Alteryx to Power BI

Question

Hi All,

I have an Alteryx workflow that contains ~ 20 million rows, which I need to push into Power BI for multiple users to analyse.

Microsoft's Push datasets limitations mean the Microsoft Power BI Output Tool isn't an option.

Has someone found a way to output a similar sized dataset to Power BI ?

Thanks

Matt

jrlindem · Answer

A lot has changed in PowerBI since this thread was started.  But I agree with Calvin, in that the solution (or what's being asked) should be revisited in cases like this.  Being too literal about how a solution should work just because an end-user requests it in a certain way is not often useful.  PowerBI can handle a significant amount of data now days, but working with that much data "offline" in a CSV or flat file isn't efficient or sustainable.

In addition to Calvin's recommendation to aggregate the data up to reduce volume, I'd also recommend pushing that data into a database and connecting PowerBI to that location as a datasource instead.  Like @SambathKPC stated, you can export to CSV, but it's not the best approach in this case.

To the weary discussion board traveler, I hope this helps, -Jay

SambathKPC · Answer

I think you can export it to CSV file. PowerBI should have no issue reading those lines. The only limitation I believe is within excel file. But CSV file shouldn't be an issue.

caltang · Answer

First off... why are you doing that? Power BI or even Data Visualization tools in general should ingest aggregated data in order to "analyze" the trends and perform visual analysis. Loading 20 million rows inside will jam up the whole visualization tool and slow it down tremendously. That is not recommended at all.

I would suggest for you to have a conversation with your users on what they want exactly. Do they want a report in Excel or do they want to do trend analysis visually with the help of a dashboard?

If they want reports, then Alteryx will do for them. You can make some visuals and render them out for them in PDF, PPT, or even Word. You can even aggregate and output to the trust .txt, .csv, or even .xlsx.

This is where you add value and step in as someone on the data end Matt. The end users can request Heaven and Earth, but you have to think and counter them plus provide better alternatives and inform + educate them.