Forum Discussion
Connection between MS Forms <-> sharepoint <-> PowerBI datasets
Dear,
We collect Pareto data in our company every morning in order to be able to cascade up important points in the collaboration.
The work sequence is approx. like this:
1) Employees fill this kind of data into an MS Forms input form
2) This form fills a sharepoint list in the background
3) This sharepoint list is linked to a PowerBI data model (automatic data connection)
4) The data model populates visualizations in PowerBI reports
5) This happens every morning. Datamodel gets refreshed every day, 1 hour after that, the semantic models get refreshed.
I ask myself the question -> if the MS Forms gets adapted (e.g. by additional questions or more teams, than actually), can this break the functionality of the datamodel?
My initial assessment (briefly brainstormed with an external colleague 😄) would be, that the extension of the query structure should not have any negative effects on the stored data model.
What´s your opinion on that?
Yes, you can do things to the form that will break the Power Automate flow that sends the data from Forms to SharePoint. Power BI references the fields in the list by name, so if you rename fields in the list that will also break things. This is the annoyance of dealing with less rigid data structures - it's a thing. You can fix it by going back and updating references in your query steps, but it can happen for sure. The most common thing to go wrong is the refresh will fail.
You can reduce the likliehood of breaking things by not giving broad access to a lot of users to change the form or the list.
3 Replies
Yes, you can do things to the form that will break the Power Automate flow that sends the data from Forms to SharePoint. Power BI references the fields in the list by name, so if you rename fields in the list that will also break things. This is the annoyance of dealing with less rigid data structures - it's a thing. You can fix it by going back and updating references in your query steps, but it can happen for sure. The most common thing to go wrong is the refresh will fail.
You can reduce the likliehood of breaking things by not giving broad access to a lot of users to change the form or the list.
In the meantime i adapted the MS Forms survey in the background and checked, if the additional poll options were taken from the form.
the sharepoint list in the background has adopted the new answer options and as well as in the underlying PowerBI datamodel tables, i see the corresponding entries.
Only in the linked powerBI reports the additional entries (new teams in this case) are not yet displayed in the filter mask, but only the old entries. But at least the daily update cycle of the data model and the semantic model fortunately worked without errors.
I would now assume that I have to download the reports from PowerBI Web again and revise them in the PowerBI desktop version and then publish them again in PowerBI Web.
Do you see any additional points that need to be considered here so that the data can be correctly transferred to the report?
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.