New Power BI Reports From A Golden Dataset

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New Power BI Reports from a Golden Dataset

By Matt Allington / June 19, 2018
This is a further (third) update/edit to an article I rst wrote on 18th April 2017 and then updated on 30th Jan
2018. When I update my articles I simply change the original post with the latest data – that way only the
current/latest version is available preventing people stumbling on old advice.
As Power BI becomes more and more pervasive in the business world, I am being increasingly asked “How can I
build 1 master dataset, use it as the 1 version of the truth, but still allow people to do their own thing”? My concept
of the Golden Dataset (you heard the term here rst, in 2017) will allow you to do just that – read on to nd out
how.
The Problem – Too Many Data Models

Power BI has so many great features it seems almost sacrilegious to discuss problems, however one of the
problems that can occur in the world of Self Service BI is the proliferation of different versions of essentially the
same data model. This is made worse by the fact that you can publish the same data model to multiple
workspaces at PowerBI.com. Note: data model and dataset are essentially the same thing – I refer to data model
when using Power BI Desktop, but when it is published to PowerBI.com it is of cially called a dataset.
If you think about it, Self Service BI using your own data models has the potential to be the antithesis of Enterprise
BI. Instead of having one single data model that is used for all reporting (Enterprise BI), you can build individual
bespoke data models each time you have a new problem. This is both powerful and problematic. If you are not
careful, before too long you can have an unwieldy mess of uncontrollable and unmanageable data models that are
essentially the same at the core but with different reports sitting over the top. My suggested solution to this
problem is to create a “Golden Dataset” and use it as single master source in Power BI Desktop (and Power BI
Service). It is a great approach. Let me explain.
What is the Golden Dataset?

The Golden Dataset is a master Power BI Data Model that is loaded to PowerBI.com with or without a report
attached. (Actually currently you must have at least a single page in your report, even if it is blank, but you can
delete it once loaded to PowerBI.com if you like). Once you have your Golden Dataset loaded to PowerBI.com, you
can build as many new ‘thin’ reports as you need directly from Power BI Desktop by connecting Power BI
Desktop directly to PowerBI.com with Get Data -> Power BI Service.
Note: A thin workbook is one that doesn’t contain a data model itself, but links into a central data model (in this 
case stored on PowerBI.com).
https://exceleratorbi.com.au/new-power-bi-reports-golden-dataset/ 1/35
The advantages of taking this approach are:

You only have one dataset/data model to maintain. This will use less
space but also eliminate the proliferation of slightly different versions
of the data model and minimise the effort to keep the models up to
date.
You can maintain and improve your single data model in the Golden
Dataset master PBIX and make the changes available to all users and
dependent reports.
You (and everyone else with access rights) can simply build new ‘thin’
reports connected to the Golden Dataset as needed.
Anyone building a new report from the Golden Dataset will be able to
add their own “local” measures – local to their thin workbook.
With the implementation of a suitable business process, the best local measures created by users can be
retrospectively migrated into the Golden Dataset for the bene t of all.
You get the bene ts of an enterprise solution (kinda like using an SSAS Tabular data model) without having
to invest in all that infrastructure.
This is how it works.
Publish Your Golden Dataset

There are actually a few ways you can do this. I learnt options 2 and 3 below the last time I updated this article
(from comments from my blog readers).
Your options are:
1. Publish your Golden Dataset direct to a Power BI App Workspace. 1 App Workspace has the only copy of
the Golden Dataset.
2. Save your Golden Dataset to OneDrive for Business and import to one or more App Workspaces from there.
3. Save your Golden Dataset to SharePoint Online and import to one or more App Workspaces from there.
The advantage of options 2 and 3 above is that you can have 1 dataset, and then load it to many workspaces
while still having a single dataset to maintain. If you set it up this way, you will end up with something like I have
illustrated in the image below. The advantage – there is only 1 dataset to maintain – the Golden Dataset – but it
can be deployed to as many different App Workspaces as needed.
Loading From OneDrive

To demo how this works, I rst saved an Adventure Works PBIX to my OneDrive for Business folder on my PC. If
you do this in your environment, you will probably want to save your PBIX to a shared OneDrive folder that is
available to everyone that needs to use it from PowerBI.com. Or you can save it to a SharePoint document library
that is available to others to access.
I then created 2 new Test App Workspaces at PowerBI.com. To load the PBIX le from OneDrive into each Power
BI workspace, I simply
1. Went to the workspace

2. Selected Get Data
3. Files

On the next screen, I couldn’t see my OneDrive for Business folder option (my personal OneDrive for Business
folder). The OneDrive option (1 below) is actually a dedicated OneDrive folder for this App Workspace. But that
doesn’t mean I can’t access les from my personal OneDrive for Business folder. To do this, I selected the
SharePoint option (2 below).
When asked for the URL, I simply cut and paste the URL from my browser that points to my OneDrive account.
You can tell by the address in the URL that OneDrive is actually integrated with SharePoint – which is why this
works.
I then repeated the process for App Workspace Test 2, essentially giving me 2 “copies” of the one master Golden
Dataset – one copy loaded to each workspace.
I stress again, in this demo I am connecting to my Golden Dataset from my personal OneDrive for Business folder.
If you are doing this inside your enterprise, you would probably use a shared OneDrive folder accessible to those
that need the Golden Dataset, or a SharePoint document library.
Making Changes to The Golden Dataset

