How to Create Power BI Visual Reports with Real-Time MongoDB Data



Use CData Power BI Connectors to visualize MongoDB data in Power BI.

CData Power BI Connectors provide self-service integration with Microsoft Power BI. The CData Power BI Connector for MongoDB links your Power BI reports to real-time MongoDB data. You can monitor MongoDB data through dashboards and ensure that your analysis reflects MongoDB data in real time by scheduling refreshes or refreshing on demand. This article details how to use the Power BI Connector to create real-time visualizations of MongoDB data in Microsoft Power BI Desktop.

If you are interested in publishing reports on MongoDB data to PowerBI.com, refer to our other Knowledge Base article.

Collaborative Query Processing

The CData Power BI Connectors offer unmatched performance for interacting with live MongoDB data in Power BI due to optimized data processing built into the connector. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power BI to MongoDB, the connector pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to MongoDB and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze MongoDB data using native Power BI data types.

About MongoDB Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from MongoDB has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

MongoDB's flexibility means that it can be used as a transactional, operational, or analytical database. That means CData customers use our solutions to integrate their business data with MongoDB or integrate their MongoDB data with their data warehouse (or both). Customers also leverage our live connectivity options to analyze and report on MongoDB directly from their preferred tools, like Power BI and Tableau.

For more details on MongoDB use case and how CData enhances your MongoDB experience, check out our blog post: The Top 10 Real-World MongoDB Use Cases You Should Know in 2024.


Getting Started


Connect to MongoDB as a Power BI Data Source

Installing the Power BI Connector creates a DSN (data source name) called CData Power BI MongoDB. This the name of the DSN that Power BI uses to request a connection to the data source. Configure the DSN by filling in the required connection properties.

You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure the DSN: From the Start menu, enter "ODBC Data Sources" and select the CData PowerBI REST DSN. Ensure that you run the version of the ODBC Administrator that corresponds to the bitness of your Power BI Desktop installation (32-bit or 64-bit). You can also use run the ConfigureODBC.exe tool located in the installation folder for the connector.

Set the Server, Database, User, and Password connection properties to connect to MongoDB. To access MongoDB collections as tables you can use automatic schema discovery or write your own schema definitions. Schemas are defined in .rsd files, which have a simple format. You can also execute free-form queries that are not tied to the schema.

How to Query MongoDB Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull MongoDB data into the report:

  1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Other -> CData MongoDB.
  2. Select CData PowerBI MongoDB in the Data Source Name menu and select a data connectivity mode:
    Select Import if you want to import a copy of the data into your project. You can refresh this data on demand.
    Select DirectQuery if you want to work with the remote data.
  3. Select tables in the Navigator dialog.
  4. In the Query Editor, you can customize your dataset by filtering, sorting, and summarizing MongoDB columns. Click Edit to open the query editor. Right-click a row to filter the rows. Right-click a column header to perform actions like the following:

    • Change column data types
    • Remove a column
    • Group by columns

    Power BI detects each column's data type from the MongoDB metadata retrieved by the connector.

    Power BI records your modifications to the query in the Applied Steps section, adjusting the underlying data retrieval query that is executed to the remote MongoDB data. When you click Close and Apply, Power BI executes the data retrieval query.

    Otherwise, click Load to pull the data into Power BI.

How to Create Data Visualizations in Power BI

After pulling the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Follow the steps below to create a pie chart:

  1. Select the pie chart icon in the Visualizations pane.
  2. Select a dimension in the Fields pane: for example, borough.
  3. Select a measure in the Fields pane: for example, cuisine.

You can change sort options by clicking the ellipsis (...) button for the chart. Options to select the sort column and change the sort order are displayed.

You can use both highlighting and filtering to focus on data. Filtering removes unfocused data from visualizations; highlighting dims unfocused data. You can highlight fields by clicking them:

You can apply filters at the page level, at the report level, or to a single visualization by dragging fields onto the Filters pane. To filter on the field's value, select one of the values that are displayed in the Filters pane.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

At this point, you will have a Power BI report built on top of live MongoDB data. Learn more about the CData Power BI Connectors for MongoDB and download a free trial from the CData Power BI Connector for MongoDB page. Let our Support Team know if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the MongoDB Power BI Connector to get started:

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The fastest and easiest way to connect Power BI to MongoDB data. Includes comprehensive high-performance data access, real-time integration, extensive metadata discovery, and robust SQL-92 support.