Ability to connect Excel to Power BI Data Model and create Pivot/Charts

[avi2]

Just the way we are able to upload a Power Pivot Model to SharePoint and then connect an Excel workbook to the model hosted on SharePoint (See http://www.powerpivotpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SharePoint_PowerPivot_ToExcel.png) ... ...In a similar manner we should be able to connect Excel to a Data Model hosted on PowerBI.com. Bonus Points: If users can also connect to a Power BI Desktop file (.pbix) using Excel. This would perhaps more for testing or ad-hoc use. Similar to how when building an SSAS Tabular Model in Visual Studio, you can click "Analyze in Excel" to open an Excel window connected to the model you are working on. As an Excel user, I would love to use the cutting edge Data Modeling capabilities in Power BI Desktop (bi-directional relationships and new functionality rolled out each month). However, while the new Power BI offers great visualization options, Excel gridheads like me, just NEED to be able to create Excel Pivots off of the Power BI Data Model. If this could be enabled for Power BI, that would be very useful. - Either by connecting to a Power BI Model (.pbix) hosted on PowerBI.com (This would be similar to how I can create Excel Pivots connected to a PowerPivot Model uploaded to SharePoint) AND/OR - By connecting Excel directly to a .pbix file (like on your C: Drive) Without this functionality Power BI feels like a **One Way Journey**. Once I go from Excel/PowerPivot to Power BI Desktop, the only visualization options are those on Power BI. I may be looking at it from the wrong lens (still warming up to SaaS model of BI), but in my mind the "Data Model" should be agnostic of the visualization layer/tool. After building my data model, I should be able to connect any viz tool of my choice (pretty much). And that model already is in place for Power Pivot - by hostin your model on SharePoint or on SSAS Tabular server you can pretty much use the viz tool of your choice - Excel Charts/Pivots, Power View (within Excel or SharePoint), SSRS and other Microsoft and Non-Microsoft Viz tools. Whereas with Power BI, I feel like I would be locked in to the visualization experience on PowerBI.com. The whole visuals project (https://www.github.com/Microsoft/PowerBI-visuals) is great but not for everybody. Plus, if I am using a specific viz tool, I want to be able to continue using that. For many users that tool is Excel 🙂

[aaronkswanson]

Oh thank god that they are starting this. Without the ability to tap the data model from Excel, Power BI desktop is hard to justify vs. just using Power Pivot. So why not just use Power Pivot and be done with it? Mainly because of the 64 Bit issue. As a corporate user, I only have access to 32 bit excel and have had, ahem, "performance issues." My understanding is that 64 Bit Power BI desktop will alleviate some of this. Please, to the Power BI powers that be, have this be such that one can tap the Power BI model just as one would the Power Pivot model, complete with cube formulas, etc.

[sameer_bhide2]

Absolutely FANTASTIC - Power BI Will finally take OFF- Guys can you also give a way of encrypting the PBIX file with a Password - After all its just a CUBE so should not be very difficult

[tommy_nittedal]

Yess! Please Microsoft, hear us!!!!

[gpitzalis2]

Please also consider the possibility to connect Onedrive published Excels using Enterprise Gateway datasources!

[LeaningTree]

Is there any official status on this request? Losing access to Pivot Table functionality is THE reason I can't switch to primarily building models in Power BI Desktop. Just let us connect Excel 13 and 16 to a Power BI data model and I am completely in.

[KenWetherell]

Yes, yes, yes. A million times, yes. Great work MS team. This is getting so awesome. With these requested import, export and portability options, this will be beyond awesome. It is THE necessary step to mass adoption and proliferation. Please make it so.

[info166]

Absolutely important and necessary.

[andre_pinto_men]

This is the only upgrade I need to start using Power BI (i.e. connection to .pbix file). This is THE gate to mass adoption in Excel users all over the world.

[esteban_grinbe1]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SportingDave]

This is exactly what's needed to drive wider adoption of Power BI