Automatic snapshots of data

[CarlsBerg999]

Hi,

I am using Pro Licensed PowerBI. What i have is somewhat extensive sales forecast data of which i want to take snapshots of. What i need, is an automatic way to export data on a weekly/monthly basis to an excel spreadsheed (for example) so i can create a visual of the changes that happened in the forecast.

Example of the issue: 5 sales persons have sales forecasts for future months. They update forecasts every month. I want to see what they forecasted in january compared to what they forecast now. However, data refresh overwrites deletes january and replaces it with the current data.

How would you do this? I'm not too familiar with incremental refresh, but could i use incremental refresh to see changes made in each period for example?

Thanks for the assistance and ideas!

[v-kkf-msft]

Hi @CarlsBerg999 ,

1. You can create and export to excel or CSV button in Power BI using Power Automate for Power BI. In this way, when the user views the report, he can export data to a new CSV file. 

Referencing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnTipbooeP0 

2. Or try schedule automated data exports from Power BI using a simple R/Python Script.

R Script:

write.csv(dataset, file = "C:/testExports/exported_data.csv")

Python Script:

output <- as.data.frame(dataset)
write.csv(output, file = "C:\\testExports\\exported_data.csv")

Referencing: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Community-Blog/Schedule-Automated-Data-Exports-from-Power-BI-using-... 

If the problem is still not resolved, please provide detailed error information or the expected result you expect. Let me know immediately, looking forward to your reply.

Best Regards,
Winniz

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

[CarlsBerg999]

Hi, This idea does have great potential. Is it possible replace the "On Power BI Button Clicked" with a dynamic date as in 15th of every month?

[v-kkf-msft]

Hi @CarlsBerg999 ,

Unfortunately, that is not possible. You have to open the report and click on "Run flow" to export the data.

Or refer to the following link if it can help you.  Scheduled Snapshot of the Power BI Data and Report - RADACAD

While Microsoft supports and encourages open-source software development, it does not provide technical support for the software from third parties, nor does it guarantee that the software will work as described.

A more straight forward approach to consider is to make a simple paginated report, make your desired table in it, publish it, and subscribe to it with monthly frequency (as a csv file). 

Best Regards,
Winniz

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

[Greg_Deckler]

@CarlsBerg999 There's never been a good (read easy) solution for this. However, I have recently been told that Goals can be used for this purpose somehow. You can also just use Export data on visuals to export the raw data behind the visual.