If your organization uses Salesforce to handle customer information, you may have attempted to link this data with Power BI to develop dashboards.
This process is typically designed to be straightforward since Power BI offers two connectors for smooth integration with Salesforce data:
Salesforce Object Connector (to access various tables)
Salesforce Report Connector (to pull specific report data)
However, reading this indicates that you’ve likely found the process can quickly become complex or inefficient when dealing with large volumes of data.
Let’s consider a scenario where you need to create Power BI dashboards using extensive Salesforce data, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of rows.
As is often the case, you wouldn’t import the entire raw datasets for every dashboard.
Instead, much of your data should be pre-summarized, filtered, and organized into reports within Salesforce.
Before pulling the report data into Power BI, you should:
Define the specific questions each dashboard aims to answer.
Determine exactly what data is required for the dashboard.
Once you have that figured out, it’s time to load the data into Power BI.
Your initial thought would likely be to use one of Power BI’s Salesforce connectors, but due to the substantial data volumes, you could encounter limitations.
Challenges with the Salesforce Report Connector
Given that you have pre-constructed reports in Salesforce, your first step would logically be to try connecting with the Salesforce Report Connector.
This choice is appealing as it allows easy access to the tables containing all the necessary data.
Unfortunately, there’s a significant drawback: it has a clear limit of only 2,000 rows.
This is minimal compared to the massive data set you need to handle.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to navigate this restriction.
For instance, you might consider using the Salesforce Object Connector.
This option is commonly chosen next because it helps bypass the 2000 rows limitation - enabling you to extract all available rows in individual objects or tables at once. But…
Do you recognize the issue here? Allow me to clarify.
Issues with the Salesforce Object Connector
The Salesforce Object Connector provides access to all the raw data stored in numerous Salesforce objects (that's a lot of tables, far too many), not the specific reports.
This means:
You’ll spend extra time sifting through up to 100+ tables to locate the necessary data. This can lead to a significant time drain and a rather convoluted, inefficient approach.
You will need to construct your report from scratch within Power BI, which can be frustrating - losing all the preliminary work you put into creating reports in Salesforce!
In general, for large datasets and complex dashboards, this method tends to be incredibly time-consuming and requires greater technical know-how compared to simply importing preformatted reports.
A Better Solution: Versich's Salesforce Reports Power BI Connector
No matter the size of your business, you shouldn’t have to struggle or compromise on time or performance due to the large volumes of customer data you produce.
In fact, more data can lead to more opportunities for insightful analysis.
This is precisely where our custom Salesforce Reports Power BI Connector comes into play.
Envision it as a ‘Data Extraction as a Service (DaaS)’ solution that includes a set of streamlined processes and scripts to help you overcome all the limitations of the standard Power BI Salesforce connectors without complications.
Yes, that’s correct.
With our Salesforce Reports Connector, you can:
bypass the 2000-row limitation without compromising time or performance.
establish a direct query Power BI connection with your Salesforce report data.
Don’t waste another instant grappling with data limits; let Versich handle the heavy lifting so you can concentrate on what’s truly important - gaining insights from your data.
Case Study: A Global Company Unlocks Data Potential with Versich's Power BI Services
At Versich, we pride ourselves on excellence regarding all your Power BI needs.
Naturally, we can do much more than just efficiently transfer data into Power BI.
We elevate our service by helping you extract maximum value from your data through our custom Power BI report & dashboard services.
For instance, consider the Power BI report we created for the global head of marketing at a large organization.
This report consolidates data from seven significant reports already in Salesforce.
Indeed, if you’re wondering, you guessed it. We utilized our custom Salesforce Reports Connector to effectively and seamlessly bring that data into Power BI.
Subsequently, we compiled a thorough report addressing crucial inquiries about the company’s marketing and sales performance.
Let’s break it down so you can gain a clearer understanding of how much value we can help you unearth from your data.
The Overview Page illustrated in Fig.1 above highlights valuable insights and KPIs to monitor lead generation, sales performance, and potential revenue.
These insights/KPIs encompass:
Lead Source Breakdown: Identifying which marketing channels are generating the most leads (website content, social media advertisements, etc.).
Sales Funnel Visualization: Tracking the journey of leads as they progress through the sales cycle (MQL, SQL, Won, etc.).
Expected Revenue by Country.
Conversion Rates: Indicating how effectively leads are transformed into paying customers at each stage of the sales funnel.
Lost/Won/Active Opportunities: Providing insights into what strategies are effective and what are not.
P.S. This page, similar to all other pages in the report, features interactive elements. This means you can ‘zoom in’ on the insights that interest you, such as viewing all data on the page based on specific regions or examining lead breakdowns by particular months or categories.
The LinkedIn Ads Page assesses the performance of LinkedIn ads in terms of generating leads, user engagement (likes, comments), and overall brand visibility compared to the costs incurred in creating these ads.
We created this page effortlessly using our custom LinkedIn Ads Connector, which facilitates the easy import of data from LinkedIn Ads Campaign Manager into any reporting tool you prefer (Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, etc.).
Website RFPs Page
The Website RFPs Page centers on website lead generation, presenting insights into leads who submitted Requests for Proposal (RFPs) via the company's website.
This page monitors essential metrics and KPIs such as:
Conversion rates of RFP leads within the company’s sales funnel.
The number of RFP leads at different stages of the sales funnel, categorized by industry, country, region, or lead source.
The number of RFP leads that converted to sales (won opportunities).
And much more.
Website Content Downloads Page
The Website Content Downloads Page discusses the performance of website content in attracting and converting leads.
It details several key findings:
The types of content and subjects being downloaded.
The number of leads generated by each type/subject of content.
The total count of website content downloads.
The countries and industries of individuals downloading the website’s content for targeted marketing efforts.
How content downloads correlate with contacts, opportunities, and potential revenue.
And so on.
If you want to obtain this level of value from your data, you’re in the ideal spot.
As we demonstrated for the global corporation, our expert team can deliver outstanding Report &Dashboard Services that guarantee meaningful business results.
