Connect to Zendesk with Power BI

This article walks you through pulling your data from your Zendesk account with a Power BI template app. The Zendesk app offers a Power BI dashboard and a set of Power BI reports that provide insights about your ticket volumes and agent performance. The data is refreshed automatically once a day.

After you've installed the template app, you can customize the dashboard and report to highlight the information you care about most. Then you can distribute it as an app to colleagues in your organization.

Connect to the Zendesk template app or read more about the Zendesk integration with Power BI.

After you've installed the template app, you can change the dashboard and report. Then you can distribute it as an app to colleagues in your organization.

Note

You need a Zendesk Admin account to connect. More details on requirements below.

Warning

Before Oct 15, 2019, the Zendesk Support Search API allowed for a total of 200,000 results to be received through pagination of large queries. To align search usage with its intended scope, Zendesk now limits the maximum number of results returned to 1,000 total results, with a maximum of 100 results per page. However, the current Power BI Zendesk connector can still create API calls that exceed these new limits, resulting in possibly misleading results.

Install the app

  1. Select Apps in the navigation pane, then choose Get apps in the upper-right corner.

    Screenshot shows the Power BI service with Apps and Get apps selected.

  2. In Power BI apps, select the Apps tab, and search for the service you want.

    Screenshot shows apps that you can install from Power BI apps.

  1. Select Zendesk > Get it now.

  2. When prompted, select Install. Once the app has installed, you'll see it listed on your Apps page.

Connect to your Zendesk data source

  1. Select the Zendesk tile on your Apps page to open the app. The app opens, showing sample data.

  2. Select the Connect your data link on the banner at the top of the page.

  3. Provide the URL associated with your account. The URL has the form https://company.zendesk.com. See details on finding these parameters below.

    Screenshot of Zendesk URL dialog.

  4. When prompted, enter your Zendesk credentials. Select oAuth 2 as the Authentication Mechanism and select Sign In. Follow the Zendesk authentication flow. (If you're already signed in to Zendesk in your browser, you may not be prompted for credentials.)

    Note

    This template app requires that you connect with a Zendesk Admin account.

    Screenshot of Zendesk sign-in dialog.

  5. Select Allow to allow Power BI to access your Zendesk data.

    Screenshot of Zendesk allow access dialog.

  6. Select Connect to begin the import process.

  7. After Power BI imports the data, you see the content list for your Zendesk app: a new dashboard, report, and semantic model.

  8. Select the dashboard to start the exploration process.

    Zendesk dashboard

Modify and distribute your app

You've installed the Zendesk template app. That means you've also created the Zendesk workspace. In the workspace, you can change the report and dashboard, and then distribute it as an app to colleagues in your organization.

  1. To view all the contents of your new Zendesk workspace, in the nav pane, select Workspaces > Zendesk.

    Zendesk workspace in the nav pane

    This view is the content list for the workspace. In the upper-right corner, you see Update app. When you're ready to distribute your app to your colleagues, that's where you'll start.

    Zendesk content list

  2. Select Reports and Semantic models to see the other elements in the workspace.

    Read about distributing apps to your colleagues.

System requirements

A Zendesk Administrator account is required to access the Zendesk template app. If you're an agent or an end user and are interested in viewing your Zendesk data, add a suggestion and review the Zendesk connector in the Power BI Desktop.

Finding parameters

Your Zendesk URL will be the same as the URL you use to sign into your Zendesk account. If you're not sure of your Zendesk URL, you can use the Zendesk login help.

Troubleshooting

If you're having issues connecting, check your Zendesk URL and confirm you're using a Zendesk administrator account.