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Create Power BI Reports on Real-Time Procore Data
Use the CData ODBC Driver for Procore to visualize Procore data in Power BI Desktop.
With built-in support for ODBC on Microsoft Windows, the CData ODBC Drivers provide self-service integration with self-service analytics tools such as Microsoft Power BI. The CData ODBC Driver for Procore links your Power BI reports to operational Procore data. You can monitor Procore data through dashboards and ensure that your analysis reflects Procore data in real time by scheduling refreshes or refreshing on demand. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create real-time visualizations of Procore data in Microsoft Power BI Desktop and then upload to Power BI.
The CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Procore data in Power BI due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power BI to Procore, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Procore and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Procore data using native Power BI data types.
Connect to Procore as an ODBC Data Source
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Procore Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Procore.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Procore (see below).
Procore API Profile Settings
To authenticate to Procore, and connect to your own data or to allow other users to connect to their data, you can use the OAuth standard.
First, register an OAuth application with Procore. You can do so by logging to your Developer Account and going to Create New App. Follow all necessary steps to register your app. First create a new version of Sandbox Manifest and then promote it to Production in order to get your Production Crendentials. Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id and a client secret.
After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:
- AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
- CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that is specified in your app settings
Create Data Visualizations
After creating an ODBC DSN, follow the steps below to connect to the Procore ODBC DSN from Power BI Desktop:
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Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> More... to open the Get Data window.
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In the Get Data window select Other -> ODBC to open the next window.
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Select the DSN in the menu. If you know the SQL query you want to use to import data, you can expand the Advanced options node and enter the query in the SQL Statement box. Otherwise, click OK to continue.
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Choose Default or Custom as the authentication option and click Connect.
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Select tables in the Navigator dialog.
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Click Transform Data to edit the query. The table you imported is displayed in the Power Query Editor. In the Power Query Editor, you can enrich your local copy of Procore data with other data sources, pivot Procore columns, and more. Power BI detects each column's data type from the Procore metadata retrieved by the driver.
Power BI records your modifications to the query in the Applied Steps section, adjusting the underlying data retrieval query that is executed to the remote Procore data. When you click Close and Apply, Power BI executes the data retrieval query.
Otherwise, click Load to pull the data into Power BI.
Create Data Visualizations
After pulling the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Follow the steps below to create a pie chart (Salesforce shown):
- Select the pie chart icon in the Visualizations pane.
- Select a dimension in the Fields pane: for example, Name.
- Select a measure in the Fields pane: for example, Annual Revenue.
You can change sort options by clicking the ellipsis (...) button for the chart. Options to select the sort column and change the sort order are displayed.
You can use both highlighting and filtering to focus on data. Filtering removes unfocused data from visualizations; highlighting dims unfocused data. You can highlight fields by clicking them:
You can apply filters at the page level, at the report level, or to a single visualization by dragging fields onto the Filters pane. To filter on the field's value, select one of the values that are displayed in the Filters pane.
Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.
Free Trial & More Information
If you are interested in connecting to your Procore data from Microsoft Power BI, or any applications that support ODBC connectivity, download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Procore. As always, our world-class support team is ready to answer any questions you may have.
