Insert manual input columns

Inforiver provides six (6) different options to manually enter data in your Power BI report which are listed below. Data can be entered in a single cell or in several cells at the same time and they can be formatted in a variety of ways. And, there are several settings that you can adjust to make data entry easier for you.

Input type	Description
Number	Double-click and start typing values in directly into a cell
Text	Enter text with multi-line support and word wrap
Dropdown	Use the available presets or create your own list of values; supports both single-select and multi-select
Date	Add a date from the calendar/date picker
Checkbox	Used in case of binary selections
Person	Input users from your organization (only available in Inforiver Enterprise)

Inforiver Matrix offers only the first five types. Input types and features specific to Inforiver Enterprise are covered in a later section.

In this video, we discuss the data input functionality in the reading and editing modes.

1. Sign-in

a) If you are using the Enterprise version, you need to sign in as shown below.

Sign-in is optional. Unless specified, all these features are available in Inforiver Matrix as well.

Sign in with Office 365 account

b) Once you sign in successfully, your profile picture will be displayed as seen in the image.

Sign in successful

c) You can now start inserting a column to capture your data inputs by clicking on Insert --> Data Input.

Data input columns

Before we look at inserting data input columns, let's look at some common properties available for all the input types.

2. Common properties

a) Insert as

Data input columns can be inserted as a measure or a column.

Visual measure: If there is a column hierarchy, the input column is inserted for each category. In case of no column hierarchy, a single column is inserted.

In the below image, a text column has been inserted as a measure by selecting 'Insert as' -> 'Visual measure'.

Visual measure

Visual column: Irrespective of whether there is a column hierarchy or not, a single column gets inserted.

In the below image, a text column has been inserted as a column by selecting 'Insert as' -> 'Visual column'.

Visual column

b) Allow input

By default, inputs are enabled in both read and edit modes in Power BI. But, based on your requirement, you can allow inputs only in edit mode or based on a formula.

Restrictions on input

a) Only in edit mode:

When the 'Only in edit mode' option is chosen, the text editor is disabled.

Data input disabled in reading mode

b) In both Power BI read and edit modes:

When the option 'In both Power BI read and edit modes' is selected, you can enter data in the reading view as shown below.

Data input in reading mode

c) Based on a formula:

You can allow data input only if a certain condition is met. The formula entered should return a boolean.

In the below image, data input is allowed only if (2022 Actuals - 2022 Plan)% < 0. You can see that the text fields for Central and Midwest are greyed out.

Allow input based on formula

3. Access control

Inforiver enterprise allows setting explicit read/write access on data input columns for specific users. To set user access control, open the Manage Columns menu and click on the user icon.

Data input access

In the Data Input Access dialog box, you can assign access to users for each column or measure.

Setting user access for data input columns or measures

4. FAQs

1) Can multiple users enter data in a single published report?

Yes. When you use Inforiver Enterprise, multiple users can enter data in the same form in the reading view. Using the audit module, you can also keep track of changes made to your table made by different users.

2. Will a user be able to see data entered by other users?

By default, yes. But if you enable row-level security, users will be able to see only the records they are authorized to see.

3. This is too good to be true. Is there something specific I should set up or configure so that my users can enter data?

Nothing. Just add Inforiver Enterprise visual to your report, and use the 'Data Input' feature to add fields of various types.

4. All of this is great. Can I write back this data to a database?

Yes. You can write back data to a destination database or shared drive storage. Inforiver supports destinations such as SQL, Snowflake, Azure, BigQuery, MySQL, Sharepoint, OneDrive and more. You may also simply export the data to a PDF or Excel file.

In the next section, we'll be looking at inserting number columns.

Resources

5 types of manual data entry options in your Power BI table/matrix

Allow multiple users to enter data in a blank table/form in Power BI

Input & Edit Sales Forecasts in a Power BI Report