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mwmckee's avatar
mwmckee
Frequent Visitor
8 years ago
Solved

Looking for help connecting to MRI SaaS data source


Hello!

 

Has anyone any experience or suggestions in using MRI software-as-a-service (SaaS) as a Power BI data source?

MRI is an property management ERP system with SQL Server as its database.  They offer an on-premises deployment model or SaaS.
Connectivity to the MRI SaaS would be easy if there was online service connectivity like Facebook, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 etc., but MRI is too much of a specialty market I suppose.

I am considering an option of creating a VPN, but are there other suggestions?  Perhaps someone has addressed a similar problem with a different ERP?

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Michael

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  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    8 years ago

    mwmckee,

    There are two options for you to connect to MRI in Power BI Desktop.

    1. Directly connect to the underlying SQL Server database using SQL connector in Power BI Desktop.
    2. Contact MRI support about how to use its API to receive data, then use Web connector in Power BI Desktop to connect to the API. There is also a discussion for your reference.

    Regards,
    Lydia

7 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    8 years ago

    mwmckee,

    There are two options for you to connect to MRI in Power BI Desktop.

    1. Directly connect to the underlying SQL Server database using SQL connector in Power BI Desktop.
    2. Contact MRI support about how to use its API to receive data, then use Web connector in Power BI Desktop to connect to the API. There is also a discussion for your reference.

    Regards,
    Lydia

    • mwmckee's avatar
      mwmckee
      Frequent Visitor
      8 years ago

      Hi Lydia,

       

      Thank you for your response.

       

      I was vaguely aware of the MRI API toolkit referred to in the link in option #2.  That is being investigated, although I understand MRI's fees for it are considerable.

       

      Regards,

      Michael

      • JakeTWalker's avatar
        JakeTWalker
        New Member
        5 years ago

        Hi Michael,

         

        Years later I am looking to complete a similar process to integrate MRI with Power BI and came across this thread. I am wondering if you ever came across a solution and how it turned out for you. Any insight you could share would be greatly appreciated!

  • Syndicate_Admin's avatar
    Syndicate_Admin
    Administrator
    3 years ago

    Quantra Technology Solutions ([email protected])

     

    We have implemented PowerBI for many MRI SAAS clients. 1. API is good however needs a staging database for transformation requirements and data pull restrictions.  2. Report Scheduler - using Email and Powerautomate.

  • Syndicate_Admin's avatar
    Syndicate_Admin
    Administrator
    2 years ago

    Hi Jake

    Came across this thread and am wondering if you were successful in getting a solution to integrate MRI with Power BI? I am looking at doing the same thing but my access to the servers is so restricted i cannot even test much without getting error / restriction messages. Let me know if you have managed to get it done. I may need tips on what access i need to request.