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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/mongodb-cloud-powerbi.rst

⇱ Visualize Live MongoDB Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Visualize Live MongoDB Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use the CData Power BI Connector and CData Connect AI to integrate live MongoDB data into custom reports in Power BI.

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to MongoDB data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to MongoDB, connect to MongoDB data from Power BI and then create reports on MongoDB data in Power BI.

About MongoDB Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from MongoDB has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

MongoDB's flexibility means that it can be used as a transactional, operational, or analytical database. That means CData customers use our solutions to integrate their business data with MongoDB or integrate their MongoDB data with their data warehouse (or both). Customers also leverage our live connectivity options to analyze and report on MongoDB directly from their preferred tools, like Power BI and Tableau.

For more details on MongoDB use case and how CData enhances your MongoDB experience, check out our blog post: The Top 10 Real-World MongoDB Use Cases You Should Know in 2024.


Getting Started


Configure MongoDB Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to MongoDB from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with MongoDB data from Power BI, we start by creating and configuring a MongoDB connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "MongoDB" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to MongoDB.

    Set the Server, Database, User, and Password connection properties to connect to MongoDB. To access MongoDB collections as tables you can use automatic schema discovery or write your own schema definitions. Schemas are defined in .rsd files, which have a simple format. You can also execute free-form queries that are not tied to the schema.

    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add MongoDB Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to MongoDB data from Power BI.

Query MongoDB Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull MongoDB data into the report:

  1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
  2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
  3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
  4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
  5. Click Load to establish the connection to your MongoDB data from Power BI

Create MongoDB Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

👁 Visualizing data in Power BI (Salesforce data is shown)

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to MongoDB Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to MongoDB data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating MongoDB data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including MongoDB) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.