Microsoft Power BI

With DataCamp Data Connector 2.0, it's easy to analyze your data in Microsoft Power BI. All you need to do is set up a connection using the PowerBI Athena Connector and configure it using the credentials you can retrieve in the Groups tab.

Complete these two steps to view your learning data in Power BI.

1. Set up an ODBC Data Source

2. Set up the Power BI Athena Connector

Start with our plug-and-play Power BI template

• Power BI Dashboard Template

Set up an ODBC Data Source

First, you must install the necessary drivers and configure a Data Source in Windows.

Step 1: Download and install the ODBC driver

Go to https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/connect-with-odbc.html and download & install the v1 driver for your operating system. (Remember which version (32 or 64 bit) you chose!)

Step 2: Configure your ODBC Data Source

1. Open the ODBC Data Sources application on your Windows machine (choose the version that aligns with the driver you installed, either 32 or 64 bit)

2. Select the Drivers tab and verify there is a Simba Athena ODBC Driver entry in the list; if there isn't, you haven't installed the driver properly

3. Select the System DNS tab

4. Click the Add button

5. Select Simba Athena ODBC driver as Data Source

6. The Simba Athena ODBC Driver DNS Setup dialog will now open. Enter the following data on the Simba Setup dialog:

   1. Data Source Name: Free to choose (e.g., DataCamp Data Connector) Choose an easy name here; you'll need this to set up your connection in Power BI

   2. Description: optional; you can leave it blank

   3. AWS Region: the AWS Region from your credentials

   4. Catalog: AwsDataCatalog

   5. Schema: default

   6. Workgroup: primary

   7. Metadata Retrieval Method: Auto

   8. S3 Output location: s3://{bucketname}/tmp-powerbi → replace {bucketname} with the S3 Bucket Name from your credentials

   9. Encryption Options: NOT_SET

   10. Endpoint Override: empty

   11. Streaming Endpoint Override: empty

7. Click Authentication Options (don't close the dialog yet!)

   1. Authentication Type: IAM Credentials

   2. Username: the AWS Access Key ID from your credentials

   3. Password: the AWS Secret Access Key from your credentials

   4. Click the OK button

8. Click Test

9. If everything is configured correctly, this should result in a "SUCCESS" message.

10. Click OK

The list of items under the System DSN tab should now contain your newly created Data Source.

You can close the ODBC application now and start Power BI.

🎉 Your Data Source is successfully set up! Let's move on to the next part.

Set up the Power BI Athena Connector

In Power BI Desktop, click the Get Data button on the Home ribbon.

The dialog shows you all available Data Sources. Use the search field to find the Amazon Athena option and click the Connect button.

In the Amazon Athena dialog that appears, enter the name of the ODBC connection you created before. (Our example uses "DataCamp Data Connector")

Choose which Connectivity mode you want to use:

• Import loads the data into your local instance of Power BI, meaning you'll have a snapshot of the data locally. This is the best performing option.

• DirectQuery will query the live service, meaning you'll have the most up-to-date data daily without needing to import it again. This is the slower option.

Click the OK button.

Power BI will now ask you how to Authenticate:

Choose the Use Data Source Configuration tab on the left and then click Connect.

After a few moments, the Navigator panel will show your catalog, databases, and tables. Open the AwsDataCatalog node, wait for the data to load, and then open the data_connector node. This will show you all the tables available in our Data Connector.

Choose the tables you wish to use and click the Load button.

This will take some time to complete, but after it is finished, you will have all the data from the Data Connector right at your fingertips in Power BI.

Power BI Dashboard Template

The DataCamp Data Connector 2.0 Power BI Template is an out‑of‑the‑box, plug‑and‑play dashboard that sits on top of the Data Connector 2.0 data model and helps you go from connection to insights in minutes—no modeling required.

Download the Power BI Template

Download the DCDC 2.0 Power BI Template (.pbit) from the Data Connector area of your Enterprise reporting.

Login in Enterprise reporting > Reporting > Data Connector

While you’re in Reporting > Data Connector, click Your Credentials to retrieve your credentials (Region, S3 bucket, Access Key, etc...). You’ll need them to configure the template on the first run.

Setup the Power BI Template

Before you start:

1. Make sure that Data Connector 2.0 is enabled and collect your credentials.

2. Install the Athena ODBC v1 driver on Windows.

Now you are ready to open the template and to proceed with the setup:

Step 1: Open the DCDC 2.0 Power BI Template .pbit file.

Step 2: On first run, the following dialog window will show and you have to prompt three parameters.

• pDSN: The connection name you set in the Simba Athena ODBC Driver DSN setup (step 6.a). In our example: “DataCamp Data Connector.”

• pCatalog: Fixed value equal to "AwsDataCatalog"

• pSchema: data_connector_{bucket_number}. Find the bucket number in your Data Connector 2.0 credentials under S3 Bucket Name (e.g., data_connector_123456).

Step 3: After you’ve entered all parameters, click Load.

The template will initialize and refresh the visuals. For Import mode this may take a few minutes on first load. (You can tune refresh with the “Row to fetch per block” setting noted above.)

How to use the Power BI Template

Start with the pre-built pages in the template (Snapshot, Engagement, Progress, Leaderboard). They’re wired to the Data Connector 2.0 data model and display your members’ learning activity.

In the top-right corner, use the time and team slicers to choose your period of interest and drill from Group → Team seamlessly. These slicers are available across all four sections.

Dashboard Template Preview:

Want to extend? Add a new page, bring in additional Data Connector 2.0 tables (facts, dimensions), and use the existing measures as patterns. If you need table‑by‑table detail, see Explore the data model.

Sections explanation

• Snapshot: A configurable one-page KPI board for quick executive updates. Includes an adoption funnel and six KPI tiles with trend charts. Designed to be bookmark-screenshot-friendly. Each tile includes a Year-over-Year (YoY) comparison for the selected period—shown both as an aggregate and as a trend over time (dark line).

• Engagement: Answers “Are people actually using the platform?” Track Monthly and Weekly Active Users to gauge activity and stickiness, compare new vs. returning users to understand adoption patterns, and analyze engagement by content type. Select the engagement metric of interest to focus the view.

• Progress: Dive deeper at the content level. Select a content type to visualize starts and completions over time, completion rate, and the top 10 most-started and most-completed items.

• Leaderboard: Showcase company achievements and key averages/rates, and identify your learning champions with the leaderboard table.

• History: A simple, all-time view that highlights cumulative metrics since your subscription began, designed to give an immediate read on achievements and learning delivered.

How to export data

You can quickly export data from visuals for further analysis.

• Power BI Desktop: From any visual, select More options (…) → Export data. Desktop exports summarized data only to .csv (filters are respected).

• Power BI Service: From any visual, choose More options (…) → Export data and pick your granularity: Summarized or Underlying.

For a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots, see DataCamp’s guide: How to export Power BI data to Excel.

Glossary

Not familiar with a term or unsure how to interpret a metric? Check our reporting glossary for clear and consistent definitions.

Resources

This is a list of official resources related to Power BI and Athena.

• Official Microsoft Power BI site

• Using the Amazon Athena Power BI connector

• Connecting to Amazon Athena with ODBC

• Troubleshooting AWS Athena Connections