Adding New Endpoints to Power BI Connector?

Adam Dunigan

Hi all!


Has anyone had any luck or experience with adding SKY API endpoints to the Power BI connector beyond what's been defined in the GitHub project from Blackbaud?


I'm working on building a dashboard for my team that displays various metrics around alumni engagement, but the current iteration of the connector does not have the Events endpoint available. I've poked around the .m file that defines these connections, but sadly I'm over my head here so I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions on adding new endpoints to this existing project, or if the solution is to wait for Blackbaud to release a new iteration of the connector that contains the new/update endpoints available in the SKY API.


Thanks!


-Adam

Carol Grant

Hi Adam- I'm pretty sure we have to wait for Blackbaud to release a new new/update endpoints available in the Power BI connector. I don't have an Event category (group) when I look at the connector options.


-Carolyn Grant

Middlebury College

Adam Dunigan

Hi Carolyn,


I was afraid that might be the case. I'm trying to come up with some workarounds in the short term, but hopefully the connector will be updated in the near future!


-Adam

Ben Lambert

Hi Adam (and Carolyn!),


We open-sourced the Power BI connector in GitHub to make it possible for everyone to see the code, fork the repo and create a custom implementation, and even submit contributions back for the benefit of all users. You should be able to clone the repo and add Events functionality locally (meaning, you don't need to wait on Blackbaud to add it).


That said, I see we don't have a "Contributions guideline" for this, so we'll get that written asap. In the meantime, we'd love to hear what you'd like to see in terms of Events functionality in the Power BI connector. I don't have any ETA for when we might be able to update it at the moment, but anything you can provide in terms of what functionality you need and/or what you're ultimately wanting to do would be helpful for us to know..

Adam Dunigan

Hi Ben!


I've definitely downloaded a clone of the current branch and looked at the .m file that contains all the connector definitions. I don't have any experience working with this language (looks like Objective C?), but I'm trying to figure out a way to connect the Events endpoints into the model and will continue to play around with it until either I figure it out, or Blackbaud releases an updated version that includes this data


In terms of functionality, I'm working on building a dashboard that shows our team the various alumni engagement metrics (AEM) that have been defined by CASE that we are now tracking in RE. Because we utilize both native and custom field data for these engagement metrics, I need to be able to pull event and attendance data from the Events module to couple that with the other preexisting data we have already in order to create a normalized fact table that contains all the AEM data we need to report on. So far, I've had good success doing this, but until I can get access to the Event API in Power BI, I'll have to find a workaround.


I look forward to the continued enhancements!


Adam

John Wooster

Hi Adam,

Mission BI Reporting Access™ and SQL Access™ are Blackbaud Marketplace App Solutions that enable standardized data source connections to your RE NXT and FE NXT data from virtually any reporting platform such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, or Crystal Reports.

Reporting Access™ and SQL Access™ are much more than simple API connectors. They are specialized database solutions, hosted and managed in the secure Mission BI Cloud, and optimized as data source connections for advanced custom reporting.


Let's jump on a quick call to get acquainted and explore how I can help. Please use the link below to drop a time on my calendar for us to connect.

See My Calendar and SCHEDULE A CONVERSATION HERE.

John Wooster

CRO | Mission BI, Inc.

843.491.6969 | https://www.missionbi.com
mailto:John@MisisonBI.com

Mehmet Ozdemir

Hey All,


If anyone is still interested in this I added the EventList https://developer.sky.blackbaud.com/docs/services/event/operations/GetEventList support to the connector today. Note this was done for a client on their time and money. If they agree and Blackbaud is accepting pull requests happy to submit a pull request in Github.


The to Blackboard Guys,

We also want to plumb in https://developer.sky.blackbaud.com/docs/services/event/operations/GetEventParticipantList, the problem is this api expects the EventId to be passed in... So, I'd need to retrieve all events (above) then I'm thinking I need to add a custom column to Events which then uses a powerquery function to get the corresponding records in the ParticipantList API call. That column would then be of {record} type that I then extract into a table. I didn't see this pattern implemented in the BlackBaud.pq file.

I would much prefer to do this is in the *.pq file you have supplied.


Simple explanation is For Each EventId Call GetEvenParticipantList.


Life would be waaaay easier if you have some like like GetEventsParticipantsAll API endpoint, that would just firehose all participants for all events. I notice you do this for other API endpoints.


Are you guys able to point me in the right direction so I'm not burning client time trying to work this out?


Thanks in advance


Mehmet

Adam Dunigan

Mehmet,


That's awesome! We would be happy to make usage of the updates to the connector, pending your client's approval and the pull request getting pushed back to GitHub. We too would need the participant data as well, as that is how we are measuring a portion of our engagement.


In the meantime, I have built a flow in Power Automate that will pull down all event participant data we need on a schedule, which is then posted to a shared network resource that Power BI is pointed to. Not the greatest solution, but it works and requires little to no interaction to function, so that's a win for now


Adam

Rob Wild

Hi folks,


Found this thread after a bit of a search, I'm just starting down this path, and have managed to get this working on our test instance.


Is there anything documented about how a non-programmer can add in endpoints? Specifically, I'd be looking to add the following:

Fundraiser Name

Fundraiser Type

Opportunity Custom Fields.


Where could I find some documentation about how to add this in?

Adam Dunigan

Hi Rob,


I'm unaware of any documentation specifically outlined for end users to add endpoints. I've attempted to reverse engineer the code to add new endpoints, but have not had much success. I got so far as to see the endpoint appear in Power BI, but it returns an error every time and I'm not sure how to correct it.


Would love to see some documentation on this!


Adam

Rob Wild

I'm seeing the same issues as you are Adam. Even when trying to add back in fields that are removed, like Campaign, Fund and Appeals being listed in the Gift API.


Seeing this sort of thing makes me feel a bit that the old ways were better - could create a query, and export of what fields we wanted to see (not being reliant on what BB *thinks* that we want to see), and plug in a Crystal Report right into the system.


It worked. Wasn't pretty, but it worked. Now we have pretty, but its so limited.


Edit: Just found Carolyn's post: https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/586/53489#p209933 Well, that helps a little.

Viet Truong

@Carolyn Grant

I am able to follow the instruction in this youtube video until Min 7:12. I cannot see Applications under Control Panel.( Red Circle in Picture below) Would you please point me to the right direction? Thank you

Matt Thacker

Hi @Viet Truong, that looks like it may be outdated. You'll want to access that part through the Marketplace

There, you'll be able to connect your app using the application ID.

Carol Grant

@Viet Truong - I also wanted to add that you should review everything Power BI on this page.

It has updated videos and tutorials. Thanks Matt for responding. Matt is the export Power BI person. I am still working on using the connector in Power BI the way I want and this is 2023.

Matt Thacker

@Viet Truong, in your Power BI Desktop application, go to File → Options and settings → Options, and change the Data Extensions radio button to “allow any extension.” The Blackbaud connector is not a “certified” connector, so it doesn't appear with the default security settings.