New to Power BI - getting data?

[skruger]

I am new to Power BI.  I am sitting with a data warehouse with over 20 years worth of information.  The warehouse is built nightly (incrementally).  What should be my best practice for getting data from the warehouse tables into Power BI?  Direct Query or Import?  Do I pull in multiple tables that are needed but containing upwards of 10 million records each?  Can BI handle that?  Or do I write some SQL to limit the number of years that are being brought over from the multiple tables?

Please, any assistance or best practices that could be shared would be greatly appreciated as this will most likely be the foundation for a lot of our reporting/visualizations.  I have done a ton of reading online, but have yet to find a true definitive best answer.  Thanks.

[v-frfei-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @skruger ,

In your secnario, Direct query should be your best choice.

As using Direct query,

• DirectQuery lets you build visualizations over very large datasets, where it would otherwise be unfeasible to first import all of the data with pre-aggregation
• Underlying data changes can require a refresh of data, and for some reports, the need to display current data can require large data transfers, making re-importing data unfeasible. By contrast, DirectQuery reports always use current data
• The 1-GB dataset limitation does not apply to DirectQuery

For more details, please check the online document.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-use-directquery