Forum Discussion
Sharing Data Source and Integrate with Local Files
Thank you v-qiuyu-msft and Anonymous
I'm receiving the following error message when trying to import my Excel dataset (which is an exported Access query). Also, does the method you prescribe require me to email my team members a new template each day I rerun my Access query export? Would it be better for me to publish my data source some other way?
Basically my setup is as follows:
1. Accounting data is stored in an Excel file that is updated and distributed daily (Outlook VBA copies that writes that file to a specific location on the company shared drive)
2. Additional attributes are stored in a QuickBase database
3. Access database creates linked connections to the Excel file and the QuickBase database and appends a master KPI input file
a. A query is built on top of that table which calculates metrics
b. A macro runs the query daily and exports to a location on the shared drive for Tableau to refresh data source
My goal is to replace Tableau with Power BI. Also, I want to democratize the creation of dashboards, allowing team members to access a single source and then also allow scheduled or manual exports of the data from Access to replace that data source daily without conflict. I also want those users to have the ability to establish their own permissions for the dashboards they publish for our end business users. I know that the eventual goal is to move to an OLAP architecture, but that is not in the near future. Not sure if the Excel import method is the best method because of this error and the possibility of Access having issues writing over the old export while it is being accessed by Power BI. Any thoughts?