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Tempo integration for ecommerce reporting

Labour data from Tempo into trusted BI and cost reporting. iWeb extracts time, project and resource data from Tempo, transforms it to match your warehouse schemas, and loads it reliably into BI dashboards, cost-allocation models and finance reporting. Works with Adobe Commerce, Magento Open Source, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce and other storefronts.

Also searched as: reporting integration, analytics connector, API link, extension.

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Works with - Adobe Commerce · Magento Open Source · Shopify Plus · BigCommerce · Other storefronts
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01 · What you get

What a Tempo integration gives you.

Accurate cost-centre and project profitability reporting

Labour actuals from Tempo are reliably fed into your BI layer with clear ownership of project codes, billing rules and variance drivers. Finance and project managers trust the numbers.

Real-time capacity and utilisation visibility

Resource allocation and billable hours are available in dashboards and alerting so capacity planners can react to overallocation or skill gaps without manual spreadsheet reconciliation.

Automated invoice reconciliation and margin tracking

Time-and-materials billing data flows from Tempo through your warehouse into invoice generation and margin-tracking models, reducing manual invoice verification and dispute cycles.

Month-end close automation and auditability

Labour cost actuals are loaded into your ERP and BI layer on a predictable schedule with full audit trail so finance teams can reconcile accruals, allocations and variances without rework.

02 · When it's worth it

Where a Tempo integration earns its place.

If two or more of these are true, the integration usually pays for itself quickly.

Extract billable hours and project actuals into the data warehouse for cost reporting and profitability analysis
Populate labour cost allocation models by capturing time-entry data at the project and employee level
Feed capacity and resource-allocation metrics to BI dashboards for workforce planning and utilisation reporting
Aggregate timesheet data for invoice reconciliation and margin calculation against customer contracts
03 · The limits

Where off-the-shelf connectors fall short.

Vendor connectors are fine for simple cases. Here's where the real ones need more.

Limited native data warehouse export

Tempo exports are typically manual downloads, API calls or basic webhooks that do not natively understand your warehouse schema, fact tables or dimension hierarchies. Custom transformation is needed to map time entries into reportable cost dimensions.

No built-in BI schema or semantic layer

Tempo does not ship with pre-built mappings to standard finance or BI tools. You need to define how project codes, cost centres, billing rules and utilisation rates should be modelled and published for downstream consumers.

Limited schedule and frequency control

Export jobs often run on fixed schedules or require manual trigger. If your reporting needs real-time or intra-day updates (e.g. for invoice preview or capacity alerts), Tempo alone cannot guarantee the SLA without middleware.

Weak error visibility and retry logic

Failed exports are often silent or logged in Tempo's native UI. There is no centralized exception queue or automatic retry path that integrates with your operations and BI team's alerting stack.

04 · The real work

The gap between Tempo's native export and a trusted BI schema is wider than teams expect; without clear transformation ownership and monitoring, timesheet data often arrives incomplete or late, delaying cost reporting and invoice reconciliation.

05 · Where it sits

Where this integration sits in your estate.

Tempo holds the commercial record. The iWeb integration layer manages the rules, mappings, monitoring and exceptions. The commerce platform presents the customer-facing experience. The estate map helps agree ownership before anything is built.

One integration architecture, any storefront. Tempo connects through the same governed layer whatever commerce core you run.

System of record
Source / owner
Tempo
Time tracking and resource allocation system that feeds labour actuals and capacity data into BI and finance
  • Time entry data and billable classifications
  • Project assignments and resource allocation
  • Employee time-off and capacity records
  • Billing rule application and invoice basis
iWeb integration layer
Customer-facing commerce
Commerce platform
Adobe CommerceMagento Open SourceShopify PlusBigCommerceOther storefronts
  • Customer account and order context
  • Commerce-driven labour allocation requests
  • Promotion and campaign resource tracking (if applicable)
Connected neighbours
Integration layer
ERP and finance system
Masters project codes, cost centres, billing rules and labour accounting. Receives aggregated labour costs for month-end close and variance reporting.
Integration layer
Data warehouse
Receives extracted time entries, project allocation and resource data. Transforms and models them for downstream BI, reporting and cost-allocation analytics.
Integration layer
BI and reporting tools
Consumes warehouse fact tables and dimensions to surface labour utilisation, project profitability, cost-centre allocation and capacity-planning dashboards.
Integration layer
Invoice and billing systems
Consumes calculated billable hours and labour-cost basis from the warehouse to generate time-and-materials invoices and billing reconciliation.
Integration layer
HR and payroll
Provides employee and cost-centre master data. Receives labour-cost actuals for payroll reconciliation and cost allocation to projects.
Two-way sync where relevant
06 · Surrounding systems

