Forum Discussion
Using Power Apps to append data into Power BI
- 6 years ago
darentengmfs - this really isn't a Power BI question. Power BI will read data from many sources, as you know.
You are taking it to the next level with using Power Apps to record your data, vs someone doing it in Excel or with another app.
As DataZoe there are ways to add data without Power Apps, like using the default Forms in SharePoint lists.
I love using Power Apps though to do what you want to do, but if you have no experience with it, then I cannot recommend the App in a Day course highly enough! It is free, and here.
Once you get that done, you just create your Power BI report and set the refresh schedule. You can also trigger a refresh from the Power Apps app via Power Automate, but you are limited to 8 refreshes a day with a Power BI Pro license. Power Automate refreshes and Scheduled Refreshes add up. Once you've done 8 refreshes, no more will happen until the next day. If you have Premium capacity, it is 48 per day.If you get bold, then the Direct Query route DataZoe mentioned can be refreshed unlimited times, but this has drawbacks:
- Direct Query requires a real server - SQL Server, Azure SQL, etc.
- You have to have an Enterprise Gateway. Personal will not work with Power Apps/Automate.
- Connecting to such a server requires a Power Apps license that is either $7 per mo for one app, or $40/mo for unlimited apps. SQL Server is a premium connector for Power Apps.
- Direct Query reports in Power BI are much more limited than Import apps. Your transformations are limited, as are some DAX functions and visuals.
Once you get your head around what you want to do and have done the App in A Day course, the Power Apps community can jump in and assist with building the app.
My personal advise - go slow. Use SharePoint Lists as your data source for the app. Don't jump in too deep and get frustrated with gateway configs, proper indexes and whatnot in a SQL Table. Power Apps requirements for SQL Server are higher than Power BI. Both can read any SQL table. But to write, Power Apps needs a unique index field that is hopefully generated by the server on the fly, or you get into creating GUIDs or your own incrementing logic.
Thanks for the thorough explanation.
I am opting to use Sharepoint Forms to update my data.
However, I read it here that I will have problems with the data gateway if I connect to both SQL and Sharepoint.
I don't know if it has been resolved, so could you share some input to me if you have had experience with connecting Power BI to both SQL server and Sharepoint in the same report?
Thanks!
Daren
- edhans6 years agoCommunity Champion
Hi darentengmfs That is from 2016. MS upgraded the service at least in 2017 to use both on-prem and cloud data in the same report. I use SharePoint with on-prem SQL Server every day in Power BI.