What is the Best Way to Connect O365 Email Data while also Keeping Historical Data

[dharp94]

I'm working on a project to connect Power BI to Office 365, specifically to gather data on emails (read, sent, received) and calendar appointments (created, attended) on a per-employee basis. I was able to establish a connection using Power BI's semantic link, but it only shows data from August 1st 2024.

I need a solution that provides fairly live data and stores historical data. If the data collection starts on the day I set everything up, that’s fine, as long as it continues to store historical data from that point onward. But it would be nice if it could get some historical data from before the initial setup if possible.

I’ve seen some older posts suggesting setting up a SQL server to house the data, but given Power BI's ever-evolving nature, I wanted to confirm if this is still a good option.

Is the semantic link still a good option? What could be the reason I'm only getting one day of data? Is there a better way to approach this?

Thanks in advance for any tips or guidance!

[Kedar_Pande]

@dharp94 
Recommended Approach
Dataflows: Set up a dataflow in Power BI that connects to your Office 365 data sources. This will allow you to pull both historical and live data continuously. Ensure your dataflow is configured to refresh at intervals that meet your needs.
SQL Server Option: If you require more control over historical data, setting up a SQL Server to house your data can be beneficial. This allows for custom queries and better management of large datasets 4. You can use Power BI's incremental refresh feature to manage historical data efficiently.

💌 If this helped, a Kudos 👍 or Solution mark would be great! 🎉
Cheers,
Kedar
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[elitesmitpatel · Accepted solution]

Hey @dharp94 

Power BI Dataflow:

Steps:
Create a new Power BI dataflow.
Connect to your O365 mailbox using the OData connector.
Configure the dataflow to extract the desired data (emails, calendar events).
Apply any necessary transformations or cleaning steps.
Schedule the dataflow to refresh regularly.
Power BI Desktop (DirectQuery Mode):

Steps:
Create a new Power BI Desktop report.
Connect to your O365 mailbox using the OData connector.
Create a DirectQuery connection.
Build your visualizations and reports.
Note: DirectQuery might have performance implications for large datasets.

Conclusion:

Both Power BI Dataflows and DirectQuery are viable options for connecting O365 data to Power BI. The best approach depends on your specific requirements, data volume, and performance needs. If you need real-time data and want to avoid storing large amounts of data in Power BI, DirectQuery might be suitable. If you prefer a more scheduled approach with data transformation capabilities, Dataflows are a good option.

If it Helps Kudos to work and Accept it as Solution.