Power BI Scheduled Export: A Complete User Guide

Power BI is software that turns unrelated data sources into coherent, visually immersive interactive dashboards and reports. It helps users draw insights from raw data. This dives deep into the Power BI scheduled export function.

It shows you why the Power BI scheduled export feature is important, the benefits of using it, and how to schedule data export in Power BI.

Table of Contents:

1. What is Power BI Scheduled Export?
2. Why is Power BI Scheduling Important?
3. How to Schedule Data Export in Power BI?
4. How to Visualize Data in Power BI?
5. What are the Best Practices for Power BI Scheduled Export?
6. Wrap Up

First…

What is Power BI Scheduled Export?

Power BI Scheduled Export is a functionality within Microsoft Power BI that automatically exports reports and dashboards at specified intervals. The feature is of immense value to users who need to distribute Power BI content to stakeholders regularly and keep offline records of their reports.

Why is Power BI Scheduling Important?

• Automated Data Refresh: Dashboards and reports are always up-to-date with the latest datasets, and that helps in making data-driven decisions. Power BI scheduling also eliminates the need for manual data refreshes. This will, in turn, save time and reduce the potential for errors.
• Consistent Reporting: Stakeholders are guaranteed to receive reports in a consistent format and at regular intervals. It also builds trust among users who want to obtain accurate and timely reports consistently.
• Improved Collaboration: Power BI schedules come with automated email distribution, and that enables stakeholders to receive reports without additional effort. It also makes it easier for team members to review and access the latest data. All these fosters collaboration and decision-making among team members.
• Enhanced Productivity: With Power BI scheduling, business users and analysts get freed up to focus on data analysis and interpretation rather than data preparation and report generation. You also have the option of integrating with tools like Power Automate to create seamless workflows, and further enhance efficiency and productivity.

How to Schedule Data Export in Power BI?

Open the Power BI Desktop, and click “Get data.” Click the “Other” tab and choose Web. After that, click “Connect.”

In the box that opens up, click “Advanced.” Under URL parts, copy and paste the “Data Export” API from the web application.

Under HTTP request parameters, type Authorization in the first box. In the second box, type in Token token=<Product API Key>

Navigate to Profile Settings > API Settings to get the Product API key. There must be no space in between ”˜=’ and the Product API key.

Click “OK.” In the Home tab that appears with the CSV document URL, append Csv.document. The format should be CSV.Document(Web.Contents(CSV document URL)).

Click the tick icon to populate the API data as a table.

Use the filters on the right to visualize the data in a chart form.

How to Visualize Data in Power BI?

Stage 1: Logging in to Power BI

• Log in to Power BI.
• Enter your email address and click the “Submit” button.

• You are redirected to your Microsoft account.
• Enter your password and click “Sign in“.

• You can choose whether to stay signed in.

• Once done, the Power BI home screen will open.

Stage 2: Creating a Data Set and Selecting the Data Set to Use in Your Chart

• Go to the left-side menu and click the “Create” button.
• Select “Paste or manually enter data“.

• We’ll use the sample data below for this example.

Application Channels	Initial Screening	Conduct Interviews	Employee Onboarding	Total Candidates
Social Media	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	32
Social Media	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	400
Social Media	Short Listed	Knocked Out		800
Social Media	Knocked Out			1100
Company Career Page	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	20
Company Career Page	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	250
Company Career Page	Short Listed	Knocked Out		500
Company Career Page	Knocked Out			900
Events	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	5
Events	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	100
Events	Short Listed	Knocked Out		200
Events	Knocked Out			350
Paper Media	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	3
Paper Media	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	80
Paper Media	Short Listed	Knocked Out		135
Paper Media	Knocked Out			700
Employee Referrals	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	10
Employee Referrals	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	70
Employee Referrals	Short Listed	Knocked Out		80
Employee Referrals	Knocked Out			110
Direct	Short Listed	Final Interview	Hired	25
Direct	Short Listed	Final Interview	Not Hired	150
Direct	Short Listed	Knocked Out		425
Direct	Knocked Out			600

• Paste the data table above into the “Power Query” window. Next, select the “Create a dataset only” option.

• Navigate to the left-side menu, and click the “Data Hub” option. The Power BI populates the data set list. If no data set has been created, you’ll get an error message.

