Setting up Airtable Power BI Integration: 3 Easy Methods

Most modern businesses use a vast number of platforms to run their day-to-day operations. These platforms generate a massive amount of data, which is then analyzed to understand how businesses can improve their performance and plan future strategies accordingly.

One of the most well-known platforms used by many businesses today to enable employee collaboration is Airtable.

This article will provide you with an understanding of 3 easy methods that can be used to set up Airtable Power BI Integration to perform a comprehensive analysis of your Airtable data.

Introduction to Airtable

Airtable can be defined as an easy-to-use Cloud-based collaboration service that businesses can use to store, share, and edit Relational Databases. The databases, in this case, could contain data required to run the day-to-day operations of any business such as inventory details, tasks, growth strategies, and ideas, etc. 

Although you can indeed store information about a project on an online Spreadsheet like Google Sheets and easily collaborate with others to work on that data, there are numerous limitations associated with using Spreadsheets. For example, you cannot define relationships between tables using a Spreadsheet. Storing related data together in a single Spreadsheet can be unwieldy and would result in many errors when you try to perform any operations on it.

Airtable is similar to Spreadsheets, but it comes with two major differences. Firstly, with Airtable, data is stored in Relational Databases instead of Spreadsheets. The major difference between databases and Spreadsheets is that databases give users the ability to perform various complex operations that they would not have been able to perform ideally using a Spreadsheet. Secondly, Airtable is a user-friendly tool, hence, it is not necessary for you to be an expert in using Spreadsheets or Relational Databases to use Airtable. Airtable also houses numerous templates that can guide you on using the system. 

More information on Airtable can be found here.

Understanding the Key Features of Airtable

The key features of Airtable are:

• Customizable Views: Airtable allows users to set up different Views based on the business use cases. Numerous powerful sorting, filtering, and grouping operations can be performed on these Views that give users the freedom to arrange their work as per their preferences.
• Airtable Apps: Airtable gives users the ability to choose from over 50+ prebuilt applications that can help them bring their data to life and perform a vast number of operations.
• Automation: Airtable can help businesses perform their operations faster and focus on the work that matters by creating custom notifications, orchestrate work via integrations, and automate redundant tasks.
• Robust API: The official Airtable API allows users to connect their workflow to hundreds of third-party applications and services, or access their content programmatically.

Introduction to Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a collective group of services and Cloud-based applications that enables organizations to manage, and analyze data from different data sources easily with the help of a very user-friendly interface. 

More information on Microsoft Power BI can be found here.

Understanding the Key Features of Microsoft Power BI

The key features of Microsoft Power BI are as follows:

• Attractive Visualizations: Microsoft Power BI supports numerous detailed and attractive visualizations such as Line Chart, Stacked/Column Bar/Cluster chart, Ribbon Chart, Funnel Chart, Area Chart, etc.
• Data Sources: Microsoft Power BI supports a wide variety of Structured and Unstructured On-premise or Cloud-based data sources including Microsoft Power BI Datasets, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Azure, MySQL, Oracle, JSON, Text/CSV, etc.
• DAX Data Analysis: Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is a library of operators and functions that can be combined to build complex formulas and expressions in Microsoft Power BI to perform analytics-specific functionality.
• Customizable Dashboards: Microsoft Power BI provides users the ability to create custom and interactive dashboards using numerous visualizations that can then be used to derive meaningful insights from the data.

Understanding the Need for Airtable Power BI Integration

Airtable helps organizations solve their problems of not being organized enough. This is paramount for quality communication and preventing sporadic thinking in organizations. Airtable is also a good tool for facilitating collaboration on projects in organizations. Since it centralizes data, Airtable gives you an opportunity to run your business from one place.

However, most Airtable users feel that its built-in data visualization features are not powerful enough and only offer partial insights. Hence, it is a common practice for businesses to export their Airtable data and load it into a Business Intelligence and Reporting tool of choice in order to perform an in-depth analysis of their data. One of the most popular Reporting tools available today is Microsoft Power BI. Microsoft Power BI allows users to create powerful dashboards that they can use to extract insights from your data. Considering the functionality offered by Microsoft Power BI, businesses need to set up Airtable Power BI Integration to analyze their Airtable data.

Methods to Set up Airtable Power BI Integration

Let’s learn how to connect airtable to power bi. Users can set up Airtable Power BI Integration by implementing one of the following methods:

• Method 1: Manual Airtable Power BI Integration
• Method 2: Connecting Power BI to Airtable via Power Query
• Method 3: Using Hevo to Set up Airtable Power BI Integration

Method 1: Manual Airtable Power BI Integration

Users can implement the following steps in order to set up Airtable Power BI Integration: 

• Step 1: Log in to your Airtable account and select API Documentation from the Help section.

• Step 2: Open the Authentication section from the left pane. 
• Step 3: Copy the Airtable API key in the API Key box in the upper right corner and store it in a safe location.
• Step 4: The data has to be imported into Microsoft Power BI now. Since Microsoft Power BI has no direct integration support for Airtable, the data will have to be imported as Web Data. The import from the Web section will require you to enter the URL of the API. The URL to be entered here will be in the following format:

https://api.airtable.com/v0/[Id of the Base] / [Name of the Table]? Api_key = [API Key].

