.png)
An Excel workbook connected to your AIMS360 data through the API. Press refresh and it pulls real time data into the sheet, while your formulas, formatting and pivot tables stay exactly where they were. Build it yourself, or tell us what you need and we build it for you.
Every export is out of date the second it lands. A Live Excel report is a workbook wired to your AIMS360 data through the API, so the same file you built your formulas and pivots in pulls real time numbers whenever you ask it to. Build one yourself, or tell us what you need and we will build it for you. Either way: no re-export, no re-paste, and no second version of the truth in somebody's downloads folder.
It is an Excel workbook connected to your AIMS360 data through the AIMS360 API. The file holds a bearer token generated from your own API access key. When you hit Data, then Refresh All, Excel calls the API and pulls back real time data, straight out of the system, into the sheet you are already looking at.
Everything you built on top of that data stays. Your formulas, your extra columns, your conditional formatting, the pivot on the second tab. They recalculate against the new figures instead of being rebuilt from scratch every time somebody wants this week's version.
You can build one yourself. The API is public, the token is yours, and anyone comfortable with Get Data in Excel can wire a sheet up in an afternoon. Most brands would rather not, so they tell us what the report has to show and we build it for them. Both doors are open, and there is a third route further down this page: a read only connection straight to your database.
An export is a photograph. The moment a pick ticket is created or a receipt is posted, the file on your desktop is describing a company that no longer exists.
Somebody exports, pastes, re-points the pivot, fixes the column that moved, and reformats. Multiply that by every recurring report and it is a standing appointment nobody put on a calendar.
Three people export the same report on three days and now there are three numbers. The argument in the meeting stops being about the business and starts being about whose file is right.
Which is the real cost. A report that anybody can refresh themselves, from the same source, ends that conversation.
One AIMS360 user account is switched on as the API user. Use the admin or your primary account: the one least likely to be changed, and the one with the module permissions covering everything the reports need to read. The account also has to be validated, so a brand new user whose email was never confirmed will not work.
In that user's settings, on the API tab, generate the access token. You sign in with your AIMS360 credentials to confirm it is you, the token appears, and there is a copy to clipboard button. Your client id and secret keys live separately on the AIMS360 license screen.
With the token in hand you can point Excel at the API yourself and shape the sheet however you like. If nobody on your side wants to do that, say what the report has to show and which fields matter, and we build the workbook against your company data and send it back.
The first open produces one or two Excel security prompts about the external data connection. Accept them once. After that it is Data, then Refresh All, for as long as you own the file.
None of this is a black box. The AIMS360 API is publicly documented at api.aims360.io, and the same token drives reports, dashboards and integrations you build yourself. It is your data.
One that already exists: a vendor purchase order cost variance report, comparing what a style was supposed to cost against what it actually cost when it landed.
It reads standard cost, FOB or LDP, from the style costing tab and compares it against the actualized cost captured when the vendor purchase order was received. If you are not actualizing costs, the report falls back to the style master cost and every variance reads zero, which is itself a useful thing to discover.
That is the shape of most of them. One question a merchandiser or a controller asks repeatedly, answered on a schedule they control rather than one the reporting queue controls.
Live Excel is one of two ways AIMS360 data reaches a spreadsheet. They solve different problems and it is worth knowing which one you are asking for.
| Live Excel API | Direct connection (ODBC or OLEDB) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A workbook wired to the AIMS360 API, built by you or built by us. | A connection your own tools open straight to your AIMS360 SQL database. |
| How it authenticates | A bearer token, generated from an API access token on your API user. | A username, password and server name issued to your company by support. |
| Who writes the query | You, or AIMS360 if you would rather not build it yourself. | You, or whoever on your side writes SQL. |
| What it can see | Whatever the API user is permitted to see, by module permission. | Issued read only, so nothing can be written back this way. |
| How you refresh | Data, then Refresh All, inside Excel. | However your tool refreshes its own connection. |
| Who it suits | A merchandiser or a controller who wants one report that is always current. | An analyst who wants the raw tables and their own model on top. |
Direct database access is requested from support, who issue the server name, login and password for your company database. The connection is set up read only, so it is a reporting door and not a way to change anything. Once it is in place, Excel, or any other tool that speaks ODBC or OLEDB, can query your own data.
Most apparel ERPs will not give you either. Being able to point your own tools at your own tables is unusual, and it is the reason brands with an analyst on staff tend to stop asking for custom reports after the first month.
A Live Excel report is one of three ways to get any report out of the same live AIMS360 data. Pick by who is asking and how often.
The workbook finance and merchandising already live in, wired to the API. Press refresh and the numbers update while your formulas and pivots stay put.
How it works → Standing dashboardMicrosoft Power BIThe visual the whole team opens. Power BI reads your own database over a read only login or calls the same API, refreshes on a schedule and slices by style, color and size.
Power BI on AIMS360 data →They work best together. Ask Claude or ChatGPT which styles are over or under selling this month and you have the answer in a minute, as a table or as an Excel file. If it turns out to be the question you ask every Monday, make it a Live Excel report so the answer is a refresh button, or a Power BI visual so it is already on the screen. Same data, same permissions, three ways in.
The AI assistant connectors are provisioned by AIMS360 for your company, are read only by design, and answer over live data rather than a report somebody exported last week. They hand you a finished Excel file; a Live Excel report is a file that keeps refreshing. Different jobs.
