Database Writeback in Power BI Using Power Apps

In business, quick and easy updates to data are important. Imagine project managers updating task statuses on the go, and finance teams changing sales targets quickly in their reports — all directly within Power BI. This is what Power BI with writeback does.

In this article, we're transforming Power BI from a read-only tool into a dynamic app with database writeback capabilities using Power App.

Power BI can help several real-world scenarios below:

• Comments on Project: Allowing sales teams to add context to figures directly in the report, with comments/notes saved to the database.
• Status Updates: Using a Power BI project status report where users can update the status of tasks.
• Forecast Adjustments: Enabling finance teams to update sales targets or cost budgets directly in Power BI dashboards.

How to

1. Start by adding a Power Apps visual to your Power BI report

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2. Drag data fields you want to use

3. Connect to Data source in Power App

4. Set up forms in Power Apps for data input or editing

5. Configure Writeback: Ensure that the forms in Power Apps are configured to write back changes to the database.

Conclusion

Using Power BI with Power Apps for database writeback makes data handling simple and interactive. It changes Power BI from just showing data to letting us update it, turning Power BI from a data read only tool into an interactive data report.

Note

It's important to consider security. Ensure that your data handling and updating processes follow your organization's security protocols.

When connected to a database via DirectQuery mode, data refreshes automatically after each successful writeback, ensuring your reports always show the latest updates. However, in Import mode, you'll need to manually trigger an update after each successful writeback.