Scheduled refresh and more in Power BI

We're excited to share Power BI Connector 3.3.2 with some game-changing improvements that address your most requested features.

What's new

Scheduled refresh support

You can now publish your reports and enable scheduled refresh!

This has been one of our most requested features. We've completely changed how we load data - instead of saving everything to your Power BI file, we now fetch data from Speckle servers on the fly.

This means your published reports can automatically stay up-to-date without any desktop service dependency.

Dual-Mode data loading

Choose how your data flows with our new dual-mode system.

By default, you'll get Live Mode, where data streams directly from Speckle servers in real-time, enabling scheduled refreshes and eliminating memory limitations.

If you prefer the classic approach, you can still internalize data by going to Visual settings > Data Management > Internalize data after selecting the 3D visual; perfect for offline work, smaller datasets, or where internet connection is less accessible.

New helper function: Models.MaterialQuantities

Want to quickly extract material quantities from your model? We've got you covered with our new helper function that pulls material quantities for all elements with a single call.

Head over to our docs to learn more about how this can streamline your quantity takeoff workflows.

New Template for IFC

We've also released a new template specifically made for working with IFC models. This report demonstrates how to work with and visualize IFC quantities and spaces.

Parameter Group suffix and other improvements

We've enhanced the Objects.Properties function based on your feedback.

Clearer property naming When working with properties that share the same name (like Instance Parameters > Name and Type Parameters > Name), the previous version would add numerical suffixes like "Name" and "Name_1".

Now we add the parent group name when duplicates exist, giving you "Name.Instance Parameters" and "Name.Type Parameters" instead. This improvement makes it much easier to work with models that have many properties with identical names.

Enhanced list handling List values in properties now receive proper handling with 1-based indexing (Field.1, Field.2), making your data more organized and accessible.

Improved filtering functionality The filterKeys function in Objects.Properties now returns all related instances rather than just exact matches. For example, when you filter by "id", you'll receive both "id" and "id.ElementTypeAttributes" for IFC files, providing more comprehensive results.

Coming soon

We're preparing detailed documentation on setting up the Data Gateway with our custom visual for scheduled refresh workflows.

We also plan to continue to work with the Microsoft team on a definitive fix for the remaining WebView2 issues.

Let us know what you think! Your feedback helps us build better tools for the AEC community.