How-to· Ars Pantheon
Power BI on PANTHEON: RAW data, database queries or a data warehouse?
Three ways for Power BI to get data from PANTHEON: RAW data, direct database queries or a data warehouse. When each pays off and who builds the reports.
Short answer: Power BI can get data from PANTHEON in three ways: as RAW data, through direct database queries, or through a data warehouse (DWH). For a few simple reports queries are enough. When data comes from several sources or you need one reliable base, we recommend a DWH. You can build the reports yourselves or leave it to us.
Three ways to access the data
| Way | What it is | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| RAW data | data from the PANTHEON database, as it is, according to your request | when your team knows what it wants and shapes the reports itself |
| Direct database queries | queries prepared for what the report needs | when there are few reports and they come only from PANTHEON |
| Data warehouse | a separate database that combines PANTHEON and other sources | when data comes from several sources or one accurate base is needed |
When you need a data warehouse
- data comes from several sources (ERP, webshop, external tools, Excel spreadsheets by department),
- nobody knows any more which version of a number is the “right” one,
- the sales-by-region report takes days,
- management wants to follow key indicators every day, not once a month.
If you have a specification, we build the DWH to it. If you do not, we use our experience to help you decide which data and indicators you need and how to arrange them in a model. More on the Building a data warehouse page.
Who builds the reports
You can build reports yourselves, on the data we have prepared. You can also leave it to us: we build Power BI reports and dashboards, for example for management, sales, purchasing and finance, and maintain them later as your needs change. More on the Power BI and PANTHEON page.
What you need
- PANTHEON with access to the database,
- Microsoft Power BI licenses for users who share reports (we recommend a licensing model based on the number of users),
- Datalab’s Connector license for automatic access to the PANTHEON database.
An overview of the whole topic: Data warehouse and Power BI.
