Import FreshBooks Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get access to FreshBooks data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to FreshBooks in CData Connect Cloud, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on FreshBooks data in the Power BI service.

Configure FreshBooks Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to FreshBooks from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with FreshBooks data from Power BI Service, we start by creating and configuring a FreshBooks connection.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to FreshBooks through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

Connect to FreshBooks from Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "FreshBooks" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to FreshBooks.

   To connect to FreshBooks, you can set the CompanyName and Token connection properties. Alternatively, you can use the OAuth authentication standard.

   OAuth can be used to enable other users to access their own company data. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret by registering an app. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add FreshBooks Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to FreshBooks data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to FreshBooks in Connect Cloud, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect Cloud and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your FreshBooks data from Power BI

6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on FreshBooks Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report.
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report.

Live Access to FreshBooks Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live FreshBooks data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating FreshBooks data.

To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud.