How to integrate Power BI with SSAS

Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect Power BI with SSAS for smooth data access.

Read and write Microsoft Power BI data effortlessly. Access, refresh, and manage datasets, reports, and dashboards — almost no coding required. You can do it all using the high-performance Power BI ODBC Driver for SSAS (often referred to as the Power BI Connector). We'll walk you through the entire setup.

Ready to dive in? Download the product to jump right in, or follow the step-by-step guide below to see how it works.

Power BI ODBC Driver Powering this integration

High performance
Bidirectional
Low-code / No-code
Easy to use

Built on the ZappySys API Driver, the Power BI ODBC Driver is a high-performance, low-code / no-code solution. It enables you to connect to Power BI data without any coding right in your SQL Server, or any ODBC/JDBC application. Part of the ODBC PowerPack.

Documentation

Create data source in ZappySys Data Gateway

In this section we will create a data source for Power BI in the Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

Download and install ODBC PowerPack (if you haven't already).
Search for gateway in the Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:
Go to the Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:
- Click the Add button
- In the Login field enter a username, e.g., john
- Then enter a Password
- Check the Is Administrator checkbox
- Click OK to save
Now we are ready to add a data source:
- Click the Add button
- Give the Data source a name (have it handy for later)
- Then select Native - ZappySys API Driver
- Finally, click OK
PowerBiDSN

ZappySys API Driver
When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Power BI" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Power BI" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

PowerBiDSN

Power BI

Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

User Credentials

Power BI authentication

Use delegated access (User Credentials) whenever you want to let a signed-in user work with their own resources or resources they can access. Whether it's an admin setting up policies for their entire organization or a user deleting an email in their inbox, all scenarios involving user actions should use delegated access. [API reference]

Follow these simple steps below to create Microsoft Entra ID application with delegated access:

WARNING: If you are planning to automate processes, we recommend that you use a Application Credentials authentication method. In case, you still need to use User Credentials, then make sure you use a system/generic account (e.g. automation@my-company.com). When you use a personal account which is tied to a specific employee profile and that employee leaves the company, the token may become invalid and any automated processes using that token will start to fail.

Navigate to the Azure Portal and log in using your credentials.
Access Microsoft Entra ID.
Register a new application by going to App registrations and clicking on New registration button:

INFO: Find more information on how to register an application in Graph API reference.
When configuration window opens, configure these fields:
- Supported account type
  - Use Accounts in this organizational directory only, if you need access to data in your organization only.
- Redirect URI:
  - Set the type to Public client/native (mobile & desktop).
  - Use https://zappysys.com/oauth as the URL.
After registering the app, copy the Application (client) ID for later:
Copy OAuth authorization endpoint (v2) & OAuth token endpoint (v2) URLs to use later in the configuration:
Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use the copied values in User Credentials authentication configuration:
- In the Authorization URL field paste the OAuth authorization endpoint (v2) URL value you copied in the previous step.
- In the Token URL field paste the OAuth token endpoint (v2) URL value you copied in the previous step.
- In the Client ID field paste the Application (client) ID value you copied in the previous step.
- In the Scope field use the default value or select individual scopes, e.g.:
  - offline_access
  - https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Workspace.Read.All
  - https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Dataset.Read.All
  - https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Dataset.ReadWrite.All
Press Generate Token button to generate Access and Refresh Tokens.
Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.
Optional step. Choose Default Workspace from the drop down menu.
Choose Default Dataset from the drop down menu.
Done! Now you are ready to use the API Connector!

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

Set Authentication Type to User Credentials [OAuth]
Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
Finally, hit OK button:

PowerBiDSN

Power BI

User Credentials [OAuth]

https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg

Required Parameters
Authorization URL	Fill-in the parameter...
Token URL	Fill-in the parameter...
Client ID	Fill-in the parameter...
Scope	Fill-in the parameter...
Default Dataset (select after generating tokens)	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
Client Secret
Redirect URI (must match App Redirect URI)
Default Workspace (Keep Empty for My Workspace - select after generating tokens)
RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
RetryStatusCodeList	429\|503
RetryCountMax	20
RetryWaitTimeMs	1000
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True
Login options

Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

ZappySys API Driver - Power BI

Read and write Microsoft Power BI data effortlessly. Access, refresh, and manage datasets, reports, and dashboards — almost no coding required.

