SYSDATE from Oracle DB different in PowerBI

[Anonymous]

Hi,

The following SQL gives different answers when imported into PowerBI compared to running in a local Oracle server.  Obvisouly I am pointing the PowerBI data source at the same local database - but why is it different?

Power BI treats the week as Mon-Sun but my local server treats it as Sun-Sat. 

SELECT TO_NUMBER(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'D')) FROM DUAL

Please could someone explain why?

[v-yulgu-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

In my test, this query returns the same answer in Oracle and Power BI desktop.

Result in Oracle                                                                                 Result in Power BI desktop

Are you sure the Power BI desktop is hosted in the same server where installed Oracle server? What is your desktop version? 

Regards,

Yuliana Gu

[Anonymous]

Thanks fo the reply @v-yulgu-msft

When I run this in my Oracle server I get the following (for Thursday today):

Could it be a setting on my Oracle server end defaulting to Monday as start date for week?

Thanks,

Ben

[v-yulgu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Based on my research, in Oracle, you could use the NLS_TERRITORY parameter to set which day the week should start on. You can change it just for your session.

Best regards,

Yuliana Gu