Best practices for re-using reports based on dataflows

[AlexHeinze]

I have created a dataflow that gets data from a SQL Server through the OnPrem data gateway and a Power BI report that gets all its data from the dataflow. In the dataflow I have created a variable (that is used by all table definitions) to be able to change the database name.

Once the report looks okay I would like to make it reusable for different databases, maybe even databases to be reached through a different gateway. When I look at the table definition in Power BI Desktop I see lots of GUID, which doesn't seem to make it easily reusable. I haven't found a way to duplicate the dataflow either.

Any ideas? Appreciate your help.

[lbendlin · Accepted solution]

"I haven't found a way to duplicate the dataflow either."  Export the Json, then import the json for a new dataflow.

[AlexHeinze]

Thanks, that is a good starting point. In the exported JSON I could then also mass-update DB connections etc. What I'm struggling with is Power BI Desktop. In Power Query Editor I see that every table has a workspace GUID, a dataflow GUID and a table/entity GUID.

Is there a better way than just replacing all GUIDs in all tables? And where do I get the table GUID from?

[lbendlin]

The table GUIDs are in the JSON file, as part of the location attribute.