Power BI Connector for SSAS Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc. In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Power BI data in SSAS without coding. We will use high-performance Power BI Connector to easily connect to Power BI and then access the data inside SSAS. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Power BI Connector for SSAS is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

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Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on API Driver

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
   

3. Go to Users Tab to add our first Gateway user. Click Add; we will give it a name tdsuser and enter password you like to give. Check Admin option and click OK to save. We will use these details later when we create linked server:
   

4. Now we are ready to add a data source. Click Add, give data source a name (Copy this name somewhere, we will need it later) and then select Native - ZappySys API Driver. Finally, click OK. And it will create the Data Set for it and open the ZS driver UI.

   PowerBiDSN

   
   

5. 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

   

6. 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 [OAuth]

   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]

   Steps how to get and use Power BI credentials : User Credentials [OAuth]
   

   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.

   1. Navigate to the Azure Portal and log in using your credentials.
   2. Access Microsoft Entra ID.

   3. 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.

   4. 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.
      

   5. After registering the app, copy the Application (client) ID for later:

      

   6. Copy OAuth authorization endpoint (v2) & OAuth token endpoint (v2) URLs to use later in the configuration:

      

   7. 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
   8. Press Generate Token button to generate Access and Refresh Tokens.
   9. Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.
   10. Optional step. Choose Default Workspace from the drop down menu.
   11. Choose Default Dataset from the drop down menu.
   12. Done! Now you are ready to use the API Connector!

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   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

   

7. 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

   Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc.

   PowerBiDSN

   

8. 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.

9. 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

   Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc.

   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).

10. Click OK to finish creating 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!

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!

1. Create a new data source:
2. Once a window opens, select Create a data source based on an existing or new connection option and click New...:
3. 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
4. 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!

1. Start by right-clicking on Data Source Views and then choosing New Data Source View...:
2. Select the previously created data source and click Next:
3. Ignore the Name Matching window and click Next.
4. 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.
5. Review your data source view and click Finish:
6. 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!

1. Start by right-clicking on Cubes and selecting New Cube... menu item:
2. Select tables you will use for the measures:
3. And then select the measures themselves:
4. Don't stop and select the dimensions too:
5. Move along and click Finish before the final steps:
6. Review your cube before processing it:
7. It's time for the grand finale! Hit Process... to create the cube:
8. 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:

Actions supported by Power BI Connector

Learn how to perform common Power BI actions directly in SSAS with these how-to guides:

• Create a Push Dataset
• Delete a Dataset
• Execute a DAX query
• Get a Dataset
• Get a Workspace
• Get Datasets
• Get Table Columns
• Get Table Rows
• Get Tables
• Get Workspaces
• Insert Rows into Push Dataset Table
• Refresh a Dataset
• Truncate a Push Dataset Table
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Power BI in SSAS and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Power BI, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Power BI Connector for SSAS and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Power BI Connector for SSAS Documentation

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