• Click on the “Create Report” dropdown.

• To create the Sankey Diagram, you’ll need an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource. Navigate to the right side of the Power BI dashboard, and open the Power BI visualizations panel. Next, click the ellipsis symbol (…) to import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo. In the next menu that opens, select the “Get more visuals” option.

• Enter “ChartExpo” in the highlighted search box. You’ll see the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” as shown below.

• Next, click on the Sankey Diagram. After that, click the “Add” button.

• Power BI will add the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.

• To draw a Sankey Diagram with ChartExpo’s Power BI extension, you’ll have to select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel. After that, a window opens in the report section of your dashboard.

• Select the fields to be used in the Sankey chart.

• Follow the sequence below when selecting the fields:
• • Application Channels
  • Initial Screening
  • Conduct Interviews
  • Employee Onboarding
  • Total Candidates
• You’ll have to provide your email address or a ChartExpo license key. To see the Sankey Chart, add the key under the visual section.

• After adding the key, you’ll see the chart with respect to your data. There’s the option of adding the top header text in the chart under the general section.

• After that, click on visual and set the number. You should also enable the options as shown below:

• You can change the “Node Font Style.”

• There’s also the option of changing the “Level Font Style.”

• Here’s what the Level Labels look like:

• You can change the Node color as shown below:

• Here’s “How to change Level 1 color,” and you can follow the same steps to change the node color of other levels.

• After changing all node colors, here’s the final look of the HR Dashboard in Power BI using ChartExpo.

Insights

• Social Media is the primary application channel with the highest number of candidates (1100).
• Company Career Page follows with 900 candidates.
• Paper Media and Events have comparatively lower candidate counts (700 and 350, respectively).
• Direct applications have 600 candidates.

What are the Best Practices for Power BI Scheduled Export?

• Data Refresh Planning: Data refreshes should be scheduled during off-peak hours. This minimizes impact on system performance and ensures timely updates. If you’re working with large datasets, you can reduce load times and improve efficiency by using incremental data refresh.
• File Management: Your export format should be based on the nature of the report and the needs of the recipients. These export formats could be PowerPoint, Excel, or PDF. You can also use the version control strategy to keep track of the report changes and ensure consistency.
• Security and Permissions: Only authorized users should have access to exporting and scheduling functionalities. When exporting and distributing reports, you should keep the data sensitivity and compliance requirements in mind.
• Monitoring and Maintenance: Always monitor and review scheduled exports. This will help you ascertain that they’re functioning correctly and address issues (if any).
• User Communication and Training: Always inform stakeholders about the schedule and format of exports. Users should be trained on how to access and interpret exported reports. This will come in handy when there are changes in content and format.
• Testing and Validation: All new schedules should be thoroughly tested before implementation. This ensures that it works as expected, and that exported files meet quality standards. Also, validate the data in exported reports regularly. It will help you ascertain accuracy and consistency with source data.

FAQs

Can You Schedule an Export from Power BI?

Yes, you can schedule exports in Power BI. To do that, set up scheduled refreshes and use Power Automate for automated export and email distribution of dashboards and reports at specified intervals.

What are the Exporting Options in Power BI?

Power BI offers exporting options to PowerPoint, CSV formats, Excel, and PDF.

Can Power BI be Used for Scheduling?

Yes, Power BI supports scheduling through scheduled data refreshes and export automation. This will enable timely updates and distribution of dashboards and reports to stakeholders at predefined intervals.

Wrap Up

Power BI scheduled export automates the distribution and export of reports at specified intervals. It’s important for timely updates, enhanced productivity, consistent reporting, and efficient data management.

To get the most out of the Power BI scheduled export, you have to ascertain that the reports are optimized for performance. That includes efficient data visualization and modeling practices to minimize export and refresh times. You should also reduce the size of exported files by filtering unnecessary data and focusing on key insights.

Backup and recovery are of the essence. Always schedule regular backups of critical reports and data exports to prevent data loss and ensure recovery in cases of issues.

Regardless of your industry, you can create a dashboard similar to the HR data used in this guide. After that, you can proceed to create compelling visualizations like the Sankey chart to represent the evolving total over time. All these aid in effective data evaluation.