Archive monthly reports with comments

[Anonymous]

Hi there, 

We have reports that are based on datasets. The datasets are to be updated monthly (schedule refresh). Additionally we want to store the historical reports for each month including comments. The difficulty is that when the dataset is updated, the reports from previous months are also updated.

Is there a way to cut the connection to the dataset for the historical reports and freeze their current data to archieve them including the comments?

Or does someone have an idea how to implement this with as little manual effort as possible?

Thanks in advance!

[v-jayw-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Based on my test, you can achieve the purpose with the following steps.

1# Use Download the .pbix file feature.

2# Rename the .pbix file and publish it to Power BI Service.

You should do these two steps each time before or after your dataset is refreshed monthly.

Best Regards,

Jay

Community Support Team _ Jay Wang

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

[Anonymous]

Hi,

A totally different approach to this use case would be to use OneNote for the commenting and storing these report "archives". If you hit ctrl + p on a power bi page you can directly save a printed snapshot of the report to onenote.

Obivous cons of the work around:

- the archive will be printed copies of the report pages - no filtering or other possibilities

- must do the printout manually each month

[Anonymous]

How about incremental refresh and filtering based on the date? Could that be another solution? 

And does incremental refresh work with a SAP BW connection?

Thanks for your help!

[v-jayw-msft]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Not sure if the incremental-refresh is suitable for your scenario. You can check the document below for more details.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-premium-incremental-refresh#limitations

Limitations

Currently, for composite models, incremental refresh is supported for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, SQL Data Warehouse, Oracle, and Teradata data sources only.

Best Regards,

Jay

Community Support Team _ Jay Wang

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