Power BI Connector- use it in Power BI Desktop?

Carol Grant

I am using the Connector in Power BI Desktop and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this.  I go to Transform and do a few things like add a fiscal year then I filter the rows based on fiscal year and then I do Apply.  It takes at least an hour to return 2 years of gifts or more, this is about 30,000 rows for us, we have many gift records.  Of course this isn't great performance, it's about the same time to run an export. 


This leads to many questions from me- the github says to use it in the Power BI service.  Usually I write the Power BI report in Desktop then upload it to the Power BI service and then I would set up refreshes.


2.  If I'm using Desktop, how can I easy filter/query the data that the connector is sending? Can I use the Advanced Editor somehow?  Is Transform the only way to reduce the data then Apply?  Is this where I need a 3rd party Marketplace App like SQL Access?  I have SQL knowledge but not API knowledge.

3. Is this where API throttling comes in and we should inquire about faster calls?


I'm very excited that Blackbaud has taken this initiative and it sounds like using the Power BI Connector will be updated as they go along.  I just watched the SKY Developer Product Update and I'm glad to see it was on the future enhancements!  Thanks Ben Wong and others.


Thanks for any help!

Carol Grant

MIddlebury College

Middlebury, VT