Sharing and Collaborating with Apps
Security: Sharing reports and dashboards through Apps, managing access and permissions., role-based access in Power BI
In this section, we’ll learn how to securely share your Power BI reports and dashboards, manage access and permissions, and use role-based access to control who sees what data.
1. Sharing Reports and Dashboards through Apps
• What is an App in Power BI?
An App is a collection of Power BI reports and dashboards that you can share with others in your organization in a
secure and controlled way.
• How to Share through Apps:
1. Go to the Power BI Service and create a Workspace for your team. Add your reports and dashboards to this
Workspace.
2. Click on Create App to create an App that contains these reports and dashboards.
3. Enter the description for your app and click on add content to add reports in your app.
4. Select the report or dashboard you want to include in your app and click on Add.
5. Click on Add audience to share your app to your organization or you can choose specific people to share your app with by specifying their email. Click on publish app.
• You can select the check boxes to allow audience to use the dataset of your report.
6. Share the App link with your team or organization. They can access it without needing direct access to each report.
If you want to delete an app so you can click on three dots(…) in the top right corner in workspace and click on unpublish app.
• Why Use Apps?
Apps make it easy to share multiple reports and dashboards at once while maintaining control over access.
2. Creating a Dashboard
A Dashboard is single-page, customizable view that displays visuals (tiles) from reports or datasets. Aggregates visuals from one or multiple reports or datasets. Tailored to highlight specific metrics by pinning visuals. Dashboards in Power BI Service are created by pinning visuals from reports. You can include a dashboard in App.
• Open your published report. Select the visual or tile you want to add to the dashboard. Click the Pin Visual icon
(a pin symbol). Choose whether to pin to an existing dashboard or create a new one.
- You can pin the entire page in dashboard by clicking three dots and choose Pin to a dashboard. Choose whether to pin to an existing dashboard or create a new one.
3. Managing Access and Permissions
• How to Manage Access:
o Go to the Workspace in Power BI Service and click on manage access in top right corner.
o Assign roles like Admin, Member, or Viewer to control what each user can do:
Admin: Full control, can edit, share, and manage the Workspace.
Member: Can edit and view reports but cannot change settings.
Viewer: Can only view reports and dashboards.
• Why Manage Access?
Managing access ensures that only the right people can view or edit your reports, protecting sensitive data.
4. Role-Based Access in Power BI
• What is Role-Based Access?
Role-Based Access controls which data different users can see in a report based on their role (e.g., Sales
Manager, Regional Manager).
• How to Set Up Role-Based Access:
1. Go to the Modelling tab in Power BI Desktop. Click on Manage Roles.
2. Create roles (like “Sales Manager”) and set rules for each role (e.g., City=Maharashtra).
3. Publish the report to the Power BI Service.
4. In the Power BI Service, assign users to these roles under the Security settings of the dataset.
5. Add the Email address and click the three dots on role name and click Test as role to see the report.
- Why Use Role-Based Access?
It ensures that users see only the data they are allowed to see, enhancing data security and privacy.
Course Video
A collection of reports and dashboards bundled for easy sharing and collaboration.
Create an App in a Workspace, add content, specify the audience, and publish it.
- Centralized access to multiple reports.
- Managed permissions and updates.
- Easy sharing with a link.
Assign roles (Admin, Member, Viewer) and control access during publishing.
It restricts data visibility based on user roles, defined in Power BI Desktop and assigned in the Service.
