Edit

Share via

Connect to Viva Insights using the Power BI Connector

  • Article

To connect your Viva Insights data to Power BI using the Power BI connector, follow these steps:

  1. In Power BI Desktop:

    1. Select Get Data in the ribbon.
    2. In the Get Data window, select Online Services from the left navigation.
    3. Select Viva Insights.
    4. Select the Connect button.
    5. Select Continue if you see a Connecting to a third-party service dialog box.

  2. In the advanced insights app:

    1. Go to Analyst > Query results.
    2. Find your query.
    3. Select Link to get the partition and query identifiers.

  3. In Power BI Desktop's Connect to Viva Insights Data window:

    1. Enter the partition identifier.

    2. Enter the query identifier.

      Note

      Query name isn't supported right now.

    3. Set advanced parameters (optional).

    4. In Schema type, select from two options:

      • Pivoted (Default) to load organizational attributes as individual columns. Here's an example of how your results would load with this option:

        PersonId MetricDate Collaboration hours Organization SupervisorIndicator
        A 5/7/2023 23.6 Finance Manager

      • Unpivoted to load organizational attributes as key-value pairs. Here's an example of how your results would load with this option:

        PersonId MetricDate Collaboration hours AttributeName AttributeValue
        A 5/7/2023 23.6 Organization Finance
        A 5/7/2023 23.6 SupervisorIndicator Manager

        Important

        The Unpivoted option is only supported for Aggregated data data granularity.

    5. In Data granularity, select from these options:

      • Aggregated data (default) to have Power BI use the Viva Insights service to summarize data, and then return that summarized data to you in Power BI.
      • Row-level data to load raw query results from Viva Insights into Power BI.

      Note

      Learn more about aggregated and row-level data later, in About data granularity and data connectivity mode.

    6. Select a Data connectivity mode:

      • Import – This mode brings a copy of your query results into Power BI Desktop. As you create or interact with visualizations, Power BI Desktop uses these copied results. To see underlying data changes after the initial import or the most recent refresh, you'll need to import the full dataset again to refresh the data.
      • DirectQuery – This mode doesn't import any query results into Power BI Desktop. You can select columns to appear in the Power BI Desktop Fields list. As you create or interact with visualizations, Power BI Desktop uses your results as they appear in Viva Insights, so you're always viewing current data.

      Note

      Learn more about these modes later, in About data granularity and data connectivity mode.

  4. Select OK. If you're prompted to sign in, select Sign in. Enter your credentials and select Connect.

  5. In the preview window, select Load. Optionally, select Transform Data to transform and shape the data in the Power Query editor before loading it into Power BI.

About data granularity and data connectivity modes

Data granularity

With the Data granularity advanced parameter, choose whether you want to:

  • Load raw query results from Viva Insights into Power BI (Row-level data).
  • Have Power BI use the Viva Insights service to summarize data, and then return that summarized data to you in Power BI (Aggregated data).

Aggregated data

When you use Aggregated data, the Power BI Connector automatically enforces the privacy rules configured in the advanced insights app, including the Minimum group size, by providing aggregated query data in Power BI. This option helps you to confidently build reports and share them with others without having to worry about privacy settings.

Consider using Aggregated data when:

  • You plan to share your report with others and want to enforce privacy rules by default.
  • You plan to use simple aggregations, like averages.

Important

If you select Aggregated data as the Data granularity and Import as the Data Connectivity mode, you'll need to summarize the data in Power Query. You can group by any attribute you want here—for example, Organization, LevelDesignation, or FunctionType.

If you don’t summarize in Power Query, Power BI will try to import raw query results into Power BI. However, you’ll get an empty table because the Power BI Connector will enforce privacy rules from the advanced insights app. If you want to import raw query results, use Row-level data as the Data granularity instead.

Row-level data

When you use Row-level data, Viva Insights loads raw query results into Power BI, and the Power BI Connector doesn't enforce privacy rules, including the Minimum group size. You’ll need to manually implement privacy rules when you build your report. For example, you can create a bar chart to visualize the average time people spend in meetings by organization, but you'll need to filter out organizations with fewer employees than the minimum group size.

Consider using Row-level data when:

  • You're doing exploratory analysis and want to have access to row-level data in Power BI.
  • You won’t share the report with others, or you make sure to manually apply privacy rules before you share.
  • You need to use complex aggregations with multiple filters and conditions.
  • You need to support complex transformations.

Note

When using Row-level data granularity, select Import for the Data connectivity mode. DirectQuery imports raw query results every time Power BI renders a visual, which creates a bad experience for you and your report's users.