How to set up the Pleo integration to Business Central

Important to know before you get started:

• Pleo's direct integration only supports the cloud-based version of Business Central hosted directly by Microsoft.
• If your company uses Business Central through a third-party supplier or if your Business Central platform is hosted locally on your server, you can not use the direct integration, unfortunately.

Are you in doubt if this is the case?

Then log into your Business Central platform and see what is written in the browser. If the browser is called, for example, https://businesscentral.dynamics.com, then it is hosted directly via Microsoft and you can use the direct integration.

If your version is hosted by a third party or on-premises, you can export your expenses from Pleo using a custom Excel or CSV file instead.

The direct integration also does not support 'Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations'.

Please contact our support team if the guide below does not cover your needs or your customised settings in Business Central.

Step 1: Create a new contra account in Business Central

1. In Business Central, create a new G/L Account for Pleo.
2. You do this by clicking on Finance → Chart of Accounts → New.
   Note: The account must be a G/L Account. The integration cannot import bank accounts from Business Central.

If you intend to use Pleo's Reimbursement feature, you must also create two additional financial accounts for this feature:

1. A G/L Account for out-of-pocket expenses from Pleo
   this account must be different from the previously created account and will act as an interim account)
2. A G/L Account for reimbursements
   (this account must be different from the previously created accounts and will only be used in the case of manual reimbursements outside of Pleo)

Step 2: Create a new Pleo journal

1. Create a new journal for Pleo under your General Journals in Business Central.
2. You do this by clicking on Finance → General Journals → General Journal → New.
   When naming it, it might be a good idea to leave the description field blank or copy the name of the journal here. If you add a description, this is what you will see in Pleo as the name on the journal.
3. Add your newly created Pleo contra account to your Pleo journal under Bal. Account no.
   NB: Don’t create a new journal template for Pleo. Just create a new journal within your General Journal template in Business Central. 

Step 3: Connect Business Central and Pleo

1. Log into Pleo and go to Settings → Accounting 
2. Choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central from the list of direct integrations
3. You might be asked to sign in to Business Central to authenticate on a separate page
4. Log in and give Pleo permission to access your Business Central account 

Note: If you get a Need Admin approval pop-up while trying to connect to your Business Central account, you need to contact your IT team to request the right permissions before completing the integration set up.

You will be sent back to Pleo. Here, you need to map some default settings and accounts:

1. Integration Environment (choose “Production”)
2. Integration Company (choose the relevant entity from the list)
3. Pleo Journal for expenses (pick the newly created journal for Pleo)
4. Account for Pleo expenses (pick the newly created G/L Account for your Pleo Wallet)

If you are using Pleo’s Reimbursement feature, you also need to choose:

1. Journal for Pleo out-of-pocket expenses (pick the newly created journal for Pleo)
2. Balancing account for out-of-pocket expenses (pick the newly created G/L Account for your out-of-pocket expenses and reimbursements via Pleo)
3. Contra account for reimbursements (pick the newly created G/L Account for your manual reimbursements outside Pleo)

Step 4: Categories 

When you’ve connected Pleo and Business Central, you need to create your Categories in Pleo. 

Read more about Pleo Categories here.

When you create a new category in Pleo, you will be able to choose between your G/L Accounts from a drop-down menu linking directly to your Chart of Accounts in Business Central:

Remember to name the Category. The name is what the employees will see and choose from in the Pleo app. So, pick a name your employees will most easily recognise. 

Step 5: Tax Codes

When connecting Pleo to Business Central, your Tax Codes from Business Central will automatically be created in Pleo. 

You will be able to see the list of Tax Codes in Settings → Accounting → Scroll down to the Tax Code section.

When mapping your G/L Accounts as Categories in Pleo, you can choose a default Tax Code for each category. 

Step 6: Tags (Dimensions)

If you are using dimensions such as Projects, Departments, or Cost Centres in Business Central, you can easily import these to Pleo.

1. Go to Settings in Pleo → Accounting → Tags
2. Click “Create Tag group” and name it either “Projects” or “Departments” or similar 
3. In the Tag group → click “Import” → choose which group of dimensions you want to import and click “Import” again 

When your dimensions have been imported to Pleo, your users will be able to tag each expense with the relevant dimension value from Business Central. 

• Important: When making any changes to your list of dimensions in Business Central, these will not automatically be reflected in Pleo. You need to go to the tag group in Pleo and click “Reimport” to sync the changes. 

Step 7: Exporting your expenses from Pleo to Business Central

Your expenses are not automatically pushed to Business Central. You need to export your Pleo expenses to the journal in Business Central by the push of a button.

Please see this guide on how to export expenses from Pleo.

When exported, the expenses will create an entry in the journal you have created for Pleo. 

The following data will be exported for each expense:

• Posting Date
• Amount (in your Wallet currency)
• Document No. from Pleo (e.g. 2400001)
• Description incl.:
  • Merchant/vendor 
  • Employee name
  • Name of Pleo category 
• Comment:
  • Note from Pleo
• Dimensions (Projects, Departments, Cost Centres)
• Receipt attachment in “Incoming Document Files”

Limitations / FAQ

Data exported from Pleo to Business Central cannot be adjusted

It is important to note that our integration with Business Central is a fixed API integration that cannot be adjusted to individual needs. This means that the data imported from Pleo to the journal entry in Business Central is fixed. For example, you cannot choose what you want to see in the Description field or define your own number series in Pleo (see also the next point).

You can only choose Pleo's number series

When exporting your expenses from Pleo to Business Central, the Document No. field will be populated with Pleo's number series for the expenses. This cannot be customized or adjusted. If you wish to overwrite Pleo's number series with the one you have set up in BC, you can in your Pleo journal click "Process" →  "Renumber Document Numbers" → "Yes." After this, all postings will follow your desired number series in BC.

Your contra accounts for Pleo must be a G/L Account/financial account

As you have read earlier in the guide, it is important that you create your contra account for Pleo as a financial account or G/L Account in Business Central.

However, we have some customers who prefer their contra account for Pleo to be set up as a bank account, as this makes bookkeeping easier for some. Unfortunately, our integration does not support this.

A limitation in the API means that Pleo can only import financial accounts from Business Central. Therefore, it is necessary for the contra account created for Pleo to be a financial account.