The real bene ts of this approach are realised when you make changes to the Golden Dataset. To demonstrate
how this works, when I rst saved the PBIX to my personal OneDrive for Business folder on my PC, it had a table
called “test”. You can see this table visible at PowerBI.com in App Workspace Test 1 below.
I went to my PC (local copy of my OneDrive for Business), opened the Golden Dataset, deleted the test table, saved
the le and waited. I checked OneDrive online and saw the updated copy of the le appeared almost immediately
(keep in mind this test workbook is small, at just 2MB. A bigger workbook will take longer to upload). It took a bit
longer for the Golden Dataset to ow through to the App Workspaces in Power BI. I seem to remember hearing
that this replication takes place every hour or so (maybe if someone knows the exact cycle you could let me know
in the comments below). This is automatic – you do not need to install a gateway to make this work.
Time to Create a New Thin Power BI Desktop Report

Time to create a new thin report using Power BI Desktop. To do this, I simply opened a new blank pbix le in
Power BI Desktop, and selected “Power BI Service” as the data source (shown below).
If you are not logged in when you do this, you will be prompted to log in before proceeding. Once logged in, you
will be presented with a list of datasets that you can access from your various workspaces (see my demo examples
below).
In my example, I selected the Golden Dataset (Adventure Works Test) in workspace Test 1 shown above and then
created a report from there. I saved the thin Power BI Desktop le with the name Golden Dataset Demo. The new
thin workbook does not have a data view or relationship view, only the report view as shown below. Also the thin
workbook doesn’t have a copy of the data, so it will only work when you have direct access to PowerBI.com (keep
that in mind if you want access when you are out of Internet coverage).
Local Measures
As mentioned earlier, one of the bene ts of this approach is that a user can connect to the Golden Dataset but still
create local measures when needed. Here is my thin Power BI Desktop workbook below (#1 below). Notice I can
right click on a table in the Fields List and create a new Measure (#2 below). 
Any new measures you create in a thin workbook are stored as part of the thin workbook and are not visible in the
Golden Dataset. (Note, you can’t create calculated columns or new tables, only measures).
If, down the track someone updates the main dataset with a measure with the same name as the one you created
locally, your local measure will show an error in your thin workbook and the new measure will appear, working in
place of your local version.
One of my readers, Sean commented below that it is dif cult to write local measures if you can’t see the
relationship view. This is an excellent point and it really needs to be addressed. I have created a new idea at
ideas.powerbi.com to have a read only view of the relationships. Please vote for it here https://goo.gl/1XYdiu
Publish the Thin Workbook

I then published this thin workbook to PowerBI.com (the same workspace as before). I therefore have both a
desktop le AND a new PowerBI.com thin workbook containing a report – both pointing to the Golden Dataset in
the same workspace. After publishing I could see the new report (as highlighted below).
Power BI Service Report

Of course you can use the Golden Dataset to create a PowerBI.com service only report (as you can with any 
dataset). To do this, simply click on the dataset while in PowerBI.com (1 below) and then build your report as
needed.
After you save the report (top right hand corner of PowerBI.com) you will see your new report in the reports list on
the left
And you can download a desktop version of this report by clicking File\Download Report as shown below.
Switch Reports to a Different Golden Dataset

Now for some really good news. It is possible to repoint an existing thin Power BI Desktop workbook to a different
dataset/workspace. Now of course you wouldn’t want to repoint a Sales report to a Finance dataset. So if you take
this Golden Dataset approach and later change your mind which workspace to point to, you can easily repoint the
thin workbook to a new dataset.
To test this out I did the following.
1. I went to Edit Queries in my Thin Workbook

2. Data Source Settings
3. From there I was able to change the source and point the Thin workbook to another dataset.
Summary of Key Points

You can upload a PBIX le to the service and use it as a Golden Dataset (one dataset to rule them all). You
can also save the PBIX le to OneDrive or SharePoint with the added bene t that you can have many
workspaces using the one Golden Dataset.
You can then create as many new reports as you want directly connected to this Golden Dataset.
Connect a new blank Power BI Desktop le effectively creating new thing workbooks.
Directly create new reports online in the Power BI Service.
If you create a thin workbook connected to the golden dataset and create a report, you can publish it to the
same app workspace and it will work.
Anyone with access to the workspace can download a copy of the thin report to their desktop and
successfully interact with it on Power BI Desktop. If you later remove their access rights to the workspace,
then the downloaded workbook will stop working – very cool.
You can modify and update your Golden Dataset and republish at any time. Any thin workbooks that you
have created connected to the Golden Dataset will be able to access the changes you have published –
sweet again.
Any user with access rights can build local measures to a thin Power BI Desktop workbook without
impacting the Golden Dataset.
With a suitable business process, end users can advise the owner (admin) of the Golden Dataset of any
useful local measures that have been created. The administrator can then migrate these measures to the
Golden Dataset for the bene t of everyone.
If needed, you can repoint any thin workbook to a different copy of the Golden Dataset if needed. This can
be good if you started your journey without using a Golden Dataset but now want to backtrack and sort this
out.
Let me know what you think in the comments below. I also would love to hear any other ideas you have on how to
get the most from the Golden Dataset.
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About The Author
Matt Allington
Matt Allington is the owner and principal consultant at Excelerator BI Pty Ltd. Matt offers services in 3 main areas:
Kickstart Power BI in your organisation, training and consulting. He is a career expert in Power BI training and has

30+ years experience in using data to deliver business value.

