Does everyone in my company need a premium license if we want reports that automatically update?

[Kerry_M]

Hi, 

For years I have been creating reports in Power BI desktop and then publishing them to the service for other employees to view (we all have Power BI Pro licenses). But right now I have to open each report each week and update it on my desktop (so nobody gets an update of the report if I am on vacation). I would like to set up my reports to connect directly to our SQLServer databases in the Power BI service so that others can click REFRESH to see the latest data but I don't know where to begin.  I think I need to create a 'data flow' to do this and I think I need a premium license to create a data flow.
1) Will everyone in my company now need a premium license to read my reports? or
2) can I assign just one other staff member to update the reports and if so - will that person need a premium license? 

3) Can you direct me to some training on how to connect an SQLServer to the Power BI service?

4) I also use Excel for some dimension tables etc. Can I put my Excel tables into SharePoint or OneDrive and set the rights for all staff to see them then use them directly in the PowerBI service? If so - will others be able to update the reports without me this way?

Thanks - as much as I love Power BI, I find the whole license thing and data connections from the cloud very confusing.

[Kerry_M]

Thanks so much. This is very helpful

[bcdobbs]

From your description you should be able to do everything with your existing pro licences.

Is your SQL server on premise?

It sounds like you just need to get a gateway setup. Have a look at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1tbuZNcM

[Kerry_M]

Thanks!  How would I do that? When I go to the Data hub in the Power BI service it shows my datasets uploaded with my Power BI desktop reports but does not show any options for creating or connecting to a dataset from the service. Do I need to ask my IT department to install a Data Gateway?

[bcdobbs · Accepted solution]

Have a read of 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-scheduled-refresh

You go into the settings for a dataset that your published from power bi desktop and expand the scheduled refresh section.

If you have source data that is on your local network then yes you need to get it to confure a power bi data gateway.