How to use Power BI in a metric
Add Power BI data to journey-map metric cards by picking a workspace, dataset, table, and columns to plot.
Turn a Power BI table into a live chart on any journey map.
Prerequisites
The Power BI integration is set up at the account level. See How to set up the Power BI integration.
Editor role at the workspace level.
Add a Power BI metric
You can create a Power BI metric from two places:
From the workspace Metrics tab - Click Metrics in the sidebar, then + Create metric. The full-page Add metric form opens.
From a journey map - Click + Add card on a card slot and pick Metric under Advanced cards. In the Add metric picker, pick an existing metric or type a name and click Create. The metric opens in a compact modal; use Full screen view to switch to the full-page form.
The steps below walk the workspace-tab flow because the full-page form shows every field on screen. The journey map modal has the same fields in a more compact layout.
Open the Add metric form
In the workspace sidebar, click Metrics, then + Create metric. The Add metric form opens with the two-column layout: Metric data source on the left and Default card preview on the right.
Name the metric and pick Power BI as the source
Type a name that describes what the metric shows (for example, Employee count by city). In Source, pick Power BI.
If you see a pink Power BI setup required block below the Source field, the integration isn't connected for this account yet. Click Setup Power BI in the block and follow How to set up the Power BI integration before continuing.
Set Type to Series
Open the Type dropdown and pick Series. Power BI metrics are series only, so this is the only option.
If you need a single value or a side-by-side comparison instead of a series, see How to choose a metric type for which sources support which types.
Map the Power BI fields
Five Power BI fields drive what the metric pulls: Workspace, Dataset, Table, Data label, and Data value. The screenshots below walk one concrete example: workspace Smaply Workspace, dataset Employee_Sample_Data, table EmployeeCountByCityTable, label column City, value column Value.
Pick the Power BI workspace under Workspace. Only workspaces the connection has access to appear in the list.
Pick the dataset inside that workspace under Dataset.
Type the table name into Table and click Enter next to the field. This is a text field, not a dropdown, and pressing Enter is what loads the table's columns into the next two selectors.
Pick the column for the chart's categories under Data label (for example,
City).Pick the column for the numerical value under Data value (for example,
Value).
For a deeper reference of how each field maps to objects in Power BI, see Field mapping below.
Set the row cap and chart options
Under Number of rows, set how many rows from the table to pull into the chart. The maximum is 50.
In the Default card preview panel on the right, pick a default chart type from the chip strip (Bar chart, Horizontal bar, Pie chart, Line chart, or Table). Add an optional Chart heading and Chart subheading if you want labels above the chart. The preview updates as you change the selections. These settings are the defaults for new metric cards built from this metric; each card can override them on a journey map. For the full chart-options reference, see How to create and configure a metric.
Save the metric
Click Save. The metric appears in the workspace Metrics list and is ready to drop onto any journey map as a metric card.
For placing the metric as a card and customising it per-map, see How to use metric cards.
Field mapping
Each Power BI field in the Add metric form points at a specific object in Power BI. The selectors only populate once the field above them is filled in, so work down the form in order.
Workspace - The Power BI workspace that holds the dataset. Smaply lists only workspaces the connection identity can read. Equivalent to a workspace in app.powerbi.com.
Dataset - The dataset inside the chosen workspace. Drives what loads when the table name is entered.
Table - The table inside the dataset. Free-text field, not a dropdown. Type the table name exactly as it appears in Power BI and click Enter to load its columns into the next two selectors.
Data label - The column whose values become categories on the chart (the x-axis on a bar or line chart, the slice labels on a pie chart). Example: a
Citycolumn with values like Austin, Beijing, Chengdu.Data value - The column whose values become the numbers plotted on the chart. Example: a
Valuecolumn with the employee count per city.Number of rows - Caps how many rows the metric pulls from the table. Maximum 50.
Refresh behaviour
Power BI metrics refresh on a rough hourly cycle. When a journey map containing a Power BI metric loads, Smaply pulls fresh values if the last update was more than about an hour ago. There's no manual refresh button. The next on-load check brings the values up to date.
The metric shows whatever the underlying Power BI dataset has cached, so a stalled dataset refresh in Power BI itself appears as stale or empty values in Smaply.
Tip: Match the dataset shape to the journey context
Pick a dataset shape that matches the journey context. If the journey is regional, a table with one row per region usually reads more cleanly than raw event rows. If the journey is weekly, weekly cohorts read more cleanly than daily values. The metric pulls and renders whatever shape Power BI gives it, so a pre-aggregated table in Power BI usually beats a raw fact table.
Troubleshooting
If the connection itself isn't working, see How to set up the Power BI integration for connection troubleshooting. The issues below cover data-side problems once the connection is in place.
"Power BI setup required" error in the metric form - Connection not configured
Picking Source = Power BI shows a pink block reading "You need to set up the Power BI connection in this workspace before you can use it in metrics."
The connection hasn't been configured for this account, or it was disconnected. Click Setup Power BI in the block to jump to the integrations page, then follow How to set up the Power BI integration.
Workspace, Dataset, or Table dropdowns are empty - Connection identity lacks access
The Source dropdown shows Power BI is connected, but the Workspace, Dataset, or Data label / Data value dropdowns come back empty.
For service-account auth, the connection's service principal hasn't been granted access to the workspace. Check that the security group is assigned the Member role on the Power BI workspace, and that the tenant setting Service principals can call Fabric public APIs is enabled for the group. If the access was assigned in the last 30 to 60 minutes, give the change time to propagate before re-testing.
For OAuth auth, the connecting user account doesn't have access to the workspace in Power BI. Sign in to app.powerbi.com as that user and confirm the workspace appears under Workspaces.
The workspace may genuinely have no datasets, or the dataset may have no tables exposed to the connection identity. Open it in Power BI to confirm.
Pressed Enter on Table but Data label and Data value stayed empty - Table not found
The Table field accepted text and Enter was clicked, but the Data label and Data value dropdowns didn't populate.
The table name might be off by a character or different in casing. Open the dataset in Power BI and copy the table name exactly as it appears, including any underscores or capitalisation.
The table might not exist in the chosen dataset. Confirm both the dataset and the table in Power BI before re-entering.
The connection identity might not have access to that specific table inside the dataset. Confirm dataset-level read access for the service principal or OAuth account in Power BI.
Metric returns no data or unexpected values - Data mapping or row cap
The metric saves and shows on a journey map, but the values are blank, wrong, or surprising.
Confirm Data label and Data value are pointing at the columns you meant. It's easy to swap a label column for a value column, especially when both are numeric.
The Number of rows cap is 50. If the underlying table has more rows than that, pre-aggregate the data in Power BI so the rows you care about fit within the cap.
Open the dataset in Power BI and check its last refresh. Smaply reads whatever Power BI has cached, so a failed dataset refresh in Power BI shows as stale or empty values here.
Dataset, Table, or Column renamed in Power BI - References broken
A metric that previously worked starts returning errors or no data.
If the dataset, table, Data label column, or Data value column was renamed or moved in Power BI, the metric's references break until they're re-pointed. Edit the metric, re-pick the renamed objects, and save. The same applies if a workspace was renamed or the dataset was migrated to a different workspace.
For wider questions about how integrations behave across tools (refresh frequency, switching auth, what happens on disconnect), see How to manage integrations.
Still not working? Contact support at help@smaply.com
Related topics
Last updated