Manual dashboard refresh doesn't force refresh of dataset?

[mbegg]

Hello, 

I have built a report in Desktop using data from company MySQL database.

I have published the report to the Service and built a dashboard. 

I have installed a personal data gateway, and used this data gateway as the data connection for the above dataset. I then set up a daily scheduled refresh for 8.30am.

In reality the data can change every minute but this option isn't available.

2 hours later, I view the dashboard. Nothing has changed. I right click on the 3 dots at the top right of the dashboard and click "refresh dashboard tiles". Nothing changes (again). 

I go to the relevant report, and click refresh in the top banner. Again nothing changes.

I then go to the view of datasets within the workspace, and see the dataset hasn't been refreshed since I uploaded the report to Service 2 hours ago (see picture). I can click "Refresh now" to force it to refresh.

QUESTION - if my Manager wants to view the dashboard mulitple times per day, do they really have to go to the dataset view each time and press "refresh now", then go back to the dashboard to see the latest data?

 Thank you in advance

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@mbegg Order of operations thing. The dataset has to be refreshed first before a report or dashboard will change. Left alone, the dataset would refresh at or around 8:30am, then 15-30 minutes after that the dashboard would refresh. The end user could log in, and if the dataset has refreshed, but the dashboard has not, then hitting refresh in the dashboard or report would update the data from the dataset in the Service.

You would need to use a method that supported Direct Query if you needed to have up to date information. Or, schedule your refresh up to 8x per day, and that would have to be good enough for the end user. They will not be able to initiate a refresh of the dataset (depending on how you are sharing) only the report author can set that.

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@mbegg This may be a dumb question, but you said you set the refresh to occur at 8:30am. When did you set it? before 8:30am I assume?

A refresh won't kick off exactly on time, but it should be within a 30 minute window, never to exceed the hour you have it in.

[mbegg]

I set it after 8.30am today, being the same day I uploaded the report. So it shouldn't refresh until 8.30am tomorrow. This is fine for a scheduled refresh. 

However, my question is more re ad-hoc viewing of dashboards that rely on data that can change many times per day. Do users have to first refresh the dataset (on a separate screen) before the dashboard will show the most recent data?

Why isn't there a button on the dashboard screen to force a refresh of the dataset...

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@mbegg Order of operations thing. The dataset has to be refreshed first before a report or dashboard will change. Left alone, the dataset would refresh at or around 8:30am, then 15-30 minutes after that the dashboard would refresh. The end user could log in, and if the dataset has refreshed, but the dashboard has not, then hitting refresh in the dashboard or report would update the data from the dataset in the Service.

You would need to use a method that supported Direct Query if you needed to have up to date information. Or, schedule your refresh up to 8x per day, and that would have to be good enough for the end user. They will not be able to initiate a refresh of the dataset (depending on how you are sharing) only the report author can set that.

[mbegg]

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@Eno1978 wrote:

You would need to use a method that supported Direct Query if you needed to have up to date information. 

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@Seth_C_Bauer can you please elaborate on what direct query means?

Also, I found that if I click "View Related" from the banner at the top of the dashboard (or the report), it opens half a window where I can press "refresh now" for the dataset and then close the half window. 

Is this available to users of the dashboard or just the author? It at least avoids the need to leave the dashboard screen to refresh the dataset

[v-qiuyu-msft · Accepted solution]

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Is this available to users of the dashboard or just the author? It at least avoids the need to leave the dashboard screen to refresh the dataset

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Hi @mbegg,

@Seth_C_Bauer is right.

Based on my test, Datasets section is not available when end user click the View Related in shared dashboard. It means end user can't refresh the dataset manually. Dataset refresh need to be set by author.

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@mbegg There are different connection types you can utilize in Power BI. I blogged about that here. The specific datasources that support Direct Query would be listed on the top of this article here

SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Data Warehouse
SAP HANA
Oracle Database
Teradata Database
Amazon Redshift (Preview)
Impala (Preview)
Snowflake (Preview)

View related: Can't say I recall testing that, but I would be surprised if it was available to an end user. I would bet "no".