Power BI Reports & Dashboard with Microsoft SQL Server
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have the following:
- 3CX Version 20 Update 8 or later
- Microsoft SQL Server 2022 or Azure SQL
- MS SQL Data Connector for Data Offload enabled on your PBX
Introduction
When your PBX data is offloaded to a Microsoft SQL Server using the 3CX Data Connectors feature, you can use the provided Power BI Desktop templates to easily connect and visualize your data.
These templates simplify the setup process, allowing you to create interactive dashboards and analytical reports based on call history, CDRs, and other PBX metrics directly within Power BI Desktop.
Installing Power BI Desktop
- Visit the official Power BI Desktop download page or search for Power BI Desktop in the Microsoft Store.
- Download and install the application following the on-screen instructions.
- Update the following setting to permit all Templates to operate correctly:
- Set “Options->Privacy” to “Always ignore”
Using the Power BI Templates
- Download the Power BI templates here and extract them to a folder on your computer running the Power Bi Desktop
- Navigate to the extracted folder, find the template you want, and double-click it to open in Power BI Desktop.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to enter the required connection info and parameters and click on Load to import the data from SQL Server. Power BI will populate the dashboards with your 3CX data that was previously offloaded to the SQL Server.
- When prompted for database authentication, choose the ‘Database’ option and enter your SQL Server username and password to connect.
- Once the template is loaded, you can change the values of parameters given by navigating to Home > Transform Data > Edit Parameters.
After you edit the parameters, if you get a notification about pending changes, click on "Apply Changes" to reload data with the new values provided.
- When opening the template for the first time, you may be prompted to approve and run the queries embedded in the template. Confirm to allow the data to load.
Last Updated
This document was last updated 27 October 2025