Scheduled data refresh in Power BI - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data by date that needs to be refreshed daily to keep reports updated.

Cell	Value
A1	Date
B1	Sales
A2	2024-06-01
B2	100
A3	2024-06-02
B3	150
A4	2024-06-03
B4	200

Formula Trace

REFRESH(DATASET)

Step 1: Check last refresh time

Step 2: Compare current time with schedule

Step 3: Trigger data refresh

Step 4: Load new data from source

Step 5: Update dataset in Power BI service

Step 6: Refresh complete

Cell Reference Map

  A       B  
+----+--------+
|Date| Sales  |
+----+--------+
|2024-06-01|  100   |
|2024-06-02|  150   |
|2024-06-03|  200   |
+----+--------+

Arrows: Data source -> Dataset -> Report

The sales data in columns A and B is the source data that gets refreshed in the dataset.

Result

  A       B  
+------------+--------+
|Date       | Sales  |
+------------+--------+
|2024-06-01 |  100   |
|2024-06-02 |  150   |
|2024-06-03 |  200   |
|2024-06-04 |  180   |  <-- New data after refresh
+------------+--------+

After scheduled refresh, the new sales data for 2024-06-04 appears in the dataset, updating the report.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What triggers the scheduled data refresh in Power BI?

A User manually clicks refresh

B The current time matches the scheduled refresh time

C Data source sends a notification

D Power BI desktop is opened

Key Result

Scheduled refresh triggers data reload at set times to update datasets automatically.