Exchange rates ERP integration: automate your daily rate import

Somewhere in many finance teams, someone still copies exchange rates into the ERP every morning. It is slow, error-prone and impossible to audit. An exchange rates ERP integration replaces that with a scheduled job: fetch the rates, map them to the ERP’s rate table format, import, verify. fxapi supplies the rates – 190+ currencies, any base currency, end-of-day history back to 1999 and monthly averages – as JSON or CSV over a plain REST API that any integration tool can call.

How ERPs store exchange rates

Whether you run SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Odoo, Sage or a homegrown system, rate tables look similar. A row typically has:

The ERP’s import mechanism varies – REST or SOAP APIs, CSV upload, scheduled file import, or an integration platform – but the data is the same. fxapi does not ship official ERP connectors; you own a small job that bridges the two. Check your ERP vendor’s documentation for its exact import format.

Which fxapi endpoints to use

Monthly averages and closing rates are explained in closing vs. average exchange rates and the average exchange rates API.

Integration pattern: daily rate import

1. Schedule. Run the job each morning after midnight UTC – for example 06:00 local time – via cron, a cloud scheduler, or your integration platform.
2. Fetch per company currency. For each legal entity, call /v1/historical with base_currency set to the company currency, date set to yesterday and currencies limited to the currencies you transact in.
3. Transform. Map each value to the ERP’s row format: rate type, from/to, valid-from date, and invert or scale where the ERP expects indirect quotation or a factor (for example rates per 100 JPY).
4. Validate. Reject the batch if a currency is missing or a rate moved more than a threshold versus the previous day; alert a human instead of importing.
5. Import. Push via the ERP’s API or drop a CSV into its import folder.
6. Log. Store request parameters, the raw response and the ERP import result for audit.
7. Monthly. On the first day of each month, call /v1/average with period=month for the previous month and import the result as your average rate type.

Code example: generate an ERP import file in C#

Plain HttpClient with the apikey header. The job writes one CSV row per currency in a generic format you can adapt to your ERP’s template.

using System.Globalization;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text;

var companyCurrency = "EUR";
var currencies = "USD,GBP,CHF,PLN,JPY";
var date = DateTime.UtcNow.Date.AddDays(-1).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");

using var http = new HttpClient { BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.fxapi.com/") };
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("apikey", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FXAPI_KEY"));

var url = $"v1/historical?base_currency={companyCurrency}&currencies={currencies}&date={date}";
var response = await http.GetFromJsonAsync<FxResponse>(url)
               ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Empty response");

var csv = new StringBuilder("rate_type,from_currency,to_currency,valid_from,rate\n");
foreach (var (code, rate) in response.Data)
{
    // ERP stores "1 foreign unit = x EUR" (indirect to the API's direction), so invert
    var perUnit = 1m / rate.Value;
    csv.AppendLine(string.Join(",", "DAILY", code, companyCurrency, date,
        perUnit.ToString("0.########", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)));
}

await File.WriteAllTextAsync($"erp_rates_{companyCurrency}_{date}.csv", csv.ToString());

record FxRate(string Code, decimal Value);
record FxResponse(Dictionary<string, FxRate> Data);

GetFromJsonAsync uses case-insensitive property matching by default, so data, code and value map to the records. More C# patterns in the C# guide.

Multiple companies, multiple base currencies

Groups with entities in several countries have one company currency per entity. Two options:

• One request per company currency. Simple mapping, exact values per base. A group with EUR, GBP and USD entities makes three calls a day.
• One USD-based request plus cross rates. One call per day, then compute rate[to] / rate[from] for each pair – see base currency and cross rates. Round consistently to the precision your ERP stores.

Either way, a daily import is light: about 31 requests per base currency per month, plus 1 for averages. The Free plan’s 300 requests cover roughly nine company currencies; note its 10 requests/minute limit if you fetch many bases at once. Basic, Professional and Enterprise have no per-minute limit – see pricing.

Pitfalls and best practices

• Know your quotation direction. The most common ERP rate bug is an inverted rate. Test with one known pair before going live.
• Mind factors and ratios. Some systems store JPY, HUF or KRW rates per 100 or 1,000 units; scale accordingly.
• Respect the “yesterday” rule. /v1/historical and /v1/average accept dates up to yesterday, which matches a morning import of the prior day.
• Don’t import silently on failure. If the API returns 4xx/5xx or a currency is missing, stop and alert rather than leave yesterday’s rate looking current.
• Use a dedicated key. Paid plans allow multiple keys, so the ERP job can have its own; Enterprise adds IP whitelisting for fixed integration servers.
• Keep CSV and JSON options open. /v1/average and /v1/range support format=csv for file-based imports; JSON suits API-based imports.

Automate your rate import

The full pattern – daily rates, month-end rates and monthly averages – runs on the Free plan, so you can build and test it before choosing a paid tier. Need a custom volume or contractual terms? Contact us. Otherwise, create a free API key and retire the manual rate entry this month. Finance-specific guidance is in exchange rates for accounting.

Everything on this page runs on the fxapi foreign exchange rates API: one key, 190+ currencies, data back to 1999.

Frequently asked questions