Learn how to connect Smokeball to Power BI Desktop by Microsoft, to create highly customized and detailed reports from your data in Smokeball.
About Power BI
Power BI is a Microsoft business analytics tool that helps users visualize, analyze, and share data insights. It can connect to various data sources to create interactive dashboards and reports. It also offers AI-powered insights (via Microsoft Copilot).
Learn more about Power BI from the Microsoft website.
You can create dashboards and reports using the following data points in your Smokeball firm:
- Activities
- Contacts
- Expenses
- Fees
- Invoices
- Matters
- Matter Types
- Payments
- Roles
- Staff
- Transactions
Important Note
This article will guide you on how to install the Smokeball data source in Power BI Desktop. Since Power BI reports can be highly complex, building custom reports and dashboards falls outside the scope of Smokeball Support.
Connecting Smokeball to Power BI
Only staff members with the Firm Owner role can connect Smokeball to Power BI.
- Install Power BI Desktop.
- Open the Smokeball Desktop App and navigate to the Marketplace tab.
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Search for "Power BI" in the search bar and click on the listing.
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Click Connect.
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The SmokeballPowerBIConnectorSetup-production.msi will start downloading to your PC. Open this file and follow the prompts to install it.
- Once the MSI file has completed installation, open the Power BI Desktop program.
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From the Home page, select Get data from other sources.
- In the Get Data window, type "Smokeball" in the search field at the top.
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Click on Smokeball (Beta) (Custom) and select Connect.
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Acknowledge the message on the Connecting to a third-party service window by selecting Continue.
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Select your Smokeball region from the drop-down menu, then select OK.
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Select Sign in.
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A new window will open. Select your firm region, then click Continue.
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Enter your Smokeball login details, then click Sign in.
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Once you have successfully signed in, you will be brought back to the previous window. Select Connect.
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In the Navigator, tick the data points you wish to load. The Preview pane on the right-hand side will update with a sample of data from your Smokeball firm that you can analyse in Power BI.
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Select Load. Power BI will start downloading all selected data from your firm.
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The report is now ready for building, with your data available from the right-hand pane.