Systems this integration usually sits next to.

Examples, not a closed list. iWeb is platform-agnostic on both sides: we wire this integration into whatever ecommerce platform and surrounding systems your estate already runs.

Ecommerce platforms (examples)
  • Adobe Commerce
  • Magento Open Source
  • Shopify Plus
  • BigCommerce
  • Other storefronts
Surrounding systems (examples)
  • Data warehouse (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery)
  • ERP system (SAP, Oracle, Sage 200)
  • Finance and accounting (NetSuite, Xero)
  • BI and reporting tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI)
  • HR and payroll systems
  • Project management software
  • Invoice and billing systems
Not sure?

Not sure if this works with your stack?

Tell us what you’re using and what needs to connect. We’ll give you a straight view on what’s possible, what might be awkward, and the safest way to approach it.

07 · Data flows

The data flows we wire.

Each flow has a direction and an owner. We agree both before a line of code is written.

→Into ERP
←From OTHER SYSTEMS
Time entries and project data: Tempo timesheet entries, project assignments, and billable-hour classifications flow out to your warehouse as scheduled extracts or event streams
Data includes employee ID, project code, hours worked, billing status and cost-centre allocation.
Resource and capacity snapshots: Planned allocation, actual utilisation and capacity headroom are extracted from Tempo and loaded into reporting schemas so project managers and finance can track resource efficiency against forecast.
Labour cost actuals for cost accounting: Aggregated time and labour costs by project or cost centre flow into your ERP or finance system to feed nominal-code allocation, variance reporting and month-end close processes.
Invoice basis and billing rules: Time-and-materials billing data and project billing rules are extracted to enable accurate invoice generation and customer billing reconciliation downstream in the BI layer or finance system.
08 · How we build it

How iWeb configures the integration around your business.

Same method on every integration. The decisions come before the code.

  1. 01
    Design the warehouse landing and transformation

    We map Tempo's time-entry, project and resource APIs to your warehouse fact and dimension tables, defining how employee, project and cost-centre data flows, aggregates and links to your ERP charts.

  2. 02
    Build reliable extract and load pipelines

    We create scheduled or event-driven extracts from Tempo with deduplication, error handling, and retry logic so timesheet data arrives complete and on time into your warehouse.

  3. 03
    Implement transformation and cost allocation logic

    We encode your billing rules, cost-centre allocation and labour variance drivers so Tempo entries emerge as auditable reporting objects aligned with your finance and project-management governance.

  4. 04
    Set up monitoring and exception handling

    We instrument the pipeline with data-quality checks, SLA tracking and alerting so missing, late or anomalous timesheet entries surface quickly to the BI and finance teams.

09 · Ownership

Who owns what.

The single most important table in any integration. One system owns each field; everything else reads it.

