POWER BI INTEGRATION
Connect Power BI with Exact Online
Bring the general ledger, receivables, invoices and projects from Exact Online together in one clear Power BI model. Celsius BI builds the integration via the REST API, checks the definitions and delivers a dashboard your team actually uses.
WHAT THE API CAN PROVIDE
Usable data, with a clear definition.
The Exact Online REST API can make financial and operational data available, as far as your subscription, modules and user permissions allow. We do not copy everything blindly. We select the fields needed for decisions and keep technical keys and the administration (division) on every record, so figures remain traceable.
We confirm the exact coverage during an inventory, so the dashboard never promises data your edition or setup does not provide.
General ledger and financial transactions
GL accounts, journal entries and transaction lines form the basis for revenue, costs, margin and a reconcilable profit and loss statement.
Receivables and payables
Relations, open items and due dates reveal payment behaviour, DSO and future incoming and outgoing cash flows.
Invoices and items
Sales invoices, invoice lines and items show revenue and margin per customer, product or product group.
Projects and hours
Where you use Exact Online for projects, projects and time entries add context on utilisation, progress and project results.
FOR AN SME
Dashboards that answer everyday questions.
Useful reporting starts with a decision, not a chart. Together we define which question the owner, commercial team or operations team needs answered and which source fields support it.
Depending on how you use Exact Online, a Power BI dashboard can cover, for example:
- Revenue and gross margin per month
- Outstanding receivables and DSO (days sales outstanding)
- Cash position and expected cash flows
- Budget versus actuals per GL account or cost centre
- Project results and hours logged versus hours invoiced
Want to know which KPIs make the difference for your business? Read the 10 KPIs every SME dashboard needs. We define every KPI, including filters, dates and exceptions, so a monthly total in the management report matches the detail behind it.
HOW CELSIUS BI BUILDS IT
Not a loose export, but a maintainable data flow.
We retrieve data through the Exact Online REST API, store it in a controlled data layer and shape it into a model for Power BI. Checks catch missing pages, expired tokens and unexpected totals before they become management information.
This combines data engineering with dashboarding. For more background on connecting accounting software, read Connecting Power BI to your accounting software. Our approach stays practical: start with a clear question, show something working early and document what goes into use.
Reliable retrieval
OAuth authentication, token refresh, pagination and API limits are handled outside the report. Power BI receives prepared tables and does not have to solve the integration each time.
One consistent model
Multiple administrations come together in one model with a harmonised chart of accounts. Dates, periods and relations are aligned so measures remain reusable.
Reporting with context
The dashboard gets definitions, logical filters per administration and drill-through down to the transaction line.
WHAT IT TAKES
From introduction to handover in five clear steps.
The scope depends on your questions and the condition of the source data. The sequence stays recognisable.
- 01
Introduction
We discuss decisions, current reports, administrations, users and bottlenecks. The result is a limited first scope with clear success criteria.
- 02
API access
You authorise the integration in Exact Online with the required read permissions per administration. We test authentication, available endpoints and practical limits.
- 03
Data model
We retrieve historical data, harmonise charts of accounts, and define relations and measures. Reconciling with the totals in Exact Online is part of this step.
- 04
Dashboard
We build the first usable pages, review them with real users and refine navigation, filters and explanations.
- 05
Handover
Refresh, monitoring, definitions and ownership are documented. Your team gets an explanation and agreements for maintenance and later changes.
COMMON PITFALLS
The connection is only as good as its controls.
Exact Online works with administrations, called divisions in the API. Many SMEs have more than one: a holding and operating companies, or one administration per branch. Combining them takes more than stacking data. Charts of accounts often differ, so we define a mapping to one reporting structure, making revenue, costs and margin correct per administration and consolidated.
The integration uses OAuth. Access tokens are valid only briefly and must be refreshed in time; if that fails, the refresh silently stops. Exact Online also applies API limits per minute and per day. A full reload on every refresh is therefore unwise: we retrieve incrementally what has changed and schedule large historical loads outside office hours.
Building history requires a deliberate choice. Transactions can be retrieved, but balances such as open items mainly show the present. For a trend in receivables or DSO we therefore keep periodic snapshots. Refresh frequency is matched to usage: daily is usually enough for management reporting, while cash or receivables monitoring can justify more often, within the API limits. Finally, we test with recognisable cases: a credit note, a manual journal entry, a closed period or a changed GL account. Those cases decide whether users trust the dashboard.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
Clear answers about
Power BI and Exact Online.
Can I combine several Exact administrations?
Yes, if the integration has access to those administrations. We retrieve them separately, add an administration key and harmonise the charts of accounts, so both consolidated totals and individual administrations remain traceable.
How often does the data refresh?
We match this to usage and the Exact Online API limits. Daily is usually sufficient for management reporting; where needed it can be more frequent, with incremental refresh to respect the limits.
Does this work with Exact Online Premium/Plus?
The integration runs through the REST API. Which data is available depends on your edition, active modules and user permissions. We check that during the inventory, before promising anything.
Do I need a Power BI Pro licence?
Sharing dashboards usually requires a paid Power BI licence. Which licence fits is explained in Power BI licensing: Pro, Premium Per User or Fabric?
Does Power BI connect directly to Exact Online?
In a limited form, yes, but for a reliable dashboard with multiple administrations, token refresh and history we prefer a data layer in between. Power BI then reads prepared tables.
A GOOD CONVERSATION IS THE FIRST STEP.
Where are you
getting stuck?
Tell me which insights you need and how you currently use Exact Online. We will quickly establish what is feasible and what a sensible first step looks like.
OR SEND A MESSAGE