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83 thoughts on “New Power BI Reports from a Golden Dataset”
Bob
OCTOBER 22, 2019 AT 6:54 AM
First attempt at PowerBI here – a simple 2 table SQL Server join query. Found out apparently that there is no way
to create a connection to a SQL Server and reuse it for multiple data sets.
Do we really have to create and store credentials for each and every query that needs to be done?
We use a ReportUser SQL Server login, not AD, with access to only the databases and tables needed for reporting.
No AD account to manage, nothing to expire, and a lot less management problems.
What’s MS thinking, everyone needs to manage hundreds of individual database connection credentials in all the
PowerBI reports for our large enterprise? 
What needs to be done when me, the analyst, moves to a different position in the company and the dozens of
PowerBI reports I’ve created are owned by another employee?
Visual appeal is great though where is the TCO considerations? Lightswitch again?
Reply
Matt Allington
OCTOBER 31, 2019 AT 12:57 PM
I am sure you are missing something. Credentials can be stored for SQL Server at the DB level and the server
level
Reply
Matt Allington
MAY 9, 2019 AT 7:02 AM
Interesting question. I can’t say I have ever tested this, but I am surprised to hear it. There is no data in the thin
workbook, but it would store the last query in the visuals, I guess. What happens when you interact with the
workbook. It then must send a refresh request.
Reply
Angela
JUNE 18, 2019 AT 2:25 AM
I ended up working with Microsoft Power BI Support. It took a week or more of testing with them. We found that
the underlying Master Data Set, if stored on one-drive must be refreshed a minimum of 5 times during the day,
even though the underlying data itself had no changes. Now any measure changes in the master set will be
immediately updated in the thin client report. Also, If I add/modify/delete visuals in my thin client report, they will
now update on the Power BI Service immediately. It was hard to problem solve as the thin client always was
updated with the values from the data from the master data set, just new measures and visuals would take a
long time. I was waiting up to 5 hours sometimes for a visual modi cation to show up on my thin client report.
Reply
Matt Allington
JUNE 18, 2019 AT 3:58 PM
Hi Angela. I am really interested to nd out more about this. What do you mean it must be refreshed a
minimum of 5 times per day? Do you mean if you refresh it once, then nothing happens?
Reply
Angela K
MAY 9, 2019 AT 2:21 AM
If I open my thin report on my Power BI Desktop, why does it not update automatically from the Golden Dataset?
Reply
Angela K
MAY 9, 2019 AT 2:11 AM
I have gone with option #2 of the golden dataset and it has worked very well until recently. Before my golden
dataset grew in size, my thin report would update pretty quick. All of my reports are created through Power BI
Desktop. Now I am waiting up to 2 or more hours. This has proven a little frustrating as I update or add measures. I
can’t utilize the revisions or updates on my thin report visuals for awhile. Would option 1 work quicker? Also, if I
went to option 1, can you create a report on the Golden Dataset and save it to a different workspace. I’m not clear
on this one.
Reply
Matt Allington
MAY 9, 2019 AT 7:08 AM
Yes, option 1 would make the published version immediately available (after it is published). All you lose is the
ability to automatically publish to more than one workspace. But you can still manually publish to multiple. You
should be able to switch – just publish it manually. If the dataset is duplicates ( same name, twice), you should be
able to repoint your existing thin workbook to the new one.
Reply
Patrick McMonagle
FEBRUARY 26, 2019 AT 10:52 PM
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing the approach – just what I’d been looking for.
Trying to implement it now, creating some thin workbooks but have been experiencing some issues while creating
thin workbooks in the Desktop. Just wondering if you’d experienced anything similar or had any ideas?
“Cannot load model. We couldn’t connect to your model in the Power BI service. The dataset may have been
deleted, renamed, moved, or it is possible that you don’t have permission to access it. Failed to connect to the URL
‘https://api.powerbi.com’ white attempting to call cluster connection”
I cannot see what I have changed to affect this, and it seems intermittent across thin workbooks. I’m guessing it
could just be a temporary connection error to the website, though the most frustrating part is any combination of
trying to ‘Cancel’ or ‘X’ the dialog box does not work, so each time requires a forced shutdown of the desktop.
Luckily recovered les are pretty good but would be good to understand what’s happening.
Thanks, Patrick

