Autotask Data Warehouse Integration

[Syndicate_Admin]

As a person with little database experience, and first time user to PowerBI, I would like some lay-person-level advice on how to import data from Autotask. Autotask has a Data Warehouse that, according to them, "Any reporting tool that can access Microsoft SQL Server views can use the Autotask Report Data Warehouse." (source) It seems the AS Connector is running into an issue and doesn't seem to be much of an option (I am in contact with Autotask about this). I cannot imagine this is an obscure request, perhaps there is already a work around?

[Syndicate_Admin · Accepted solution]

@Casey_Harless AutoTask won't be able to assist you, as you will need to build a Tabular model and deploy it to an SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) instance in your domain. The AS Connector then points at that SSAS instance.

If you are trying to use the connector - you will need to leverage the additional technologies Visual Studio (SQL Server Data Tools) and have a SQL SSAS instance.

I have been unable to direct connect to AutoTask from Power BI Desktop, so I had to pull the data I wanted into my own database using SSIS (Sql Server Integration Services - also a Visual Studio thing). I did this also so that I can leverage other company information as well. Then I built a tabular model, and deployed to my SSAS instance. Then I connected the AS Connector to my SSAS instance.

That is alot of info, so feel free to ask questions.

TLDR; You can't just hook up the AS Connector to AutoTask. It's not a model, and not in your domain.

[Syndicate_Admin]

@Seth_C_Bauer Thank you very much for the reply! I've used what you explained as a starting point and have spent some time getting familiar with the tools you described. What additional steps need to be taken to automate this process (going from the Autotask Warehouse to the the SSAS instance to the the Power BI application)  on a daily or weekly basis?

[Syndicate_Admin]

@Casey_Harless If you are following the above, then next steps would be something like this:

1) Get data from AutoTask into your database - Your SSIS process can be a scheduled SQL Agent Job

2) Create your tabular model based on the data in your database / Deploy model to SSAS Tabular SQL Instance

3) Create SSIS process to update your model - Schedule refresh of model by using SQL Agent Job

4) Download the PBI Analysis Services connector on to the instance of your SSAS Tabular model (Can be anywhere in your domain, but if you do it on the SSAS Tabular instance you don't have additional hops across your network.)

5) Connect to model in desktop or service

6) Data in your reports is automatically refreshed whenever you update your model with the SQL Agent Job

The great thing about the AS Connector is that if you connect to the model in the desktop tool, when you push that file to the Service the connection stays "live", it doesn't treat the PBIX file like an on-prem source like all the other datasources. It inherits the connection to the model and continues to just send DAX queries back and forth.

You can schedule the update of the model as often as you want, and I don't see why you couldn't create 1 SQL Agent Job with 2 steps. The first to load the data from AT, and the second to update the tabular model.

[Syndicate_Admin]

Hi Casey, did you managed to get this working?

[Syndicate_Admin]

@sjoerd_slabbers Do you have a specific question surrounding accessing the data in AT? Or are you just interested in whether or not setting up the process worked?

[Syndicate_Admin]

@Seth_C_BauerThis does not appear to be a "solution", rather a high level framework that has not been tested or verified by any other community member to date.

The first step #1 has no information on how to get the data from AutoTask (a remote SaaS service).  That's the hard part that got completely skipped over.   No data,  then all the other theortical infomation on analyzung the data is not helpful.

How are you actually connecting to and pulling the AutoTask data into PowerBI?   REST Query, support ticket to export data to tab files, etc.???

[Syndicate_Admin]

@AgileJohn If you read the begining of the thread we discuss that data is accessed via the Autotask provided Warehouse...

To restate:

#1 - Autotask data is accessible via their Warehouse. From my understanding this may be an additional fee. They grant you access to this SQL instance where you can access a layer of Views in the Database that is assigned to your Org. This access grants you the ability to use SSIS to automate the extraction of data into your own environment to manipulate/control and generally do as you will with it.

As to your "solution" comment, you are correct, this is a high level framework that outlines how the initial poster can access data in Autotask, as well as utilize a Tabular model for use with the On Premises Data Gateway (Called the Analysis Services Connector back in 2015). You don't have to use a tabular model, and you can choose to connect to the warehouse directly if that suites you. And since we're just talking about how to connect to a data source to extract information, I don't see how testing/relevance has anything to do with this.

[Syndicate_Admin]

Thank you for correcting me.  I was not aware that AutoTask had a direct DB access option.   I've contacted them and found this is $250/mo and limited to 3 IP addresses.

Thank you for sharing!

[Syndicate_Admin]

Hi Casey

I use Autotask datwarehouse and have managed to use the SQl connector to import directly to my power Bi giving me the custom dashboards I need. If this is still somehting you are having issue with then I am more than happy to do my best to help.