Xero

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.

 

Sage Data Integrations List

 

 

Step 2: Find Xero Integration

Navigate to Integrations and look for Xero using the search bar. Click on the icon.

Xero Integration

 

Step 3: Connect to Xero

In order to replicate data from your Xero, first you will have to connect SageData to your Xero account.

Connect SageData to Xero

 

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.

Access Request SageData

 

 

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:

  1. Individual tables and columns
  2. 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.

Individual Table Select

 

 

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.

 

All fields and columns selection

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.

Historical replicaiton SageData

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