Reply
MattCourses
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MARCH 1, 2019 AT 11:35 AM
No, I haven’t seen this before. If you are sure you have not changed anything, I suggest you use the diagnostic
tools inside desktop and create a support request. File\Options and Settings\Options\Diagnostics
Reply
Tom
JANUARY 22, 2019 AT 3:58 AM
Hi Matt
Super useful trick!
Thanks for sharing.
If you set everything up like this, do you know a way to keep track of which dataset & reports actually link back to a
certain ‘golden dataset’? Can we see the original link or something somewhere?
Thanks!
KR
Tom
Reply
Matt Allington
JANUARY 22, 2019 AT 12:13 PM
In Power BI, goto Home\Edit Queries\Data Source Settings. You can see the link and also change it if needed.
Reply
Calvin Francart
We have actually been talking about this solution for our instance of PBI – so very, very glad to come across your
blog. But something came up today that I was wondering if you have any experience with. We have a group of
datasets that feed individual reports. The report author left the company, and when their AD account was
removed, we found ourselves having to scramble to assign ownership of every dataset to someone else because
the reports could not load. Have you ever tried assigning ownership of a Golden Dataset to a non-person AD
account? Just wondering if assigning to a group would allow anyone within that group to make changes rather
than having to go to just one person all the time – and also not having to manage the ownership in the event they
exit.
Reply

Matt Allington
I’mMy
 glad this Courses
Online has helped Calvin. Yes what you describe is a common problem. There
is aView
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ownership using the Rest APIs. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/rest/api/power-bi/ I am not an expert and have
never used the API, but I understand you can solve most issues like the one you refer to. Regarding of assigning
ownership to a non-person, that may be a licensing issue. Regardless, I think if you follow my advice and always
use a workspace with multiple administrators then you wont have a problem. This problem only occurs when
people share from their own MyWorkspace. I always recommend people never do that, for this exact reason.
Reply
Anand
DECEMBER 6, 2018 AT 8:21 AM
Hi Matt,
Given that MS has introduced Data ows, will Data ow replace as the solution for Golden dataset?
What scenarios do you think the solution outlined in theis blog will be still useful?
I am trying to understnad scenarios where the solution here can be used.
Thanks,
Anand
Reply
Matt Allington
I am planning an update sometime, as I mentioned here https://exceleratorbi.com.au/moving-queries-from-

power-bi-desktop-to-data ows/
The big difference is that the golden dataset is a data model. Data ows provide data (ie tables) not a data model.
The golden dataset doesn’t need data ows per se, as it is an encapsulated, complete solution including data and
data model.
Reply
Anand
Good point… “Data ows provide data (ie tables) not a data model”. Thanks.
Reply
Anand
NOVEMBER 23, 2018 AT 1:45 PM
Hi Matt,
How is this Golden Data approach different from creating an App or App workspace? 
Or when should we consider App vs. your suggested approach #2 or #3?
Reply
Matt Allington
One thing Microsoft is often bad at, is its naming of things. I think App Workspace is a dumb name. It is just a
workspace – a place to collaborate with others. An App is a “package” of a dataset, reports and dashboards
packaged up as an “app” that can be distributed to others, including people outside your organisation. The
Golden Dataset is something different. It is a “master” version of the data model that can be deployed into 1 or
more Apps and 1 or more Workspaces without having to create duplicate copies. You create 1 golden dataset
and the reuse it in may places. Sharepoint and OneDrive keep all uses in sync.
Reply
Ron S.
NOVEMBER 23, 2018 AT 2:47 AM
This is a further (third) update to an article …

Interesting information, I de nitely like the idea of a master data set that everyone works from. (not too keen on
giving private data to MS, Azure, yes I’m paranoid… )
You said this is the third version of the article. Presumably it would be useful to read the earlier articles, but like too
many other authors you make it too hard to nd. You provide the dates of the earlier articles, but when I look on
your blog list, THERE ARE NO DATES, just titles! WHY NO LINKS in this article to the ones you refer to. It is so
easy for you to do …
Reply
Matt Allington
Fair point Ron. The issue is that I didn’t make it clear – obviously. I edited the original articles and re-released
them. The old versions therefore don’t exist anymore – that is why there are no links and you can’t nd them. I do
this deliberately because the alternative is I would have stale content (in this case 3 articles about the Golden
Dataset) and I run the risk that people don’t read the latest and greatest. I will try to make it clearer that the
originals have been edited.
Reply
Matt Allington
I didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing.
Reply

