Can Power BI act similar to a Crystal Report with Sub Reports

[gsaunders]

We are evaluating ways to provide a report to our users and not sure if PowerBI can do what we want.  We are new at PowerBI so hoping to get a little feedback on if it is doable.   I am going to list the requirements, BUT even if something cannot be done based on a requirement let's not assume the requirement is set in stone... especially when it comes format... I welcome alternative options.

The current requirements are as follows for Job Cost Report:

1. They want the following parameters similar to what you send to Crystal Reports. They want to select this and have report run based on these parameters.
   1. Company
   2. Beginning Job
   3. Ending Job
   4. Department
   5. Project Manager
   6. Through Accounting Month
      
      
2. They would like to have this all down a single report that can be printed as PDF or viewed inline.  
3. They want it to provide the following data for each Job in the results working down the page as it goes.  So you would have all of the below for first job, then repeat again for next job and so on like you could see in a Crystal Report or SSRS type report.
   1. Job Dashboard (Basically summary numbers for Cost, Revenue, Budget.  Below the dashboard would be the following sections.
   2. First section under dashboard would be the cost detail for the job which is just a table of data like Phase, Cost Type, Description, Budget, Actual Cost
      1. They would like to click a phase and cost type to have it show the lower level details on another report.
   3. Next section would be Change Order detail to this job which is just a table of data showing data like Change Order Number, Description, Revenue, Cost, Margin, Margin %
      1. Potentially they would like to click on Change Order and get the detail that makes this up.
   4. Next Section would be Billing to date along with associated receipts which is just a table of data showing Invoice, Description, Amount, Check Number, Receipt Date and Amount.
   5. Next section would be Cost to Date data by Month.
   6. There are several more sections, but you get the point.
   7. Then we start over again for the next job and keep repeating until all jobs are done.

There are several more sections, but you get the point. 

If this was done in Crystal reports it would require sub reports under the dashboard for each section as it wouldn't be a typical single report as each section is focused on different type of data hence the subreports.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.  My guess is PowerBI is not best suited for this, but with little experience with current PowerBI not sure.

Thanks!

[dax]

Hi gsaunders,

For parameter to  filter data, in powerbi, you could try to use slicer to filter data, you could refer to Slicers in Power BI for details.

For sub report, I think you could use drillthough achieve this goal, you could refer to Use drillthrough in Power BI Desktop for details.

In addition, you also could export  it to PDF, you could refer  to Export reports to PDF from Power BI Desktop for details.

Best Regards,
Zoe Zhi

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

[gsaunders]

Hey Zoe,

Sorry for late repsonse and thanks for your reply. 

I follow the slicers and the drillthrough, but I may have not explained what they need well enough.

They want a long single report for a range of Jobs.  Let's visualize it:

Page 0: Way to set parameters or limit data to a range of jobs or jobs tied to a specific department or project manager.

Section 1 also Page 1: After the pick the range of jobs it will display a Project List... simple grid structure and would like hyperlink to move them down the report to a specific section for current job.  Sections explained below.

Section 2 also Page 2: Summary Page of first project like Contract Total, Budget Total and many other totals.  This page would have hyperlink(s) that would move them down the report to a specific section for current job.

Section 3 beginning of page 3 through n: Displays the Phases and Cost Type summary Data

Section 4 page n - ?: Displays the change orders for the current job

Section 5-n: Other data again mostly grid data like a crystal report.

It would then repeat all of the above for the next project in the list just like you would see on a typical report.

In each section there would be a hyperlink that takes it back to that projects summary page.

I don't think Power BI is designed to do this, but I completely see how it would work in the traditional look filter on a single project at a time with slicer / filter and so forth.

[Yettie]

Did you ever figure this out?