Kobo to Power BI connection not working

SNB · August 6, 2020, 6:18am

Hi all,

I have a Power BI dashboard that has one table which is connected via a Kobo API and another table, which is appended to the first table, connected through Sharepoint. Initially, I had set up the connection using my Kobo username and password and the scheduled refresh was working just fine. However, it stopped working all of a sudden and I get the following error message “Information is needed in order to combine data;Information about a data source is required… The exception was raised by the IDbCommand interface. Table: Kobo.”

I deleted and published the dashboard again, and also changed Kobo credentials to “Anonymous” to see if that would help. But nothing seems to be working. This could very well be a Power BI issue and nothing to do with the Kobo API but just wanted to ask in case any other users are getting the same error message.

Thanks!

Kal_Lam · August 5, 2020, 3:41pm

Hi @SNB,

There are two things you will need to be cautious while linking your KoBoToolbox data to the Power-Bi:

You will need to make your data public if you wish to manage data without login to your user account.
Else as an alternative you will need to login to your user account if you do not wish to make your data public.

So the choice is yours. Would you try and let the community know if it works for you.

Have a great day!

SNB · August 5, 2020, 5:21pm

Hi @Kal_Lam, appreciate the prompt response!

I believe the data is public (attaching screenshot).But please let me know if there’s anything else that I need to change in the settings for it to be public.

SNB · August 5, 2020, 5:22pm

I should add though that I am not the owner of the Kobo Project. It has been shared with me with the following permissions:

Kal_Lam · August 6, 2020, 6:18am

Hi @SNB,

It should work despite the fact that the survey project was shared with you. Would you mind having a look at our support article and see if it helps solve your issue:

Pulling Data Into PowerBI

It would also be helpful if you go through this support article:

Pulling Data Into Excel Power Query

Have a great day!

SNB · August 7, 2020, 10:09am

Thanks again @Kal_Lam!

I changed the credentials to anonymous, privacy level setting to public. Then I cleared cache from Power BI and disabled parallel loading. One (or a combination) of these steps seems to have done the trick.

Kal_Lam · August 7, 2020, 10:09am

Hi @SNB,

Thank you for confirming that it worked for you.

Have a great day!