Forum Discussion
Use report without access to underlying data?
Hi FlorisMK , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.
In Power BI Desktop, load the full HR exports as “Source” queries. Create separate “Aggregated” queries that transform and summarize the data, removing any sensitive fields. Use only these aggregated queries in your visuals. Right-click each source query and uncheck “Enable Load” to keep them out of the data model. Then, under File -> Options -> Report Settings, disable export and copy options to prevent users from accessing data behind the visuals.
Publish the report to a separate Power BI workspace, not your HR team’s. Share it via a Power BI App or give users the Viewer role, this lets them see the report but not access the dataset or source files.
For more information:
Export the data that was used to create a visualization
If this helped solve the issue, please consider marking it “Accept as Solution” so others with similar queries may find it more easily. If not, please share the details, always happy to help.
Thank you.
Hi FlorisMK , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.
In Power BI Desktop, load the full HR exports as “Source” queries. Create separate “Aggregated” queries that transform and summarize the data, removing any sensitive fields. Use only these aggregated queries in your visuals. Right-click each source query and uncheck “Enable Load” to keep them out of the data model. Then, under File -> Options -> Report Settings, disable export and copy options to prevent users from accessing data behind the visuals.
Publish the report to a separate Power BI workspace, not your HR team’s. Share it via a Power BI App or give users the Viewer role, this lets them see the report but not access the dataset or source files.
For more information:
Export the data that was used to create a visualization
If this helped solve the issue, please consider marking it “Accept as Solution” so others with similar queries may find it more easily. If not, please share the details, always happy to help.
Thank you.
Thanks! I'll dive into your suggestions asap, hopefully later today, otherwise it'll have to be next week.
Hi FlorisMK , Thanks for the update. Please do check when possible and share your thoughts and results. Also, If any of the responses here helped, please consider marking them "Accept as Solution".
Thank you.Finally an opportunity to look into this! Your breakdown of the necessary steps prompts a question. If I uncheck 'Enable load', would that mean that my report users cannot update the report? In other words: would that mean I'd be publishing a static copy of data for them?
Ideally, I'd want my users to be able to access the report and see the latest aggregated data. My ideal process would be that HR staff perform regular exports, and the report stays up-to-date for everyone without additional effort.
Hi FlorisMK , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.
No, unchecking Enable Load does not make your report static. The queries still run during refresh, they’re just excluded from the data model, which keeps them hidden from users. So, your approach of using source queries to feed aggregated reporting queries is valid, and it won’t break refresh.
As long as the report is published to the Power BI Service and the dataset is configured to use your credentials, users won’t need access to the source files. You can keep the exports in your HR-only SharePoint folder and the service will still refresh the report using your access. Just set up a scheduled refresh and users will always see the latest data without needing any extra permissions or steps from HR. Your current setup already does what you want, No changes needed.