This question is for Microsoft’s Power Query product, which I know is different than Live Office, but I figured it was worth asking here in case someone can help.
I am testing out Power Query for the first time. I’m using it to connect to a UNX universe. It seems to be very slow. I ran a test on a very simple query with a single column (varchar200), from a table with only 41000 records. When I refresh that query, it runs for 34 seconds, and it shows almost 20 MB in the status while it is updating. I tried the “Fast Data Load” option, and it runs for 41 seconds. This makes no sense why it would be so slow.
If I run the equivalent SQL query directly against the database in Power Query, it only takes one second. And if I create a similar report in Crystal Reports, it takes about 17 seconds (still slow, but not as bad). Why should my test be so slow? Is there a configuration option on the BO server that I need to look at, or is Power Query inherently slow with BO Universes?
I know this is a late response - but i am posting this to warn against using PowerQuery for SAP BusObj based universes. PowerBI already has removed the connector to BusinessObjects and I got the info this week that PowerQuery would also remove this connector in a subsequent update/release. Apparently there’s a licensing conflict around these products and the roadmap isnt clear for Bobj connectivity support .
Can you provide more detail, and give me your source for this information? This is a big decision for our team, and if we abandon PowerQuery, I want to be confident this is a real concern. Also, can you recommend alternative methods to access universe data without using WebI or Crystal Reports?
My sources are direct from Microsoft product and sales team. I have names, but dont want to reveal them in this forum. I work for a fortune 100 company- so rest assured, they would have the right people to respond back to us. If you can reach them through the sales channels, I’d advise reaching out to be 100% sure .
Also - some buzz around this in the PowerBI forum and the “Idea” forum: http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Integrations-with-Files-and/SAP-Universe-connector-for-new-PowerBI-Desktop-app/m-p/1399#M396
Alternatives would be live office in the BI Suite that provides the similar features as the PowerQuery>Unx connector.
For what it`s worth, I also thought it was slow when I tried it.
Only thing I could think of as an alternative is to expose either queries, or report parts as web services and then consume the web services with something else. QAAWS never seemed to massively scale well though, its not like its got a heavy hitting SOA behind it. Worth a shot. Not easy to consume SAP BI metalayers with anything, they`re so flippin proprietary.
(BOB member since 2006-02-08)