Import SAS Data Sets 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 SAS Data Sets data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to SAS Data Sets in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on SAS Data Sets data in the Power BI service.

Configure SAS Data Sets Connectivity for Power BI Service

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

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

2. Select "SAS Data Sets" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAS Data Sets.

   Set the following connection properties to connect to your SAS DataSet files:

   Connecting to Local Files

   • Set the Connection Type to "Local." Local files support SELECT, INSERT, and DELETE commands.
   • Set the URI to a folder containing SAS files, e.g. C:\PATH\TO\FOLDER\.

   Connecting to Cloud-Hosted SAS DataSet Files

   While the driver is capable of pulling data from SAS DataSet files hosted on a variety of cloud data stores, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE are not supported outside of local files in this driver.

   Set the Connection Type to the service hosting your SAS DataSet files. A unique prefix at the beginning of the URI connection property is used to identify the cloud data store and the remainder of the path is a relative path to the desired folder (one table per file) or single file (a single table). For more information, refer to the Getting Started section of the Help documentation.

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

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

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to SAS Data Sets 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 SAS Data Sets 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 SAS Data Sets 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 SAS Data Sets Data from Cloud Applications

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