dataset desktop

Power BI desktop is so very very useful, but is undermined a little by the fact that if you use Power BI desktop want to publish multiple reports, you end up with redundant datasets.

In an ideal world:
a) you should be able to publish a dataset from Power BI desktop - without a report. I have done this with a nearly empty report page and then deleted the report.
b) then you should be able to add reports that use that existing dataset. Unfortunately, this can only be done with the online editor at present. It is essential people can travel with this data and Power BI desktop should be able to use an online datasets and reuse it rather than having to reconnect back to the original source e.g. SQL server.

This is also important for a few reasons:
*) this is currently the only way to get a backup of reports
*) offline working - I often write reports while commuting and so can only use Power BI for that
*) this would then allow offline editing using Power BI desktop, but stop the build up of duplicate data sets from happening
*) it would also stop the unnecessary extra storage and redundant SQL queries from being needed