Setup for Merit 

1. Make sure you have a Power BI PRO subscription

2. Get the API and access keys:

• Merit API details from your accountant

3. Purchase the Future Finance subscription
 – Sign up on Futurefinance.ee
 – Fill in billing information
 – On my account page click on “New Dashboard” button 

– Generate credentials and name your dashboard


– You can see your username and password by clicking “View Credentials”

– Credentials are needed when connecting an app with your own data.

4. Install the App from the Microsoft AppSource

After this you will already see the reports.

5. To analyze your own data, please enter the connection details

Future Finance with sample data

Click on “Connect your data” to add the credentials.

After clicking on it, you will see a popup:

Merit API credentials popup

Enter the Merit API connection details

• • What period would you like to analyze?
    
    •  
    • • Period start: beginning of the analysis, e.g. 1st of January 2022
    • • Period end: end of the analysis, e.g. 31st of December 2023
    • • Merit accepts the format: YYYYMMDD, e.g. 20220101 and 20231231

• • Merit API details:
    
    •  
    • • API Key
      • API ID
    • • Optional (for extra visuals): if you use Merit Palk (with Pro-license), then Merit palk API Key and API ID 
      • Optional (for template budget users): link to your budget file in Google Sheets
        
        •  

Click “Next” and you will see the second part of the popup:

Choose “Sign in and continue.” A new pop-up window will appear, allowing you to log in using your Google account

Click “Next” and you will see the third part of the popup:

Future Finance subscription details

Enter the Sparkle connection details: 

• • User name

• • Password

“Sign in and connect” to your data!

6. Share with your co-workers!

Setup for Merit with Budget

• Download the Future Finance Merit Budget application
• Fill in the parameters according to the instructions above. In addition, the budgeting application requires authentication with a Google account.
   

Note! Sometimes, connecting with a Google account may display an error message. In that case, please try again or use a different web browser. In the Privacy level settings, select Private. In the application, you can budget both by projects and by accounts, so there are two different Google Sheet pages, and therefore you need to log in with a Google account twice. 

• If you successfully connect with your data, you can download an Excel file created based on your account plan from the “Projects vs Budget” or “Budget vs Actuals” pages for project-based or account-based budgeting, respectively.

Please do not change the structure of the Excel file.

• The completed budget file should be added to your Google Sheets page, and the page URL should be copied. Ensure that it is a Google Sheet file, not an Excel file (the top logo is Google Sheets, the bottom one is Excel).
  
• Find the workspace for the Power BI Future Finance application and, from the data model, click on the three dots and select Settings.
  
• Paste your Google Sheet URL into the BudgetFileLocation_GS (account-based budgeting) or BudgetFileLocationProject_GS (project-based budgeting) field. You do not need to change the other address.
  
• Click “Apply.” Go back to the workspace and click the refresh button.
  

Open the report and compare the actual and budget values.