Data sharing and reuse with dataflows and datasets

hey this is Matthew is bi-polar in today's video we're going to look at the differences in data sharing and reuse between data flows and main assets and power bi let's take a look in a previous video we looked at some of the general differences between data sets and data flows but a common question is still if I can have shared data sets in the power bi service where two data flow spin when would I use the data flow for reuse instead of using an existing data set that's we're going to look at here and we're going to start with an existing workspace that already has data flows and data sets defined in it so if we take a look here real quick we can see that looking at the lineage view we have a bunch of data sources coming in we've got a series of data flows that perform transformations and get the data into both a set of dimensions we've got a data flow that has all of the dimensions for these data sources and then we have a data flow that pulls those into a star schema with facts being calculated as well and then we have a data set that represents that model and then we have reports and dashboards built on that so for our first reuse scenario the assumption is that the data set in the power bi service gives me what I need it already contains the intelligence the measures and other such things that I will need for my reports I just need different reports and if that's the case I can come here into power bi desktop I can say get data and choose power bi datasets I can search to find just the workspace or just the data set that I need and then when I choose that data set I can create a report from it and I want to pause for a second to look at the text and the phrasing in this dialog this is not your standard get data dialog inside of power bi desktop what I'm doing is not choosing yet another data source to add what I'm choosing is a data set a report from so even the way that this functionality that shared datasets are presented in Part VI desktop it emphasizes that you're choosing a data set to be your data not to add to your data so when I choose create power bi desktop is creating a live connection to that data set running in the power bi service and here I can choose I columns or measures from any of the tables that already exist but if you look up on the toolbar you will find that there are no options to add data to this power bi desktop file I can't choose get data or recent sources or enter data or edit queries or any of the other options that you would expect if you were working with other data sources and that's because when you're connecting to a shared data set you're making a live connection and this does not allow you to incremental e add additional data to it this is where data flows in the power bi service commit so let's go back into a new power bi desktop window and we'll see what we can do with data flows instead so here we are in our second power bi desktop file here I will say get data and I will connect to power bi data flows and as we can see here not only can i neva gate and find the workspaces data flows and entities to choose from I can pick and choose what data I want so here i've navigated to the existing workspace that we were looking at earlier and i can pick and choose data from entities in those workspaces i don't need to choose all of them and when I am done when I've found the data from this starting point that I need to work with or that I choose to work with I can say transform data and I can use the existing entities that are part of this data flow or part of these data flows in the power bi service and I can use them as a starting point to build up my own data model including transforming these entities between their current state and the the tables that I'm adding into my data set that I'm defining right now so if we look back here in our power query editor window which opens automatically because I chose transform the next thing that I could do is I could say I want to add in data from sequel server from a text file from a Web API or to choose from any of the available import or direct query data sources that I may want to supplement this data from and I can use both the existing dataflow entities and any other data source that I choose to build up my model where the shared data flow is a part of it but doesn't represent the full model and of course once this is done I can add my own intelligence so time intelligence or measurers or whatever attacks I want to add into my data model and then build my additional reports from there so that unlike working with a shared data set I can pick and choose the parts that I want and then I could use that as the seed or the foundation for the data model that I'm building in my solution today in this video we looked at how a shared data set and power bi can be used to build new reports and new dashboards in a different workspace by different users and the power of a shared data set is the ability to have that full model with all of the intelligence that includes to use as a starting point for new visualizations and new insights we also saw how data flows can serve as these building blocks for having larger solutions where the entities in your data flows can be the pieces that you put together to define new data models and new data sets for reuse across your organization hopefully you found this useful we'll see you next time you

Channel: BI Polar

Views: 3,134

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Power BI, dataflows, datasets, data reuse, BI Polar, Power BItes

Id: r65B-yLEahc

Length: 6min 38sec (398 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019