Using Power BI to Produce Reports for Many Users

[RC-CBEx]

I am trying to determine a solution for my reporting needs at work. It was suggested that I use Power BI (which I do not have familiarity with). I have watched some basic training videos. But I am trying to determine whether to continue exploring Power BI and if it can be leveraged for my reporting needs or if it's a wase of my time to continue. I would appreciate any insight as to whether it provides a solution to my current challenges and allows me to accomplish what I need.

I have various data files in excel that contain different variables for a data set. I need to combine this data to create a full data set that captures all of the information.  The data is also not in the required format for executing deliverables. Therefore, a significant amount of data transformation needs to occur to convert the data into different formats (using formulas). From this, reports are produced (pivot tables that link to the master data set file) that output subsets of this data in various formats for different deliverables. The reports need to be provided in excel.

So far I have been able to accomplish this all in excel. My challenge with excel is the limitation to acessing the reports. Only one user can access a report at a time. If another user tried to access any other report, they receive an error 'external table is not in the expected format'.

Would Power BI be a solution to this? If so, how would it work? Is thre a way for users to access the excel reports (that connect to the data from Power BI) in a common folder rather than accessing through Power BI directly?

[RC-CBEx]

Thank you for this reply.

Is Analyze in Excel only available for Power BI Pro/Premium account? I don't see this feature anywhere in my current Desktop version.

Do the users accessing the excel report require Power BI accounts (Desktop sufficient or Premium as well)?

[mohammedadnant · Accepted solution]

Hi @RC-CBEx 

Analyze in Excel is only possible if you publish your report to Power BI service (Pro/Premium),

users need a Power BI pro license unless you have a Premium license.

when you share the report with the user, they can open an excel file and connect the Power BI dataset to analyze in excel or they can download the excel file in more options of Power BI Dataset in Power BI Service

Power BI Desktop is only for development and   

[mohammedadnant]

Hi @RC-CBEx 

1st you can do all your requirement in Power BI, 

you can import all you excel file in Power BI  and 

Mostly all kind of transformation can be possible in Power Query,

please refer this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBGVH95YWOV0bdbX_7XZ5i_3qSM01Un-F

once you develop your report --> you can share it with your users to access directly in Power BI if not there is an option of Analyze in Excel, you can share the Power BI dataset --> multiple users can connect the Power BI dataset in excel 

refer this video: https://youtu.be/p80bN4ACGYM

In Short: Power BI is really powerful tool for your BI analytics needs,