Connect Exact Online to ChatGPT or Claude: step by step

What do you get?

Questions you now answer by exporting, filtering and building pivot tables, you simply ask in ChatGPT or Claude. The assistant looks up the answer in your own Exact Online administration and puts it in a table.

The example above runs on the Dutch demo administration of the fictional Westra Bouw. With your own connection it looks the same, with your own customers and amounts, in the language you ask in.

What do you need?

• A DigiData account with the Exact Online connector
• Admin rights in DigiData to approve the connection
• For ChatGPT: a business plan (Business, Enterprise or Edu) that allows custom apps
• For Claude: a plan that allows custom connectors; on Team or Enterprise the owner adds the connector

You do not need an Exact Online developer account, an API key or technical knowledge.

Step 1: connect Exact Online to DigiData

Log in to DigiData, choose Exact Online and give permission through the official Exact login. Choose the divisions you want to use. DigiData fetches your data and then keeps it up to date automatically, every night by default.

Step 2: choose what the assistant may see

Release only the data you need. For accounts receivable, that is for example relations, sales invoices, due dates and amounts. Leave payroll out. You can change this at any time.

Step 3: add DigiData in ChatGPT or Claude

In ChatGPT

1. Open settings and go to Apps.
2. Turn on developer mode, or ask your ChatGPT admin to do so, and choose Create.
3. Paste the DigiData URL from the ChatGPT guide.
4. Log in to DigiData and confirm which data ChatGPT may see.

In Claude

1. Go to Settings and then Connectors.
2. Choose Add custom connector and paste the DigiData URL from the Claude guide.
3. Click Connect, log in to DigiData and confirm.
4. Turn the connector on in your conversation.

Step 4: five questions to start with

When you ask for results per group, ChatGPT also shows the table as a bar chart.

Checking the answers

An AI assistant calculates well but can read a question differently from what you meant. Three habits prevent surprises:

• Ask for the period and filters. "Which period and which division is this about?" brings misunderstandings about the financial year or division to the surface straight away.
• Compare one total with Exact Online. The first time, check outstanding receivables or one month's revenue against the report in Exact Online itself.
• Ask which data the assistant used. Then you see whether the answer comes from invoices, general ledger transactions or something else.

Secure and under control

• Exact Online stays read-only. ChatGPT and Claude cannot create, change or delete entries, relations or invoices.
• No password for the assistant. The assistant logs in to DigiData, not to Exact Online, and only sees what you release.
• Revoke at any time. Revoke the connection in DigiData and the assistant loses access immediately.
• Optionally let it manage dashboards. If an admin allows it, the assistant may create and change DigiData dashboards and fixed calculations. Your sources stay read-only even then.

What you discuss in ChatGPT or Claude falls under the terms of your OpenAI or Anthropic plan. Read how DigiData protects your data.

What it does not do

• Post entries or invoices. The connection reads; for bookkeeping you use Exact Online itself.
• Real-time figures. The answer reflects the latest synchronization, by default from last night.
• Data you did not release. If the assistant asks for it, release it in DigiData or leave it out.

ChatGPT, Claude or the DigiData AI agent?

ChatGPT and Claude are convenient if your team already uses them. If you want fixed definitions for revenue and margin, answers in Teams or Slack and the figures in your inbox every Monday, the DigiData AI agent is the stronger choice; read why teams choose DigiData AI. For dashboards you can connect Exact Online to Power BI or use the financial dashboard.

Working with Twinfield? Read using Twinfield with Claude.