Global Business: Demystify the Exchange Rate Service

Business is continually growing past country borders. As this happens, we're often required to transact in foreign currencies. To get the most out of Business Central, setup the Exchange Rate Service and have confidence your unrealized and realized exchange gain or loss is properly calculated.

To begin, let's find the URL for the service we're going to use. In my example I'll be using Float Rates, a free exchange rate service. Select the page for the home currency of your entity.

Once we have our URL, navigate to the Exchange Rate Service setup. You can search for this directly or navigate through from the Currencies page.

Create a new record, adding a meaningful Code and Description. Paste the URL into the Service URL box.

Depending on the service in use, the fields in the next few fields may look different. These instructions will help you setup the Float Rates service specifically.

Now let's update the Data Exchange Definition and Field Mapping. Select the Source on the Parent Node for Currency Code.

Next is the Currency Code field.

Now the Starting Date.

Finally the Relational Exch. Rate Amount.

The final few steps are to set the Default Value and Transformation Rule for a few key fields. In my example below, I show the settings to utilize the custom rule MULTIPLY100. This requires a small bit of code. While it is considered best practice to define your exchange rates as multiples of 100 for more precise rounding, if you are unable to develop the transformation rule, simply do not add the rule and leave the Default Value for the Exchange Rate Amount as 1.

Validate the results are as expected by selecting Preview in the menu.

Once setup is complete to your liking, Enable the service and begin transacting. When you enable the service, you will be required to review and agree to the terms and conditions.

Rates will be updated daily with a job queue created when accepting the terms.

You're now on your way to processing transactions in multiple currencies!