Configuring a dataset scheduled refresh

It is very important to have not only accurate but also timely data for your reports. Looking at a sales forecast report for last year, or even last week’s inventory report, may lead you to making the wrong business decisions. To keep your imported Power BI report data up to date, you will have to refresh the data by pulling data from the data source. You can manually refresh the data of a dataset, but this can be inconvenient, to say the least. An easier way is to have the Power BI service schedule the refresh for you.

To schedule a refresh, go to the workspace you published the report to and select the Datasets + dataflows option from the menu, then hover your mouse over the dataset name. When you do that, the refresh now and schedule refresh icons will appear; select the schedule refresh icon.

This will open the dataset settings page, where you can then set up scheduled refreshes.

Figure 15.2 – Selecting the schedule refresh button on the settings page

Refreshes can be scheduled daily or weekly. You can schedule a dataset to be refreshed up to 48 times a day if the dataset is in a Premium workspace. If it is not, then you can only schedule up to eight refreshes daily.

Figure 15.3 – Datasets can be refreshed multiple times a day if needed

You can also add people to be notified if a refresh fails.

Identifying when a gateway is required

Power BI can directly connect to most cloud-based data sources. If your data source is on-premises, you will need to install and configure an on-premises data gateway. You will not need to know how to install a gateway for the exam. But you will need to know when it is necessary.

The Power BI service will inform you if a gateway is necessary. There is a Gateway connection option on the dataset settings page. If your dataset requires a gateway, this section will inform you that you have not configured your dataset to use an on-premises data gateway.

Figure 15.4 – If a gateway is needed, the Power BI service will inform you

Once you add your dataset’s data source to the gateway, the error will go away and you can refresh the dataset as needed.

Test Tip

You will not be able to enable the slider to schedule a refresh if a gateway is required and not set up.

Figure 15.5 – A data source set to use a gateway

Identifying when a gateway is required is quite simple. The Power BI service will inform you, either by disabling the scheduled refresh or with a not correctly configured message in the Gateway connection area.