How do you extend Template App Dataset with additional data (merge other datasets with template app datasets)

Power BI
1

So I’ve connected to a PowerBI template app via App Source and installed it in PowerBI service and would like to model some additional data on top of it.

I can see how I can:

  1. Connect from PowerBI Desktop and access the data from that template app to create additional reports. However when I do this, I can no longer edit the dataset or add additional queries to merge the dataset (see sample .pbix file)test mergin template apps with datasets.pbix (6.3 KB)

  2. Create additional reports from the template app’s dataset from PowerBI Service. However again there is no option to further extend the data model with additional tables

  3. Create an additional dataset and create a second report off of that new dataset and create a dashboard that shows the template app data next to the new data. However this doesn’t allow me to easily combine filters and I’d have to add the same filter on both pinned report tiles or live pages to be able to compare the same data.
    However, I would like to take this dataset from the template app and model it with some additional data that I have on a local spreadsheet or cloud spreadsheet (e.g. google sheets). E.g. Let’s say the template app dataset has a list of locations and the address for each and I’d like to link a new table from a spreadsheet that contains a list of sales by location in a many-to-one sort of relationship. Is this possible to do in PowerBI Service or desktop? It seems I can hack some of this using excel spreadsheets instead and create pivot tables off of the data but that seems more fragile than using the modelling tools in PowerBI directly. I had a brief look at dataflows too but those could not connect to the dataset from the template app.

2

Hello Nicola,
I think your template app is stringent with the datasets mashup. It all depends on how the developer contributed the template app as.
Refer to https://datachant.com/2019/02/08/template-apps-in-power-bi/ for some deep understanding on this subject.
Good luck!
Indira

3

Hi Nicola,

I think the simple answer here is that you need the entire pbix file that is being used in the template app.

I’m not too sure if you have this or not, but the reality is you can do any customisation without it. You can’t do much in the online service directly. It all needs to be done in Power BI desktop.

Once you have this you should then be able to see the data connections that already exist and then add your own data to the model.

The template app are a little restrictive in this regard, but they have there place.

Let me know if I’ve covered off what you were after

Sam

4

Hi Sam,

I do have the pbix file because we were the ones who created the template app for our users. However from a user point of view, they cannot download the pbix file directly from the report in PBI service as it is greyed out. This link to connect to the dataset was a workaround/ hack to download the pbix file from the template app .

I guess the initial question would be , is it possible to give end users the ability to download the pbix file from template apps (with the data model and connecting to other data capability)?

5

Yes I believe this is how the apps are set up. They are more for plug and play applications, rather than for internal combinations from what I can see.

If you want users to extend reports in my view you just have to centrally share models or template files to relevant users in your teams.

Hopefully I’ve helped in thinking through this.

Sam

6

Thanks Sam.

You’ve helped to confirm my suspicions about template apps. I will need to figure out a way of sharing these files to users outside of our tenant and teams