Have you ever considered how businesses link QuickBooks Online to Tableau to maximize their financial data? In today’s world, understanding financial information is crucial for intelligent decision-making and business expansion. QuickBooks Online has become a favored choice for numerous companies looking to manage their finances and generate insightful reports. If you're a small business owner, financial expert, or data analyst, mastering this connection can significantly change how you analyze and visualize your financial data. Below, we will guide you through two methods to link Tableau with QuickBooks Online.
Installing QuickBooks Online Connector by Versich
Rather than spending countless hours on data blending and restricting yourself to connecting with only one QuickBooks Online account at a time, consider using the Tableau connector to QuickBooks Online by Versich.
The benefits include:
Profit & Loss data consolidated in one table, with the ability to drill down to individual transactions. You can also switch between accrual and cash-based methods and filter by class.
A Balance Sheet that is viewable in one table. You can drill down to transactions and toggle between accrual and cash-based as necessary.
Access to Accounts Payables and Receivables data right at your fingertips.
The ability to connect multiple QuickBooks accounts.
The option to extend the model for additional tables or modifications to the data format.
The connector pulls data from the QuickBooks Online API into an Azure SQL Server database. After extraction, you can link your Azure SQL Server database to Tableau. This integration is stable and can accommodate large datasets if required. A free trial of this connector is available so you can experience its benefits firsthand.
How to Connect QuickBooks Online to Tableau Step by Step
Step 1: Register Your Account
Go to Versich Connectors and create a free account.
Step 2: Install the Connector
After signing up, choose your database usage preferences in this window. The “Use Versich Database” option automatically loads your data into a database hosted by Versich. If you own an Azure account, you can create your database and enter the details below:
Once you hit “install,” the system will generate the necessary tables in the database. After authenticating with your QuickBooks Online account, the data will be populated in these tables.
Step 3: Authenticate to QuickBooks Online
Once the tables have been created, you can revisit the install tab to proceed with the installation process. Click the Connect new company button to pull data from the QuickBooks Online company you wish to link. You can click this button multiple times if you intend to connect various companies.
By selecting “connect new company,” a new window will open, allowing you to choose the company and extract its data to the database.
After you click “Next” and grant permissions in QuickBooks Online, the Company will appear in the table below.
Note: The “Revoke Access” button is designed to remove the Versich connector's access to your QuickBooks Online account. If you click it, no further data will be extracted from this company. However, all previously extracted data will still be stored in the database.
If you want to eliminate all the data that has been extracted into the database, you can do so by clicking the “remove installation” button. This action will delete all tables and data related to this company in the database.
Once the refresh begins, you can monitor its status in the “Refresh Status” window. You will know your data is completely loaded into Tableau when all tables show a 100% status.
The QuickBooks connector has approximately 50 tables available, though not all are loaded by default. If you need additional tables, go to the “refresh settings” menu and select the necessary tables. After making your selections, click “apply changes” at the bottom to start loading your new tables.
Finally, when your data is loaded, press the “send database connection string” button within the “Install” tab.
Hitting this button will send an email to your registered address containing the account details. From this email, you will find the server name, database name, user ID, and password needed to connect to Tableau.
Step 4: Connect QuickBooks Online to Tableau in Connect to Data > Azure SQL Server
In Tableau, navigate to Connect to Data > Azure SQL Server. Enter the Server name, Database, Username, and Password from your email. Once logged in, choose which tables to import into your Tableau dashboard.
Explore the Data Inside the Connector
One of the key advantages of the connector is its user-friendly data structure. This is how the format may look for the P&L Detail Table:
As you can see, it is presented in a single table:
Balance Value: This column displays the account values by date.
Memo/Description: This details the various transactions within your account.
The hierarchy levels of Lv1, Lv2, and Lv3 further break down income, COGS, and expenses.
The Accounting Method column provides a choice between cash or cash/accrual basis.
Using the Native Tableau QuickBooks Online Connector
The QuickBooks connector comes pre-installed with Tableau and offers a straightforward way to access basic data from the service. However, being in Beta, it may present various limitations regarding stability.
Pros: No cost, quick setup, and no additional installations required.
Cons: Limited table availability, lacks complete P&L and Balance Sheet data. Multi-account usage of QuickBooks Online is not fully supported and necessitates manual data integration for more detailed analysis on a single sheet.
To configure this, in Tableau, go to “Add A Connection,” click more, and select Intuit Quickbooks Online.
After making your selection, proceed through the authentication process and choose the tables you wish to load.
Blending QuickBooks and Operational Data in Tableau
A significant benefit of linking QuickBooks Online to Tableau is the capability to blend it with other data sources. This allows you to monitor more than just financial metrics and engage in advanced analytics. You can correlate them with operational drivers, granting you a comprehensive view of business performance.
For instance, you could merge:
QuickBooks sales data with marketing campaign details from your CRM to determine ROI.
Inventory levels/costs from QuickBooks with manufacturing/distribution data, aiding in optimizing supply chain operations.
Payroll expenses from QuickBooks with workforce metrics for headcount planning.
QuickBooks customer invoices alongside support ticket data to analyze billing issues.
Tableau presents excellent data blending and modeling features, enabling you to effortlessly combine the QuickBooks extraction with additional spreadsheets, databases, and cloud applications. You can then build interactive dashboards that reveal unique insights. Relying solely on financial data won't suffice.
The suite of advanced analytic features in Tableau includes cohort analysis, forecasting, and clustering. After integration, these features can be applied to your QuickBooks data. This empowers you to move beyond merely monitoring historical events, providing predictive capabilities that enhance decision-making.
For example, you might create a predictive model to estimate future cash flow based on anticipated sales, expenses, and obligations like payroll and loans. This “quantitative finance” strategy utilizing Tableau’s statistical engines is vital for many tasks, including budgeting, capital planning, investor reporting, and beyond.
Tableau Governance and Sharing for QuickBooks Data
When linking QuickBooks data to Tableau, it's crucial to think about robust governance features. These enhance secure and regulated data exploration. Tableau provides several functionalities in this arena:
Data Source Management: Tableau keeps a catalog of all data sources, enabling you to designate QuickBooks extractions as reliable and governed data sources.
Centralized Projects: Tableau projects organize pertinent data sources, worksheets, and dashboards into a unified structure. This makes it simple to create a dedicated “QuickBooks Financial Intelligence” project and manage sharing protocols.
User/Group Permissions: Access to QuickBooks data and dashboards can be allocated based on user roles and affiliations. For example, you might restrict P&L metrics to specific finance users.
These governance features enable you to securely scale reporting on QuickBooks while maintaining oversight of who has access to what financial information.
Conclusion
Utilizing a connector to extract and model your QuickBooks Online data facilitates seamless financial analysis in Tableau. The hierarchical data structure aligns with how you view reports in QuickBooks, providing you with a comprehensive solution.
This connector supports the combination of data from multiple QuickBooks accounts and allows you to apply accounting principles. Moreover, it enables sophisticated data exploration that isn't feasible within the QuickBooks app alone.