[Id of the Base], [Name of the Tablea], and [API Key] have to be replaced with the necessary information.

• Step 5: Click on Accept.
• Step 6: Microsoft Power BI will now download the data from Airtable but initially show it as a package indicating that it has received a JSON file that contains data inside. You must select the List option to access the data contained in the JSON and then click on the To Table option to convert the downloaded JSON into a table format and hence, be able to manipulate the data or create visualizations.
• Step 7: Airtable, through its API only sends a maximum of 100 records per API call. This means that when viewing the data in Microsoft Power BI, only 100 records will be available at a time. If your use case has less than 100 records, this step can be skipped but if it has more than 100 records,  then open the Advanced Editor from the View section in the top ribbon.

• Step 8: Paste the following code in the Editor and select OK.

Pagination = List.Skip(List.Generate( () => [Last_Key = "init", Counter=0],
		each [Last_Key] <> null,
		each [Last_Key = try if [Counter]<1 then "" else [Quelle][Value][offset] otherwise null,
		Quelle= try if [Counter]<1 then
			Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://api.airtable.com/v0/[put base id here]/[put table number here]?api_key=[put api key here]&view=[put view name here]"))
		else
		Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://api.airtable.com/v0/[put base id here]/[put table number here]?api_key=[put api key here]&view=[put view name here]&offset="&Last_Key)),
		Counter = [Counter]+1
		],
		each [Quelle]
	),1),
	#"Convert Table" = Table.FromList(Pagination, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error)
in
	#"Convert Table"

By following these steps, you can complete the Airtable to PowerBI integration process.

Limitations of Manually Setting up Airtable Power BI Integration

The limitations of setting up Airtable Power BI Integration manually are as follows:

• There is no in-built connector that can be used to set up Airtable Power BI Integration automatically. Users have to rely on the API to set up the connection. 
• Airtable Power BI Integration using the Airtable API might be difficult for individuals without technical knowledge and businesses that do not have a skilled technical team.
• The process of manually setting up Airtable Power BI Integration is lengthy and complex and hence, prone to errors.
• It’s impossible to pull data from Airtable into Microsoft Power BI in real-time.

Method 2: Connecting Power BI to Airtable via Power Query

Initially, you’ll require a running Windows computer, Microsoft Excel 2016 or later, or Power BI desktop as well as a query that connects Airtable to Power BI (via Power Query). Your Airtable API key, the Airtable base ID, and the table ID for the data you want to pull in. 

Now you can follow these three steps to connect Airtable table to Power BI;

Step 1: Create a query

To create a blank query, Go to Get data and click on Blank query.

Step 2: Create parameters

These parameters define the variables of your query. For each parameter, a Name, Type, and Current value should be set using Keys and IDs as given below.

• API_KEY: Use your Airtable API key.
• BASE_ID: Use the ID of the base from the API documentation.
• TABLE_ID:  Use the table ID by navigating to the view of your table and looking into the URL.

Step 3: Paste the parameters in the query

Paste the query in Power BI to connect Airtable to Power BI.

Limitations of Connecting Power BI to Airtable via Power Query

The limitations of connecting Power BI to Airtable via Power Query  are as follows:

• The Airtable API restricts each request to a maximum of 100 records.
• The M Query function operates only when the API key is utilized, and Personal access keys and OAuth integrations result in errors.

Method 3: Using Hevo to Set up Airtable Power BI Integration

Hevo helps you directly transfer data from Airtable and various other sources to Databases, Data Warehouses, or a destination of your choice in a completely hassle-free & automated manner. Hevo is fully managed and completely automates the process of not only loading data from your desired source but also enriching the data and transforming it into an analysis-ready form without having to write a single line of code. Its fault-tolerant architecture ensures that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss.

Hevo focuses on three simple steps to get you started:

• Connect: Connect Hevo with Airtable and various other data sources by simply logging in with your credentials.
• Integrate: Consolidate your data from several sources using Hevo’s Managed Data Warehouse and automatically transform it into an analysis-ready form.
• Visualize: Connect Hevo with your desired BI tool such as Microsoft Power BI and easily visualize your data to gain better insights.

Support for AIRTABLE is available through the REST API, as there is no built-in connector specifically for AIRTABLE. To assist with configuration, users can refer to the REST API documentation. Or refer here to understand more about Airtable REST API Integration on Hevo.

Learn more about Hevo

Conclusion

This article provided you with a step-by-step guide on how you can set up Airtable Power BI Integration manually or using Hevo. There are certain limitations associated with the manual method. If those limitations are not a concern to your analysis, then the manual method is the best option but if it is, then you should consider using automated Data Integration platforms like Hevo.

Hevo helps you directly transfer data from a source of your choice to a Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence tools such as Microsoft Power BI, or desired destination in a fully automated and secure manner without having to write the code. It will make your life easier and make data migration hassle-free. It is User-Friendly, Reliable, and Secure.

Pricing details for Hevo can be found here. Give Hevo a try by signing up for the 14-day free trial today.