Help with connecting FlexSim simulation to Power BI dashboard

Question

question

Oualid Karim asked May 15, '23 Julie Weller commented May 19, '23

Help with connecting FlexSim simulation to Power BI dashboard

Hi everyone,

I'm a beginner in FlexSim and I'm currently working on a simulation of a process. I've also created a dashboard in Power BI to visualize the statistics of the objects in my simulation. However, I'm not sure how to connect my FlexSim simulation to my Power BI dashboard to get real-time updates.

I've heard about Power BI's real-time streaming feature and FlexSim's Real-Time Data Server feature, but I'm not sure how to use them together. Can someone please provide me with some guidance on how to connect my simulation to my dashboard? I'd appreciate any tips or resources that can help me get started.

Thank you in advance for your help

Software Version:

FlexSim 23.1.2

real time data

· 1

Julie Weller commented · May 19, 2023 at 09:32 PM

Hi @Oualid Karim, was Arun Kr's answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of their answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always unaccept and comment back to reopen your question.

0 ·

Answer 1 · 2023-05-16T17:49:57Z

Arun Kr answered May 16, '23

Hi @Oualid Karim ,

By looking at the data sources of the PowerBI it can import data from databases, excel files, text files, etc.

FlexSim can communicate to an external database(using a database connector), export to Excel sheets, and write data to a text file (communication).

If you plan to use an external database, you may also have to see this ODBC connectivity article. Using this article you can easily configure FlexSim to send data to a database once you have established the connection. You have to test the connection in the database connector which will display a "connection succeeded " msg if all the steps are done correctly.

After a successful connection, you can use the database API to push the data into the database programmatically.

Based upon the events in the simulation model or on an interval basis you can push the data into the database/excel/text file programmatically.

And for having an update on the power BI based on a time interval you have to use the schedule refresh option or power BI personal gateway.

Here's a youtube link on schedule refresh which may be helpful to you.

I am not an expert in power BI, these are my thoughts on your connectivity query. If you have any specific questions on FlexSim's connectivity, you can ask as a separate question in the forum or search in the forum for similar queries.

Regards,

Arun KR

1684257115051.png (42.7 KiB)

1684257802347.png (17.9 KiB)

question