Workspace (conceptual question - Dashboard vs. Report. vs. Dataset)

[Jkaelin]

Good morning,

I feel like a rookie asking this but I honestly don't understand the difference in a report vs. dataset.  I setup a gateway, scheduled a data refresh for a pbix. desktop file; but it doesn't seem to update nor do the visuals show up in dashboard.  What am I missing here?  It seems to work whenever i publish from the pbix file but not a scheduled refresh (although it says refresh successful).

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

Well, the data set is just that, it is the raw data model that you built in your PBIX file. You can use it to create a report. Reports are the visualization pages that you built in your PBIX file. 

Now, dashboards can only be created in the Service. The tricky part though is that a dashboard tile retains all of the filters that you put on it at the time that you pinned it. This often creates confusion as the data set will refresh but the dashboard tiles do not change. Invariably people realize that when they pinned the dashboard tile, they had a filter or slicer that was filtering it to a specific set of data.