How to integrate Power BI using SSIS

Integrate SSIS and Power BI
Integrate SSIS and Power BI

Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect Power BI with SSIS 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 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.

Video tutorial

Watch this quick video to see the integration in action. It walks you through the end-to-end setup, including:

  • Installing the SSIS PowerPack
  • Configuring a secure connection to Power BI
  • Working with Power BI data directly inside SSIS
  • Exploring advanced API Source features
While this video uses the OData Connector as an example, the core concepts and setup process are exactly the same for the Power BI Connector.

Once you are done watching, simply follow the step-by-step written guide below to configure your data source.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure the following prerequisites are met:

  1. SSIS designer installed. Sometimes it is referred as BIDS or SSDT (download it from Microsoft).
  2. Basic knowledge of SSIS package development using Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services.
  3. SSIS PowerPack is installed (if you are new to SSIS PowerPack, then get started!).

Read data from Power BI in SSIS (Export data)

In this section we will learn how to configure and use Power BI Connector in API Source to extract data from Power BI.

  1. Open Visual Studio and click Create a new project.

  2. Select Integration Services Project. Enter a name and location for your project, then click OK.

  3. From the SSIS Toolbox, drag and drop a Data Flow Task onto the Control Flow surface, and double-click it:

    Drag Data Flow Task onto Control Flow to use SSIS PowerPack Data Flow components

  4. Make sure you are in the Data Flow Task designer:

    Make sure you are in Data Flow designer in SSIS package

  5. From the SSIS toolbox drag and API Source (Predefined Templates) on the data flow designer surface, and double click on it to edit it:

    SSIS API Source (Predefined Templates) - Drag and Drop

  6. Select New Connection to create a new connection:

    API Source - New Connection

  7. Use a preinstalled Power BI Connector from Popular Connector List or press Search Online radio button to download Power BI Connector. Once downloaded simply use it in the configuration:

    Power BI
    Power BI Connector Selection

  8. Select your authentication scenario below to expand connection configuration steps to:

    • Configure the authentication in Power BI.
    • Enter those details into the API Connection Manager configuration.

    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.
    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:

      Start new app registration in Microsoft Entra ID
      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.
      Register app in Microsoft Entra ID

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

      Copy client ID of Microsoft Entra ID app

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

      Copy Auth and Token URLs in Microsoft Entra ID app

    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!
    API Connection Manager configuration

    Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

    1. Set Authentication Type to User Credentials [OAuth]
    2. Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
    3. Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
    4. Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
    5. Finally, hit OK button:
    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
    ZappySys OAuth Connection
    Find full details in the Power BI Connector authentication reference.

  9. Select the desired endpoint, change/pass the properties values, and click on Preview Data button to make the API call.

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

  10. That's it! We are done! Just in a few clicks we configured the call to Power BI using Power BI Connector.

    You can load the source data into your desired destination using the Upsert Destination , which supports SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Amazon Redshift. We also offer other destinations such as CSV , Excel , Azure Table , Salesforce , and more . You can check out our SSIS PowerPack Tasks and components for more options. (*loaded in Trash Destination)

    Execute Package - Reading data from Power BI and load into target

Write data to Power BI using SSIS (Import data)

In this section we will learn how to configure and use Power BI Connector in the API Destination to write data to Power BI.

Video tutorial

This video covers following and more so watch carefully. After watching this video follow the steps described in this article.

  • How to download SSIS PowerPack for Power BI integration in SSIS
  • How to configure connection for Power BI
  • How to write or lookup data to Power BI
  • Features about SSIS API Destination
  • Using Power BI Connector in SSIS

Step-by-step instructions

In upper section we learned how to read data, now in this section we will learn how to configure Power BI in the API Source to POST data to the Power BI.

