Save Front-end from a SSAS developed .pbix file in a template (.pbit) (so without Datasource)

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I try to save a .pbix as a .pbit file in order to drop the datasources but keep the front-end.

However, when I open the saved .pbit and open it, it still refers to the Analysis Services with the data included.

Also, transform data is greyed out as shown below, because we modified everything in SSAS.

We want to move everything to a Dataflow instead of SSAS, but we don't know how.

If I open the file without internet, it simply says it can't connect and the entire file is empty. Even everything Front-end related.

Any way how to circumvent this?

Kind regards,

Igor

[v-jingzhang]

Hi @Anonymous 

Power BI report templates contain the following information from the report from which they were generated:

• Report pages, visuals, and other visual elements
• The data model definition, including the schema, relationships, measures, and other model definition artifacts
• All query definitions, such as queries, Query Parameters, and other query elements

Your credentials to the SSAS DB is stored in your Power BI Desktop's data source settings. As a result, when you open a .pbit you created on the same computer, it will connect to the SSAS DB with the stored credentials automatically.

It seems you are connecting to the SSAS model in Live Connection mode. In this case, it is currently not supported to switch the data source to another data source type. Here is an idea about this you may vote for:

https://ideas.powerbi.com/ideas/idea/?ideaid=150c44e6-bade-47e9-abb3-d7fba2e1b89a

Additionally, what data source are you going to use in the dataflow for this report?

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Jing Zhang

[mahoneypat]

You need to do this as a pbix and then save it again as a pbit.  Make a parameter to hold the datasource details and replace the hard-coded part in your query in advanced editor.  You will then be prompted for the parameter value once you save it as a pbit.

Regards,

Pat

[lbendlin]

PBIT files (templates) contain ALL the meta data and none of the data. That means a PBIT does NOT drop the data sources, quite the opposite.

You can modify the contents of the PBIT to change the Power query for the data source you want to redirect, or you can go to the advanced editor and do the same in Power Query.

[Anonymous]

Ok good point, that includes it all indeed.

Unfortunately 'Transform data' is greyed out as shown on the screenshot above.

So I am unable to reach the advanced editor. How to get there / how to modify the contents of the PBIT?