Import FormSite Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to FormSite data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to FormSite in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on FormSite data in the Power BI service.

Configure FormSite Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to FormSite from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with FormSite data from Power BI Service, we start by creating and configuring a FormSite connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "FormSite" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to FormSite.

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the FormSite Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\FormSite.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for FormSite (see below).

   FormSite API Profile Settings

   Log into your Formsite account and visit the Admin Portal to generate or retrieve your API key. Your ServerNumber is the numeric part of your server URL and UserDirectory is your account's directory path.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add FormSite Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to FormSite data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to FormSite in Connect AI, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your FormSite data from Power BI

6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on FormSite Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report.
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report.

Live Access to FormSite Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live FormSite data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating FormSite data.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.