> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.caleido.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Caleido works

> Understand how data flows through Caleido: from your accounting system and bank to transactions, report templates, reports, budgets, forecasts and workbooks.

Caleido reads your bookkeeping and bank data, organizes it into one data model and lets you report, budget and forecast on top of it. Actuals and budgets live side by side in the same structure, so every report can show the past and the plan in one view. This page explains the main building blocks and how they connect.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  A[Accounting system] --> T[Transactions]
  B[Bank] --> C[Bank balances]
  T --> M[Account mapping]
  M --> R[Report templates]
  D[Dimensions and labeling] --> R
  BI[Budget items] --> P[Budget transactions]
  P --> R
  R --> W[Reports and charts in workbooks]
  C --> W
```

## 1. Data comes in through integrations

Caleido connects to one accounting system and one bank service per organization. You set them up in **Settings** > **Integrations**.

* **Accounting:** Procountor, Netvisor, Xero, QuickBooks or Fennoa. Caleido imports your chart of accounts, transactions, sales and purchase invoices, counterparties and the dimensions you use in bookkeeping
* **Banking:** Enable Banking. Caleido reads bank balances and bank transactions so you can see your real cash position. See [Connect bank accounts and view bank balances](https://support.caleido.io/guides/cash-flow/bank-balances.md)

Caleido syncs the data regularly. You never edit the bookkeeping itself: everything you add in Caleido, such as labels, journal entries and budgets, sits on top of the imported data.

## 2. Everything becomes transactions

Each imported voucher becomes a **transaction** with one or more **transaction lines**. A line carries the account, the amount, the counterparty and any dimension items. A transaction also carries several dates:

* **Transaction date**: the accounting date that places the entry in the income statement and balance sheet
* **Invoice date** and **due date**, for sales and purchase invoices
* **Payment date** and payment status: when the money actually moved

These dates are what let Caleido build the income statement, the balance sheet and the direct cash flow from the same entries. Read more in [Direct cash flow](https://support.caleido.io/concepts/direct-cash-flow.md).

You can browse every transaction in the general ledger and journal, and add your own entries there. See [Use the general ledger and journal](https://support.caleido.io/guides/transactions/general-ledger.md) and [Create a journal entry](https://support.caleido.io/guides/transactions/journal-entries.md).

## 3. Accounts are mapped to the statements

Each bookkeeping account is mapped to a row of the profit & loss statement or the balance sheet, and its debit and credit movements are mapped to rows of the cash flow statement. Caleido places most accounts automatically by their account number. You review and complete the mapping in **Account mapping**. See [Map accounts to the statements](https://support.caleido.io/guides/settings/account-mapping.md) and [Map accounts to the cash flow](https://support.caleido.io/guides/settings/cash-flow-mapping.md).

## 4. Dimensions add your own structure

Dimensions describe your business the way you manage it: departments, products, customers, projects, revenue types. A dimension has dimension items, and you attach them to transaction lines by labeling. Labeling can be done by hand on a report or automatically with rules. See [Label data on a report](https://support.caleido.io/guides/dimensions/label-data.md) and [Automate labeling with rules](https://support.caleido.io/guides/dimensions/labeling-rules.md).

## 5. Report templates define the rows

A report template decides which rows a report shows and in what order: statement rows, accounts, dimension breakdowns, formulas, subtotals and titles. You build and edit templates in the **Builder**, or start from a ready-made template in the library. See [Edit a report template](https://support.caleido.io/guides/reporting/edit-a-report.md) and [Use the report library](https://support.caleido.io/guides/reporting/report-library.md).

## 6. Budgets use the same data model

A budget is a set of **budget items**. Each budget item, for example a monthly salary or a sales forecast, generates budget transactions with double-entry logic, just like real bookkeeping. One budget item therefore updates the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow budget at the same time. Payment terms on the budget item decide when the money moves in the cash flow forecast.

You can keep several budgets, test what-if changes with scenarios, and build budgets from actuals, from loans and from depreciation plans. See [Create a budget](https://support.caleido.io/guides/budgeting/create-a-budget.md), [Plan with scenarios and investments](https://support.caleido.io/guides/budgeting/scenarios.md) and [Actuals, budgets and forecasts](https://support.caleido.io/concepts/actuals-budgets-and-forecasts.md).

## 7. Reports combine rows, columns and dates

A report is a report template shown with a set of columns and a date range:

* The template gives the rows
* The columns decide what data each column shows, such as actuals, budget, forecast or a comparison. See [Set up report columns](https://support.caleido.io/guides/reporting/columns.md)
* The date range and cadence decide which periods are shown, separately for actuals and budget. See [Set the report date range](https://support.caleido.io/guides/reporting/date-range.md)

Because the template is separate from the columns and dates, the same template can be shown in many ways: monthly actuals, a year-to-date comparison or a rolling forecast.

## 8. Workbooks put it all together

A **workbook** is your own collection of tabs. Each tab holds elements such as report tables, charts, KPI cards and titles, or a full page such as the general ledger. You can keep a workbook private, share it with your organization, or start from a curated workbook made by Caleido. See [Create a workbook](https://support.caleido.io/guides/workbooks/create-a-workbook.md) and [Share a workbook](https://support.caleido.io/guides/workbooks/share-a-workbook.md).

## Related pages

* [Navigate Caleido](https://support.caleido.io/get-started/navigate-caleido.md)
* [Direct cash flow](https://support.caleido.io/concepts/direct-cash-flow.md)
* [Glossary](https://support.caleido.io/reference/glossary.md)


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.