Matt Allington
You are right, these options don’t auto refresh. You need to do it manually, or you can use a tool like power update.
I’m thinking now that you could create the golden dataset with connections to data ows, and schedule data ows
to keep the data refreshed. I might write an update about that.
Reply
Rainar Essenson
This is a great article – maybe there is a new way doing this with Power BI data ows?
It wasn’t that clear to me – how do you refresh your golden dataset for options 2 and 3?
I really just want to create this one ‘golden’ dataset and publish it to Powerbi.com and then have reports in 2 other
workspaces using it.
Reply
Cameron Wallace
One thing to note is that if you click “save as” on a thin report connected to a golden dataset in the Power BI
service, then the new report will no longer be thin as it will have copied and attached the golden dataset to itself. I
found this to be a problem when I published a report on a clients tenancy. He made a copy of the report by clicking
“save as” and then he did a bit of work on this new copy. His work had to be later redone as you don’t seem to be
able to separate the two again
Reply
Jeff Weir
JULY 25, 2018 AT 7:37 PM
I guess that the new Composite Model functionality is another answer to the question “How can I build 1 master
dataset, use it as the 1 version of the truth, but still allow people to do their own thing?” Because now you can use
DirectQuery to provision the equivalent of the ‘Golden Dataset’, while still allowing users the exibility of doing
additional modelling via Import.
Reply
Brent Lightsey
JULY 25, 2018 AT 9:36 PM
@Jeff Weir – I was thinking the same thing. Many of my users “do their own thing” but just adding that one or 
two additional Excel worksheets that are there to just enrich the golden dataset with a few columns of their own.
In Excel they used these sheets for “VLOOKUP” purposes. Prior to the July 2018 update, doing the live
connection to the Power BI Service meant that users were unable to add their own imported data to this
published data model ( just as you said.) So that has caused me to shy away from recommending this as a best
practice for everyone.
A possible enhancement to this approach could be to store Power BI template les (.pbit) of your saved pbix les
in SharePoint as well. If users needed to get a local copy of the golden dataset, they could then get this pbit and
refresh. However, they would have to know that they were making a copy of the golden dataset (a fool’s gold
dataset?) and there would need to be a clear method to handle these multiple data models with slight mutations.
Reply
Matt Allington
JULY 26, 2018 AT 5:53 AM
There is a BIG difference between Direct Query mode and Import Mode, and I wouldn’t want to give up the
bene ts of Import just to use it as a control mechanism for standardisation – JMO
Reply
Stephen Vasquez
JULY 18, 2018 AT 4:57 PM
I m looking for this guide thanks …
Reply
Matt Allington
JULY 19, 2018 AT 8:05 AM
What are you looking for?
Reply
Kamil Kaleciński
JULY 7, 2018 AT 7:07 AM
One thing that worries me from the very beginning – Once I will change my position in the company, is there a way
to smoothly transfer the dataset (either loaded to OneDrive or directly to PBI account) to one of my colleagues
account, without losing highly developed set of workspaces, reports and group of recipients?
Reply
Matt Allington
JULY 7, 2018 AT 7:10 AM

Always create a new App Workspace. That way admin rights can be shared and transferred. Use an internally
public OneDrive or Sharepoint folder to store the Golden Dataset. Do those things and all will be ne. Even if you
do it in your personal workspace, Power BI admins have tools to make changes and repoint workspaces and
workbooks
Reply
Marcos
JULY 1, 2018 AT 1:20 AM
How to publish a model dataset in Power BI report Server?
Reply
Matt Allington
JULY 1, 2018 AT 6:54 AM
Report server is a whole different topic. You need 1) Report Server (of course) and 2) the speci cally edition of
power bi desktop that is used to publish to the server
Reply
Marcos
JULY 3, 2018 AT 5:18 AM
I have both conditions, the Reports server and the PowerBI desktop optimized for the report server.
I am not able to import the dataset to the server.
Reply
Matt Allington
JULY 3, 2018 AT 6:33 AM
Sorry for the confusion in my reply. You “publish” a report to report server by using the optimised Power bi
desktop version. But report server is not Powerbi.com, and I guess you can’t use his technique with report
server.
Reply
Garry
JUNE 30, 2018 AT 2:46 PM
Thanks Matt … this is a very helpful article.

I’ve been using a golden dataset for a while now – loading it to 3 different workspaces and having a separate
refresh schedule in each workspace. Had no idea till I found your article that it could be a single dataset “serving”
the 3 workspaces.
I’m a bit unsure how this would work with refreshing the dataset via a PBI Gateway. Jerry’s comment earlier 
suggests this can work, but how would one con gure this? Would you con gure the dataset in all 3 workspaces to
refresh via the Gateway? Or, if you setup the refresh schedule in just one of the workspaces, would all 3
workspaces re ect the refreshed data? Has anyone tried this?
Reply
Matt Allington
JUNE 30, 2018 AT 3:50 PM
When you load to OneDrive and then import to a workspace, the workspace has its own copy of the data set (3
workspaces means 3 copies – hence 4 in total). Power BI and OneDrive talk to each other. When the OneDrive
version is updated, any workspace versions will automatically be updated. So you have 2 options. 1) refresh the
OneDrive version and hav eit auto ow through, or 2) con gure the gateway for all workspace copies (3 gateway
con gurations in your case). OneDrive doesn’t have the ability to refresh itself. The le needs to be “opened” and
then refreshed and saved. You could do this with Power Update ($500) or just use the gateway on all copies.
Reply
Garry
JUNE 30, 2018 AT 4:29 PM
Thanks Matt. I’ll give it a try. Thanks again for the great info.
Reply
Cherie
JUNE 21, 2018 AT 4:12 AM
Is the only difference between storing the model (ie dataset) in the cloud (onedrive/sharepoint) verses on premise
with a gateway (when you want to publish to multiple workspaces): When changes are made to the model the
cloud options will automatically update the model in ALL workspaces and the on premise version would have to be
published manually to each workspace where the model has been previously published?
There is no difference in the refresh scheduling, correct?
For both on premise and cloud datasets deployed to multiple workspaces you still have to setup maintain the
refresh schedules in each separate workspace, correct?
There is no difference in permissions to make changes to the dataset, correct?
The users have to have edit permissions in the workspace, they therefore can download the dataset, make changes
and republish and override it?
Thank you.
Reply
Dung Anh
JUNE 20, 2018 AT 7:42 PM
Hi Matt, 
Great article.
I just want to add some demo I have done so far based on your article.
I’m always looking for this kind of Golden data set, but also a Golden reports (then customize for each app). So
with the help of your article, I nally “almost” there. I have tried to pass by the tabular model but all the reports are
disappear (pbix > Azure Analysis Services > obtain tabular model) so I dont really appreciate this method.
So my approach to have golden dataset and reports is :
1/ I have a golden dataset with all the reports for different group of users but each group will use only a subset of
reports and I dont want to have them in different places so I have only one pbix le (the viz works perfectly with
RLS so I dont need to apply lter on group of business users)
2/ With the help of your article, the onedrive master pbix le synchronizes with their “Import pbix” ‘s le. But I dont
want them to sync (I dont want the users see reports that are not belong to their business) so I turn off the sync
One Drive option, activate Schedule Refresh.
3/ By doing that, every time I want to modify the report, I can just go and modify the original and then activate
sync, and by the end I will delete the non-necessary reports for this app.
Let me know what do you think about this approach!

