- don’t force a particular tool on the SME’s various functions, let them use what they want
- automate the data into all the SME’s reporting tools via a single cloud database
- always include non-financial data, targets, budgets, mappings, adjustments in the cloud database, don’t have multiple copies of things, one source of truth
- Use SQL Views to join data, so both PowerBI & Excel users get the same consolidated views the business wants each department to see
We have done exactly nil projects which replace #Excel with #PowerBI for example. We automate data into both. What an SME really needs is automated & consolidated data easily accessible in the tool of their choice, not one new tool to replace them all.
Quite simply, there are multiple functions within an SME and they all need to use different tools to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
Finance function – love Excel
Analysts – love Tableau
Management – love PowerBI.com
Marketing – love Google Data Studio
Telling an internal finance function that #Excel needs to be replaced will erupt in a small scale internal civil war. There is modelling, custom cashflow forecasts, familiarity & productivity, ad-hoc reports that all need to be created quickly and flexibly.
It’s change management 101. Find out what people need & deliver what they ask for, not just what a Vendor is #marketing. An example of the thought process to assess the fit for purpose solution goes a little something like this:
So what is the outcome we are trying to reach?
“Producing financial and other reports, quickly, easily and without error.”
What are the problems we need to solve to achieve this?
“Exporting of multiple CSV’s & complex linked workbooks takes time
Separate Budgets, Mappings, Eliminations & Consol adjustments living on harddrives and not changeable and accessible
Adding in non-financial data is difficult”
So question, does #PowerBI solve this problem?
“Simple answer is no, a consolidated dataset does.”
But what does that mean?
- all your PnL data (for eg) needs to be in one table not several with a column discriminating
- Your budget/targets/mappings/FX data needs to be easily linked to your financial data
- It should be easy to reference non-financial data
- Data should be accessible from multiple tools
- Data should be updated automatically
- SQL Views are used at the db layer to join data which means Excel and PowerBI users get ready to use data
So how is this achieved?
By consolidating and formatting data into a single cloud database
What is a cloud database and how do I get one?
For that answer, look out for our next blog post…
What is a cloud database and how do I get one!
Automate your Xero Consolidation reporting in 3 easy steps
A world-class technology platform & real people to listen and guide you to 100% automated reporting
Connect Xero entities to YourDataHub
Excel, Power BI & GSheets automated
We are on hand, every step of the way
Want to see it in action?
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How to connect Xero to Excel, Power BI, Google Sheets, back to Xero and other systems
Automate your Xero Consolidation data to Excel, Power BI, Google Sheets or any other system
Connect Xero Consolidated Entities to Microsoft Excel
Connect Xero Consolidated Entities to Power BI
Connect Xero Consolidated Entities to Google Sheets & Google Data Studio
Connect Xero Consolidated entities back to Xero or automate to any other systems
Frequently asked questions
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Create an account (Free trial available), create or bring an existing database, connect Xero on the Connectors page, then Sync! Then follow a short video on how to use your database credentials to connect to Power BI in Direct query mode. Done!
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Create an account (Free trial available), create or bring an existing database, connect Xero on the Connectors page, then Sync! Then follow a short video on how to use your database credentials to connect to Excel. Done!
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Create an account (Free trial available), create or bring an existing database, connect Xero on the Connectors page, then Sync! Then follow a short video on how to push your data to Google Sheets. Done!
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Absolutely. Every customer gets their very own isolated data warehouse. Database credentials are salt-encrypted. Multi-factor authentication can be activated for your account. We take security very seriously.
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Your Xero reports can be updated daily, on-demand, and if it’s Xero sales data as frequently as every 5 minutes.
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Absolutely. We are software developers first, report developers second. Any Xero data you need aggregated, calculated and pushed either via an ExcelAddIn or fully automated is no problem at all. Just get in touch and we can explore your requirements and offer multiple solution options.
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We do! The Xero templates will need some customisation, which either we can do, or you can do. Just get in touch and we can figure out how best to progress!
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Absolutely. We are software developers first, report developers second. Any data you need pushed into Xero either via an ExcelAddIn or fully automated is no problem at all. Just get in touch and we can explore your requirements and offer multiple solution options.
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The choice is yours, or you can choose a combination, or we can coach you. Our only goal is to automate all our data, and guide you to 100% automated Xero report automation.
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We can consolidate multiple Xero’s, Shopify’s, Hubspots, whatever systems you use, we can consolidate into a single Xero Sales table for example. Get in touch, and we would love to show you how OR start a FREE Trial and connect multiple Xero, and sync away!
How Xero Consolidation + Microsoft Power BI Integrations Work
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Step 1: Authenticate Xero Entities + Microsoft Power BI.(30 seconds)
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Step 2: Schedule a time for your data to sync.(15 seconds)
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Step 3: Trigger sync.(15 seconds + variable syncing time)
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Step 4: Select the reporting tool you want to use (Excel, Power BI, Google Sheets) and build reports with automated data.(2 minutes)
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That’s it! More time to work on other things.
Want to see it in action?
Try it FREE, or book a chat with our founder