A Live Excel report sees exactly what the API user is permitted to see. If that account has no rights to a module, data from it does not come through. When a report looks short, check the API user's permissions before you check anything else.
Everything running under that user id stops with it: reports, dashboards, integrations. If the person whose account was designated leaves, move the API designation first. This is why an admin or a permanent account is the right choice.
The client id and the primary and secondary secret keys sit on the AIMS360 license screen and can be shown and copied there. Regenerating one is limited to your primary admin user or done with support, because a new key breaks every integration already using the old one.
ODBC and OLEDB access is issued read only. Nothing gets written back through it. Combine that with role based access inside the application and you can be quite specific about who sees what.
Wiring Excel to the API is an afternoon for somebody comfortable with Get Data and a bearer token. It is not a menu item inside AIMS360, so if nobody on your team wants to own it, we build it for you. That route carries a one time setup fee per company, and whether custom reporting is available to you at all depends on your AIMS360 plan. Ask support about both.
This one bites whoever builds it. Deciding halfway through that you also want a column for a field nobody mentioned means going back round. Write down the question the report has to answer, and the exact fields, before anyone starts.
A Live Excel workbook holds a token that reaches your company data. It is a normal file, which is what makes it convenient and also what makes it worth handling carefully. Keep it where you would keep anything else that opens a door, and if a token needs changing, support can do that.
An Excel workbook connected to your AIMS360 data rather than filled from an export. You open the file, press refresh, and it pulls real time data back into the sheet. The formatting, the formulas and the pivot tables you built on top of it stay exactly where they were.
Through the AIMS360 API. The workbook holds a bearer token generated from your own API access token, and the refresh calls the API and pulls real time data back into the sheet. It is not a link to a file on a shared drive and it is not a saved export.
The Live Excel report does not. It goes through the API. Direct database access is a separate thing AIMS360 also offers, over ODBC or OLEDB, with its own credentials. Both end up in Excel, but they are two different doors with different setup and different security.
Data, then Refresh All, in Excel. The first time you open a new Live Excel file you will also see one or two Excel security prompts about the external connection. Accept them once and the file behaves normally afterwards.
No, and that is the point of the format. The refresh replaces the data in the connected range. Anything you built around it, extra columns, conditional formatting, a pivot on another tab, survives and recalculates against the new numbers.
Yes. The API is public, the access token is yours, and anyone comfortable with Get Data in Excel can wire a sheet to it. It is not a menu item inside AIMS360, so it is a small piece of real work rather than a button. If nobody on your team wants to own that, tell us what the report has to show and we build it for you.
Only if we build it. Wiring it up yourself costs nothing beyond your own time, because the API and the token are already yours. Having AIMS360 build the workbook carries a one time setup fee per company, and whether custom reporting is available at all depends on your AIMS360 plan.
An API user with an access key. One user account is designated as the API user and an access token is generated from the API tab in that user settings. If you are building it yourself that token is all you need. If we are building it, that key comes to us with the report spec.
The admin or your primary account. It should be the account least likely to be changed or removed, and it needs the module permissions covering everything the reports have to read.
Everything running under that user id stops. That includes reports, dashboards and any integration built on the same account. If someone leaves and their account was the API user, move the API designation before the account goes.
Almost always module permissions. The report can only see what the API user is allowed to see, so if that account has no rights to a module, the data from it will not come through. Checking the API user's permissions is the first thing to do.
Yes. If a user account has been created but the email was never validated, it cannot be used for API access. This catches people out on brand new accounts.
Yes. AIMS360 issues ODBC and OLEDB access to your own company database on request. Support provides the server, login and password, the connection is set to read only, and from there Excel, or anything else that speaks ODBC, can query it.
Yes. The connection is configured read only, so it is a reporting door rather than a way to change data. Writing back is done through the API or through the application.
The API route gives you a finished report that a non technical person can refresh. The database route gives an analyst raw tables and lets them build whatever they want. The API respects the API user's permissions; the database connection is read only across your company data.
Yes. The same two doors are open. Anything that can call a REST API can use the AIMS360 API, and anything that can open an ODBC or OLEDB connection can read the database. Excel is simply the one most finance and merchandising teams already live in.
User settings, then the API tab, on the designated API user. If no token exists yet there is a generate button, you sign in with your AIMS360 credentials to confirm it is you, and the token is then shown with a copy to clipboard option.
Yes, but deliberately. The client id and the primary and secondary secret keys are on the AIMS360 license screen. Regenerating is restricted to your primary admin user or done with support, because changing a key breaks every integration already using it.
Both, wherever the endpoint allows it. Live Excel reports only read, because a report should not be able to change your books. The wider API supports read and write exchanges, which is what integrations are built on.
Often, yes. The AI assistant connectors answer questions over live AIMS360 data in plain English and hand back a table, a chart or an Excel export. That suits the question you just thought of. A Live Excel report suits the question you ask every week, because the file keeps refreshing. Power BI suits the dashboard everyone watches. Same data, three doors.
Yes. The workbook is a normal file on your machine and the refresh is an API call over the internet, so it works anywhere you have a connection. That also means the file carries a token, so treat it like a credential and do not email it around.
That is the one to start with. Tell us the question it answers and the fields it needs, and we will show you what it looks like when the answer is a refresh button instead of an hour.