Thanks again for this great article.
Dung Anh
Reply
PK
JUNE 19, 2018 AT 2:55 PM
Nice article, Matt. I work in an organisation that hasn’t yet fully come to exploit what Power BI has to offer and
hence didn’t really have the chance to see this being used. I created something similar to what you have described
before the connect to Power BI feature was made available
The inability to view the data model and the relationships will be a pain-point to create custom measures. You
mentioned about migrating measures to the Golden Dataset? Is this something as trivial as sending an email to the
“owner” of the Golden Dataset to add in the desired measures? Or is it something that will be uploaded to the thin
report on PowerBI.com
Also, if the golden dataset as row level security enforced, would that affect creating custom measures in some
way?
Thanks
Reply
Matt Allington
JUNE 26, 2018 AT 3:27 PM
Yes, I think the process to migrate measures could be a simple as an email. They key is that everyone needs to
know what to do. As for RLS, that is a great question – I have never tested this, but I assume that the new thin
workbook would have the golden dataset RLS applied for the user of the thin workbook. Nothing else would
really make any sense from a design perspective. 
Reply

david taylor
MAY 23, 2018 AT 3:03 PM
I voted for the idea to make a schema visible in these cases. In any case, a couple of best practice suggestions
would be to (a) always avoid hiding key elds and (b) maybe also duplicate the golden model side by side as a fully
imported dataset option. To often analysts just want to make small variations but will abandon the golden model if
they can’t and then will have a dead end.
By the way I tested importing all tables directly into Power Pivot tables from a golden model and it works ne; just
fYI but again would need the keys to enable relationships to be recreated.
Reply
Stefan
APRIL 20, 2018 AT 5:08 PM
Hi Matt,
I think this is a really good idea and a great concept. But it feels like Microsoft has some way left before this can be
fully used in production. For example, in my case I have 7 similar reports, with only minor modi cations. I want to
base all the reports on the same data model, for all the bene ts you mention above, but also to minimize the
workload on the database.
However, I want some differences in e.g. target values etc. that I wanted set up as parameters. But to my
understanding, this cannot be done when designing a “thin” report. I also have some measures designed as
indexes, based on the target values. The only solution I can come up with is to hardcode the values into the
measures in each report, but it doesn’t seem like a very sustainable alternative. Do you have any ideas how I can
tackle this?
Reply
Matt Allington
APRIL 21, 2018 AT 7:45 AM
I’m not sure what you mean by “measures designed as indexes”. Yes parameters are part of Power Query so cant
be in a thin workbook. For your hard coded measures, how about you load a table of all the possible values. Eg
with 2 columns (Report name, value). Place a Report level lter in each report as appropriate to match each
report. Then a generic measure myMeasure = selectedvalue(table[Value]) should work for all reports, and you
can just change the values in the source table when needed.
Reply
Matt Allington
FEBRUARY 19, 2018 AT 8:53 AM
You can’t have a data model inside a PBIX and also connect to an external data model (neither a golden data set 
nor Tabular data model)
Reply
Anthony Newell
FEBRUARY 19, 2018 AT 8:25 AM
Maybe I’m missing something but you can connect to a golden dataset if your starting from fresh with a new pbix,
but what happens if you already have a pbix and you simply want to cherry pick some data / measures from
another data model? My attempts at this proved unsuccessful (cannot recall the message, something about
multiple online sources) but am happy to be proved wrong.
Reply
jerry deng
JANUARY 31, 2018 AT 3:21 PM
Not sure if this is already well know, in my scenario I am making this Golden Dataset available to use in multiple
App Workspaces, to maximize the application of “single source of truth”. This is done by using Sharepoint to house
the Golden Dataset (PBIX), then in each of the App Workspaces use Get Data –> Get Files –> Sharepoint
Teamsites, then point to where the PBIX le is uploaded.
Reply
Matt Allington
No, I did not know that. Very interesting. Is there some documentation on this?
Reply
jerry deng
Hi Matt, I haven’t see any documentation or blog from anyone on this scenario, it seems pretty basic so I just
assumed it was common knowledge. The setup is pretty straightforward, using Sharepoint as the cloud
storage for PBIX les, and by using the Get Files from Sharepoint method as I mentioned, in each App
Workspace, the Golden Dataset is now available for use in each App Workspace, and subsequently production
Apps. Future updates in the Golden Dataset (data refresh, measures, relationships) will re ect to each App
Workspace. If this is not common knowledge, it might be great if you can mention this in your blog post, and
also recommend Microsoft to add to their documentations. What do you think?
Reply
Matt Allington

