What is a "dataflow" in Power BI?

A "dataflow" in Power BI is primarily a collection of tables that can be reused across different reports and dashboards within the Power BI platform. This feature allows users to define and transform their data in one place and then leverage that data across various projects, ensuring consistency and reducing redundancy in data processing.

Dataflows are particularly beneficial because they promote a centralized approach to data management. Users can perform data transformation using Power Query, the same tool used in Power BI Desktop, and then save this processed data. Once created, these dataflows can be easily consumed by multiple Power BI reports, facilitating a streamlined and efficient workflow.

Additionally, this approach leads to significant improvements in performance since multiple reports can access the same underlying data without needing to replicate the data processing steps multiple times. By utilizing dataflows, organizations can ensure that all reports are built on the same foundational data, promoting accuracy and consistency across analytics efforts.

The other options do not accurately capture the essence of what a dataflow is. While visualizing data is an important aspect of Power BI, it does not well define dataflows. User permission settings pertain more to security and governance around data access rather than defining dataflows. Finally, a storage format for report snapshots is more relevant to how reports are