Setting up your Reports for the first time in Power BI Desktop


Pre-requisites are:

  • Your first Tug should have either completed, or updated, otherwise any reports shown may contain errors due to a lack of data.
  • Power BI Desktop installed; available through the Windows store, or via the link here (select the 64bit version, if you can't run it then your PC is likely to be of too low a spec to run Power BI and import the templates).
  • Power BI Service (Online); this can be added to an Office 365 account, and is likely to have a free trial (60 days is the usual). Pricing available here. 
    • Note: you don't have to have Power BI Service to view the reports in Power BI Desktop, but to share the reports within your organisation, it is a requirement as sharing the Power BI Report files isn't recommended due to security reasons.

No matter your Connector Type (Cash, Harvest, HubSpot, Simpro®, Teams, Xero and others), the report setup process is the same.


Although your menu options may vary, all Connector Types have Report Setup, displayed in the image below.


If you aren't already on the page, select Report Setup (1 in the image below). Note that you may see additional options here, but they can be ignored in this instance.



You can chose to create your own reports in Tableau, Excel (and even Power BI), but this guide details using the included template(s) that all Connectors have as part of your subscription.


Select 2, Power BI.



You will then be presented with the following screen.



1. Connector Type: here, will be displayed your particular connector name, such as HubSpot or Xero.


2. Report Templates available, will be displayed here; there will be at least one, and will contain your connector type in its name, such as Simpro. You can chose to download them all, or just the ones you are going to install. (You can either download as normal, or right click on the link and select save as from the popup window.)


3. Chose this option if you are NOT going to use Tugger's report templates.


4. This process presumes you have already downloaded at least one template, if you haven't done so, download a template now.


... Then click on the button "I have downloaded a template" indicated by the '4'.


Once the report template has downloaded, access it via your browser or navigate to your downloads folder and click or double click on it to load - just like you would with a Word document (for example).


Note: Power BI Desktop must be installed for the template to load.



You will be presented with the following in Tugger.


The following pages in Tugger's website gives an overview of the process, which should get your report(s) loading.


After clicking 'I have downloaded a template', the following is displayed.



The instructions forming part of the above page (although not shown) are detailed below.


RangeStart and RangeEnd Parameters

               

If the report template does not ask you for RangeStart and RangeEnd paramenters you can "jump to the next step"             

  • RangeStart  Enter the earliest date / time for the data you want to include in your report.
  • RangeEnd – Enter a future date / time beyond the latest data you expect to load (e.g.tomorrows date).

               

Example Input:

 

If you want to refresh data from the last two years, enter:                

             

  • RangeStart = 17/02/2023 00:00:00
  • RangeEnd =  18/02/2025 00:00:00

 

"View Important Notes on RangeStart and RangeEnd"


Clicking on the link above: 'View Important Notes on RangeStart and RangeEnd' displays the following Important Notes.


Important Notes:

                   

  • Must be in Date / Time format (not just Date)
  • Ensure the date format matches Power BI's regional settings (File > Options and Settings > Options > Regional Settings)
  • Power BI will adjust these values dynamically after publishing to the service.
  • Do not set RangeEnd to today’s date - use a future date to avoid missing new data.
  • Use a small date range when running in Power BI Desktop to make it run faster when customising your reports.


Note that "Jump to the Next Step" above, and the Next button displayed below and in the previous image, perform the same action.


As the above explains, once you have loaded your report template into Power BI Desktop, you will be presented with the following screen.


1. You don't need to be signed in as I am (top-right of the image) but you will need to be should you publish reports, which is recommended. 


2. The OData link show previously, goes here.


3. RangeStart and RangeEnd go here. 

    (Note:If you don't have the range options, they can be ignored, otherwise they are required.)

Example of start: 01/12/2024 00:00:00.

Example of end: 28/02/2025 00:00:00. (Note: this should be a date after today's date.)


4. When happy with that you have entered in the previous steps, 'Load'.





The following setup image in Tugger explains the next steps.


If you have not loaded a report previous using the OData credentials from your connector, you will be asked to enter them.



1. Select Basic

2. Match the dropdown so int includes the base Tugger link and the additional characters.

3. Copy and Paste the Username & Password into the appropriate fields and Click Load.

4. Setup is complete. After some minutes (depending of how much data you have) the report will load.


Note that the final image below gives an example of a loaded report; yours may look different.


This completes a summary of the process.



If you now have a loaded report, that's it for importing your data into Power BI Desktop.


Should you have encountered issues, the following details the steps required, and should you wish to contact support for further assistance, please do so. ([email protected])


The process for Power BI is detailed below.



1. Copy the OData link into the corresponding field into the OData popup.



2. If other options are available (such as 2 in the image above), either complete those or leave for later.


3. Once ready, click on Load.


If this is the first time you loaded a report; removed them from Power BI Desktop; or if you have regenerated the credentials (Username and Password), you will be asked to enter them.


The screen will look like the one below and partially seen previously, in Tugger's Report Setup.




Enter the details and change the options, detailed below.



1 Select Basic.


2. Enter the Password and Username from Tugger's Report Setup (or Report Credentials) using the handy copy tools, which also have the benefit of ensuring they are copied correctly.


3. From the dropdown, select the option that matches the link at the top of the OData feed popup.


4. Click on Connect when ready.


The following image displays the Refresh dialogue, partially hidden in the image above.




After a little while, which may be some seconds, and possibly if you have a lot of data, some minutes, the Refresh dialogue will update, showing values against the tables being loaded. 

(This will occur for all reports regardless of report type.)


These values will be, bytes, KB and for some tables MB; some tables may end up with hundreds of MB of data.



Once this process has completed, you will be presented with a report, which will vary, depending on report-type and connector-type.



You can chose to Save the document, Publish the document (to Microsoft's Service) or even have a look at the various report pages; the number you will see, indicated on the bottom left, will vary between reports.