Power BI Integration with RE Nxt

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Varun Vattikonda
Varun Vattikonda
Third Anniversary Facilitator 1
in SKY Developer General Discussions

Hi All,

I want to find out if there any video/document that gives me a step by step process to add RE Nxt to Power BI. I tried using an old video from blackbaud support, but i feel like the process has been updated since then.

Thanks,

Varun.

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  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    I know there was a webinar on this topic not too long ago and the Vendor who ran it mentioned there is an ‘ETL’ process that needs to take place so that you can write meaningful charts and dashboards (use calculated fields, etc). I'd like to know exactly what that meant and how does that get completed and is there anyone who has a specific list of tasks that needs to be accomplished pertaining to the data feeds/data translations before even spending the time to integrate Power BI with RE. Best, Darlene

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Does anyone have any thoughts or documentation or contacts that can be shared about the note I posted here on this topic? Thank you in advance!

  • Matt Thacker
    Matt Thacker
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    Hey @Darlene LeVielle, I'm happy to help with any RE/Power BI set up issues you have. I was going to work on a video to do a full walkthrough of getting set up to help with @Varun Vattikonda's question.

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Thanks

  • Varun Vattikonda
    Varun Vattikonda
    Third Anniversary Facilitator 1

    That will be amazing. Can you let me know once you have the video ready. Thank you so much for your help.

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Thanks Matt, Not sure why that link was inserted, sorry about that. I think I already understand the integration/ connection to RE part of this configuration but I am mostly looking for how data points would need to be translated/transformed as was noted very intentionally at the webinar that the npAutomate vendor noted. We need to be 100% certain that once integration is set up, we can actually use the measures and attributes immediately to summarize/aggregate total Donors (including soft credit donors), Total # of Gifts, Total Giving$'s by any bucket and by any description field we need. Is this the set up you have instructions for? Thanks again!

  • Warren Sherliker
    Warren Sherliker
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi,

    Just a quick note - not sure how to get the word out tbh - but our new SmartPAGES app supports embedding Power Bi reports in RENXT tiles. Hopefully the right audience here for this! Good to hear others getting going with Power BI reporting. PM me if you wish to give it a free trial…

    Cheers

    Warren
    CEO SmartTHING

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi Warren, Do you have any thoughts on the last post I submitted here? Thanks!

  • Matt Thacker
    Matt Thacker
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    @Darlene LeVielle, I'm not sure what that vendor was referring to. “Out of the box," all of the information from your database is readily available, there's no additional ETL process needed. There is some you can do that will speed up your refreshes, but nothing that's required. I'd be happy to give you a walkthrough of what it looks like without alterations.

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Thanks @Matt Thacker , sent you a PM, would really appreciate both going through the integration set up as well as reviewing how aggregates in Power BI charts/tables match to any of the pre-canned NXT report or report builder aggregates, also how are you handling the aggregation of distinct Donor counts (by any bucket) both with and without the inclusion of Soft Credit Donors. Best, Darlene

  • Warren Sherliker
    Warren Sherliker
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi Darlene, Matt has it in hand there tbh - you can do some extra data transformations/add summary fields etc. but don't need to. Hope that makes sense. Cheers Warren

  • Ben Regier
    Ben Regier
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi @Darlene LeVielle,

    Connecting to your data using the Blackbaud connector will give you all the data you need to run reports, as others have said. The issue is that the data may not be structured in a way that makes it easy to create the specific reports that you want to create.

    Power BI is great at massaging data, so if you know what you're doing it should be no problem to transform your data to the point where you can create your reports. But some people have found it easier to use a simpler data source, rather than using Blackbaud's connector. One example of a simpler data source would be a spreadsheet of data that they have exported from RE. Another would be to use npAutomate's solution, which is a pre-massaged version of the data all combined into one table to make it easier to create common reports.

    As for a specific list of tasks, I'm not aware that one exists, as it would be very different depending on what sort of report you're hoping to create.

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Any thoughts @Ben Regier on this post as it relates to my concerns noted here:

  • Darlene LeVielle
    Darlene LeVielle
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Hi @Matt Thacker any thoughts related to this post from today as it may be related to concerns I have posted here:

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