Install DocuWare Connector for Power BI

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With the DocuWare Connector users can directly access and analyze Docuware data in Microsoft Power BI Desktop, which empowers organizations to create data-driven insights, comprehensive and visualizations.

For example, for an invoice approval workflow, it is trackable how many documents have been processed, who processed the documents or which decision is taken - approved or rejected.

Prerequisites

Installing the connector

  1. Install Microsoft Bower BI Desktop

  2. Download the Power BI Connector for DocuWare

  3. Follow Microsoft’s steps for installing the connector file that was downloaded. Installing Custom Connector

Using the connector

  • Open Power BI Desktop

  • Select Get data from other sources.

  • Select the DocuWare connector and click Connect.
     

  • Provide a URL from a DocuWare list, result list, task list or Workflow Analytics.

  • Open DocuWare Web Client. Copy the URL using one of the following methods, paste the URL into the connector and confirm with OK.  You will be prompted to authenticate with DocuWare. The connector will then download the data from the DocuWare into Power BI.

Obtaining URL from lists, result lists and task lists

Obtaining URL from Workflow Analytics

The Workflow Analytics API is not yet available for DocuWare on-premises.

Make sure that Workflow Analytics is configured and you can make requests on the Workflow Analytics page. The request should be set to CSV format.

After creating a successful request copy the “Request URL” and paste it into the Power BI connector.

Example:

Importing data

In Power BI, once you've connected to a data source and a preview of the data is displayed, you have two options to import the data - see also the screenshot below:

  • Load or Transform

Click the tabs below and find more information about the import options:

This option imports the data directly into Power BI without any modifications. Use Load when your data is already clean and well-structured.

Should you later determine that the imported data requires additional cleansing, you can reopen the query at any time and apply the necessary transformations..

Edit query: Find the options to transform data in the Power BI context menu of the data source.

Select Transform to open Power Query Editor, where you can shape the data before loading it into Power BI. Typical tasks include cleaning, filtering rows, transforming columns, and merging tables. Performing these steps ensures the data is correctly structured and optimized for analysis.

Automatic transformations: Power BI applies automatically the steps Source, Imported CSV, Promoted Headers and Changed Type when importing the data from CSV files.

  • Source: Power BI copies the DocuWare URL from the CSV file.

  • Imported CSV: Power BI applies a default basic setting on how to recognize the CSVfile format like the Encoding, Line breaks and Delimiter.
    You can change them later manually in Power BI:

  • Promoted Headers: Power BI recognizes the column names in the CSV file.

  • Changed Type: In this step, Power BI maps the CSV data to its internal field types. Depending on the dataset, the results of the automatic type conversion may vary and might require manual optimization.

    To avoid know issues with the assignments of the DocuWare field types Decimal, Date and Datetime, change the assignments manually in the table code after the import, as shown in the screenshots below:  

    DocuWare field type

    Power BI default mapping

    Correct Power BI mapping

    Decimal

    Int64.Type

    Number.Type

    Date

    type text

    Type date

    Datetime

    type text

    Type datetime


    Example for changing the field mappings:  

    Power BI default mapping: The Decimal field does not read the correct decimal values and the Date and Datetime fields still show the text icons and the wrong format:

Correct Mapping in Power BI: In this screenshot the values for Decimal, Date and Datetime have been changed in the table code. As a result, the Decimal value in the table preview shows the correct decimal value “123,45”. Also the date formats have been corrected:  

Power BI Desktop and Power BI Cloud

DocuWare Power BI is only available in Microsoft Power BI Desktop, not in Microsoft Power BI Cloud. Microsoft is currently not certifying new connectors for Power BI Cloud.