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
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Hello luckygirl
If you decide to perform the transformation in Power Query, try to keep the native query activated as much as possible.
Keeping the "native query" active, when possible, means to have power query send the query to the source database, and have that source database do the data processing. This is often more efficient than having Power Query pull all the data and then do the processing itself
When the native query is greyed out, it means it's no longer active. Try to perform all SQL-supported operations at the start. Using unsupported actions will deactivate the native query.