Forum Discussion
Best practice for importing SQL data to PBI
Hi luckygirl
Power BI works best when your data model is built using a Star Schema. This means importing dimension and fact tables separately, and connecting them using relationships (via primary/foreign keys) within Power BI. This approach is not only easier to understand and maintain logically, but also leads to better performance and more efficient data compression.
please refer to few excellent resources to help you understand why the Star Schema is preferred:
https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/the-importance-of-star-schemas-in-power-bi/
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/modern-analytics-data-modeling/
https://radacad.com/power-bi-basics-of-modeling-star-schema-and-how-to-build-it
If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly
luckygirl Well, some of this depends on your skill level and what is the desired skill level of maintaining the solution. "Best practice" is generally to move the transformation of data as close to the source as possible. That would generally mean SQL views that perform the table joins. However, you could also do the transformations in Power Query and that would generally lower the skill level required to maintain the solution. There are a lot of analysts that can navigate around the Power Query Editor interface but aren't necessarily skilled at SQL.