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simond's avatar
simond
New Member
9 years ago
Solved

Get data from SQL database

I will be hiring someone to create several reports using BI in the near future.  I know this must be a basic questions but I couldn't find the answer quickly and easily...   When someone uses BI to...
  • Phil_Seamark's avatar
    Phil_Seamark
    9 years ago

    Power BI cannot change any data in any source system (SQL , CSV, Excel etc.) so you only need to provide read access.

     

    It could potentially place a lock on tables while it is reading data, which may interfere with other read/write operations going on with the table being read from.  So in the unlikely event this becomes a problem, you may want to consider some staging/output tables that are used only by Power BI.  

Phil_Seamark's avatar
Phil_Seamark
Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
9 years ago

Power BI cannot change any data in any source system (SQL , CSV, Excel etc.) so you only need to provide read access.

 

It could potentially place a lock on tables while it is reading data, which may interfere with other read/write operations going on with the table being read from.  So in the unlikely event this becomes a problem, you may want to consider some staging/output tables that are used only by Power BI.  

  • ImkeF's avatar
    ImkeF
    Icon for Community Champion rankCommunity Champion
    9 years ago

    Actually, you can use a SQL-script to write data back to SQL-server. But because this has a certain live of it's own, it's basically not used in production. But if it gets into the wrong hands, people can actually mess up your data:

    https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2013/12/09/updating-data-in-sql-server-with-power-query/

    So you need to limit the user access rights at server-level in order to prevent data modification.

  • kbachova's avatar
    kbachova
    Icon for Advocate II rankAdvocate II
    8 years ago

    Hi Phil, you said thatPower BI cannot change any data in any source system but that it could place a lock on tables while it is reading data. Do you know where I could find any more documentation on this? Is it COULD or IT WILL - I just in a search for a confirmation of the lock on tables which Power BI is reading from.

     

    Any answer will be highly appreciated!

     

    Thanks,

    Kristina