# Data Overview

Brex exposes six entities through Coupler.io, covering the full lifecycle of business spending — from card swipes to budget allocations. Here's what each entity contains and how you can use the data.

## Entities overview

| Entity       | Best used for                                     |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Transactions | Spend analysis, reconciliation, merchant tracking |
| Expenses     | Reimbursement tracking, policy compliance         |
| Budgets      | Budget vs. actual reporting, remaining funds      |
| Users        | Headcount-based spend allocation, access audits   |
| Departments  | Department-level cost center reporting            |
| Vendors      | Supplier payment tracking, vendor analysis        |

## Transactions

#### Key fields

| Field          | Description                                |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Transaction ID | Unique identifier for each transaction     |
| Amount         | Transaction value in the account currency  |
| Currency       | Currency code (e.g., USD)                  |
| Date           | Date the transaction was posted            |
| Merchant name  | Name of the merchant or vendor             |
| Status         | Current state (e.g., pending, settled)     |
| Card holder    | The user who made the transaction          |
| Department     | Department associated with the transaction |
| Category       | Spend category (e.g., travel, software)    |

## Expenses

#### Key fields

| Field        | Description                                          |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Expense ID   | Unique identifier for the expense                    |
| Amount       | Submitted expense amount                             |
| Currency     | Currency of the expense                              |
| Status       | Submission status (e.g., draft, submitted, approved) |
| Submitted by | User who submitted the expense                       |
| Merchant     | Merchant associated with the expense                 |
| Category     | Expense category                                     |
| Memo         | User-provided note or description                    |

## Budgets

#### Key fields

| Field            | Description                             |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| Budget ID        | Unique identifier for the budget        |
| Budget name      | Name of the budget (e.g., Q3 Marketing) |
| Owner            | Person responsible for the budget       |
| Limit amount     | Total spending limit                    |
| Spent amount     | Amount spent so far                     |
| Remaining amount | Funds still available                   |
| Period           | Time period the budget covers           |
| Department       | Department the budget belongs to        |

## Users

#### Key fields

| Field      | Description                                |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| User ID    | Unique identifier for the user             |
| Name       | Full name of the employee                  |
| Email      | Work email address                         |
| Role       | User role (e.g., admin, employee)          |
| Department | Department the user belongs to             |
| Status     | Account status (e.g., active, deactivated) |

## Departments

#### Key fields

| Field             | Description                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| Department ID     | Unique identifier for the department             |
| Department name   | Name of the department                           |
| Parent department | Parent in a department hierarchy (if applicable) |

## Vendors

#### Key fields

| Field       | Description                      |
| ----------- | -------------------------------- |
| Vendor ID   | Unique identifier for the vendor |
| Vendor name | Name of the merchant or supplier |
| Category    | Vendor category                  |

## Common field combinations

* **Transactions + Users** — see per-employee spend using a Join on User ID
* **Transactions + Departments** — build department-level cost center reports
* **Expenses + Budgets** — compare submitted expenses against budget limits
* **Budgets + Departments** — track budget utilization across cost centers

## Use cases by role

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Finance teams" %}

* Pull Transactions and Expenses into BigQuery or Google Sheets for month-end close reconciliation
* Join Budgets with Departments to generate budget vs. actual reports for each cost center
* Use Aggregate transformations to roll up spend by category, department, or time period
* Send budget summaries to Claude or ChatGPT to auto-generate executive spend narratives
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Operations" %}

* Monitor Vendors to track which suppliers are receiving payments and flag new or unexpected merchants
* Keep a live Departments snapshot to maintain an up-to-date cost center structure for reporting
* Append Transactions data from multiple Brex accounts (if you manage more than one) into a single destination
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="HR & People teams" %}

* Use the Users entity to audit who has active Brex access and align it with your HR system
* Track expense submission patterns by employee to identify outliers or policy gaps
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}

## Platform-specific notes

* The **start date** parameter applies to time-series entities (Transactions, Expenses). For Budgets, Users, Departments, and Vendors, all available records are returned regardless of date.
* Transactions with a **pending** status may change after settlement — consider refreshing data daily if you need accurate settled amounts.
* Brex API access requires a token with appropriate scopes. A read-only token is sufficient for all Coupler.io entities.
* If your organization uses multiple Brex accounts, you'll need a separate API key per account. Use the **Append** transformation in Coupler.io to merge data into one destination table.