PowerBiDSN
Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in SSAS to retrieve data from Power BI. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.
```
SELECT * 
FROM Workspaces
WHERE Id='aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee'
```
Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Power BI API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.
Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in SSAS:
ZappySys API Driver - Power BI

Read and write Microsoft Power BI data effortlessly. Access, refresh, and manage datasets, reports, and dashboards — almost no coding required.

PowerBiDSN
```
SELECT * 
FROM Workspaces
WHERE Id='aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee'
```
You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.

A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Power BI API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Power BI servers).
Click OK to finish creating the data source.
Once done, go to the Network Settings tab and Add a firewall rule for inbound traffic:
- This will initially allow all inbound traffic.
- Click Edit IP filters to restrict access to specific IP addresses or ranges.
Crucial Step: After creating or modifying the data source, you must:
- Click the Save button to persist your changes.
- Hit Yes when prompted to restart the Data Gateway service.
This ensures all changes are properly applied:

Skipping this step may cause the new settings to fail, preventing you from connecting to the data source.

Read Power BI data in SSAS cube

With the data source created in the Data Gateway (previous step), we're now ready to read Power BI data in an SSAS cube. Before we dive in, open Visual Studio and create a new Analysis Services project. Then, you're all set!

In the example below, we use Multidimensional and Data Mining Analysis Services project, but it should work with Tabular project too.

Create data source based on ZappySys Data Gateway

Let's start by creating a data source for a cube, based on the Data Gateway's data source we created earlier. So, what are we waiting for? Let's do it!

Create a new data source:
Once a window opens, select Create a data source based on an existing or new connection option and click New...:
Here things become a little complicated, but do not despair, it's only for a little while. Just perform these little steps:
- Select Native OLE DB\SQL Server Native Client 11.0 as provider.
- Enter your Server name (or IP address) and Port, separated by a comma.
- Select SQL Server Authentication option for authentication.
- Input User name which has admin permissions in the ZappySys Data Gateway.
- In Database name field enter the same data source name you use in the ZappySys Data Gateway.
- Hopefully, our hard work is done, when we Test Connection.
PowerBiDSN

PowerBiDSN
If SQL Server Native Client 11.0 is not listed as Native OLE DB provider, try using these:
- Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
- Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
Indeed, life is easy again:

Add data source view

We have data source in place, it's now time to add a data source view. Let's not waste a single second and get on to it!

Start by right-clicking on Data Source Views and then choosing New Data Source View...:
Select the previously created data source and click Next:
Ignore the Name Matching window and click Next.
Add the tables you will use in your SSAS cube:
For cube dimensions, consider creating a Virtual Table in the Data Gateway's data source. Use the DISTINCT keyword in the SELECT statement to get unique values from the facts table, like this:
```
SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers
```
For demonstration purposes we are using sample tables which may not be available in Power BI.
Review your data source view and click Finish:
Add the missing table relationships and you're done!

Create cube

We have a data source view ready to be used by our cube. Let's create one!

Start by right-clicking on Cubes and selecting New Cube... menu item:
Select tables you will use for the measures:
And then select the measures themselves:
Don't stop and select the dimensions too:
Move along and click Finish before the final steps:
Review your cube before processing it:
It's time for the grand finale! Hit Process... to create the cube:
A splendid success!

Execute MDX query

The cube is created and processed. It's time to reap what we sow! Just execute an MDX query and get Power BI data in your SSAS cube:

Execute MDX in SSAS cube to read API data

Supported Power BI Connector actions

Got a specific use case in mind? We've mapped out exactly how to perform a variety of essential Power BI operations directly in SSAS, so you don't have to figure out the setup from scratch. Check out the step-by-step guides below:

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Power BI in SSAS and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by Power BI ODBC Driver.

Download ODBC PowerPack now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):

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