Published Pbi report automatically updates the Pbi app - would need app to be manually updated

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

It seems recently that when i publish a Pbi report, it automatically updates the report that is in the Pbi app.

However, our company would need the app to be manually updated, as the report is too huge and it needs to be refreshed online, before the app is updated.

Any advise would be appreciated, thank you!

[Vinay_eshwara]

Hi @Anonymous ,
While creating multiple workspaces like Staging and Production and publishing the report after complete refresh is done to the Production workspace to which the app is connected might work for your case, but if you have Power Bi Premium capacity i would suggest you to use Deployment Pipelines.
Using Deployment Pipelines
With Deployment Pipelines, you can set up separate development, test, and production environments.
You can work in the development stage without affecting the live version of your app. Changes made in the development environment can be tested thoroughly. Once validated, you can manually deploy the changes to production, thereby updating the live application with the new features or fixes.
Steps:
1. Create a deployment pipeline for your report.
2. Develop and publish your report to the development or test stage of the pipeline.
3. Validate and refresh the report as necessary.
4. Then push the report to the production stage.Then,it will automatically update at the production stage app.

Please give a Kudos if the solution meets your needs and accept as solution to help others find easily.
Thanks,
Vinay.

[rajendraongole1]

Hi @Anonymous - 1. Separate Report Publishing and App Updates
When you publish a Power BI report to a workspace, it updates in the workspace but does not automatically update the published app. However, if the app is set to automatically refresh, changes to the underlying dataset might still trigger an update, depending on your refresh schedule.
To control this, you can publish your updated report to the workspace without updating the app right away. This way, the updated report remains in the workspace, and only users with workspace access will see the changes. Once you’re ready to push the updates to all app users, you can manually update the app.
2. Manual App Update Process
In Power BI Service, after publishing your changes to the workspace, go to the App settings of your workspace.
Under the "Update app" option, make sure to uncheck any settings related to automatic refresh (if applicable).
Once you're confident that the report and data have been fully refreshed and are stable, click "Update app" to publish the changes to end users.
3. Refresh Scheduling in Power BI Service
Since the report is large and requires time for a full refresh, you might want to schedule it at off-peak times or use incremental refresh if you’re on a Power BI Premium capacity. This way, the dataset refresh completes before you manually update the app, minimizing disruption for end users.
Set up refresh notifications to confirm the dataset has refreshed successfully before updating the app.
4. Use Version Control for Reports
Another approach is to maintain separate versions of the report in the workspace until the new version is ready to go live. Once it’s refreshed and finalized, replace the older version with the new one and update the app manually.

[Anonymous]

Hey @rajendraongole1 , appreciate the reply and proposed solutions! For us, we have only the Pro license.
Yes all these while over this year I had to manually update the app for any report published changes (which was fine for us).

It is only recently that the app automatically updates with any changed report (published from desktop app), and as the report takes some time to fully refresh on power bi service, it causes issues for us.

Would this be the 'update app' options, as i do not see any 'automatic refresh' here: 

- please direct us to where we can find the setting for this, as I don't recall selecting it before

Option 4 would be quite tedious for us, as we have security settings in place and we make changes/additions on quite a regular basis.

Thank you.