Help needed with shared datasets and limitations of live connection

[michael95677]

I have not been able to find a way so publish a dataset and allow users to download it to their Power BI desktop and then make modifications. I've given Contributor and build permissions but when I test this and use Get Data -> Power BI Datasets and create the dataset in my test user account desktop it does not allow me to make changes.

All my table tools are dithered so I can't even change a table column to Sum or vice versa. I'm not sure if I can even use the New Measure and add Dax based calculations etc. I want users to be able to build some of their own reports based on the datasets I create that have the necessary joins/relationships built in but it seems we're forced to the live connection which limits normal "build" capabilities. 

Thank you for any help. 

[v-xiaotang · Accepted solution]

Hi @michael95677 

When you create a report in Power BI Desktop, the data in that report is stored in a data model. When you publish your reports to the Power BI service, you're also publishing the data as a dataset. You can give others Build permission for that report, so they can discover and reuse the dataset you've shared.

-

Please follow the articles below to check your settings,

link1: Manage dataset access permissions - Power BI | Microsoft Docs

link2: Publish an app in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Docs

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Tang

If this post helps, please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[jaideepnema]

Hi @michael95677 ,

While you're using Power Bi Shared dataset, you can create measures but you will not be able to create a new column or do any such changes in your report as it derives it's properties and data from the source dataset.

I can suggest you explore the direct query functionality for shared datasets in Power bi which might help.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/desktop-directquery-datasets-azure-analysis-s...

Please accept this as a solution if your question has been answered !!

Appreciate a Kudos 😀

[michael95677]

Thank you but how can we provide this kind of functionality to some of our more advanced end users? They cannot handle the complex joins needed but they do need the ability to modify columns and other functionality available for the creator of the dataset. 

[rdnguyen]

I am stuck at the same situation. Following