Connecting Power BI to SharePoint Online and Embedding Reports

February 12, 2024

Integrating Power BI with SharePoint Online allows organizations to create real-time, interactive dashboards and reports based on their SharePoint data. This connection enables businesses to gain valuable insights from their collaborative platforms, enhancing decision-making processes and overall efficiency. This guide will walk you through the process of connecting Power BI to SharePoint Online, creating reports, and embedding them back into SharePoint for easy access.

Benefits of Connecting Power BI to SharePoint Online

  1. Real-time data visualization
  2. Centralized reporting from multiple SharePoint sites
  3. Enhanced data analysis capabilities
  4. Improved data-driven decision making
  5. Seamless integration with existing SharePoint workflows

Step-by-Step Process

1. Prepare Your SharePoint Data

  • Ensure your SharePoint lists and libraries are well-structured
  • Use consistent data types and formats
  • Consider creating views in SharePoint to pre-filter data

2. Set Up Power BI

  • Sign in to Power BI Desktop
  • Ensure you have the necessary permissions to access SharePoint data

3. Connect to SharePoint Online

In Power BI Desktop:

  1. Click “Get Data” > “More…”
  2. Search for and select “SharePoint Online List”
  3. Enter the URL of your SharePoint site
  4. Sign in with your Microsoft account
  5. Select the lists or libraries you want to import
  6. Choose “Load” to import the data or “Transform Data” to make changes before importing

4. Transform and Model Your Data

  • Use Power Query Editor to clean and shape your data
  • Create relationships between different SharePoint lists if necessary
  • Add calculated columns or measures as needed

5. Create Visualizations

  • Design your dashboard using various Power BI visualizations
  • Consider using:
    • KPI cards for important metrics
    • Line charts for trend analysis
    • Pie or donut charts for composition analysis
    • Tables or matrices for detailed data views
    • Slicers for interactive filtering

6. Publish and Share Your Report

  1. In Power BI Desktop, click “Publish” in the Home ribbon
  2. Choose a destination workspace in Power BI service
  3. Once published, open the report in Power BI service (app.powerbi.com)

7. Add Power BI Report to SharePoint

  1. In Power BI service (app.powerbi.com), open the report you want to embed
  2. Click “File” > “Embed report” > “SharePoint online”
  3. Copy the report URL provided (it should look like: “https://app.powerbi.com/reportEmbed?reportId=…”)
  4. In your SharePoint site, go to the page where you want to add the report
  5. Click “Edit” to enter edit mode
  6. Add a new web part and search for “Power BI”
  7. Select the “Power BI” web part
  8. In the web part configuration pane, choose “Add report”
  9. Select the “Power BI report link” option
  10. Paste the copied Power BI report URL into the provided field
  11. Click “Insert” to add the report
  12. Adjust the report size and other settings as needed in the web part pane
  13. Click “Apply” to save the web part settings
  14. Click “Publish” to save your changes to the SharePoint page

8. Set Up Real-time Data Refresh

  • In Power BI service, go to the dataset settings
  • Configure scheduled refresh or use Power BI Premium for more frequent updates
  • For near real-time updates, consider using Power BI’s DirectQuery mode (available for some data sources)

Best Practices

  1. Optimize SharePoint Data: Structure your SharePoint lists efficiently to improve Power BI performance.
  2. Use Incremental Refresh: For large datasets, set up incremental refresh to update only the most recent data.
  3. Implement Row-Level Security: Use Power BI’s RLS features to ensure users only see data they’re authorized to view.
  4. Create a Data Model: For complex scenarios, develop a proper data model with multiple related tables.
  5. Use Power BI Dataflows: For enterprise-scale solutions, consider using dataflows to centralize data preparation.

Common Use Cases

  1. Project Portfolio Dashboard: Visualize the status and progress of multiple projects stored in SharePoint.
  2. Document Analytics: Analyze document usage and collaboration patterns from SharePoint document libraries.
  3. Team Performance Metrics: Create KPI dashboards based on task lists and team sites in SharePoint.
  4. Survey Results Analysis: Visualize and analyze responses from SharePoint surveys in real-time.
  5. Inventory Management: Track and forecast inventory levels stored in SharePoint lists.

Limitations and Considerations

  • Very large SharePoint lists may require additional optimization
  • Some complex SharePoint permissions scenarios may not translate directly to Power BI
  • Ensure proper licensing for both Power BI and SharePoint for all users who need to view the reports

Conclusion

By following these steps and best practices, you can create powerful, real-time analytics dashboards that bring your SharePoint data to life in Power BI, enabling more informed and timely decision-making across your organization. The integration with SharePoint via the Power BI web part allows for seamless embedding of these insights directly into your SharePoint environment, providing users with easy access to critical data and visualizations.