Access Live Power BI XMLA Data in Excel 365 Online (Excel for the web)

Microsoft Excel for the web represents a cloud-native iteration of Microsoft Excel. When integrated with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Power BI XMLA data directly from within Excel. This access facilitates data analysis, collaborative work, calculations, and more. This article provides a step-by-step guide on connecting to Power BI XMLA within your Connect AI instance and accessing live Power BI XMLA data in Excel for the web spreadsheets, whether for viewing or updating purposes.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Power BI XMLA, allowing you to easily access live Power BI XMLA data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Power BI XMLA, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Power BI XMLA data.

Configure Power BI XMLA Connectivity for Excel

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

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Power BI XMLA" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Power BI XMLA.

   By default, use Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to EntraID (formerly AzureAD).

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Power BI XMLA data from Excel for the web.

Access Live Power BI XMLA Data in Excel for the web

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live Power BI XMLA data.

1. Log into Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Office Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Login or Sign-up to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the CData Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. PowerBIXMLA1), Table (e.g. Customer), and Columns to import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data 👁 Executing the Query
   

Live Access to Power BI XMLA Data from Cloud Applications

New, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Power BI XMLA data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.