With the help of Power BI, you can easily create reports to keep track of your business processes. But you will need to import business data into Power BI before you can visualize it. This is where Power BI Connectors come in.
The functionality of a Power BI data connector is to link a data source to your report for automated data extraction. If you are using Power BI as your data analytics tool, you will start every project by searching how to connect to your data.
Almost all businesses in today’s world store important business related data. While storing data, they also come across the need to make business decisions based on available data. That’s where data visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI would come into play.
With the help of connectors, you can easily link multiple data sources into a single Power BI dashboard. In this article, we will share more details on the different types of Power BI data connectors and how to select the best connector for your project.
Power BI data connectors are essentially integrations with other data sources. Those integrations have some code in the background that sends a request to a data source, retrieve the data and return it to the Power BI user in a consumable format.
You can access Power BI connectors by opening Power BI Desktop and clicking “Get Data”. This way you will see the list of 200+ services which Power BI integrates with out of the box. You can search for your data source in the search bar above.
When it comes to Power BI data connectors, you can find many different options. It is possible to categorize them as native connectors, third-party connectors, and custom connectors. Let’s take a quick look at the differences between these types of connectors.
Native connectors are data connectors built into Power BI and provided out-of-the-box. There are over 250 native connectors available covering many popular data sources like SQL Server, Excel, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Azure services, and more.
Native connectors should be the first choice for connecting to data sources because:
250 native Power BI data connectors is a lot but what if you can’t find your data source in the “Get Data” menu? This is where you would use other types of Power BI data connectors.
Third-party connectors are data connectors developed by other companies that you can install and use within Power BI. It is possible that Microsoft haven’t coded the integration between your data source and Power BI but someone else has!
A good way of finding out if a third party connector exists for your data source is to search for it in Google. For example if I am interested in a Power BI Zoom Connector, here is what I would search in Google. As you see some results are coming up in the search.
The reasons to use a third-party connector can be the following
The downside of third-party connectors is that they usually involve an additional cost to purchase and require additional set up.
Custom connectors are data connectors that you can create yourself to connect to any data source with publicly accessible APIs and endpoints. Reasons you may want to build a custom connector include:
The downside of custom connectors is that they require IT and developer resources and skills to build and maintain.
We have developed many custom Power BI connectors before. Here is how they work:
You can read our guide on developing custom Power BI connectors using M if you are interested in this topic.
In addition to the wide range of native Power BI data connectors, there are hundreds of third-party connectors available from independent software vendors. Our Power BI data connectors fill gaps where native connector functionality may be lacking. Here are some of the connectors we offer to our clients
Quickbooks Connector
For small businesses using Quickbooks Online or Desktop for accounting, financial reporting is simplified with a Quickbooks connector for Power BI. Important data sets like invoices, expenses, payroll, inventory and more can be modeled.
ClickUp Connector
ClickUp is a robust project management platform, and the connector allows aggregating project data across tasks, goals, sprints into Power BI for consolidated reporting. Useful for tracking progress during software developments projects leveraging ClickUp.
Facebook Ads Connector
Understand campaign performance better by visualizing Facebook advertising data in Power BI leveraging this handy connector for the Facebook Ads API. Provides campaign cost, reach, CTR and other KPI trend analysis.
Zoho Books Connector
Integrate financial data from this cloud accounting platform into Power BI through the Zoho Books connector, offering a more customizable reporting option than native Zoho reports.
Xero Connector
Xero delivers online accounting software for small businesses and their Power BI connector makes it possible to extract everything from invoices to expenses from Xero into flexible Power BI reports.
Salesforce Reports Connector
Combining Salesforce CRM data with Power BI capabilities can help sales teams extract more value through advanced reports, dashboards and analytics powered connectively via this API connector.
Zoom Webinar Connector
Leverage registration and attendee data from Zoom video webinars and build helpful reports around session performance in Power BI through this connector.
Jira Connector
For software teams that rely on the popular Jira project management system, this Power BI connector makes it possible to visualize key data sets like issues, sprints, releases.
Shopify Connector
Shopify is one of the leading ecommerce platforms. The Shopify connector enables bringing key Shopify merchant analytics into Power BI for greater visibility through dashboards.
LinkedIn Ads Connector
Monitor LinkedIn ad campaign effectiveness by connecting to LinkedIn’s advertising metrics through Power BI’s connector, enabling more customizable reporting.
Here are some of the scenarios where investing in custom connector development makes sense.
As we have seen in this guide, Power BI offers various data connectivity options through its wide range of native, third-party, and custom data connectors. The native Microsoft connectors cover many popular data sources, while third-party connectors fill important gaps.
However, you may still find yourself needing to connect to a unique data source lacking any off-the-shelf connector availability. In such cases, a custom connector created specifically for your data source and use case is the best solution.
While it is possible to build your own custom connector, it is complex and time-consuming unless you have the requisite development expertise on your team.
If you are looking for an easier way to get custom Power BI connectors developed, feel free to contact us at Vidi. We take care of the entire process – from reviewing the API documentation to delivering a polished, reusable connector tailored to your needs.
At Vidi Corp, our developers have created dozens of custom connectors for clients. We have the specialized expertise to ensure your connector development project finishes on time and within budget.
