What are the Use Cases of Dataflow for You in Power BI

[@thomassentilhes7147]

Cristal clear! Short but complete explanation! Many thanks to both Leila and you for helping the community :)

[@moulik2341]

Excellent Video. You have answered all questions regarding Dataflow which I have in my mind for more than 6 months. Thank you :)

[@SolutionsAbroad]

What a great explanation on Dataflows! Thanks Reza

[@MadhwendraSingh]

Great Explanation - both duration & content quality, Thanks Reza Dataflow = PowerQuery CDM loader for ADLS Who ever came-up with the name "Dataflow" did not bothered about Dataflows in ADF & Synapse :)

[@yanni6213]

If I use dataflow, will I be able to connect to the "data warehouse" I created with my other operational systems? Or do you recommend using azure data flows in that case? I don't want to build something which I can only access with PowerBI (or other Microsoft only tools). Thanks for your thoughts.

[@RADACAD]

that would be depend on what is the storage you use for the Dataflow. by default the dataflow in Power BI uses an internal Azure Data Lake storage which is only accessible using Power BI. But if you bring your own Azure subscription and Azure Data Lake storage, then you can access it from any other application and services.

[@bedsup]

Thanks Reza Rad. Very well explained. You have just gained another subscriber :)

[@natacam82]

What do you think are the disadvantages of using Power BI dataflow instead of building a data warehouse? I am thinking of using dataflow for a small company that doesn't have a DW yet, as a "pilot" BI project. I suppose there might be some limitations in performance and/ or storage...

[@RADACAD]

dataflows are not replacement of Data warehouse. Data Warehouse and technologies like that will give you more flexibility in the enterprise scenarios and dealing with big data. Dataflow on the other hand can be good option for smaller scale data, and scenarios that the use of other licenses are limited.

[@noahhadro8213]

When I try to do a "FuzzyNestedJoin" I get this error in Data Flows: "The name 'Table.FuzzyNestedJoin' wasn't recognized. Make sure it's spelled correctly" Here is what I am doing......... Table.FuzzyNestedJoin(#"Expanded Exclude", {"Account_Name"}, HPG_Roster, {"Name2"}, "HPG_Roster", JoinKind.LeftOuter, [IgnoreCase = true, IgnoreSpace = true, NumberOfMatches = 1])................ Any help would be amazing!

[@StanMoong]

Each month we have final and estimated data. Unfortunately, the data files for these 2 sets have different files, hence, different format. Each set has 6 files, mix of CSV and excel. I'm currently doing the transformation in Excel power query. So, I end up with 2 excel transformation for each month. If I use the data flow method, would it mean every month, I need to upload previous months files in order to get the full dataset, or I can upload only current month source data files?

[@RADACAD]

You can do it all MUCH easier. What you need is a custom function in power query for each type of excel file. Then loop through all files and just run the custom function and combine all the results. All can be done automatically. I have done a blog article about it. And same approach can be used in dataflow too.

[@AmitKohli1]

So if we DO have a data warehouse where we could do all these transformations beforehand, there's no need for PowerBI dataflows, is that correct?

[@RADACAD]

if you DO have a data warehouse, and you do indeed also have an ETL process, then yes, you don't need dataflow. but this is a luxury that many users of Power BI don't have

[@slapaden]

@@RADACAD What about this scenario; I have a data warehouse and I want to pull data from source systems with Power Bi dataflow, transform and load it in an on-premise data warehouse, is this possible?

[@julioms23]

Excelent information!! I didn't understand that before

[@Shivansh1507]

Can someone else also refresh data flow created by me ( assuming he is also member of workspace)?

[@narafinbluemoon906]

Thank you very much for the insight. Highly appreciated.

[@binsmistry1841]

thank Reza it was briefly explained!

[@stflytics2371]

Awesome content, subscribed! Thanks!

[@vivekanandareddychundi5230]

Hi, Will Dataflow support AppendMode or only accepts FullLoad ?

[@RADACAD]

I believe by append mode, you mean Incremental Refresh? Yes, dataflow supports that.

[@farmanalishah8836]

Is this available in a free version on the cloud?

[@RADACAD]

Not free. Because dataflow can be created on organizational workspace only, not "my workspace". But available on pro and premium.

[@xMastJedi]

Update 2021. We have Premium license. We DON'T have Azure. And all my reports are build based on Dataflows.

[@RADACAD]

Correct. you don't need Azure to use dataflows.

[@feng3625]

Subscribed. Really great! You answered most of my questions. one more: could paginate report use dataflow?

[@RADACAD]

paginated report can use a dataset, that dataset can be fed using dataflow

[@mommafitbit3701]

@@RADACAD please point me to a slide deck on short summary comparing / contrasting the difference b/w power bi data flow and azure dataflow ?? that will help me understand when to use which.. and to learn what each tool does . I am a new learner. thanks

[@Milhouse77BS]

I wish Power BI dataflows was available for Get Data in the Power BI service. Then my Mac users could bring in data and build simple reports in a browser. Not perfect, since we still need a PC to run Desktop to build models, but it would be a start.

[@RADACAD]

Building data models in the service is not yet available, but you can install power bi Desktop on mac, using a container product 😉

[@shubhamchavan7338]

thantu gleath infolmation (Thank you great information)