A couple of publishing/reusing of reports questions

[Anonymous]

I actually have 3 questions, I figured I'd bundle them together: 

1.  Copying a report

1 dashboard, 1 masterfile and 10 "copies" filtered for 1 specific user. I want the dashboard to have a tile for each user, but also blocking access for every other user. To illustrate:

Dashboard

Tile user A

Tile user B

Tile user C

Reports

Masterfile

Report filtered for A. Access to report: User A and admins.

Report filtered for B. Access to report: User B and admins.

Report filtered for C. Access to report: User C and admins.

- Can I give users access to a workspace but block access to a specific published report in it?

- What is the best way to copy a report? Do I copy the file, delete all datalinks and then grab the masterfile dataset? I want to avoid making an adjustment in 10 reports when something needs adjusting. 

2. Publishing the same report in 2 workspaces.

I have a report that I want to publish in 2 workspaces, due to not everyone being able to access the workspace where its in now. What is the most efficient way to publish the same report twice? Does a duplicate published report refresh seperately, or does PBI recognize it as the same dataset, refreshing them both as if one is just a dataset?

[DataZoe]

@TKA If both applications have different permissions, it may be better to publish to both, and then yes, you would have to configure automatic updating on both datasets.

If one application has broader permissions than the other (as all users of application b have access to application a, but perfer to view the report in application b as well), I suggest that you separate the power bi report into a data model report and a visualization report. You would publish the data model report to the dashboard permissions application, and then link the visualization report to that data model (Get Data --> Power BI Datasets). Then publish the display reports to both applications. This only manages the update in the data model report and feeds both copies and does not duplicate the data model everywhere. This is very useful for in a month that you want to add an additional measure or maybe you need to change a measure. You change it once and all downstream reports have the new change. It also protects against having two versions of the truth.

I do this as a standard practice, and the reason I do it is to make it easier to update the data model, as I said earlier, but also because I can modify any of the visualization reports and publish them without worrying about having to update the data and it is much faster. I also tend to make multiple reports of a data model. Maybe a version of the executive panel, and then a detailed version for the team, and even specific reports of the initiative that may not be long lasting. In all those cases I can now get to create the report, simply by reusing my published data model.

Splitting a report is pretty easy.

1. Create a copy of your report with a new name, such as "MyCompany Sales Dataset," create a new page -- sometimes I put update dates or a measure definition list on it -- and delete the other pages. Publish this to your application.

2. Go back to the original report, delete all tables from the report, and then go to Get Data --> power bi dataset and choose the published dataset that you created. All visuals must be updated and viewed as if the data model were in the report.

[Anonymous]

@MFelix Thank you for the info, I went ahead and created a mapping table and used your link to create different groups to link to the mapping table. Works very well for the end-users and only required like 15 min of setup. 

As for my other issue, you're both suggesting to use the dataset option. @DataZoe, do I understand you correctly if the endresult of a split report looks like this:

File A:  All queries loaded in, no pages with visuals

File B: Dataset from file A, all pages with visuals

File C: Dataset from file A, all pages with visuals 

[MFelix]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Glad I could help, please don't forget in the end to mark the correct answer so it can help others.

If you need further assistance, me or @DataZoe  are available.

[DataZoe]

@Anonymous That is correct! The main idea is you only have to maintain one data model for multiple reports.

[MFelix · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

You do not need to redo your report multiple times you just need to use RLS to limit the acces to your report check the links below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/admin/service-admin-rls

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Community-Blog/Dynamic-Row-Level-Security-Dynamic-RLS/ba-p/787399

Do not create 10 copies of your file.

If you have a dataset published you can make a new report based on that dataset using the Power BI datasets so you can reuse the same data without the need to do all the steps again and again.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-datasets-understand

I would create a dataflow to make the report and then publish it to both workspaces that way you would have a single data source.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-power-bi-data-prep-wtih-dataflows/