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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/xero-cloud-powerbi.rst

⇱ Visualize Live Xero Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Visualize Live Xero Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use the CData Power BI Connector and CData Connect AI to integrate live Xero data into custom reports in Power BI.

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to Xero data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to Xero, connect to Xero data from Power BI and then create reports on Xero data in Power BI.

About Xero Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Xero has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Connect to Xero Accounts and both US and Australian Payroll APIs.
  • Read, write, update, and delete Xero objects like Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts and more.
  • Use SQL stored procedures for actions like adding items to a cart, submitting orders, and downloading attachments.
  • Work with accounting, payroll, file, fixed asset, and project data.

Customers regularly integrate their Xero data with preferred tools, like Tableau, Qlik Sense, or Excel, and integrate Xero data into their database or data warehouse.


Getting Started


Configure Xero Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to Xero from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Xero data from Power BI, we start by creating and configuring a Xero connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Xero" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Xero uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with Xero. 👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Xero Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Xero data from Power BI.

Query Xero Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Xero data into the report:

  1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
  2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
  3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
  4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
  5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Xero data from Power BI

Create Xero Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

👁 Visualizing data in Power BI (Salesforce data is shown)

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to Xero Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to Xero data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Xero data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Xero) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.