Direct Query & Salesforce Scheduled Refresh

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I currently have a published report that has data from a Direct Query and from a Salesforce report. From my understanding, Datasets from a Direct Query do not need to be scheduled. My issue is that I would need to have the Salesforce report dataset refreshed on a daily basis. Would this be accomplished through a data gateway? Apologies if this is a novice question, as I'm relatively new to Power BI and its functionality.

Thanks in advance!

[ReportBuilder07]

Hi, in this case I think you don't need to use a gateway, as a workaround, maybe you can try to test your connection with a 3rd party connector. I've tried windsor.ai, supermetrics (which doesn't have PBI as a destination, so you first have to export to Google Sheets and then export to PBI) and funnel.io. I stayed with windsor because it is much cheaper so just to let you know other options. In case you wonder, to make the connection first search for the Salesforce connector in the data sources list:

After that, just grant access to your Salesforce account using your credentials, then on preview and destination page you will see a preview of your Salesforce fields:

There just select the fields you need. It is also compatible with custom fields and custom objects, so you'll be able to export them through windsor.  Finally, just select PBI as your data destination and finally just copy and paste the url on PBI --> Get Data --> Web --> Paste the url. 

[v-shex-msft · Accepted solution]

HI @Anonymous,

It sounds like a common report with multiple data sources, how did you connect to the salesforce data source? Web connector with rest api or connect with salesforce connector?

If you are working with mixed on-premise and online data sources, you need to configure on the premise data source on your gateway and turn on use gateway to manage cloudy data sources to enable the refresh. (cloudy Datasource does not need to configure datasource in your gateway, you only need to verify its data credentials)

Merge or append on-premises and cloud data sources 

If you are work with two on-premise data sources wiht differnert conneciton mode(direct query and salesforce with import mode connector), you need to turn on scheduled refresh on this dataset to enable refresh.

Notice: two data sources will apply different refresh types based on their connection modes, import works on scheduler refresh, direct query model data source will refreshed when you interact with its records.

Please check the following link to know more about different data refresh types in power bi:

Data refresh in Power BI 

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

[Anonymous]

Hi Xiaoxin,

Yes, this is the solution I came to after doing some more research. I appreciate the information and have accepted your answer as the solution.

-mpsentry