Automating Data Cleaning Tasks with Power Automate

In the dynamic landscape of data analytics, the synergy between Power BI and Power Automate opens new horizons for efficient data preparation.

Power Automate, Microsoft’s workflow automation tool, seamlessly integrates with Power BI, offering a powerful duo for automating and enhancing your data cleaning processes.

Power Automate is a cloud-based service that allows you to automate workflows between your favorite applications and services. It provides a user-friendly interface for creating automated processes, known as flows, without the need for extensive coding. With a wide array of connectors for various applications, Power Automate enables seamless integration and automation across different platforms. Power Automate is a great tool and ally in the power tools kitbag for Power BI.

In this chapter, we’ll delve into what Power Automate is and explore how it can be strategically employed to streamline and automate...

Technical requirements

In this chapter, you will require access to Power Automate either via cloud or desktop. This will then also need to be linked to your Power BI subscription, which we will highlight in walkthrough examples.

In this example, we will be connecting to the Power BI service and using a prebuilt workbook that should be published on the Power BI web service. This store sales files can be located at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Data-Cleaning-with-Power-BI/blob/main/Store%20Sales.pbix.

Handling triggers for automation

Automation begins with triggers, and Power Automate offers a variety of triggers that can initiate workflows based on specific events. In the context of data cleaning for Power BI, triggers can be designed to activate when new data is added or modified or when certain conditions are met.

For instance, you can set up a trigger that initiates a data cleaning process whenever new data is ingested into your data source. This ensures that your data is consistently cleaned and prepared whenever there are updates, saving you time and ensuring the reliability of your reports.

Here’s a screenshot showing the type of triggers available specifically for Power BI within Power Automate:

Figure 14.1 – Screenshot of the triggers available within Power Automate to be used with Power BI

Having understood how triggers can be used and leveraged to kickstart the action flows within Power Automate, you’re now ready...

Automating notifications

Effective communication is key when implementing data and analytics across your business, especially when dealing with automated processes. Power Automate allows you to integrate notifications seamlessly into your data cleaning workflows.

For instance, you can set up notifications to be sent to relevant stakeholders or team members when a data-cleaning process is completed. This ensures that everyone is informed about the status of the data and any potential issues that may require attention. Integrating notifications into your automated processes enhances transparency and collaboration within your data preparation pipeline.

Setting up a notification for a Power BI refresh using Power Automate involves creating a flow that monitors the refresh status and sends a notification when it completes. It’s worth noting that you can also set up refresh notifications for dataflows in Power BI, but this will only be to alert you when it’s failed. Here...

Automating refreshing of data

Data in Power BI needs to be refreshed regularly to ensure that your reports reflect the most recent information. Power Automate can be instrumental in automating the data refresh process. By setting up a workflow that triggers a data refresh at scheduled intervals or in response to specific events, you can ensure that your Power BI reports are always up to date. This is particularly useful when dealing with dynamic datasets that undergo frequent changes. Automating the data refresh not only saves time but also ensures the accuracy and relevance of your analyses.

In addition to these advantages, refreshing data works really well when you’re building complex models that leverage a number of dataflows. Instead of having to manually refresh dataflows, wait for them to complete, and then action the refresh of the semantic model; you can simply build this into a Power Automate flow. Of course, you could just schedule refreshes in Power BI, but the...

Best practices with Power Automate

Some of the best practices to be aware of for data cleaning in Power Automate:

• Workflow planning: Before diving into automation, carefully plan your data cleaning workflow. Identify the key steps that require automation and the triggers that will initiate the processes.
• Error handling: Implement robust error-handling mechanisms within your automated workflows. This includes adding notifications for failed processes, enabling quick identification, and resolving issues. One example would be to check the flow checker from within your flow. To do this, select Flow check in the top right corner of the Power Automate toolbar.
• Flow check will then provide details of any errors or warnings identified within your flow.
• Testing and validation: Thoroughly test your automated data cleaning workflows in different scenarios. Validate the results to ensure that the automated processes align with your data quality standards.
• Security considerations...

Summary

Incorporating Power Automate into your data cleaning workflows for Power BI can significantly enhance efficiency and reliability. By automating triggers, notifications, and data refresh processes, you not only save time but also ensure that your data is consistently prepared for impactful analyses. Following best practices in planning, testing, security, and documentation will further contribute to the success of your automated data cleaning endeavors.

In this chapter, you learned how to use Power Automate to automate or sequence your refreshes, how to create alerts or notifications, and how to use the actions to create snapshot files of your data in CSVs. The automation of Power BI data refresh processes, either through scheduled refreshes or event-based triggers, was explored to ensure up-to-date reports for dynamic datasets. We concluded with some best practices for utilizing Power Automate, encompassing workflow planning, error handling, testing, security considerations...

Questions

1. What is Power Automate primarily used for in conjunction with Power BI?
   1. Graphic design
   2. Workflow automation
   3. Video editing
   4. Social media management
2. Which of the following is NOT a trigger mentioned in the chapter for initiating workflows in Power Automate?
   1. Data addition
   2. Data modification
   3. Weather change
   4. Specific conditions met
3. What is the purpose of setting up notifications in Power Automate for data cleaning workflows?
   1. To enhance data security
   2. To communicate workflow failures
   3. To generate additional data
   4. To automate data refresh
4. How can you schedule data refreshes in Power BI using Power Automate?
   1. Use a manual trigger
   2. Set up a recurrence action
   3. Wait for external requests
   4. Use conditional statements

Further reading

• Use the Power BI button to trigger a Power Automate Flow:
  • https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/trigger-flows-from-power-bi-reports/
• Schedule a refresh of a dataflow from within the Power BI service:
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-scheduled-refresh
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/dataflows/dataflows-understand-optimize-refresh
• Add expression in flow actions and dynamic content:
  • https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/use-expressions-in-actions/
  • https://digitalmill.net/2023/07/31/using-dynamic-content-in-power-automate/