Single or Multiple Datasets

[richardmayo]

Having trouble finding a recommended answer so will try here.

I'm working to get all our business data sources into Power BI to start building reports and dashboards but I'm not sure if I should be adding all the data sources into 1 dataset, or creating multiple datasets.

At the moment, I just have 1 dataset which connects to a MySQL server (this is our core data source).

Now I want to connect things like Google Analytics, Facebook etc but should these be separate datasets or just add them as new data sources into the same dataset I already have???

Recommendations or best practices would be appreciated.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hey @richardmayo 

If they are all being used in the same report then I would add them to the same Dataset.

The intended use behind creating multiple datasets is if you are giving people access to certain datasets while not giving them access to others. If you are the only one creating reports and intend to share only the reports and dashboards and not the datasets or workspaces than you can put all of your data sources in the same dataset.

If you intend to let others create reports using the dataset you create (meaning you share the dataset with them) then you can organize your datasets based on who needs access to what data sources.

If you share the workspace they will have access to everything in there.

If this helps please kudo.

If it answers your question please accept it as a solution.