Any options to add fields/measures/tables on a shared dataset?

[RCarrPT]

Hello,

Company I work for, maintains a few "standard" datasets created by IT to be used company-wide/world-wide.

These are published in a premium capacity and each contains a lot of information and measures on specific subjects, like Sales, Purchases, etc.

Datasets implement row-level security based on AAD.

Power users/content creators can then use these datasets as data sources to create new reports.

User creating a new report in Desktop will only see the report and model views, but not the data view (so limited customization options):

When publishing, power users/content creators only deploy a report (not a dataset).

Adding new fields, transforms and measures is managed/approved centrally, which is sometimes a slow(ish) process ☹️

This model works fine for common reporting needs, but advanced users have been regularly asking for the ability to connect directly to the data warehouse and/or to be able to add their own tables and transforms in Power BI.

This directly conflicts with data security policies, global reporting policies, etc. so far nothing done ☹️

Even if not for company policy, directly downloading the datasets to modify locally then reload would not be possible because of incremental refresh.

Adding a second data source dataset in Desktop with DirectQuery allows publishing both a report and dataset, but data view still cannot be used (and DirectQuery is slow when working with large datasets).

Question is then:

Is there a way in Power BI that allows a user to "somehow" use a shared dataset as data source, add his own calculated fields/measures/tables and then store them in a new dataset?

Probably, its a no to above, but just trying to find a solution that fits everyone here and leave no rock unturned.

Big Thanks 🙂

[DataInsights]

@RCarrPT,

Have you explored composite models? You can create a pbix that uses a shared dataset as the primary data source, and add fields/tables. This composite-model pbix can be published and used as a data source for reports.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-composite-models#chaining