Forum Discussion
Using an Excel sheet as a Data source, should there be any conflicts?
Hi
Ref. Using an Excel sheet as a Data source, should there be any conflicts?
If I am using an Excel sheet, one that is kept in its orginal shared drive location; i.e. the worksheet is accessed by seveal users throughout the day who apply updates/changes etc. Would this cause any file sharing violations if I am using the the same excel document in my PowerBI model as a datasouce? My theory being, if the sheet is updated I have up-to-date details.
Or, am I best making a copy the worksheet and work from from this version?
Chris Carpenter
Hi Chris -
From a high level understanding, I would suggest to have a copy of the workbook version to avoid the following scenarios:
1. If the chances of someone who have access can delete or add columns in the sheets is there, then using your own copy would make sense as this will directly impact your data model in the PowerBI file.
2. Also, if someone goes into the file and changes a specific column(s) data types, then you may have to work in your file from scratch in finding the differences and fix them.
So in essense I would recommend to have a copy of the file, and if there are changes in the Excel file, then you can still have your working PowerBI file, while you work on the updates in a different version of the file with any new changes in the source Excel file. Hope the above helps.
Regards
Eswar
hi Anonymous
As epappu said, If the chances of someone who have access can delete or add columns in the sheets is there, then using your own copy would make sense as this will directly impact your data model in the PowerBI file.
If others users just update the data of this sheet, you do not need a copy one. Just set a Scheduled refresh for it.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refresh-data
Regards,
Lin
4 Replies
Hi Chris -
From a high level understanding, I would suggest to have a copy of the workbook version to avoid the following scenarios:
1. If the chances of someone who have access can delete or add columns in the sheets is there, then using your own copy would make sense as this will directly impact your data model in the PowerBI file.
2. Also, if someone goes into the file and changes a specific column(s) data types, then you may have to work in your file from scratch in finding the differences and fix them.
So in essense I would recommend to have a copy of the file, and if there are changes in the Excel file, then you can still have your working PowerBI file, while you work on the updates in a different version of the file with any new changes in the source Excel file. Hope the above helps.
Regards
Eswar
hi Anonymous
As epappu said, If the chances of someone who have access can delete or add columns in the sheets is there, then using your own copy would make sense as this will directly impact your data model in the PowerBI file.
If others users just update the data of this sheet, you do not need a copy one. Just set a Scheduled refresh for it.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refresh-data
Regards,
Lin