Data
Source / owner
Maintained by
Notes
DataTime entries, hours worked and billable classifications
Source / ownerTempo
Maintained byProject managers and resource teams in Tempo
NotesSource of truth for time allocation and billable hours; extracted and transformed for warehouse and ERP cost accounting.
DataProject and cost-centre codes and hierarchies
Source / ownerERP or finance system
Maintained byFinance and project management
NotesMaster codes live in the ERP; Tempo references them; warehouse transformation must map and validate them to ensure cost-centre alignment.
DataWarehouse fact tables and labour cost dimensions
Source / ownerData warehouse
Maintained byBI and analytics team
NotesTransformation logic that turns Tempo entries into reportable facts is owned and versioned by the BI team; changes to dimensions require coordination with finance.
DataBilling rules and invoice basis calculations
Source / ownerERP or contracts system
Maintained byFinance and contracts teams
NotesRules are defined in the ERP or contract management layer; warehouse transformation applies them to Tempo time entries to compute billing-eligible hours.
DataExtract pipelines, schedules and retry logic
Source / ownerIntegration platform or data-warehouse orchestration
Maintained byBI engineering and data ops
NotesPipeline ownership, SLA monitoring and failure handling sit with the BI and data-ops teams; changes to Tempo's API surface or authentication require pipeline updates.
DataData freshness and quality rules
Source / ownerData warehouse or BI governance
Maintained byBI and finance teams
NotesSLAs for extract frequency, completeness checks and anomaly thresholds are defined and monitored by the BI and reporting teams; breaches trigger alerts and investigation.
10 · Experienced integrator

Built this before

We have designed and operated Tempo integrations into data warehouses and BI layers for project-driven businesses. We understand how labour actuals, project allocation and capacity data sit alongside ERP cost accounting, finance reconciliation and resource-planning governance.

We map Tempo time entries and project structures into warehouse fact and dimension tables aligned with your chart of accounts and cost-centre governance
We build extraction pipelines with named SLAs, deduplication, and observability so labour data arrives complete and on schedule into reporting and finance systems
We encode billing rules, cost allocation logic and labour-variance drivers so timesheet data becomes auditable, reconcileable and trustworthy for month-end close and invoice generation
We integrate Tempo data flows with ERP, HR and BI systems so capacity planning, cost reporting and project profitability dashboards draw from a single, governed source
11 · Before launch

What we test before launch.

Every one of these is rehearsed before a customer ever sees the integration.

Validate that all Tempo time entries are extracted without duplication or loss by comparing record counts to the source system before and after an extract cycle.
Verify that project codes and cost-centre dimensions join correctly to the ERP master and that unmatched entries are flagged for investigation.
Confirm that the extract pipeline detects and alerts on failures (API errors, timeout, schema drift) within your defined SLA and that retry logic recovers without data loss.
Test that billing rules are correctly applied to time entries during transformation, producing accurate billable-hour calculations and invoice-basis figures for a sample project.
Check that employee ID changes and deactivations in the HR master are handled gracefully in the warehouse join, with unallocated or historical entries clearly marked.
Verify that time-zone and fiscal-period boundary handling is consistent across Tempo entries, ERP accruals and warehouse reporting by spot-checking a month-end close cycle.
Confirm that the entire pipeline (extract, transform, load) completes within your defined SLA window and that the BI team has clear visibility into pipeline status and exceptions.
12 · Failure points

Common risks and where they bite.

We name these on day one. A risk written down is a risk you can plan around.

Silent extract failures blocking BI refresh

Scheduled exports from Tempo fail (API limits, schema drift, credential expiry) but are not surfaced to the BI team. Dashboards go stale and month-end reconciliation is delayed.

Cost-centre and project-code mapping drift

Tempo project or cost-centre codes are renamed or deactivated without notification. Downstream transformations break or map entries to wrong dimensions, corrupting profitability and labour-cost reports.

Duplicate or partial timesheet entries in the warehouse

Extraction logic lacks idempotency or deduplication. The same hours are loaded multiple times, or partial payloads arrive, inflating labour costs and double-counting billable hours in invoices.

Unowned transformation and enrichment logic

Billing rules, allocation formulas and cost-centre joins are embedded in SQL or BI tool transformations with no clear owner or documentation. Changes to Tempo or the ERP break the logic silently.

Time-zone and date-handling edge cases

Tempo time entries and project billing boundaries cross time zones or fiscal calendars. Transformation logic does not account for these, leading to misaligned accruals and period-end disputes.

13 · Where it applies

Relevant services and sectors.

14 · Questions

Common questions about Tempo integrations.

How do we decide how often to extract Tempo data into the warehouse?

Extract frequency depends on your reporting cadence and cost-allocation needs. If invoices are raised weekly or labour costs are accrued daily, daily extracts are usually appropriate. If reporting is monthly and project-based, a nightly or weekly extract may suffice. The key is defining an SLA with your finance and BI teams so the schedule is deliberate and monitored.