  1. Open Visual Studio and click Create a new project.

  2. Select Integration Services Project. Enter a name and location for your project, then click OK.

  3. From the SSIS Toolbox, drag and drop a Data Flow Task onto the Control Flow surface, and double-click it:

    Drag Data Flow Task onto Control Flow to use SSIS PowerPack Data Flow components

  4. Make sure you are in the Data Flow Task designer:

    Make sure you are in Data Flow designer in SSIS package

  5. Read the data from the source, using any desired source component. You can even make an API call using the ZappySys JSON/XML/API Source and read data from there. In this example, we will use an OLE DB Source component to read real-time data from a SQL Server database.

  6. From the SSIS Toolbox drag and drop API Destination (Predefined Templates) on the Data Flow Designer surface and connect source component with it, and double click to edit it.
    SSIS API Destination (Predefined Templates) - Drag and Drop

  7. Select New Connection to create a new connection:

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

  8. To configure the Power BI connector, choose one of the following methods:

    • Choose from Popular Connector List: Select a pre-installed service directly from the dropdown menu.
    • Search Online: Use this to find and download a new connector file to your computer.
    • Use Saved/Downloaded File: Once the file is downloaded, browse your local drive to load it into the configuration.

    After that, just click Continue >>:

    Power BI
    API Destination -

  9. Proceed with selecting the desired Authentication Type. Then select API Base URL (in most cases default one is the right one). Finally, fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed. You may press a link Steps to Configure which will help set certain parameters. More info is available in 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.
    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:

      Start new app registration in Microsoft Entra ID
      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.
      Register app in Microsoft Entra ID

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

      Copy client ID of Microsoft Entra ID app

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

      Copy Auth and Token URLs in Microsoft Entra ID app

    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!
    API Connection Manager configuration

    Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

    1. Set Authentication Type to User Credentials [OAuth]
    2. Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
    3. Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
    4. Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
    5. Finally, hit OK button:
    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
    ZappySys OAuth Connection
    Find full details in the Power BI Connector authentication reference.

  10. Select the desired endpoint, change/pass the properties values, and go to the Mappings tab to map the columns.

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

  11. Finally, map the desired columns:

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

  12. That's it; we successfully configured the POST API Call. In a few clicks we configured the Power BI API call using ZappySys Power BI Connector

    Execute Package

Load Power BI data into SQL Server using Upsert Destination (Insert or Update)

Once you configured the data source, you can load Power BI data into SQL Server using Upsert Destination.

Upsert Destination can merge or synchronize source data with the target table. It supports Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Redshift databases as targets. Upsert Destination also supports very fast bulk upsert operation along with bulk delete.

Upsert operation - a database operation which performs INSERT or UPDATE SQL commands based on record's existence condition in the target table. It inserts records that don't have matching records in the target table or updates them, if they do, by matching them by key columns.

Upsert Destination supports INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations, so it is similar to SQL Server's MERGE command, except it can be used directly in SSIS package.

  1. From the SSIS Toolbox drag-and-drop Upsert Destination component onto the Data Flow designer background.

  2. Connect your SSIS source component to Upsert Destination.

  3. Double-click on Upsert Destination component to open configuration window.

  4. Start by selecting the Action from the list.

  5. Next, select the desired target connection or create one by clicking <New [provider] Connection> menu item from the Target Connection dropdown.

  6. Then select a table from the Target Table list or click New button to create a new table based on the source columns.

  7. Continue by checking Insert and Update options according to your scenario (e.g. if Update option is unchecked, no updates will be made).

  8. Finally, click Map All button to map all columns and then select the Key columns to match the columns on:

    Configure SSIS Upsert Destination component to merge data with SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Redshift table

  9. Click OK to save the configuration.

  10. Run the package and Power BI data will be merged with the target table in SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Redshift:

    Execute Package - Reading data from API Source and load into target

  11. Done!

Deploy and schedule SSIS package

After you are done creating SSIS package, most likely, you want to deploy it to SQL Server Catalog and run it periodically. Just follow the instructions in this article:

Running SSIS package in Azure Data Factory (ADF)

To use SSIS PowerPack in ADF, you must first prepare Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime. Follow this link for detailed instructions:

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 SSIS, 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 SSIS and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by Power BI Connector.

Download SSIS 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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