I agree. I will check it out and update this article. Are you using SharePoint Online? I don’t use it much, so
this is part of the reason I don’t know about it. Are you just sharing to a SharePoint Library?
Reply
Matt Allington
Jerry, I am still investigating this – looking good. How do you keep the PBIX les loaded into SharePoint
refreshed?
Reply
jerry deng
Hi Matt, for smaller datasets I am using a data gateway to refresh the dataset in Sharepoint. The dataset
appears in PBI Service the same way as if it were an direct publish from desktop, and has the same
refresh options on the Service.
I have a couple more complex datasets that the data gateway can’t handle just yet due to timeout issue,
so I am manually refreshing them in Desktop on a daily basis, then upload the PBIX le to Sharepoint. The
Sharepoint le will sync with PBI Service within an hour, then the updated data will show up in the
Service for various Apps and Reports.
Our team hasn’t moved into more enterprise-grade platforms (such as Informatica or SSAS) for dataset
management yet, so this solution with PBIX and Sharepoint works well for now to manage our datasets.
Reply
Sean Cupolo
JANUARY 31, 2018 AT 12:58 AM
I like this idea, but have a hard time seeing how end users will be able to write anything other than the most basic
reports and measures if they don’t understand the structure of the model. This puts a real burden on the model
designer to put a tremendous amount of attention to, for example, naming elds and tables to relay that
information. Even then, I’d have a concern that they may create a measure that does not work as they expect and,
as a result, report incorrect BI because of it.
Reply
Anthony Newell
The way I dealt with one of those issues was to duplicate some measures in the form of a ‘semantic later’, if you
will. A set of friendly names for users completely separate to the base measures as I call them
Reply
Matt Allington
Sean, this is a really good point. In fact I never write measures unless I know the table structure. It seems to me
that a read only copy of the relationship view is required. I created a new idea for that here. Please vote.
https://goo.gl/1XYdiu
Reply
Tony Maclaren
AUGUST 4, 2018 AT 1:37 PM
I have been circulating a pbit thin template with a screen grab of the relationships diagram on page 1. Users
then save a thin pbix.
Reply
Anthony Newell
Sorry, the reason I turned off from this idea in the past is that the the measures in the golden model weren’t
‘exposed’ for usage, is this now the case?
They are when you use Analyse in Excel so I’m hoping yes?!
Reply
Matt Allington
what do you mean “exposed”? You can use measures in the golden dataset in your reports, and you can write
new measures in the thin desktop le.
Reply
Anthony Newell
JANUARY 31, 2018 AT 12:36 AM
By exposed, i mean you can see the list of pre-de ned measures created in the Golden Report from within a
thin PBI desktop le following connection. (in the same way as you can see them in Excel). Let me try….
Reply
Anthony Newell
JANUARY 31, 2018 AT 12:40 AM

Fantastic!
Reply
David Taylor
MAY 15, 2018 AT 11:25 AM
But be careful if you need conditional formatting. This approach breaks. Golden measures are unable to be
conditionally formatted
Reply
Brent Lightsey
JUNE 28, 2018 AT 5:35 AM
For users to connect to a golden dataset in an app workspace, do you know if the workspace settings
must be set as “Members can edit Power BI content?” Or can this also work if the setting is set to
“Members can only view Power BI content.” (Screenshot of setting: https:// rstlightanalytics-
my.sharepoint.com/:i:/p/brent/EWW5m5LhqwhCj-weXpp_rj4Bq9sjPBy6MfYx9jL-iz5XJg?e=tulXSP)
Reply
Matt Allington
JUNE 28, 2018 AT 8:15 PM
I don’t know, but I see no reason why they must have edit access rights
Anthony Newell
Take a bow Sir!
This is fantastic and I’ve felt in my bones I’ve needed to arrive at this place for a while now. I don’t have the facility
to set up SSAS and nor do I have the inclination
This is a superb alternative and does the job very nicely indeed!
Reply
Neville de Sousa
JANUARY 30, 2018 AT 12:25 PM
An excellent suggestion
Reply

