How it works
The Zendesk OData PowerBI Integration lets you build Power BI reports on your Zendesk tickets that keep themselves up to date. You choose which tickets and which tables you want. The app gives you a link, and Power BI loads the data from that link every time the report refreshes. There are no exports and no CSV files to manage.
Setup in four steps
Section titled “Setup in four steps”| Step | Who does it | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Install the app | A Zendesk admin, once for the whole account | Zendesk Marketplace |
| 2. Connect your account | Everyone who builds reports, once each | The app in Zendesk |
| 3. Create a datasource and an API token | The same person | The app in Zendesk |
| 4. Load the data into Power BI | The same person | Power BI Desktop |
After that, you can refresh the report on a schedule in the Power BI Service, so nobody has to press Refresh.
Words used in this guide
Section titled “Words used in this guide”Datasource. A saved choice of tickets and tables. For example: “all tickets created this year, with their metrics and requesters”. You pick the tickets with the same kind of query you type into Zendesk search.
Feed URL. The link the app creates for each datasource. You paste it into Power BI. It’s an OData feed, a standard format that Power BI can read without add-ons.
API token. A password you create in the app. Power BI sends it with every refresh to prove that it may read your data. A feed URL alone opens nothing.
What you can report on
Section titled “What you can report on”- Tickets, with every custom ticket field as its own column.
- Ticket metrics: first reply time, resolution time, wait time, reopens and replies.
- Users, Organizations and Groups.
- Tags for tickets, users and organizations, so you can filter and group by tag.
See Tables and columns for the full list.
Your ticket data stays in Zendesk
Section titled “Your ticket data stays in Zendesk”The app doesn’t copy your tickets anywhere. On each refresh, the data goes from Zendesk straight to Power BI. We store only what the app needs to work: your Zendesk connection (encrypted), your datasource settings, and a fingerprint of each API token, never the token itself. See Data handling.
What you need
Section titled “What you need”- Zendesk Support, and a Zendesk admin to install the app.
- An agent or admin account for each person who builds reports. Reports show only the tickets that person can see in Zendesk.
- Power BI Desktop (Windows only) to build reports, and optionally the Power BI Service to publish them and refresh on a schedule.