Power Bi Integration with Custom Salesforce Objects. ( Not Reports)

[rohampourmehr]

Is there way to inegrate Power BI with Custom Salesforce Objects using SOQL or a third party tool.

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@rohampourmehr,

According to my knowledge,  it is not possible to integrate Power BI with custom salesforce objects using SOQL.

In your scenario, since you don’t want to connect to Salesforce report content pack which includes custom objects and fields in Power BI Service, you can create your own reports using Power BI Desktop. It's possible to connect to all Salesforce Objects, including custom objects and fields in this tool.  Once imported, you can create your own reports and upload them to a Power BI Service.

Regards,
Lydia

[ReportRanger]

Hi @rohampourmehr as a workaround, maybe you can try to test your connection with a 3rd party connector, which pulls data directly from the SF objects API and is compatible with custom objects too. I've tried windsor.ai, supermetrics and funnel.io. I stayed with windsor because it is much cheaper so just to let you know other options. 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. 

[KattyNamor]

There are several approaches you can consider to integrate Salesforce Custom Objects to PowerBI. The first one is to use the OData protocol but before you need to expose your data to its format. The second commonly used approach is to load your Salesforce data to the DWH or DB (SQL Server, Redshift, etc) and then use PowerBI database connector.

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@rohampourmehr,

According to my knowledge,  it is not possible to integrate Power BI with custom salesforce objects using SOQL.

In your scenario, since you don’t want to connect to Salesforce report content pack which includes custom objects and fields in Power BI Service, you can create your own reports using Power BI Desktop. It's possible to connect to all Salesforce Objects, including custom objects and fields in this tool.  Once imported, you can create your own reports and upload them to a Power BI Service.

Regards,
Lydia

[Omar1]

Thank you for solving this issue. I'm curious, can you please show how to import custom objects or provide a link somewhere? Thank you!

[rohampourmehr]

@v-yuezhe-msft

I believe there is a 2000 rows limit on Salesforce Reports which are transfered to Power Bi. This is why I'm staying away from the built-in report option.

I was reading online that Power Bi Designer and Power Bi Query could also be used to import data from custom objects in Salesfroce and then connected to Power Bi for visualization. My only concern with this method is refreshing the data.  I'm looking for a 100% automated solution that ensures a smooth flow from Salesforce to modeling done in Power Bi Designer or Power Bi Query, and finally the visuazliation in Power BI.

Will this method require any sort of manuel work after the intiail set up?

Thank you,

Roham

[paulUniformity]

Probably late for you Roham, but we have just put live a connector service that pulls your salesforce data into your database so you can build reports in Power BI.  Includes custom fields.  Not free unfortunately but there is a one month free trial.  https://uniformity.io/salesforce

[Anonymous]

When you want to refresh custom objects with a lot of rows the scheduled refresh times out. 

In my case I am connected to the Cases, Accounts and Users objects.  Using the queries I have narrowed down what I need from the cases object (the last 3 years) but still it has to synch more than a million rows.  I do a refresh once a week that takes me about 3 hours. I think the ideal would be a DataWarehouse which would receive a delta from salesforce and have PowerBI hit the DW making the refresh much quicker. 

If however in the meantime you have figured out a solution please do share. 🙂

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@rohampourmehr,

The salesforce object connector in Power BI Desktop doesn't have 2000 rows limit. Using the connector in Power BI Desktop, you would need to build reports by yourself, after that, you can publish the report to Power BI Service and set schedule refresh for your dataset.

Regards,
Lydia

[JPY]

@v-yuezhe-msft 

Hi Lydia,

I am new to Power BI and currently I am trying to get the data from Salesforce objects. 

Could you please explain more on this "Using the connector in Power BI Desktop, you would need to build reports by yourself"?

How to create reports by object connector?

Kindly please assist

Thank you

Joyce

[Anonymous]

Hi,

To get data from Salesforce you should click Get Data in PBI Desktop > Search for Salesforce Objects in the connectors > Connect using Production (https://login.salesforce.com) or Custom URL > Login with Salesforce credentials (I'm not sure about the permissions you need to have for this user, but probably you will need to have API access enabled) > Select the objects you want to have in Power BI. 

Or in Query Editor use Salesforce.Data function (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/salesforce-data) to retrieve a list of objects.

I'm not aware of any system requirements and considerations.

[rohampourmehr]

@v-yuezhe-msft

Thank you for your all your help thus far.

Will i be able to connect to Custom Objects in Salesforce?

I was under the impression that we can only connect to Standards Objects in Salesforce and the only way to access data from the Cusotm Objects is to connect to Salesforce Reports which have the 2000 rows limit.

Thank you,

Roham

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@rohampourmehr,

Based on Admin's comment in this idea, you are able to use the salesforce object connector in Power BI Deskop to connect to all salesforce objects including custom objects.

Regards,
Lydia