INTEGRATIONSAFAS PROFIT + POWER BIConnect AFAS to Power BI
AFAS has its own route to Power BI: BI models you manage in Profit, with templates for Power BI Desktop. For most reports, that's the right way. It changes when you want to refresh more than twice a day, or combine AFAS with other sources.
ISO 9001 & 27001
- BI model with chosen tables goes to Power BI
- Dashboard template goes to Power BI
- Filter authorisation goes to Power BI
- Data through a GetConnector goes to Power BI
Built for clients including Tata Steel, M&G Investments, Digistore24, Toppers in Concert, Bar-le-Duc and Loogman
Every Power BI dashboard on AFAS is based on a BI model in Profit. In it, you decide which tables and fields are included. AFAS calculates the model in advance and stores it separately, so large amounts of data load much faster than through a GetConnector, which generates the data at the moment of the call.
That comes with a rhythm. The OData connector fetches the Profit data at most twice a day through a scheduled task, and you schedule the refresh in the Power BI service after it. If you want fresher numbers, or want AFAS data next to a CRM or online store, you need a different setup.
For each item: which direction it goes, when, and why. This is the starting point; in the first conversation we fit it to your situation.
- 01BI model with chosen tablesAFAS Profit → Power BIafter the scheduled task in Profit
The OData connector makes the pre-calculated BI model available. Power BI loads it during the scheduled refresh.
- 02Dashboard templateAFAS Profit → Power BIduring setup
AFAS provides templates as .pbit files. You adapt them in Power BI Desktop and publish the result to the Power BI service, so it's available online.
- 03Filter authorisationAFAS Profit → Power BIevery time the dashboard is used
Specific dashboards can be secured with filter authorisation, if you set it up. Without it, anyone with access to the dashboard sees all the data in it.
- 04Data through a GetConnectorAFAS Profit → Power BIwhen it has to be more often than every ten hours
AFAS advises only deviating from BI models when data has to refresh more often than once every ten hours, and warns this can cause performance problems or exceed the API's fair-use policy.
Not always. If an existing integration for AFAS Profit and Power BI does exactly what you need, we'll tell you.
BI models and templates are AFAS's standard integration with Power BI. You can also share a dashboard through InSite, but an integration page doesn't show it in full. AFAS therefore recommends an external link in a separate tab.
If you only report on AFAS and two refreshes a day are enough, you don't need an extra integration. You need your own integration when AFAS figures have to sit in one model with other systems, or when you want to keep a month-end snapshot.
- AFAS figures have to sit in one model alongside your CRM, online store or planning.
- You want fresh numbers more than twice a day, without heavy GetConnectors on your production environment.
- You have several AFAS environments or administrations that have to line up in one report.
- You want to keep a month-end snapshot, such as headcount or outstanding items at the end of each month.
AI reads, sorts and prepares a suggestion. Where it matters, a person decides.
Check after the scheduled task
After each refresh, an AI step checks whether the numbers fit the previous ones: a department that's suddenly empty, a cost centre with no entries. That way you notice a changed BI model before management opens the report.
Explaining HR figures without names
An assistant can explain how absence or headcount per department is developing, based on the BI model. Don't put data per person in that model that the assistant shouldn't see.
Two schedules that line up
The scheduled task in Profit and the refresh in Power BI have to run one after the other. Schedule the Power BI refresh well after the task, or you report the numbers from the previous run.
Filter authorisation before sharing
Without filter authorisation, anyone with access to a dashboard sees all the data in it. For HR and payroll figures, that's rarely the intention. Set it up before you share the dashboard.
Fields that disappear
A refresh in the Power BI service fails if a column or table in the source has been renamed or removed. Agree that nobody changes the BI model without checking the report.
Sharing through InSite
An integration page in InSite doesn't show the dashboard in full. Use an external link to the Power BI service in a separate tab, as AFAS advises.
What goes where
Which data moves, in which direction, and which system wins when two values differ. That is written down before anything gets built. For this integration, that means: BI model with chosen tables, Dashboard template, Filter authorisation, Data through a GetConnector.
Fields and rules
For every field, how it translates between the systems: statuses, VAT codes, general ledger accounts, item numbers. And what happens with a duplicate or a missing value. For this integration, that means: Two schedules that line up, Filter authorisation before sharing, Fields that disappear, Sharing through InSite.
Testing with real cases
In a sandbox or test administration, with the exceptions you actually run into: credit notes, partial deliveries, changed customer details.
Live, with logging and monitoring
Every sync is logged, and when something fails, someone gets an alert. If a vendor changes its API, we update the integration.
No account manager. You talk to someone who builds integrations themselves, and who will tell you when a standard integration is enough.
- Office on the Duivendrechtsekade in Amsterdam
- ISO 9001 and ISO 27001, certified by Kiwa
- 500 projects delivered
- 4.8 from 127 reviews
Can I connect AFAS to Power BI?
Yes. AFAS provides BI models you manage in Profit, and templates for Power BI Desktop. You publish the dashboard to the Power BI service and schedule a refresh there that follows the scheduled task in Profit.
How often does AFAS refresh the data for Power BI?
The OData connector fetches the Profit data at most twice a day through a scheduled task. More often is possible through GetConnectors, but AFAS then warns about performance problems and the API's fair-use policy.
What's the difference between a BI model and a GetConnector?
A BI model is calculated in advance and stored separately, so large amounts of data load quickly. A GetConnector generates the data at the moment of the call. For BI, AFAS recommends the BI models.
Does everyone see all the data in an AFAS dashboard?
If you don't set up filter authorisation, yes: anyone with access to the dashboard has access to all the data in it. With filter authorisation you secure specific dashboards.
Can I combine AFAS and other systems in one Power BI report?
Yes, but it works better through an intermediate layer: an integration puts the AFAS data and the other sources into one database, with the same codes for departments and cost centres. Power BI reads from that database.
Related services
- Connect AFAS to HubSpotConnect AFAS to HubSpot: a won deal becomes a customer account and order in AFAS, and sales sees in HubSpot which invoices are still outstanding.
- Connect AFAS to SalesforceConnect AFAS to Salesforce: accounts, opportunities and invoices flow both ways, within the API limits and with AFAS as the financial source of truth.
- Connect AFAS to TOPdeskConnect AFAS to TOPdesk: employees, departments and branches flow from AFAS into the service desk, and a new starter or leaver triggers a request.
- Connect AFAS to Microsoft 365Connect AFAS to Microsoft 365: a new employee in AFAS gets an account and groups in Entra ID, and the account is blocked when they leave the organisation.
- Connect AFAS to ChatGPTConnect AFAS to ChatGPT: give an AI assistant safe access to AFAS through an MCP server with limited permissions, and keep salary and BSN data out of it.
- AFAS KVK integrationAFAS KVK integration: what Zoeken in KvK in Profit already does, when to connect the KVK API yourself, and how UpdateConnectors keep organisations current.
Sources
The technical facts on this page come from the vendors' official documentation, checked on 19 September 2026. Vendors change their APIs and limits; when we build an integration, we always check the current state.