Forum Discussion
Why Power BI Desktop for On Premises Data
Hi
I am having confusion here after configuring Enterprize Gateway in Power BI service.
Why do I still need Power BI Desktop and then publish data to power BI service. Can't I access on Premises data directly in Power BI Service after Gateway configuration?
There are only some sources which you can connect to directly from the Power BI Service which is shown below. The rest you will have to do as the others have suggested.
Some of the sources below will require a gateway for SSAS Tabuar, whilst others you can connect to directly.
6 Replies
Power BI Desktop gives you control over the data modeling and relationships. You cannot create things like measures and calculated columns in the Service for example.
But what if I dont want to create calculated columns and measures, directly want to use to existing data?
The gateway isn't a data source. It's just a passthrough for the refresh of a data source. To create the connection to the source, you have to use the desktop.
You could create a big master data model and publish it to an organizational content pack. Then you can use that as a starting point to create reports from the service.