How do project codes and cost-centre assignments flow from Tempo into the BI layer?

Project and cost-centre codes are maintained in your ERP or finance system as the master. Tempo references them via API. During extraction and transformation, we join Tempo time entries to the master codes and validate that every entry maps to a valid cost centre. If codes drift (renamed or deactivated), the transformation logic flags the mismatch so finance can investigate.

What happens if a Tempo extract fails mid-month?

If the extract fails, the pipeline should detect it, log the failure, and alert the BI and finance teams immediately. A retry strategy (automated or manual) should be defined so the extract can recover without losing data or creating duplicates. If recovery is not timely, the team knows which reporting or invoicing processes are at risk.

How do we handle billing rules and time-and-materials invoice basis?

Billing rules (e.g. which hours are billable, how overtime is treated, which projects use daily vs. hourly rates) are stored in your ERP or contracts system. During transformation, we apply these rules to Tempo time entries so that billable-hours calculations are consistent and auditable. Changes to billing rules are versioned and tracked in the warehouse.

Can we extract Tempo data in real-time for live dashboard updates?

Tempo's native APIs support webhook or polling patterns that can feed near-real-time data to a middleware or warehouse layer. However, real-time extraction adds complexity and cost. Most BI use cases are adequately served by hourly or daily snapshots. Define your dashboard SLAs with your reporting teams first, then decide if real-time is worth the extra engineering.

How do we handle Tempo schema changes (new fields, renamed attributes)?

Schema changes in Tempo should be tracked in your extraction logic and communicated to the BI team. We build transformations that gracefully ignore unknown fields and alert when expected fields are missing. Breaking changes (field renames or type changes) require coordination with Tempo and testing before the change goes live in production.

How do we prevent duplicate time entries in the warehouse?

Every Tempo time entry has a unique ID. During extraction, we use this ID as a deduplication key so that retries or re-runs do not load the same entry twice. The transformation logic also checks for partial payloads and missing IDs, flagging anomalies for investigation.

What labour cost dimensions should we model in the warehouse?

Start with employee, project, cost centre, billing status (billable vs. non-billable) and fiscal period. Add resource skill or team if your reporting needs to track utilisation by capability. Keep dimensions stable; changes to the dimension schema require BI team sign-off and ETL updates.

How does Tempo capacity and resource-allocation data feed into reporting?

Tempo stores planned allocation (projects assigned to employees) and actual hours worked. We extract both snapshots so you can calculate utilisation, overbooking and skill gaps. Combine these with financial actuals to see how resource efficiency drives project profitability.

How do we reconcile labour costs in the warehouse back to ERP month-end close?

During transformation, we aggregate Tempo time entries by cost centre and fiscal period, then load them into a staging table in your warehouse. Finance teams reconcile this against ERP accruals and actuals. Clear audit trails and exception handling ensure no entries are missed or double-counted.

Who owns the extraction schedules and SLA monitoring for Tempo data?

The BI or data-ops team owns the extraction pipeline and SLA targets. They define extract frequency, monitor pipeline health, and alert the finance team if data is missing or late. Finance teams own the use of the data for reporting and reconciliation.

How do we handle employee ID changes or deactivations in the warehouse?

Employee IDs are sourced from your HR system or ERP. During transformation, we join Tempo time entries to the current employee master. If an employee is deactivated, the join may break; we flag this so the BI team can decide whether to link to a historical employee record or mark the entry as unallocated for investigation.

Can we use Tempo data to drive automated alerts if labour costs exceed a project budget?

Yes. Once Tempo data is in the warehouse, you can build dashboards and automated rules that compare actual labour hours and costs against project budgets. When a threshold is crossed, alerts can trigger to project managers or finance. This requires clear budget dimensions in the warehouse and coordination with project-management workflows.

How does the integration handle time-zone differences in Tempo entries?

Tempo timestamps may be in different time zones depending on where employees are located. During extraction and transformation, we normalize timestamps to a consistent time zone (usually UTC or your fiscal time zone) so that period boundaries and billing calculations are deterministic and auditable.

Next step

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