Power BI Service – Sharing, Collaboration, and Cloud Features - Textnotes

Power BI Service – Sharing, Collaboration, and Cloud Features

This module introduces Power BI Service, the cloud platform for sharing, collaboration, and online analytics. Learners will understand workspaces and apps, learn to publish reports from Desktop, share dashboards, configure scheduled refresh, and implement row-level security. Hands-on exercises include publishing a report and setting up automated data refresh.

1. Power BI Service Overview: Workspaces and Apps

  1. Workspaces: Collaborative areas in Power BI Service where reports, dashboards, and datasets are stored.
  2. Apps: Packaged content from workspaces for distribution to users.

Example:

  1. A Sales Analytics workspace contains multiple reports and dashboards.
  2. An App is published to share key metrics with all sales managers.

2. Publishing Reports from Power BI Desktop to Service

  1. Save the report in Desktop → Click Publish → Choose workspace in Power BI Service.

Example:

  1. A monthly sales report created in Desktop is published to the “Sales Analytics” workspace.
  2. Team members can now access it online.

3. Sharing Reports and Dashboards with Others

  1. Share with individuals or groups via email
  2. Options: View or edit access
  3. Can also create Power BI Apps for broader distribution

Example:

  1. Share the “Top Products Dashboard” with regional managers with view-only access.

4. Scheduled Data Refresh and Gateways

  1. Scheduled Refresh: Automatically updates datasets at set intervals.
  2. Gateway: Connects on-premises data sources to Power BI Service for refresh.

Example:

  1. Daily sales CSV in SharePoint → Gateway allows scheduled refresh every morning.

5. Row-Level Security (RLS)

  1. Restricts data access for users based on roles
  2. Roles are defined in Desktop → Published to Service

Example:

  1. Regional Manager role → Can only see data for their assigned region.
  2. CEO role → Can see all regions.