Data gateways enable scheduled refresh of your Power BI reports, ensuring your Speckle data stays up-to-date automatically. This is especially useful for production reports that need to reflect the latest model versions without manual intervention.

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Choosing the Right Gateway Mode

Personal Mode is ideal for individual users who need to:
  • Connect their own Power BI reports to on-premises data sources
  • Use scheduled refresh for data updates
  • Keep setup simple with minimal configuration
Standard Mode is recommended for organizations that need to:
  • Share data sources across multiple users
  • Integrate with other Microsoft services (Power Apps, Power Automate, Azure Logic Apps)
  • Use advanced features like DirectQuery and Live Connection
  • Have centralized management and monitoring capabilities
Microsoft recommends using Standard Mode for most organizational scenarios due to its enhanced capabilities and flexibility.

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Personal Mode Gateway

1

Install Power BI connector and data gateway

  1. Download and install Power BI connector from https://app.speckle.systems/connectors .
  2. Download and install On-premises data gateway (personal mode).
  3. Open the installed data gateway.
  4. Select Sign In and sign in to your account.
    Personal gateway sign in
    Verify the gateway appears in Power BI service under Settings > Manage connections and gateways > On-premises data gateways. Select On-premises data gateways (Personal mode) from the gateway type menu.
  5. Select the Connectors tab and verify Speckle appears in the connectors list.
    Personal gateway connectors
    Check the path shown in the data gateway and make sure the Speckle.pqx file is there. If not, copy it from the installed location and paste it there.
  6. Publish your report.
2

Configure Power BI Service

  1. Open your published report in Power BI Service.
  2. Select More Options (…) > View semantic model from the top bar.
    View semantic model
  3. Select Refresh > Schedule Refresh. This opens settings for the semantic model.
    Schedule refresh
  4. Expand Gateway and cloud connections and check if your personal gateway is listed here.
    Personal gateway list
  5. After you confirm the personal gateway is listed, select Data source credentials, then select Speckle > Edit credentials.
    Edit credentials
  6. Select OAuth2 as your authentication method. Set the privacy level setting according to your needs.
    OAuth setup
  7. Select Sign in and sign in to your Speckle account from the window that opens.
You can now configure scheduled refresh.

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Standard Mode Gateway

1

Install data gateway and Power BI connector

  1. Download and install On-premises data gateway. (external)
  2. Open the data gateway.
  3. Select Sign In and sign in to your account.
    Standard gateway sign in
    Verify the gateway appears in Power BI service under Settings > Manage connections and gateways > On-premises data gateways.
  4. Select the Connectors tab and copy the path to Custom Connectors folder
    Copy connectors path
    If you see a folder not found warning, go to the path and create the Power BI Desktop and Custom Connectors folders if they’re missing.
  5. Download Power BI connector zip:
  1. Extract the zip file contents and copy the Speckle.pqx file.
  2. Paste the file to the location shown in the Connectors tab. The default path is: C:\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\PBIEgwService\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors
  3. Verify Speckle appears under Custom Connectors tab.
    Standard gateway connectors
2

Configure Power BI Service

  1. Open your published report in Power BI Service.
  2. From the top bar, select More Options (…) > View semantic model.
    View semantic model
  3. Select Refresh > Schedule Refresh to open settings for the semantic model.
    Schedule refresh
  4. Expand Gateway and cloud connections and check if your gateway is listed.
    Gateway listed
  5. If you see “Not configured correctly” under status, select View data sources (▶️).
    View data sources
  6. Select Manually add to gateway for the Speckle model you’ve loaded.
    Manually add to gateway
  7. Create a new connection.
    Create connection
    • Name your connection: You can use model URL as the name.
    • Paste model URL in Speckle Model URL field.
    • Select Speckle Account as the authentication method.
    • Select Edit credentials and sign in to your Speckle account in the window that opens.
    • Set the privacy level according to your organization settings.
    • Select Create to create the connection.
  8. Go back to the semantic model settings page.
  9. Select the newly created collection name from the Maps to dropdown and select Apply.
    Maps to dropdown
  10. Your data gateway is now configured for scheduled refresh.
Learn more about data gateways and scheduled refresh from Microsoft: