Xero Transformation dbt Package (Docs)

📣 What does this dbt package do?

• Produces modeled tables that leverage Xero data from Fivetran's connector in the format described by this ERD and builds off the output of our Xero source package.

• Provides analytics-ready models, including a profit and loss report, general ledger, and balance sheet report.

• Generates a comprehensive data dictionary of your source and modeled Xero data through the dbt docs site.

The following table provides a detailed list of all models materialized within this package by default.

Model	Description
xero__general_ledger	Each record represents a journal line item. Use the ledger to create the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement.
xero__profit_and_loss_report	Each record represents a profit and loss line item at the month and account level.
xero__balance_sheet_report	Each record represents the state of the balance sheet for a given account on a given month.
xero__invoice_line_items	Each record represents an invoice line item enriched with the account, contact, and invoice information.

🎯 How do I use the dbt package?

Step 1: Prerequisites

To use this dbt package, you must have the following:

• At least one Fivetran Xero connector syncing data into your destination.
• A BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, PostgreSQL, or Databricks destination.

Step 2: Install the package

Include the following xero package version in your packages.yml file:

TIP: Check dbt Hub for the latest installation instructions or read the dbt docs for more information on installing packages.

packages:
  - package: fivetran/xero
    version: [">=0.6.0", "<0.7.0"] # we recommend using ranges to capture non-breaking changes automatically

Do NOT include the xero_source package in this file. The transformation package itself has a dependency on it and will install the source package as well.

Step 3: Define database and schema variables

By default, this package runs using your destination and the xero schema. If this is not where your Xero data is (for example, if your Xero schema is named xero_fivetran), add the following configuration to your root dbt_project.yml file:

vars:
    xero_schema: your_schema_name
    xero_database: your_database_name 

(Optional) Step 4: Additional configurations

Expand for configurations

Note about currency gains

If you are using multi-currency accounting in Xero, you are likely to have unrealized currency gains as part of your profit and loss statement. These gains/losses do not exist within the actual journals in Xero. As a result, you will find that those lines are missing from the outputs of this package. All realised currency gains will be present and your balance sheet will still balance.

Unioning Multiple Xero Connectors

If you have multiple Xero connectors in Fivetran and would like to use this package on all of them simultaneously, we have provided functionality to do so. The package will union all of the data together and pass the unioned table into the transformations. You will be able to see which source it came from in the source_relation column of each model. To use this functionality, you will need to set either (note that you cannot use both) the union_schemas or union_databases variables:

# dbt_project.yml
...
config-version: 2
vars:
  xero_source:
    union_schemas: ['xero_us','xero_ca'] # use this if the data is in different schemas/datasets of the same database/project
    union_databases: ['xero_us','xero_ca'] # use this if the data is in different databases/projects but uses the same schema name

Disabling and Enabling Models

When setting up your Xero connection in Fivetran, it is possible that not every table this package expects will be synced. This can occur because you either don't use that functionality in Xero or have actively decided to not sync some tables. In order to disable the relevant functionality in the package, you will need to add the relevant variables.

By default, all variables are assumed to be true. You only need to add variables for the tables you would like to disable:

# dbt_project.yml

config-version: 2

vars:
    xero__using_credit_note: false                      # default is true
    xero__using_bank_transaction: false                 # default is true

For additional configurations for the source models, visit the Xero source package.

Changing the Build Schema

By default this package will build the Xero Source staging models within a schema titled (<target_schema> + _stg_xero) and the Xero final transform models within a schema titled (<target_schema> + _xero) in your target database. To overwrite this behavior, add the following configuration to your dbt_project.yml file:

# dbt_project.yml

...
models:
    xero:
        +schema: my_new_final_models_schema # leave blank for just the target_schema
    xero_source:
        +schema: my_new_staging_models_schema # leave blank for just the target_schema

Change the source table references

If an individual source table has a different name than the package expects, add the table name as it appears in your destination to the respective variable:

IMPORTANT: See this project's dbt_project.yml variable declarations to see the expected names.

vars:
    xero_<default_source_table_name>_identifier: your_table_name 

(Optional) Step 5: Orchestrate your models with Fivetran Transformations for dbt Core™

Expand for more details

Fivetran offers the ability for you to orchestrate your dbt project through Fivetran Transformations for dbt Core™. Learn how to set up your project for orchestration through Fivetran in our Transformations for dbt Core setup guides.

🔍 Does this package have dependencies?

This dbt package is dependent on the following dbt packages. Please be aware that these dependencies are installed by default within this package. For more information on the following packages, refer to the dbt hub site.

IMPORTANT: If you have any of these dependent packages in your own packages.yml file, we highly recommend that you remove them from your root packages.yml to avoid package version conflicts.

packages:
    - package: fivetran/dbt_xero_source
      version: [">=0.6.0", "<0.7.0"]

    - package: fivetran/fivetran_utils
      version: [">=0.4.0", "<0.5.0"]

    - package: dbt-labs/dbt_utils
      version: [">=1.0.0", "<2.0.0"]

🙌 How is this package maintained and can I contribute?

Package Maintenance

The Fivetran team maintaining this package only maintains the latest version of the package. We highly recommend you stay consistent with the latest version of the package and refer to the CHANGELOG and release notes for more information on changes across versions.

Contributions

A small team of analytics engineers at Fivetran develops these dbt packages. However, the packages are made better by community contributions!

We highly encourage and welcome contributions to this package. Check out this dbt Discourse article on the best workflow for contributing to a package!

🏪 Are there any resources available?

• If you have questions or want to reach out for help, please refer to the GitHub Issue section to find the right avenue of support for you.
• If you would like to provide feedback to the dbt package team at Fivetran or would like to request a new dbt package, fill out our Feedback Form.
• Have questions or want to just say hi? Book a time during our office hours on Calendly or email us at [email protected].