Visualize Live SharePoint Data in Power BI (via CData Connect Cloud)

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 Cloud, you get access to SharePoint data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to SharePoint, connect to SharePoint data from Power BI and then create reports on SharePoint data in Power BI.

Getting Started

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Configure SharePoint Connectivity for Power BI

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

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "SharePoint" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.

   Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

   If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

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

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

Query SharePoint Tables

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

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

Create SharePoint Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

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

Live Access to SharePoint Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect Cloud you have a direct connection to SharePoint data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SharePoint data.

To get SQL data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including SharePoint) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect page and start a free trial.