February 18, 2023
6 min Read
How to Connect Odoo With Power BI
Odoo, Power BI and the Eternal Struggle to Integrate Data
The integration of Odoo and Power BI has been a challenge for many organizations, as it can be difficult to connect the data between the two. The Odoo PowerBI Connector is designed to make the process of connecting data between Odoo and Power BI easier and more efficient, but many organizations are still struggling to make the connection. In this blog post, we will explore the common problems faced when connecting Odoo and Power BI, and how the Odoo Power BI Connector can help organizations find success.
An Insight in ODOO
Odoo is a collection of open source business applications that may be used for anything your business requires, including project management, CRM, eCommerce, accounting, and other functions. Odoo combines user-friendliness and a broad range of capabilities for efficient business administration. For managing all commercial operations of the firm, including manufacturing, sales, warehouse management, shipping, accounting, reporting, and more, the platform offers a wide range of practical solutions.
An Insight in Power BI
A user organization can securely connect to the Power BI system using Power BI Data Connectors. The firm may then execute comprehensive analytics, produce visually appealing Power BI reports, and perform other Power BI activities using this secure connection. Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools to analyze data and share insights.
Challenges in Manually Connecting Odoo With Power BI Dashboards
There are some problems which users has to face while connecting Odoo with Power BI:
- Manual download of data tables to feed it to power BI. It is a hassle to download the data and upload it on the Power Bi
- Manual import of exported data in power bi is not developer's favourite thing to do. Transferring Data into power BI is a complex and a tedious process.
- When dashboard is ready with exported data, the data is no longer new (up-to-date). Data needs to be refreshed in a regular interval of time.
- Manual connection of Odoo to Power Bi is such a long process that developers spend more time connecting the both instead of developing a dashboard/report.
Ways to Connect Power Bi with Odoo Data
There are two effective solutions for connecting Power BI with Odoo data:
Solution 1 - The Tedious approach
The first option is to directly download data using KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to view it in power BI. This is the manual download of the data tables we need for making a power bi report. Adding data in power bi from this manual export is the conventional way many are doing for making power bi reports.
Benefits of manual connections using exports -
- It is relatively easily to plan out the KPI’s which you want to visualize.
- It is relatively an approach which requires less preparation time.
Drawbacks of manual connections using exports -
- It is a mechanism with lots of steps ivolved.
- It is relatively harder to refresh your dataset as you have to start from scratch.
- It is a manual process which requires constant human intervention.
- Deviation from original planned dashboard means starting whole process again.
- If your data changes frequently then your dashboard is always out-of-date.
Solution 2 - Odoo Power BI Direct Connector
Techneith's Odoo Power BI Connector is direct connection of odoo to power bi. No need to download any data. Just Connect your Power bi with our Power BI data connector. For Linking your data you have to follow five simple steps :
- Install connector module in your Odoo. This generates unique credentials to connect with Power BI securely.
- Run exe on your windows to setup connector. This setups Techneith Odoo Power BI Direct Connector on your windows machine in just one click.
- Generate secure token from your Odoo Connector settings.
- Put generated creds in your power bi data connector.
- Done! You see all the odoo tables in your power bi. Even custom modules data ;)
To see how Odoo Power BI Direct connector works check this youtube video. This video explains how to get data from Odoo to Power BI with just few clicks.
Features of Odoo Power BI Direct Connector
- It is a direct connection where you won't need to export dataset numerous times manually.
- Single click setup on windows system.
- One click refresh to update your report with latest data.
- Unique token based secure connection.
- Can fetch millions of data with no problem.
- Get all Odoo tables in Power BI. Even custom module tables.
- Automatic scheduled refresh for live dashboards using Data Gateway (available in advance version)**
- Easily Access data using Complex SQL Query (available in advance version)**
Why Techneith Odoo Power BI Direct connector?
No Dataset Export Required and Other connectors have limited capabilities for exporting datasets and moving them to power bi whereas the techneith connector provides a smooth transition of data from OODO to Power - BI.
Due to our pagination-based API mechanism, large data odoo is no longer a problem whereas it is a persistent problem which exists in other connectors. If you work with large datasets in Odoo, the export methodology may also fail but Techneith connector ensures that this does not occur.
With the Techneith connector, you can use power query to bring in filtered results on the fly rather than loading the entire data set, which leads to improved performance. Many other connectors on the market do not provide power query feature, and among those that do, Techneith is the most cost efficient.
Technieth Connector is a Feature-rich connector with functionalities such as direct access to ALL odoo data, Power Query, Automatic Scheduled Refresh, Relationship mapping between tables, and no manual intervention.