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Once you have your data ready to be consumed, you can connect it to a visualization tool to generate meaningful visuals. If your choice is Power BI and you have your datalake on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), follow this tutorial.

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Overview

If your Nekt workspace is hosted on GCP and you are storing Nekt tables in BigQuery, you can connect Power BI to BigQuery using the official Google BigQuery connector in Power Query. This enables you to import or query data directly from BigQuery into Power BI Desktop or Power BI Online.

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Connect Using Power BI Desktop

Follow these steps in Power BI Desktop to connect to your BigQuery data:
  1. Open Power BI Desktop and go to Get Data.
  2. In the data source list, search for and select Google BigQuery.
  3. In the connection dialog, you can optionally select Advanced options (e.g., Billing Project ID) if required.
  4. Choose your authentication method:
    • Organizational login (standard Google account)
    • Service Account Login – paste the service account email and the service account JSON key contents.
  5. Click Sign In and complete the Google authentication prompt.
  6. After signing in, click Connect.
  7. In the Navigator window, browse your BigQuery datasets and tables.
  8. Select a table and choose either:
    • Transform Data (to clean or shape the data in the Power Query editor), or
    • Load (to bring the data directly into your Power BI model).

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Connect Using Power BI Online (Service)

To connect from the Power BI service:
  1. In the Power BI web app, choose Get Data.
  2. Select Google BigQuery as the source.
  3. Choose to create a new connection or reuse an existing one.
  4. Select your authentication option (organizational account or service account).
  5. Sign in using the Google authentication prompt.
  6. Once connected, browse and select your BigQuery tables, then click Next to proceed.

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Authentication Notes

  • Organizational Account: Standard OAuth login with your Google user account.
  • Service Account: Paste the email and flattened JSON key file content (make sure the JSON key has all newlines removed).
For Power BI Service or Power Query Online, use Basic authentication when connecting with a service account:
  • Username = Service account email
  • Password = Service account JSON key contents (flattened).

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Tips & Considerations

  • If you encounter permission errors, verify that your Google IAM roles include sufficient BigQuery permissions.
  • You can specify a Billing Project ID in advanced options if required for querying or avoiding access errors.
  • Nested fields in BigQuery may appear as JSON strings; use Power Query to expand or parse them as needed.