Analytics - Importing Azure Data Tables to PowerBI
Note: These instructions explain how to connect an Azure Data Table which already exists to PowerBI. They can be used independent of the SuperSync Analytics Connector. Instructions for setting up new tables are covered separately.
Getting The Table Name & Account Keys
In order to connect to a table in Azure Data Storage from PowerBI the following information is needed:
1 - Storage Account Name
2 - Storage Account Access Key
Steps:
- Navigate to https://portal.azure.com and sign in with your Microsoft login.
- From the home page, locate the "Storage accounts" icon and click on it.
- Locate the storage account which the tables reside in - the storage account name is as is written.
- You can confirm that you have selected the correct storage account by confirming your table is listed under the tables menu
- Click into the "Access Keys" menu item and copy an access key value.
Connecting to a table in PowerBI Desktop
- In PowerBI Desktop, click on the Get Data menu option.
- Select "Azure" in the side bar and then "Azure Table Storage" and click "Connect"
- When prompted, enter the storage account name and click OK
- Select the table name and click "Transform Data"
- When the data from an Azure Data Table is first viewed, all of the properties are collapsed under the "Content" column - to expland them, click on the button in the top right corner of the "Content" header
- Uncheck the "Use original column name as prefix" box and click OK
- The additional table properties should now be expanded out. You can verify the column types and make adjustments and further transformations such as renaming columns or removing columns (see PowerBI online documentation) before saving the data set
- Finally, give the data source a name and then click "Close & Apply" to make the data available within PowerBI desktop
- The data can then be accessed in the data menu on the far right.