Add Manual Data to Report

[TimmK]

Hello,

I created a report with a matrix table for the purchasing department that shows how long the stock will last for a specific article. For each article there are several possible suppliers which are also included. As the data source I use our company DB.

How can I enable my colleagues from the purchasing department to add manual data to the report so they can make annotations like 'Approved by the head of production'? Previously they could easily do that in Excel, but how can they also do that in Power BI? What is the best solution for this?

[Greg_Deckler]

@TimmK Well, there is commenting in the Service for reports. Outside of that not many options for things like that, maybe PowerApps.

[TimmK]

@Greg_Deckler Thanks, yet I need to add a column to the table that allows the user to manually add information to each row in the report view. How do you personally deal with this issue? Do you only generate reports to look at, but not add additional information to it? I will have a look at if there is a PowerApp for this.

One alternative I see is creating an Excel sheet to add the additional information and then integrate it at the Power BI report as multiple data sources can be used. However, this would be inconvenient. Another alternative would be only to use Excel instead of Power BI for reports that need data to be added.

I wonder how professionals are handling this issue. Is Power BI really just for creating pure reports to only look at?

@amitchandak "My advice is to load using an excel in the data model." So you mean to use the Excel as data entry and then load it to Power BI to combine it with data from the DB?

[Greg_Deckler]

@TimmK - Yes, Power Bi is really about creating reports, not data entry.

[TimmK]

Ok, so what do you personally do when you need to combine the report with manual data or is this never an issue for you?

[amitchandak]

@TimmK , You have enter the data option on the home tab to do it. The only challenge if you can not update it.

My advice is to load using an excel in the data model.