In today's professional business intelligence (BI) landscape, the expectation is not only to view Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) but also to have the capability to adjust them. This interactivity empowers end-users to enhance data quality without requiring constant engagement with data specialists for change requests. It aligns with the self-service BI concept: the strategy of enabling users to independently work with data, regardless of technical expertise. This is where the integration of Power Apps with Power BI becomes a game-changer.

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Addressing Common Concerns

When businesses first encounter the need of interactive Power BI dashboards, several questions arise:

  • How can we modify data directly from our Power BI dashboards?
  • Can we regulate who has the authority to make these changes?
  • Once changes are made, how can we ensure our dashboards instantly show the updated data?

Let’s dive right into it and check what Power Apps & Power BI integration offers.

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Four Steps to Enable Write-back from Power BI

The process of embedding Power Apps into Power BI can be summarized in four steps:

  • Select the Power Apps Visual in Power BI Desktop and add it to your report.
  • Connect Power Apps to the Required Data: Navigate to Power Apps online interface by clicking on the Power Apps Visual and establish the connection with the desired data source. Ensure the connection from Power Apps to the data source is universal and not personalized. The connection should also possess read-write permissions.
  • Create a New Form and Incorporate Required Fields based on the data you wish to write back.
  • Publish the Power App. This will make the write-back functionality available to end-users.

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Ensuring that Write-back Access is only given to specific users

Power Apps provides native integration with Azure AD. Thanks to this feature, the system can recognize current users and retrieve related Azure AD details. The steps to enable selective write-back access using AD integration are:

  • Implement User() Function in your Power Apps code: The function will identify the user and fetch related details from Azure AD.
  • Create an Access Mapping Table: Design a table that lists users and maps them to specific permissions, groups, or even dimension values such as countries and save the table at your data source.
  • Set Rules at the Data or Functionality Level: Use Power Apps functions like Filter() to dictate what data the user can access or modify.
  • Leverage the Access Table: This table can be referred to in Power Apps to apply rules and conditions. It helps in tailoring data access and user actions at a granular level.

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Enabling Data Refresh After Submission in Power BI

After a write-back, it's vital to ensure that the Power BI dashboard reflects the updated data. Below we list the actions which one may take and the respective result:

  • Use the PowerBIIntegration.Refresh() Function: If you've created an app directly from the Power BI dashboard, this function ensures an immediate refresh post data submission.
  • Create a Flow for Dataset Refresh with the data mode connection inside the dataset configured at “Import”. This option ensures timely data update, however, the user will have to additionally refresh the visuals on the report if he/she has the report opened.
  • Manual Refresh in Import Mode: If real-time data isn't imperative, you can opt for a scheduled refresh or a manual dataset refresh.
  • Direct Query Mode: An intuitive choice for those who want up-to-date data. Although it ensures the dataset is refreshed, visuals might not update automatically if data is submitted from an embedded Power App. An enforced visual refresh might be necessary similarly to “Power Automate Flow” option described in the second point.

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Conclusion

The solution that leverages an integration of Power Apps into Power BI enables user to write-back directly from the report. If set up correctly, it also allows immediate data refresh. With such a solution organizations can ensure their reports are not just passive viewing tools but the tools for data interaction. Whether it's adjusting sales forecasts, updating inventory levels, or inputting new customer details, the combined power of Power Apps and Power BI ensures that our client's data is not only being displayed in comprehensive manner, but also is being corrected by the end users if required.

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