What is Xero?
Xero is entirely cloud-based accounting software, performing bookkeeping functions like invoicing and payroll and allows you to connect the program to a live bank feed. The company was founded in 2006 in New Zealand and its goal is to offer a practical streamlined solution to the time-consuming job of invoicing, financial recording, tax, and payroll for small to medium-sized businesses. Xero has managed to simplify bookkeeping, accounting practices and every day tasks, by reducing the time spent on finances.
Thanks to its simplified interface and easy operation, Xero gives you the opportunity to keep your books up to date without any accounting knowledge. The platform offers very intuitive and straightforward set up with loads of online training and guidance. Multiple tutorials and step by step walkthroughs for setting up the program and importing your data are available at Xero TV.
The system can import bank transactions directly from your chosen account/s, thus removing the need to manually input and reconcile each transaction. It provides a business snapshot – a dashboard-style report, which displays performance measures, that help you understand your business’s financial position. You can check cash flows, invoice payments, bank balances, or timesheets and access reports for your small business.
Connecting Xero
Step 1: Login to SageData
Go to SageData Login page and log into your account.
Step 2: Find Xero Integration
Navigate to Integrations and look for Xero using the search bar. Click on the icon.
Step 3: Connect to Xero
In order to replicate data from your Xero, first you will have to connect SageData to your Xero account.
You will be redirected to Xeros’ login page, where you will have to enter your account details. Once you have successfully logged in, you will have to authorize SageData to access your data.
Step 4: Select objects to replicate
In this step, you will be asked to select the tables and columns you want to replicate. You can select betweem:
- Individual tables and columns
- All tables and columns
Individual tables and columns
Once you have connected SageData to Xero, you will see the list with of all available tables from which you can replicate data. You can select each table individually by clicking on the checkbox. Furthermore, you can choose which table fields you want to replicate.
Note: Each table has preselected fields, that are mandatory for each table and has to be replicated.
All tables and columns
If you want to replicate all tables and columns, you will have to select each one individually and click on the field checkbox on the top to select all fields available.
Step 5: Select Data Destination and integration name
Select the destination warehouse for your replicated data. In the dropdown, you will see all available destination warehouses to which your SageData account is connected. After that, enter a name for the integration. This is the name that will display on the SageData Dashboard for the integration; it’ll also be used to create the schema in your destination.
Step 6: Define the historical replication start date
The Sync Historical Data setting defines the starting date for your Xero integration. If you change Start date here, it will re-trigger history load. You can use integration default (last 5 days), or define a timeframe of the replication.
Step 7: Create a replication schedule
Note: Replication scheduling defines the time replication begins, not the time to data loaded. Refer to the Replication Scheduling documentation for more information.
An integration’s replication schedule affects how often SageData will run a replication job, and the time that job begins. SageData is offering few methods for creating your replication schedule:
Step 8: Run DBT Cloud Job (optional)
You can decide if you want to run a dbt* cloud job after sync. In order to do that, you will have to Link dbt cloud account first.
*dbt (data build tool) is a development environment that enables data analysts and data engineers to transform data by simply writing select statements. dbt handles turning these select statements into tables and views.
After selecting ‘Save’, you will be redirected back to the list of all your integrations. There you will see your newly created integration. The integration can have a couple of statuses:
- Scheduled – integration has been scheduled and its currently queued
- Running – your integration has been triggered and executing the action
- Success – integration was completed successfully, data has been imported
After seeing the status success, your data has been imported. Login to your data warehouse using the preferred client and you will see the newly created tables.
Xero table reference
accounts
table contains info about the various accounts (ex: banking) connected to your Xero account. View table schema on GitHubbank_transactions
table contains info about the bank transactions in your Xero account. View table schema on GitHubbank_transfers
table contains info about bank transfers. View table schema on GitHubbranding_themes
table contains info about your branding themes. A theme is a customization you can apply to customer-facing documents such as invoices. View table schema on GitHubcontacts
table contains information about the customers and suppliers you are working with. View table schema on GitHubcontact_groups
table contains info about your contact groups – group of contacts that show similarities. View table schema on GitHubcredit_notes
table contains consists of information about credit notes, which is similar to an invoice. It can reduce the amount you owe a supplier or the amount a customer owes you. View table schema on GitHubcurrencies
table contains info about available currencies. View table schema on GitHubemployees
table contains info about employees. View table schema on GitHubexpense_claims
table contains info about expense claims. View table schema on GitHubinvoices
table contains info about sales invoices – requests for payment for goods and services. View table schema on GitHubitems
table contains info about the products and services you buy and sell. View table schema on GitHubjournals
table contains info about journal entries. View table schema on GitHublinked_transactions
table contains info about linked transactions, which has line items from a purchase transaction to a customer and are linked to a sales transaction. View table schema on GitHubmanual_journals
table contains manual journals, which are used by accountants or bookkeepers to work directly with a general ledger. View table schema on GitHuborganisations
table contains info about the organisations. View table schema on GitHuboverpayments
table contains info about overpayments – transactions where a customer pays too much, or a supplier was overpaid by you. View table schema on GitHubpayments
table contains info about the recorded payments. View table schema on GitHubprepayments
table contains info about prepayments, made in advance of an invoice for a customer or a bill from a supplier. View table schema on GitHubpurchase_orders
table contains info about requests sent to suppliers for specific goods and services. View table schema on GitHubquotes
table – View table schema on GitHubreceipts
table contains info about invoice receipts sent to customers after an invoice has been received. View table schema on GitHubrepeating_invoices
table contains info about invoices set up as recurring transaction, or a transaction that occurs on a regular basis. View table schema on GitHubtax_rates
– View table schema on GitHub