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    Configuring Planful Connector for Power BI
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    Configuring Planful Connector for Power BI

    • 6 Minutes to read
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    Article summary

    Connecting Planful with Power BI enables loading Finance, Dynamic Planning’s analytical model and Workforce data to generate insightful dashboards and analytical reports within Power BI. Users can extract Planful cube data and metadata, including financial metrics, actuals, and plan data. In addition to Planful’s data, users can combine data from multiple sources within Power BI for comprehensive analysis.

    Notes:

    • Contact Planful Support or your Account Manager to enable the Power BI flag.

    • Calculated data/members are not exported.

    To complete the Power BI configuration with Planful, follow the steps below:

    1. Enable Power BI Access in Planful

    2. Generating Access Keys

    3. Download .pqx file

    4. Update Data Extensions in Power BI

    5. Connecting to Planful from Power BI

    Enabling Power BI Access in Planful

    Administrators can manage who can access cube data via Planful connector in Power BI based on user roles. This ensures that only authorized users can fetch cube data securely. Administrators can define whether users can access Financial data, Dynamic Planning data, Workforce data, or all, based on their responsibilities and reporting needs.

    Administrators can configure the Power BI access on the Navigation Access page. Under the Power BI option, select the model checkbox to grant access. Available models include:

    • Finance Model

    • Workforce Model

    • Dynamic Planning

    Access can be granted to any or all of the models.

    Notes:

    • Power BI options will only be visible on the Navigation Access page when the Power BI flag is enabled. Contact Planful Support or your Account Manager to enable the Power BI flag.

    • To transfer data between a specific model in Planful and Power BI, users must have access to both the model and the corresponding Power BI permission in Planful.

      • For example, to connect to the Dynamic Planning model, users need access to both Dynamic Planning and Power BI > Dynamic Planning on the Navigation Access page. If either permission is missing, the data transfer will fail.

    To learn more about assigning navigation access to a navigation role, click here.

    Generating Access Keys

    An access key and ID should be generated in Planful to grant access to transfer data from the application to Power BI. To learn how to generate an Access Key and ID, click here.

    Downloading .pqx file

    The pqx file extension (Power BI connector for Planful) allows users to load data from Planful. Follow these steps to download and configure it on your system.

    1. Download the .pqx file from here.

    2. Navigate to Documents > Power BI Desktop > Custom Connectors on your local system.

      Note:

      Create the Power BI Desktop folder and Custom Connectors subfolder if they don’t exist in Documents.

    3. Place the downloaded .pqx file into the Custom Connectors folder.

      Note:

      When updating to the latest version, it's recommended to replace the old .pqx file in the Custom Connectors folder with the new version.

      Once the .pqx file is placed, update the security settings in the Power BI to allow any extensions to complete the configurations.

    Updating Data Extensions in Power BI

    To update the Data Extension settings, follow the steps below:

    1. Open Power BI Desktop.

    2. Navigate to File > Option and Settings > Options. The Options window will appear.

    3. Click Security.

    4. Under Data Extensions, select (Not Recommended) Allow any extensions to load without validation or warning.

    5. Click OK.

    Connecting to Planful from Power BI

    To connect and fetch data from Planful to Power BI, users need an Access Key and ID. To learn how to generate an Access Key and ID, click here.

    To load data from Planful to Power BI, follow the steps below:

    1. Open Power BI Desktop.

    2. On the Home page, click Get data from other sources. Get Data pop-up will appear.

      Note:

      Users can also navigate to the Get Data pop-up by Blank Report > Get Data.

    3. Select Planful (Beta) (Custom) from the list or use the search bar to find it.

    4. Click Connect. The Planful Connection popup will appear.

    5. Enter the Planful base URL (e.g., https://demo.planful.com) and click OK.

    6. Enter the Access ID and Access Key generated in Planful.

    7. Click Connect. The Navigator tab will display the fetched Data and Dimensions for Finance and Workforce.

    8. Select the desired leaf-level hierarchy checkbox from the list.

      Tip!

