Forum Discussion
Where does the excel file data go?
Does this mean that if I start working in Power BI Desktop, use the GetData option to see info from an Excel file, that data is still not in the cloud? Yes
if that's the case, I could create a Dashboard in Power BI Desktop, save it in a Internal Network Drive and have somebody else from the organization open it if I want to share it with that person? Yes/No - The Desktop only creates reports. Dashboards are created in the Service only.
The Desktop is free. The subscription is for using the Service
The Desktop is the download. It allows you to model and build reports.
The Service also has the same report building capability, and it is where you can build dashboards and share.
The problem with only using the desktop is that you can't build dashboards, and any file you share can be modified by an end user. It would be the equivalent of just passing around an Excel file. So you can't connect and use Mobile devices etc as those are only tied into the Service/Dashboards.
There is a complete on premises solution coming with SSRS 2016, where you will be able to load your Desktop files to an SSRS server, but I don't know all the details or restrictions yet. SQL 2016 will release June 1st, 2016. I know I'm throwing alot at you, but there are a bunch of different options.
Thanks a lot Anonymous, I greatly appreciate all the info you've shared.