Jerry deng
JUNE 25, 2017 AT 1:46 AM
My wish for the next advancement on this feature is to allow connection to multiple “golden dataset” in the same
report, to allow the most exibility in data steward process, with PBI as the convenient single platform to manage
the data modeling of various data sources.
Reply
Phylipe Schad
APRIL 19, 2017 AT 5:35 AM
I’m so excited, i was waiting a long time for this
Reply
Tommy
APRIL 19, 2017 AT 2:10 AM
You can create a content pack of the dataset and report that connects to the service and share the pack with the
new group. The data refreshed in the original dataset and group is re ected automatically in the new group via
content pack.
Reply
Matt Allington
APRIL 19, 2017 AT 4:50 AM
Yes, this has always been the case.
Reply
Tristan Malherbe
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 9:33 PM
Excellent new feature! Very well described. Casual users can bene t from Power users’ modelling skills much
better now ! It sounds like it is Microsoft’s goal for each enhancement of Power BI. Power users drive the
development and production that Casual users can enjoy peacefully.
When you talk about a “shared workspace”, it is actually an Of ce 365 Group accessible in any 0365 application
right ?
Reply
Matt Allington
APRIL 19, 2017 AT 5:43 AM 
I’m not an expert on the O365 integration – i believe these shared spaces can be integrated. At least you can
manually create a shared workgroup a sample I cover here. https://exceleratorbi.com.au/top-tips-for-sharing-
content-using-power-bi/
Reply
sam
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 3:17 PM
The Game changers are yet to come.

1. Connect to Data model in Power BI Desktop le from Excel (w/o all the hacks)
2. Connect on an Excel/Access DB stored in One Drive personal
3. Password protect the Queries / Data model – to give some sense on security.
Reply
mimoune djouallah
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 4:48 PM
Sam
as we are absolutely in the same situation, all we can do is vote, it will be nice if you vote on my idea too
https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/17636668-paid-power-bi-desktop-pro
Reply
sam
APRIL 24, 2017 AT 3:31 PM
@mim – Voted – The problem with the voting system is the same idea is there is several places.
For example the Original Idea by Avi Singh mentioned connecting to both Power BI and Power BI Desktop.
Microsoft conveniently forgot the Power BI Desktop part and declared the idea as completed.
And Avi did not use his good of ces with MS to push the agenda further
Reply
Gary Lanzafama
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 9:02 AM
Yes! It’s a game changer. An issue I have with a single model is the number of measures has increased over time,
which can be confusing for the developer and user. I am hoping that this will allow a “modular” approach. Each
report can focus on a speci c dimension table or Time Intelligence each with a more limited number of measures.
Reply
mimoune djouallah 
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 8:10 AM
“however from Courses

 My Online experience loading data from a SSAS model into Power Pivot is prettypainful.” yes |indeed,
View Cart Login / but it is
Register
one of the most cost effective way to distribute large numbers of reports, of course assuming you have Excel
2013+
Reply
Joe
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 8:00 AM
Would you consider this a golden “Data model” instead of a dataset? I’ve usually referred to a dataset as a single
table…
Reply
Matt Allington
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 8:40 AM
Yes I agree Joe. I just called it a dataset because that is the term used by Microsoft on the PowerBI.com It is a
golden data model until it is published to PowerBI.com and then it becomes a Golden Dataset
Reply
Matt Allington
Yes, but the Power BI term on the service is Dataset, hence why I used it.
Reply
mimoune djouallah
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 7:46 AM
Matt, yes Excellent, but i am chasing a different scenario, I Want to query the “Golden” dataset from
Excel/Powerquery , not live connections but load some data into a local Powerpivot Model.
Live query is nice and all, but it is a pro feature as you have pointed out, it requires a shared workspace.
i tried to play with the string connections but not luck so far.
but i agree it is a game changer for pro users.
Reply
Matt Allington
APRIL 18, 2017 AT 7:57 AM

well you can certainly query the golden dataset using Analyse in Excel and also this technique
https://exceleratorbi.com.au/extract-tabular-data-power-bi-service-excel/
I guess Power Query pointing to the golden dataset will come, however from experience loading data from a
SSAS model into Power Pivot is pretty painful.
Reply
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Home » Blog » Excel » New Power BI Reports from a Golden Dataset

The Problem – Too Many Data Models

What is the Golden Dataset?

The advantages of taking this approach are:

This is how it works.

Publish Your Golden Dataset

Your options are:

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Loading From OneDrive

1. Went to the workspace

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Making Changes to The Golden Dataset

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Time to Create a New Thin Power BI Desktop Report

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Publish the Thin Workbook

Power BI Service Report

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Switch Reports to a Different Golden Dataset

To test this out I did the following.

1. I went to Edit Queries in my Thin Workbook

Summary of Key Points

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About The Author

30+ years experience in using data to deliver business value.

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83 thoughts on “New Power BI Reports from a Golden Dataset”

No AD account to manage, nothing to expire, and a lot less management problems.

I am planning an update sometime, as I mentioned here https://exceleratorbi.com.au/moving-queries-from-

This is a further (third) update to an article …

I didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing.

I m looking for this guide thanks …

What are you looking for?

How to publish a model dataset in Power BI report Server?

Thanks Matt … this is a very helpful article.

Let me know what do you think about this approach!

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Take a bow Sir!

I’m so excited, i was waiting a long time for this

Yes, this has always been the case.

The Game changers are yet to come.

“however from Courses

but i agree it is a game changer for pro users.

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Best learning resource for DAX with Excel 2016.

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