Reuse Power BI Reports

Question

Hi All, I have a report developed in PBIX file.

I need to have 10 sub reports of the same report with minor changes. Hence I can create 10 copies of the PBIX file and publish in service.

But this will cause us maintainence problems since if there is a change request in the main report, the development team needs to change in all the 10 sub reports.

May I know if there is a way to reuse reports instead of creating multiple PBIX files. This way, if we change in one report, the change will be reflected in all the 10 sub reports.

Can we use PowerApps or Paginated Reports to achieve this functionality if it is not possible in Power BI?

greg_deckler · Answer

Anonymous&nbsp;Well, this is going to depend on a lot of factors. If the main report is a single page, you could create each sub-report as an additional page. Then it's all in one file. In the sub-reports you could connect to the main original report's dataset using DirectQuery for Power BI Datasets and Analysis Services or connect "Live" and that way if a model change happens in the main report then all of the subreports also have that model change.
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Would need more specifics to be more helpful.

anonymous · Answer

Hi&nbsp;Greg_Deckler&nbsp;, the main report is having around 30 pages.Also change in data model is not a concern since we are using a common dataset for the all the sub reports.If a visual type is changed in main report, for example if a matrix visual is changed to piechart, then we need to manually change it in all the reports which will be difficult for development maintainence.&nbsp;

greg_deckler · Answer

Anonymous&nbsp;So why is a sub-report a sub-report? As in, is it for a specific department or ? Perhaps not include all of the main pages of the report in the sub-reports and use Cross-report drillthrough for example?

anonymous · Answer

Greg_Deckler&nbsp;Please consider the following scenario:I have a report with 10 pages. Each page will show data for one country.I have implemented RLS. A user from a particular country will see only that country data.For example, a user mapped to 5 countries will see 5 pages of data and other 5 pages as blank in the report.The user when exporting to PDF, wants to have only 5 pages exported and the blank pages should be removed.There is no option in Power BI to hide/remove pages with blank data dynamically.I have explored Page Level Securities and Bookmarks but it will not be useful as user wants to see/export all 5 pages and should not have blank pages in the exported PDF.Hence we decided to create a sub report, report which will have only 5 pages. Hence when this particular user logs in, we will share this report link for him to view.Similarly we have created around 10 sub reports with different page combinations.But this will cause development maintainence problem as even a small change in one report needs to be done in all the other 10 reports.Wanted to know if there is a better way to handle this problem.

greg_deckler · Answer

Anonymous&nbsp;OK, thanks for the detailed explanation as the specifics really matter. Oi! That's uh...uh..ugly. Not sure there is a better solution that fits all the criteria but I'll noodle on it. One crazy thought, what about pinning live report pages to multiple dashboards instead?

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Reuse Power BI Reports

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