Use Case - Adding Custom Data to Luware Power BI Reports

Catch and send caller input Azure Table storage, connect the Power BI report to the table, add the data to the report, and extend the Luware Power BI Report with the data from the Azure Table storage.

In this Use Case we cover the following scenario:

  • The Nimbus service workflow asks the caller for an input, we'll trigger on a Parameter Update to catch the customer input and send it to a storage table in Azure.
  • In a second step we'll connect the Power BI report to the table and add the data to the report. For this we will be creating a Azure Table storage table in your tenant and add data to it during a Power Automate flow.
  • Lastly we extend the Luware Power BI Report with the data from the Azure Table storage.

PRECONDITIONS

You require service owner rights to access the Power BI Odata Interface.

  • A service is set up and generating productive data
  • A storage account in Azure has been created
  • We have downloaded and opened the Luware Nimbus reporting file (Nimbus.pbit) in Power BI
 

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Prepare Nimbus

  1. Create a new Parameter with ID= "PIN". Leave the default value blank. 
  2. Create a workflow with a "Collect Information" activity followed by a "Check Parameter" activity. 
  3. The Collect Information activity asks for the caller input and stores the value into the Nimbus context parameter "PIN". Set 
    • Prompt text = Welcome. Please enter your PIN.
    • Parameter to Save = PIN
    • Max digits = 4
  • Set the fields of the Check Parameter activity to
    • Parameter Type = Custom
    • Custom Type = "Custom Context Parameter*
    • Name = "PIN"

Route the elements according to your needs.

Create a storage table in Azure

✅ Create a new storage table in Azure and add a property to it:

  • CustomerInput - String

For more detailed instructions on how to add a storage account and table read Use Case - Connecting to Azure Table Storage inside a flow (luware.com)

Create the flow

 Flow overview

The overview of the flow is very short. The last step (UpdateTask) is optional:

 
 
  1. We begin the flow with a "GetOnUpdatedTasks" trigger and select the service and "Parameter Upload" as the listening event. 
  2. We add "Initialize Variable" with: 
    1. Name = CustomerInput
    2. Type = String
    3. Value = triggerOutputs()?[ 'body/customContextParameters/PIN' ]
  3. Now add an "Insert Entity (V2)" from the Azure connector to the flow and point it to your table. 
    1. In the entity part, add:
CODE
{
 "PartitionKey": "byRequestId",
 "RowKey": triggerOutputs()?['body/requestId'],
 "CustomerInput": variables('CustomerInput')
}

4. In an optional step, you can update the Nimbus tasks.

Adapt the Power BI Report

  1. Open the Luware Power BI report, go to "Get Data" and select "Azure Table storage". 
  2. After successful connection you can go to the model view and you'll see the table here:

 

 

3. Select "..." > "Edit query" on the new table so that you can format the table columns. 

4. Select the content row and expand the hidden columns. Make additional changes to data format or column title if needed.
5. The table should now look like this and is ready for use. 

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