How to Add New Data to Power BI Dashboard

Adding a new data source to an existing Power BI project shouldn't feel like a restart. Whether you've just launched a new ads platform or need to merge sales data from a separate spreadsheet, integrating new information is a common part of the process. This guide will walk you through exactly how to add new data to your Power BI reports and then get it to show up on your dashboard, step-by-step.

First, Understand How Power BI is Structured

Before jumping into the "how," it's important to understand the relationship between three key Power BI components: Datasets, Reports, and Dashboards. Many people get stuck here because they try to add data directly to a dashboard, which isn't how Power BI works.

• Dataset: This is the collection of all your data. When you connect to an Excel file, a database, or a web service, you're creating a dataset. It’s the foundation and holds all the tables and relationships.
• Report: This is a multi-page canvas where you build your data visualizations (charts, graphs, tables). A report is connected to a single dataset. You create and modify reports in Power BI Desktop.
• Dashboard: A dashboard is a single-page view containing a collection of tiles that are "pinned" from one or more reports. It's designed for monitoring and getting an at-a-glance view of your most important metrics. Dashboards live in the Power BI Service (the web version).

So, the workflow is this: you add a new data source to your dataset, create visuals from it in your report, and then pin those visuals to your dashboard. The process always starts in Power BI Desktop.

Section 1: Adding a New Data Source in Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is your design studio. It's where you connect to data, build your data model, and design the pages of your report. Let's start by bringing that new data in.

Step 1: Open Your Existing Report File

First things first, you need to open the .pbix file that is the source for your published report and dashboard. Everything you build originates from this file, so find it on your local machine or shared drive and open it in Power BI Desktop.

Step 2: Connect to the New Data

Once your report is open, look at the "Home" tab in the top ribbon. You'll find the "Data" section with an option labeled Get Data.

Click on "Get Data," and Power BI will present you with a list of the most common data sources you can connect to. For this example, let's say we want to add data from a new marketing campaign budget tracked in an Excel workbook.

1. Click Get Data.
2. Select Excel workbook from the dropdown menu (or click "More..." to find hundreds of other connectors).
3. Navigate to the location of your Excel file, select it, and click Open.

Power BI will open a "Navigator" window. This window shows you all the sheets and tables within your Excel file. Select the sheet or table that contains the data you need. You'll see a preview of the data on the right side.

Step 3: Clean and Transform Your Data in Power Query Editor

Instead of clicking "Load" right away, it's almost always a good idea to click Transform Data. This opens the Power Query Editor, a powerful tool for cleaning and shaping your data before it ever enters your data model.

Here, you can perform tasks like:

• Changing data types (e.g., text to date)
• Removing unnecessary columns or rows
• Splitting columns (e.g., splitting "First Name Last Name" into separate columns)
• Replacing values
• Merging this new data with an existing query

Even if your data looks clean, at least review the column data types to ensure Power BI interpreted them correctly. For our budget spreadsheet, you'd want to make sure the 'Date' column is a Date type and the 'Budget' column is a Decimal Number or Currency type.

Once you are happy with the state of your new data, click the Close & Apply button in the top-left corner of the Power Query Editor. This applies your changes and loads the new table into your report's data model.

That's it! The new data source is now part of your PBIX file.

Section 2: Integrating the New Data into Your Report

Now that the data is loaded, you need to tell Power BI how it relates to your existing data and then use it in your visuals. This is what makes your analysis meaningful.

Step 1: Create a Relationship in the Model View

On the left-hand side of Power BI Desktop, you'll see three icons: Report, Data, and Model. Click on the Model view icon (it looks like three connected boxes).

You’ll see a diagram of all the tables in your dataset, including the new one you just added. To make your visuals work correctly, you need to connect this new table to at least one of your existing tables.

Relationships are made by dragging a field from one table and dropping it onto the corresponding field in another. For example, if our new 'Marketing Budget' table has a 'Date' column and our existing 'Sales' table also has a 'Date' column, we can create a relationship by dragging 'Date' from one table onto 'Date' in the other.

This simple link allows you to create visuals that show, for instance, your marketing budget and total sales on the same timeline.

Step 2: Add New Visuals Using the New Data

With the relationship established, head back to the Report view (the first icon on the left). In the "Fields" pane on the right, you'll see your new table listed.

Now you can create brand-new charts with this data:

1. Click on an empty space on your report canvas.
2. Select a visual from the "Visualizations" pane (e.g., a Line chart).
3. From your new 'Marketing Budget' table, drag the 'Date' field into the "X-axis" well and the 'Budget' field into the "Y-axis" well.

Just like that, you have a new chart showing your marketing budget over time.

Step 3: Update Existing Visuals with New Fields

You can also enhance existing visuals. Let's say you have a chart showing 'Sales Amount by Month'. You could also add your 'Budget' field to the same chart to compare actuals vs. budget.

1. Click on the existing sales chart to select it.
2. From your new 'Marketing Budget' table, find the 'Budget' field.
3. Drag the 'Budget' field into a well for that visual, such as the "Line y-axis" or "Column values" slot depending on your chart type.

The visual will instantly update to include the new data, giving you a more comprehensive view without having to build a completely new chart.

Section 3: Getting Your Updates onto the Dashboard

Your report is now updated with the new data source and visuals in Power BI Desktop. The final step is to push these changes to the Power BI Service so your dashboard reflects them.

Step 1: Publish Your Report

In the "Home" tab of the Power BI Desktop ribbon, click the Publish button. A dialog box will appear asking you to select a destination workspace in the Power BI Service. Choose the same workspace that contains your original report and dashboard.

Power BI will upload your changes. When it asks if you want to replace the existing dataset and report, click Replace. This updates the live version with your newly modified version from your desktop.

Step 2: Pin Your New Visuals to the Dashboard

Once publishing is complete, a link will appear saying "Open '[Your Report Name]' in Power BI." Click it. This will take you to your newly updated report in the Power BI Service web view.

Find the new visual you created. Hover over it with your mouse, and a small menu will appear on its border. Click the pushpin icon for Pin visual.

You will be prompted to either pin it to an existing dashboard or a new one. Select your target dashboard and click Pin.

Your work is done! The visual with the new data source is now live on your dashboard alongside your other tiles.

Bonus Step: Configure a Scheduled Refresh

To keep your data new and current without manually republishing, you should set up a scheduled refresh.

In the Power BI Service, navigate to your workspace, find your newly updated dataset, click the three-dot menu (...) next to it, and select Settings.

1. Data source credentials: Check here to make sure your credentials for the new data source have been entered correctly.
2. Scheduled refresh: Expand this section and toggle "Keep your data up to date" to On. You can then choose a refresh frequency (e.g., daily) and add specific times for the update to run.

This process automates data refreshes for all sources in your dataset, ensuring your dashboard always shows the latest information.

Final Thoughts

Adding new data to a Power BI dashboard involves updating the core dataset and report in Power BI Desktop, establishing relationships, modifying your visuals, and then publishing the changes to the web service. While it has several steps, following this flow makes the process structured and manageable once you get the hang of it.

We know that managing connections, data models, and configurations in traditional BI tools can be time-consuming. That’s why we built Graphed to simplify the entire reporting process. Instead of setting up data sources and manually building reports, you just connect your platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, and HubSpot with a few clicks. Then, you can ask for a dashboard in plain English - like "create a report comparing marketing spend vs sales revenue by a campaign" - and get a live, interactive dashboard built for you in seconds.