simPRO - PowerBI Setup Documentation

simPRO - PowerBI Setup Documentation





Introduction

Below is a guide on how to connect your SimPRO account to PowerBI or any other BI tool through SyncEzy’s server.


Note: SyncEzy has a template PBIX file available. You will need a subscription to the SimPRO-PowerBI Service on integrations.syncezy.com and you will need the backup details provided by SimPRO mentioned in Step 1. Write to support@syncezy.com if you want the template file. The below steps are for if you prefer to establish a manual connection.


The SimPRO-Power BI Integration requires ODBC Drivers. Download the latest drivers from the below link.



Once you install this, go to your Windows start button > search for "ODBC" > open "ODBC Data Sources (64-bit)" > Navigate to the Drivers section and check if the highlighted drivers appear.



Additional links to more drivers in case the above still does not work.


https://www.nuget.org/downloads   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/


Steps to connect


1. Login to https://integrations.syncezy.com with your company email address.
2. Go to My Integrations > SimPRO - Power BI > Details



 3. Go to Connection Details. You will need to enter this information in Power BI.





 4. Now open Power BI, and click Get data



5. Search for ODBC and connect 


6. Now select data source name “None” and click advanced option and fill Driver={PostgreSQL Unicode(x64)};Server=<database host name>;Port=5432;Database=<database name>;sslmode=require  (use string without <>)

(You can find these details under the Connection Details section in your SyncEzy Portal (refer to step 3 in the above section)


 Note: If the “ok” button is disabled then go to https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions/msi/ and download the latest ODBC drivers and close Power BI. Open Power BI and follow from step 4 again.


If the database is still not connected please download drivers from the below links:  




7. Select Database on the left-hand side. Now fill username and password from the portal and connect




8. You will see all database tables with data like the below image. Load the tables and use it.





Use PowerBI Gateway - Automate your data refresh


PowerBI does not automatically refresh data, neither on the desktop app nor the web browser. PowerBI Gateway can help you achieve this. Below are the steps to install gateway and to automate your data refresh.

  1. Publish your PowerBI report and go to app.powerbi.com
  2. Go to Data Hub and click the "..." on the report you published. Click Settings.



  3. Expand the Gateway Connection section right above Data Source Credentials.




  4. Install the gateway software by clicking on the green Install Now button and let it run on your PC. It will be called On-premises data gateway (personal mode) or On-premises data gateway (standard mode)
  5. Once you install this, refresh the page where you tried to enter the data source credentials. You will see an entry under Gateway Connection and under status, it should show "Running on <your PC name>".
  6. Now go to Data Source Credentials and click "Edit credentials".
  7. Enter your Database username and password from your SyncEzy Portal.
  8. It should now load successfully and your automated schedules will start running.

    NOTE: PowerBI Gateway requires your system to be on. If your system is off, the gateway will stop running till you go to this section and start it again. The best way to handle this problem is to use a virtual machine that is always on.



Support Questions

View Frequently Asked Questions

You can view our SimPRO to PowerBI related FAQs from here.

Contact Us

We offer three support channels: 

Chat - Live Chat (24x5 support) from within your integration portal.  

Phone - #1 for Support
AUS: +61 2 9136 9448 
NZ: +64 9 303 2999 
UK: +44 203 670 1109
US: +1 720 500 9302

Email - support@syncezy.com