Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to set up a connection between SAP PM and Power BI to enable daily data updates. My colleagues have done something similar using EDL (Enterprise Data Lake), but I’m not sure about the exact steps.

Could anyone share the recommended approach or best practices for establishing this connection? Ideally, I’d like to automate the refresh once per day.

Any insights or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Abdul

Categories:

Building Power Apps

Hello again @BK-02091156-0 , To connect SAP PM to Power BI for daily updates, the recommended approach is to expose SAP data via OData or CDS Views, store it in an Enterprise Data Lake (EDL), and automate refreshes using Power BI’s scheduled refresh or Dataflows.

Recommended Architecture

1. Expose SAP PM Data

• Use CDS Views or OData services to expose SAP PM data.
• Ensure the views include all relevant fields for reporting (e.g., maintenance orders, equipment status, work centers).

2. Load Data into Enterprise Data Lake (EDL)

• Use ETL tools like SAP Data Intelligence, Azure Data Factory, or custom scripts to extract data from SAP and load it into your EDL.
• Store the data in a structured format (e.g., Parquet, CSV, or SQL tables).

3. Connect Power BI to EDL

• In Power BI Desktop, use connectors for:
⁠◦ Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
⁠◦ SQL Server/Azure SQL Database
⁠◦ OData Feed (if connecting directly to SAP)

4. Automate Daily Refresh

• Use Power BI Service to schedule daily refreshes:
⁠◦ Go to Dataset Settings > Scheduled Refresh
⁠◦ Set refresh frequency and credentials
• Alternatively, use Power BI Dataflows for centralized refresh logic.

Resources:

Connecting Microsoft Power BI to SAP data

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