Publish a new PowerQuery connector

[AntoineW-ELPH]

Hello all,

I'm trying to find this information, but it seems the Custom Connector Certification program is currently on hold ?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/data-factory/connector-certification

Our company just released a new PowerBI (PowerQuery) connector, that is enabling the connection between PowerBI and SAP Field Service Management (https://www.sap.com/products/scm/field-service-management.html)

We would like to deploy this Connector to the whole PowerBI community, but there's no information about how-to and if that is even possible. Currently, the only way is to ask our customer to manually drag/drop a file on their computer, and they are able to see the whole source code.

Could you please help us ?

Thanks a lot,

Antoine

[pbiuseruk · Accepted solution]

I've made custom connectors in the past aswell and one thing that I learnt recently is that no custom connector source code is actually hidden (even if deployed to the marketplace and available in Get Data). On Power BI Desktop, you can see the source code of any connector that's available.

On a side note, I reckon you're probably already aware of this but just set up a gateway for the customers so that they can have scheduled refreshes. Alternatively, point them in the right direction on how to set it up - this is a good guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmNQyLc4_3Q&list=PL-Blq1rT2QMbKFchLrGCTRDunHx0n_3Kr&index=6.

If you're really concerned about hiding the source code, then what you can potentially do is create some form of middleware instead and have the logic on there instead. So the flow would be Client -> Middleware -> SAP Field Service -> Middleware -> Client. 

You could go down the route of setting up a Fabric or other DataWarehouse solution and do all the connections and just expose the data from there. There are 3rd party connectors that follow this approach but it has it's benefits and drawbacks - main drawback being that the data is hosted outside of the tenant which can be a big security risk. The benefits would be that most of the time the data is already modelled, potentially uses things like SCDs and could have some template reports which saves alot of time of report development.

Also, as a note - for the certification program, you'll have to make sure that your connector has been pilotted with customers and there is no way to pilot it to a customer without giving them the mez file. They sometimes ask for testimonials from those customers as part of the certification process - Just as an FYI.

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @AntoineW-ELPH,

Thanks for providing these helpful workarounds and alternative approaches, they offer valuable insight into how others can handle similar challenges while the certification program is on hold. Please consider marking it as the accepted solution so that it can benefit other community members who are facing the same issue. 

If this post helps, then please give us ‘Kudos’ and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly. 

Thank you. 

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @AntoineW-ELPH,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

The Custom Connector Certification program is currently on hold, as mentioned in the official documentation. As of now, Microsoft has not announced a timeline for when the program will resume. 

Please wait for the official relaunch of the program, which will be communicated through the official documentation page once it's available again. That page will be updated with the latest guidance, requirements, and submission process once certification resumes.

Data Factory Connector Certification - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

If this post helps, then please give us ‘Kudos’ and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thank you.