5 min read
Power BI & Power Automate
Because Power BI is part of the Power Platform, this brings a number of attractive advantages. It's possible to use Power Automate to fully automate certain processes and functions in Power BI. In addition, Microsoft recently introduced the new Power Automate visual. But how does Power Automate work within Power BI, and which processes can you automate? We'll explain that to you in this blog.
What is Power Automate?
First, it's important to explain once more exactly what Power Automate is. If you want to know more about the Power Platform, you can read about it in this blog.
Power Automate is a service that helps you create automated workflows between apps and services. With Power Automate, you can easily automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks in your processes, without any programming knowledge.
To make this possible, Microsoft offers a number of standard templates you can use to automate certain processes. This makes automating tasks even easier, making Power Automate an extremely accessible platform. Below, you'll see an example of a number of processes you can automate with Power Automate.
Automating processes in Power BI
Now that you understand what Power Automate does, let's look at exactly which processes you can automate in Power BI. But before we do that, it's first important to understand how the logic behind the different workflows works.
Power Automate uses two types of steps you can use: triggers* and actions*. A workflow will always have only one trigger, but that one trigger can lead to several actions.
Trigger* = an event that starts the flow
Action* = an event or action you want the flow to carry out when the trigger occurs
There are different types of triggers or actions you can use when using Power Automate in Power BI. To make this easier, Microsoft has created a number of templates you can use quickly and easily within Power BI. Via this link you'll find an overview of the Power Automate templates for Power BI. With these templates, you can, among other things, automatically export and email reports, or have a paginated report automatically saved to a local folder.
By automating processes within Power BI, you spend less time on repetitive and time-consuming tasks. This gives you more time left over for other important things.
Power BI data alerts
There are many different templates you can apply to your Power BI dashboard. To give you an example, below we've laid out the steps for automating a data alert when certain data within your dashboard changes. In this example, we use one of the templates; via this link you can also carry out this process without a template.
Step 1: Sign in to Power Automate (flow.microsoft.com)
Step 2: Select 'Templates', search for Power BI > 'send an email to an audience when a Power BI data alert is triggered'.
This template consists of one trigger — a Power BI data alert — and one action — sending an email. When you select a field, Power Automate shows the dynamic content you can include. In this example, we've included the value and the URL of the tile in the message body.
Step 3: Select Continue.
Step 4: In the Alert ID window, select a Power BI data alert (go to this link if you want to know more about how to create an alert).
Step 5: Enter one or more valid email addresses.
Step 6: Power Automate will automatically generate a subject and body text for you, which you can keep or edit. The text uses HTML for formatting.
Step 7: Once you're done with the message, click Next step or Save. The flow is now created and evaluated. If any errors are found, you'll receive a notification in Power Automate.
Step 8: If errors are found, select Edit flow to fix them. Otherwise, select Done to run the new flow.
Step 9: When the data alert is triggered, Power Automate sends an email to the address you specified. That looks like this:
Want to automate other processes too? The topics below are explained precisely, step by step, on Microsoft's documentation page:
- Export and email reports with Power Automate
- Export paginated reports with Power Automate
- Save paginated reports to OneDrive or SharePoint Online
- Export paginated reports from Excel Online or a SharePoint list
- Save a paginated report to a local folder
- Add a Power Automate visual button
Power Automate visual
Microsoft has recently made it even easier to use Power Automate with Power BI. You no longer need to leave the Power BI application when you want to use Power Automate. You can now simply work with Power Automate right within Power BI thanks to the Power Automate visual.
When you add this visual to your dashboard, the interface looks similar to Power Automate online. Via the visual, you can easily create your own flows without having to leave Power BI.
Want to know more about the Power Automate visual? Check out the Power BI release video by Power BI consultant Niek Guijt. From minute 02:06, he explains exactly how you can add this visual to your dashboard yourself.
Want to know more about Power BI & Power Automate?
Are you interested in adding Power Automate to Power BI and do you need help with this? Or would you like to meet one of our account managers to discuss the possibilities of the Power Platform? Then get in touch with Kees or schedule a (no-obligation) introductory meeting directly via our online calendar.