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HamidBee's avatar
HamidBee
Power Participant
2 years ago
Solved

Direct Integration of Salesforce Data into Power BI Without CSV Export

Hi All,

 

I'm exploring efficient ways to integrate Salesforce data directly into Power BI for our analytics and reporting needs. Currently, our process involves exporting data from Salesforce into CSV files and then importing these files into Power BI. This method, while functional, is quite time-consuming and introduces a delay in reporting, potentially leading to decisions made on outdated information.

 

I'm interested in any advice or best practices on how to streamline this process by pulling data directly from Salesforce into Power BI. Specifically, I'm looking for guidance on:

 

  1. Any direct connectors or services within Power BI that facilitate this integration.
  2. Steps to set up a real-time or near-real-time data feed from Salesforce to Power BI.
  3. Tips for handling authentication securely during this data integration.
  4. Best practices for data transformation or preparation within Power BI after importing from Salesforce.
  5. Any common challenges or pitfalls to watch out for during this integration process.

I appreciate any insights, experiences, or resources you can share that would help in setting up a more efficient and automated data flow from Salesforce to Power BI.

 

Thank you!

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  • danextian's avatar
    danextian
    2 years ago

    Hi HamidBee ,

     

    There are existing connectors in Power BI for Salesforce.

    Salesforce reports is for access to reports but limited to 2k rows (SFDC API limitation). Consider using Salesforce Objects if more than 2K.

     

6 Replies

  • danextian's avatar
    danextian
    Super User
    2 years ago

    Hi HamidBee ,

     

    There are existing connectors in Power BI for Salesforce.

    Salesforce reports is for access to reports but limited to 2k rows (SFDC API limitation). Consider using Salesforce Objects if more than 2K.

     

    • MithunMatkar's avatar
      MithunMatkar
      New Member
      2 years ago

      Has anyone faced issues of getting a blank data table when using Salesforce objects of Lead and Opportunity to export in Power Bi?

  • ReportMaster's avatar
    ReportMaster
    Post Partisan
    2 years ago

    Hi HamidBee I currently connect my Salesforce data using a 3rd party connector which is windsor.ai. Main reason is because that tool gives me apart from Salesforce many other connectors that doesn't have native Power BI integrations, so in my case it's worth the price. This connector also lets me set up incremental refresh on Power BI side and my report is refreshes automatically every day on PBI servie. In case you wonder, to make the connection first search for the Salesforce connector in the data sources list:

     

     

    After that, just grant access to your Salesforce account using your credentials, then on preview and destination page you will see a preview of your Salesforce fields:

     

     

     There just select the fields you need. It is also compatible with custom fields and custom objects, so you'll be able to export them through windsor.  Finally, just select PBI as your data destination and finally just copy and paste the url on PBI --> Get Data --> Web --> Paste the url. 

     

  • GilbertHall's avatar
    GilbertHall
    Regular Visitor
    2 years ago

    You can leverage Skyvia to integrate Salesforce with Power BI in two main ways. First, you can replicate your Salesforce data to a data warehouse and subsequently connect it to Power BI. Alternatively, you can expose your Salesforce data as an OData endpoint that Power BI can directly consume. Both methods facilitate seamless data sharing and analytics.

  • metrica's avatar
    metrica
    Post Prodigy
    3 months ago

    Hi HamidBee 

     

    A few practical things to set expectations on, since most "real-time Salesforce → Power BI" advice glosses over the limits.

    Power BI doesn't actually do real-time against Salesforce - neither the native connector nor any third-party option supports DirectQuery for SFDC. Everything is import + scheduled refresh, and on Pro you're capped at 8 refreshes/day. If you genuinely need sub-hour freshness for executives, the realistic options are: schedule refresh on PPU/Premium (up to 48/day), stream into Fabric/ADF and let Power BI hit the warehouse, or use Salesforce's own dashboards for the views that need to be live.

     

    Two pitfalls people hit and don't see coming: the Reports connector is hard-capped at 2,000 rows by Salesforce's API (not a Power BI bug), and the Objects connector's filters don't always fold back into SOQL - so a "filter by last 30 days" step can silently download the entire object before filtering, which times out on Lead/Opportunity/Event etc. (probably what @MithunMatkar is hitting above).

     

    For auth - avoid hooking refresh to a real user's account. Password rotations and MFA changes will break it. Set up a dedicated Salesforce integration user with API-only access, and use that for the connection.

     

    If you want to skip the native connector's row cap and folding quirks, there's an AppExchange app called Power BI Connector for Salesforce that does server-side filtering and works with Reports as-is - https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=31526f0e-abd8-4cb5-bd1a-3bd56b5c0577. Free 30-day trial, docs at https://metricasoftware.com/docs/salesforce/.

     

    Feel free to ask any questions, we'll be happy to assist.

     

    Cheers,

    Metrica Team.