desktop.

 

As opposed to direct access via the API that has a variety of problems (API call limitations, single entity access/ no consolidation, performance, limited refresh) Acterys creates (and automatically refreshes) a proper Azure SQL data model with all relationships and dimension tables as well as financial DAX calculations that is fully editable, supports Direct Query and write back for forecasting and planning requirements.

 

If you have further questions please feel free to contact me.

 

 

Martin

 

 

Planning with Power BI? -> www.Acterys.com

Hi,

 

Does clearjelly transfer all data to excel then excel is connected to Power Bi desktop?  Or does ClearJelly have a  direct connection with Power BI.

Cheers

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Tachjian

Hi Elizabeth,

Acterys (formerly Clear Jelly) maintains a copy of your Xero data as a cloud based data model optimized for analytics with all relationships and relevant financial measures. This model gets automatically updated or manually refreshed by the user when new data is available in Xero.

 

As opposed to direct access via the API that has a variety of problems (API call limitations, single entity access/ no consolidation, performance, limited refresh) Acterys creates (and automatically refreshes) a proper Azure SQL data model with all relationships and dimension tables as well as financial DAX calculations that is fully editable, supports Direct Query and write back for forecasting and planning requirements.

 

Quickbooks (a system that Acterys supports as well - an alternative to Xero) attempts that with a Power BI connector to their system but because of the above mentioned limitations it just doesn't work (extremely slow refresh etc.) . I am happy to take opinions here but I really think there is no alternative to having a proper data model approach for financial applications. In Acterys that only takes a click and avoids paying expensive consultants to build a model for them that typically takes extensive time and investment.


Martin

Hey Martin,

 

I hope you are looking forward to the New Year and had a fabulous Christmas.

 

Thank you for the information below.  I will give Clear Jelly a test.

 

Re lost of control of what the users will see...What do you mean by this because I am under the impression that what the user will see  depends on permission scopes set-up.  For example one permission scope is only to see dashboards the user has access to.  I can also turn off ability to export data to excel.  

 

Cheers

Elizabeth Tachjian

Elizabeth Tachjian

Hi Elizabeth,

 

What I mean by loss of control: you don't want users run reports on a "live" accounting system where transactions could be incomplete, not approved etc. (not to mention issues when you need to setup granular access (e.g.. users x can only access account y with tracking code z) which is likely very difficult/impossible with access through standard accounting system API's ) You want to be able to make results available for this particular point in time/ time range for which the data is approved for viewing in addition as database is used that supports RLS (row level security) you have then also the option to define access to lowest granularity.

v-yuezhe-msft
Employee
Employee

Hi @raldred,

Currently, we are not able to connect to Xero from Power BI Desktop, an idea about this issue has been submitted in the Power BI ideas forum, please vote it in the following link.

https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/7141465-connect-to-www-xero-com


Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

Community Support Team _ Lydia Zhang
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