Data refresh on demand from Power BI Server (report built using Import mode)

[speranzaa]

Hi,

using:

Power Bi Desktop 2.100.1381.0 64-bit (January 2022)

Power BI Report Server Version1.13.8086.22725(January 2022)

I created a tabular report in Import mode that retrieves data from DB2 using a (SQL server) linked server.

I then uploaded the report to Power BI Server and I am currently refreshing it once every day using the Schedule Refresh option.

My problem is that, on source system, data change continuosly and the end user doesn't see refreshed data for the rest of the day.

I already discarded the option to increment the Schedule Refresh every 5 minutes due to performance reasons (every 5 minutes a process runs in background on our production server).

I also tried the Power Automate option to refresh data on demand, but the version of Power Bi Desktop I am using doesn't support the Power Automate visual.

So my question is the following: is there another way in Power BI Server, except the Schedule Refresh, to refresh data on demand (with a report created using import mode)? What the end user needs, is just a button inside the report to refresh on demand the data, but I have no idea how to link the button with the refreshing action.

Thanks in advance

Alessandro 

[v-xiaoyan-msft]

Hi @d_gosbell ,

Thank you for your correction. I really didn't explain the issue clearly. I was mistakenly reading Power BI Server as Power BI Service and thank you again for your answer to this question.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

[d_gosbell]

Hi @v-xiaoyan-msft no worries, it can be tricky when you jump between the different forums 🙂

[d_gosbell · Accepted solution]

The answer by @v-xiaoyan-msft is incorrect. The Power Automate (flow) and Power App solutions only work for the Power BI Service. There is not on-demand refresh built-in for the on-prem report server. If the user has permission to manage the scheduled refreshes they can go in and click the "Run Now" button on one of those, but you cannot link this into a report.

If you have the expertise to build a web application you could probably use the Web API calls to generate a scheduled refresh and trigger the "run now" action, but that would be a fair bit of work.

[speranzaa]

Thanks a lot d_gosbell,

at least now, I know in which direction I can proceed.

[v-xiaoyan-msft]

Hi @speranzaa ,

You can refer to the solution given by Super user GilbertQ in the other thread.
"You can use Microsoft Flow to automatically refresh the data set on a schedule.

At the same time, you can create a Power App that connects to Microsoft Flow. you can then embed this Power App into your Power BI report where you can click a button to refresh the data."

Here is a blog post on how to get this done with Microsoft Flow: https://medium.com/@Konstantinos_Ioannou/refresh-powerbi-dataset-with-microsoft-flow-73836c727c33

For more information，you can also see the articles below：

Can we create custom 'Refresh dataset' button in Report page in PBI Service 

Refreshing a Power BI Dataset by Button Click with Power Automate 

HOW TO REFRESH DATASET USING BUTTON IN REPORT VIEW OF POWERBI? 

Automatic page refresh in Power BI 

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

If this post helps then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.