Use CData Connect Cloud to Access Power BI XMLA Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

This article will explain how to use CData Connect Cloud to present Power BI XMLA data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve Power BI XMLA data in Power Pivot.

Connect to Power BI XMLA from Power Pivot

To work with Power BI XMLA data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to Power BI XMLA from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Power BI XMLA data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Power BI XMLA 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

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Power BI XMLA 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 "Power BI XMLA" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Power BI XMLA.

   By default, use Azure AD to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Azure AD is Microsoft’s multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to AzureAD.

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

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

Add Power BI XMLA OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud

After connecting to Power BI XMLA, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
2. Select the Power BI XMLA connection (e.g. PowerBIXMLA1) and click Next
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm

With the connection and OData endpoints configured, you are ready to connect to Power BI XMLA data from Power Pivot.

Import Power BI XMLA Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed
2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service)
3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT.

4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel

5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet

6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. This can now work with your Power BI XMLA data in Power Pivot.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Power BI XMLA data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud today! For more information on Connect Cloud and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect Cloud page.