User Accounts and Access queries

[darrylwilson]

Hi

I work for a company that uses Access databases and we need to move away from this.

With Access you can create local queries and global queries and produce reports. I need to know if I can replicate this over an entire organisation with Power BI?

Is it possible to only allow users to see but not change data (or if in a specific user group then edit is possible). Can users save queries locally or in a  global area?

Everyone in my organisation has a copy of the database that is updated and downloaded evry time the user switches on. They create queries for themselves and they are lost everytime a fresh "copy" is taken from the master database. We end up with hundreds of access databases lying around on ppl's desktops that contain individual's queries. I need a better way of doing this.

Lastly, can we import existing queries and reports that we can store in a Warehouse environment.

Thanks

[Habib]

Hi @darrylwilson,

Basic difference of Power BI with Access is the provision of editing data. Withing Access, you can allow users to edit data using forms or some other mechanism but Power BI is different to that. You can load data from different data sources but when data is loaded, you can't edit it. Yes, you can manipulate data using DAX.

Regarding problem related to loosing previous queries, in Power BI once you have created your queries to load data from different soruces (in your case, it will be access file which is being downloaded), users can use same Power BI report/DAX formulas applied with fresh copy (using Power BI Desktop) untill structure of new downloaded file is same. If you want to use Power BI cloud service, then you need to apply some security mechanism to give users access to proper data and refreshing using gateway.

Users can create their own reports using Power BI Desktop and it will be local. If they use cloud app, then they can use advance features for sharing content with others.

Question related to importing of existing report and quereis form data warehouse to Power BI is very generic. What you want to import and what environment you already have as your reports and datawarehouse?