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SalvaC's avatar
SalvaC
Advocate III
1 year ago
Solved

Exporting data from Semantic model

Hi all For one of my clients, I use Power BI to extract data from Jira using an Access Token for Authentication (Basic Authentication, where I enter the Token as the password and leave the username ...
  • rohit1991's avatar
    1 year ago

    Hi SalvaC ,

    You're in a tricky but not uncommon situation — pulling data from an OData source (Jira) into Power BI works fine with token-based auth, but exporting it out of the semantic model (or transforming it via SQL) is tough in an on-premises-only setup without Fabric or cloud-based tools like Power Automate. Here's the core issue:

    • Power BI semantic models are not designed for downstream ETL consumption directly.

    • You can't export or connect SSIS to semantic models without going through Power BI Service or Fabric, which your client can't use.

    • SSIS doesn’t support blank usernames for token-based OData access natively — that’s the blocker with going direct from Jira to SSIS.

     Practical Options:

    1. Use Power BI Desktop as a "bridge":

      • Load Jira OData into Power BI Desktop (as you already do).

      • Export data from the Power BI model to flat files (CSV) using DAX Studio or Tabular Editor.

      • Then, have SSIS pick up those flat files for processing.

      • This can be automated with scripting and scheduled tasks.

    2. Use PowerShell to Extract from the Semantic Model:

      • With Power BI Desktop running, connect to the local model via localhost:xxxxx and use PowerShell with TOM (Tabular Object Model) or DAX Studio to extract data.

      • Save to flat files or push to your SQL database from PowerShell.

    3. Use a Middleware ETL Tool with OData Support:

      • Tools like KingswaySoft (SSIS add-on) allow advanced authentication scenarios for OData, including custom headers (so you can manually set the token as the Authorization: Basic header).

      • This bypasses the username restriction in native SSIS.

    4. Use Custom .NET/PowerShell App to Pull and Push:

      • Build a lightweight custom app or script that pulls data from Jira (via the OData feed with token auth) and pushes it into SQL Server — effectively replacing SSIS for this job.

      • Once in SQL Server, you can continue the rest of your ETL via SSIS.

    Not Viable (without Fabric):

    • Dataflows Gen2 – require Fabric capacity.

    • Power Automate export from semantic model – also needs Fabric.

    • Direct SSIS to Power BI semantic model or dataset – not supported.