      It is recommended to load Dimensions first and repeat the steps from 2 to load Data.

    9. Optionally, use the following filters to narrow down the selected data:

      1. Fiscal Year Expression: Specify the fiscal year in one of the following ways:

        1. Specific Year: Enter a specific year or use a substitution variable.

          For example, 2023 or @CURYR@

        2. Range of Years: Enter a range using years or substitution variables.

          For example, 2022:2024 or 2022:@CURYR@

      2. Account: Select the desired account from the drop-down list.

      3. Entity: Select the desired entity from the drop-down list.

      4. Apply Credit Debit: Select Yes or No from the drop-down list to include credit or debit entries.

        Note:

        Filter options are available only for the Finance Model and Workforce Model.

    10. Click Load. The loaded Dimensions and Data are displayed in the Data pane.

    Building a Report

    Users can create visuals on the report canvas using the Filters, Visualizations, and Data panes. They can select the desired visualization type and formatting from the Visualization pane. From the Data pane, users can choose the data fields or metrics to include in the report. The Filters pane displays any filters applied to the visual, page, or across all pages.

    Let’s see an example to build a report using the Matrix:

    1. Click Visualizations.

    2. Select Matrix under the Build Visual.

    3. Choose the data for Rows, Columns, and Values from the Data pane (right pane).

    Publishing a Report

    Once the report is built, users can publish it to the workspace. The published report can be accessed through the Power BI web service, and users can share it with others. To learn more about Publishing reports from BI Desktop, click here.

    Configuring an On-Premises Gateway in Power BI Service

    Once your report is published to the Power BI Service, configure the On-Premises Data Gateway. This setup enables the Power BI Service to connect to your Planful data source, supporting both manual and scheduled refreshes. The gateway acts as a bridge between Power BI in the cloud and your on-premises data, allowing data to be updated automatically, without the need to re-upload the cube data.

    Notes:

    • You must first install the On-Premises Data Gateway on your system before configuring it in the Power BI Service. To learn about installing an on-premises data gateway, click here.

    • Ensure that the Power BI connector file (.pqx) is placed in the folder as shown in the Load custom data connectors from folder field.

    Once the gateway is installed and online, configure the gateway in the Power BI Service:

    1. Log in to app.powerbi.com.

    2. Navigate to Workspace on the left pane and select the workspace you have the semantic model.

    3. Find the semantic model you want to refresh and click the Schedule refresh icon.

    4. Under Gateway and cloud connections, click the arrow icon in the Actions column and choose Manually add to gateway.

    5. In the New Connection pop-up:

      1. Add a Connection name.

      2. Enter the Planful’s Base URL (e.g., https://demo.planful.com).

      3. Provide the Access ID and Access Key from your Planful account.

      4. Click Create.

    6. In the Gateway and cloud connections section, select the connection from the Maps to drop-down menu.

    Enabling Power BI Developer Mode

    Enable Power BI Developer mode to extend functionality and support automated data refresh cycles, ensuring your reports stay up-to-date without manual intervention. To enable Developer mode, do the following:

    1. Navigate to Settings in the Power BI web.

    2. Click Developer Settings.

    3. Enable the Power BI Developer mode toggle.

    Refreshing a Published Report

    Once configured, you can refresh the semantic model dataset manually or set a scheduled refresh to load the latest data from Planful via the gateway.:

    • Manual Refresh – refresh on demand. To learn more about refresh on demand, click here.

    • Scheduled Refresh – set to occur automatically at defined intervals. To learn more about scheduling a refresh, click here.

    Best Practice

    • Schedule or manually refresh data regularly to keep reports up-to-date with Planful data.

    Limitations

    When publishing a PBIX file from the Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service, the file size must not exceed 1 GB. To know more about the limitations, click here.

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