History and counting

HR history by reference date in Power BI, also with backdated changes

History by reference date in Power BI means you can see who held which job in which department on a given date, also after a reorganisation or a backdated change. That needs a history of its own next to the HR system, because AFAS templates, SAP SuccessFactors and a direct Workday report only return today's state by default.

Last updated: 9 November 2026

Discuss your integration All about HR data to BI

What it is

Questions such as how many people worked in a department last March, or how headcount developed over a year, can only be answered with history. Most HR systems keep it, but return the current state on an ordinary request.

Without a history of your own, the past in your report changes with every edit. Last month's report no longer matches today's, and nobody knows why.

How the integration handles it

KoppelHet records a monthly snapshot outside the HR system, so a question about an earlier reference date can be answered even after a reorganisation.
With SAP SuccessFactors KoppelHet requests all time slices from an early start date, because an ordinary request only returns today's slice.
Workday has an effective date and an entry moment per item. KoppelHet fetches by entry moment and recalculates the months a backdated change affects.
With HiBob KoppelHet uses the effective date of each work history row to determine per month who was in which team.
BuddeeHR records job, department and FTE per period, but returns only the current arrangement by default. KoppelHet also fetches earlier periods, so last year's headcount is not calculated with today's hours.
With Nmbrs job history follows the payroll periods, because job and department have a start period there, not an exact date.

Edge cases we handle

Besides a change, Oracle HCM has a correction that overwrites the past without a new row. KoppelHet recalculates the affected months and flags them in Power BI.
Visma Raet YouForce only returns payroll results via the Data API for the current and previous calendar year. KoppelHet stores them per period, so the multi-year view survives a year end.
Fetching changes by last-modified date sometimes returns an unexpected time slice in SuccessFactors. KoppelHet therefore loads in full weekly and recent changes daily.
KoppelHet splits a sickness period across a month boundary over the months, so the absence rate per month is right.

What KoppelHet does

KoppelHet fetches the data once a day, builds the history and gives Power BI a fixed model to refresh on. The HR system is not queried again on every refresh, and a backdated change lands in the right month.

Common integrations

AFAS Profit → Power BI

AFAS to Power BI integration: HR data from Profit in Power BI, with history and its own security

Workday → Power BI

Workday to Power BI integration: global HR data in Power BI, with retroactive changes handled correctly

SAP SuccessFactors → Power BI

SAP SuccessFactors to Power BI integration: Employee Central with full history in Power BI

Oracle HCM Cloud → Power BI

Oracle HCM to Power BI integration: workers, assignments and history from Oracle Fusion in Power BI

HiBob → Power BI

HiBob to Power BI integration: people data and work history from Bob in Power BI

BuddeeHR → Power BI

Buddee to Power BI integration: headcount, contracts, absence and turnover from Buddee in one model

Frequently asked questions

Why not load the HR report into Power BI directly?

That works for a simple overview. You then only see the state at that moment, and with Workday the report runs again on every refresh. Headcount and turnover over months need a history of their own.

How far back can we look?

As far as the HR system provides history, and from the start of the integration with the monthly snapshots on top.

Why does an old report sometimes differ from the new one?

Because of a backdated change or a correction in the HR system. KoppelHet recalculates the affected months and flags them, so it is clear why.