EQ Automate: How to create a task for Power BI

Before you can use a Power BI dashboard you need to export some data for it to use.

EQ Flex version 25 creates one task automatically to help you get started. You can simply modify the task date and frequency and you can get started straight away. See the separate article Setting up your first Power BI dashboard.

This article explains how you can create additional tasks  to use with additional dashboard templates. You could have multiple data sources and multiple Power BI dashboards, for different business purposes for example.

Setup a new task for Power BI data

You will begin setup by adding a task in EQ Automate that will schedule an export of the data for Power BI. You need this task to generate all of the data files that Power BI uses to create your charts.

1. Click EQ Automate on the main toolbar:
   
   
    
2. Click Add to start a new task where you have the blank task details to complete:
   
   
    
3. Complete the name and description with an easy to understand title like "Power BI data"
    
4. Under Default Task Files Folder select a location on your computer where the EQ Flex data will be saved. We recommend a new dedicated folder called EQ Flex Power BI.
    
5. Under Frequence Details select the frequency you want the data to be exported. For example Daily. You can then specify more information. For example, select a time to run each day.
    
6. In Task Type select Export.
    
7. In Task System select Power BI.
    
8. In Task Format select Comma Separated Values.
    
9. In Data Source select your data.
   The automatically created task uses Data source 1.
   You need to pick a Data source that you have not used already (they will not be shown in the list).
   
   
     
10. Under Processing Date Details you can decide if you want data from a set time period. If so, select a date range, for example This Year. Otherwise you can tick Only include if Updated which always exports the latest data.
     
11. In Emails enter an email address which will be used for the sending of successful task emails. (i.e. every time the task is successfully run, an email will be sent). 
     
12. In Fail Email enter an email address which will be used for sending of failures or errors with the scheduled task.
     
13. Click Update to save your task.
    A series of Work Lists will be created automatically, wait for a few seconds whilst you see the progress at the top right:
    
    
     
14. You will be prompted to select your Power BI templates with this screen:
    
    
    
    You are seeing a list of available templates, both the default templates and any you have already created. Simply un-tick the Replicate Template column to deselect any you don't need.
    In the example above only the Purchasing dashboard will be created.
    
    Enter a custom name in the box at the top right. The example above is a descriptive title adding PurchasingManager.
     
15. Click the Replicate Templates button to save and close.
     
16. Your task is now created and ready. 
    At the lower section of the screen you will see all individual tasks created and enabled. 
    Here is an example of a completed task and all work list items:
    
    
17. No other setup is necessary. However, you probably want to run your task now which will create your first data folder. It will then run and replace the data on your chosen schedule.
    Click the Run/Preview Task button on the left:
    
    
     
18. To access the newly created dashboard, click the arrow under the Dashboard button and select Power BI Dashboards... and pick the name of your new template:
    
    
    (If you cannot see your newly created template, you may need to set valid users on that template. See this article Setup valid users for Power BI dashboards.)