Overview
The CloudCompli Power BI Analytics Development Kit (ADK) is a custom Power BI connector that lets you pull your Stormwater data directly into Power BI. This article walks you through downloading the connector, installing it in Power BI, generating an API token, and selecting a data set to load.
Note: the connector, its download file, and its entry in the Power BI data source list are still named CloudCompli — that's the former name of Stormwater. The steps below use the CloudCompli name wherever you need to find or click something.
⚠️ The Power BI Analytics Development Kit is currently under beta testing. This means you may encounter bugs (please report them here) and the connector may change significantly before final release.
Step 1: Download the Power BI connector
Open the most recent release, click the Assets dropdown, and download the CloudCompli.mez file.
💡 As open source software, you may also download and modify the source code to fit your own needs. If you just want to install the Power BI ADK, you want the .mez file and not the source code.
Step 2: Install the Power BI ADK
Place the CloudCompli.mez file in this folder — you may need to create the folders if Power BI has not already done it for you:
Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors
Next, open Power BI and go to File > Options and settings > Options. Open the Security tab and select Allow any extension to load without validation or warning:
Click Ok, then close Power BI and reopen it.
Step 3: Get an API client token
Next, get an API token so the ADK can securely communicate with the Stormwater API. Log in and go to Settings > App Settings > API Clients. You must be an administrator to do this:
If you don't already have an API Client you want to use, click Create API Client and either accept the prompted values or specify your own client ID and secret:
If you already have an API Client, click Manage next to it in your list of clients:
You'll arrive at a screen with a number of options and examples. Click Generate Token:
After a few moments, a new token is generated:
Save the Instance Base URL and Token values from this popup — you'll use them in the next step to configure the connector in Power BI.
⚠️ This token is good for one year, after which you'll need to refresh it with a new token. You can also click Revoke All Tokens to expire all API sessions at any time. If you do that, every API client — including the Power BI custom connector — needs a new token before it will work again.
Step 4: Select a data set
Once the connector is installed (Steps 1 and 2), extension validation is disabled and Power BI has been relaunched (Step 2), and you have your Instance Base URL and Token (Step 3), all that's left is selecting a data set to load.
Go to Get Data > Online Services, select CloudCompli, and click Connect:
You'll see a screen for selecting a data set from the Stormwater API:
Depending on which features you subscribe to, some data sets in this picker may not be relevant to you.
If the data set you chose requires Query Properties, provide them using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON):
Once you've entered any necessary Query Properties — or skipped that step if they don't apply to your data set — click Ok.
If this is your first time connecting to Stormwater from Power BI, you'll be prompted to fill in the Instance Base URL and Token you saved in Step 3:
After you enter your credentials and continue — or straight away if you're adding additional data sets, since your credentials are saved — you'll see a sample of the data set. Click Load to pull it in.
That's it. You can now work with it in Power BI like any other data set.