Creating Power BI Apps and Content Distribution

This chapter walks through all facets of Power BI apps as the primary method for distributing content to groups of users. Given the current one-to-one relationship between apps and workspaces, you are advised to review Chapter 10, Managing Application Workspaces and Power BI Content, prior to this chapter.

Additional content distribution and consumption methods including email subscriptions, SharePoint Online embedding, data-driven alerts, and Analyze in Excel are also described in this chapter. The distribution methods available in Power BI Report Server and the technical details of integrating Power BI content into custom applications are outside the scope of this chapter.

In this chapter, we will review the following topics:

• Content distribution methods
• Power BI apps
• Sharing content
• Embedding
• Data alerts
• Email subscriptions
• Analyze in Excel
• Self-service BI workspaces
...

Content distribution methods

Content distribution refers to the sharing and distribution of artifacts that result from Power BI projects. Sharing reporting artifacts is a balance of ease of access, discoverability, security, and general data governance.

As a result, there are multiple different ways to share reports, datasets, and other content. Some of these methods, like Power BI apps, focus heavily on read-only reports and centralization. Others, like self-service workspaces, focus more on collaboration and editing. In fact, one of the main value propositions of Power BI is the ability of users to access relevant analytical content in a manner and context that’s best suited to their needs.

For example, many read-only users may log in to the Power BI service to view dashboards or reports contained within Power BI apps that are specific to their role or department. Other users, however, may only receive snapshot images of reports and dashboards via email subscriptions...

Power BI apps

A Power BI app is a published collection of content from a workspace. An app can include all or a subset of the dashboards, scorecards, reports, and Excel workbooks within a single workspace.

There is currently a one-to-one relationship between apps and workspaces such that each workspace can only have a single associated app, and an app’s content can only come from a single workspace. This limitation has caused organizations to create and manage more workspaces than they would like in order to isolate app content to different groups. Given the customer feedback for this issue, a new feature is planned for later in 2022 that will allow a single workspace to support multiple app versions for different consumer groups.

Just as workspaces are intended for the creation and management of Power BI content, apps are intended for the distribution of that content to groups of users. Once granted permission to an app, users can view the contents of the app within...

Sharing content

In addition to Power BI apps, Power BI Pro users can share individual dashboards, reports, scorecards, and Excel workbooks directly with users, groups, and even guest users from outside the organization.

For example, unlike a Power BI app built for the sales organization containing several dashboards and many reports, a single dashboard or report could be shared with two or three users in the customer service department. In this scenario, the few customer service department users may have limited or undefined reporting needs, or the corporate BI team may not have a full Power BI app for their department prepared yet.

Recipients of directly shared content receive the same essential benefits of Power BI apps in terms of easy access as well as the latest updates and modifications to the content. In terms of user access, the Shared with me menu in the left navigation of the Power BI service provides easy access. The Shared with me menu option is also available...

Embedding

Embedding refers to the distribution of Power BI content outside of the Power BI service and mobile applications such as SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, custom applications, and the public internet. In this section, we will cover the separate licensing considerations for embedding as well as four embedding scenarios:

• Publish to web
• Secure URL embedding
• Microsoft 365 apps
• Custom applications

In addition to the embedding options covered in this section, it is worth noting that other Microsoft applications also include the ability to embed Power BI content, including Dynamics 365 and Power Apps. Many of these additional embedding scenarios are covered in Chapter 13 of Microsoft Power BI Cookbook, Second Edition.

Before diving into the four embedding scenarios, it is first important to understand how Power BI content embedding is licensed.

Licensing embedding

Power BI Premium capacity isn’t required for embedding reports...

Data alerts

Data-driven alerts are email notifications and one of the top capabilities exclusive to dashboards in the Power BI service. For many users and business scenarios, data-driven alerts are a high-value complement, or even a substitute, to dashboards and reports as they help to avoid frequently accessing Power BI to search for actionable information.

For example, rather than opening Power BI in the browser or on a phone every morning and looking for red colors or certain KPI symbols, users could view certain dashboards or reports less frequently and only respond to data-driven alert notifications sent via email.

With a standard card, KPI, or gauge visual pinned to a dashboard, a data-driven alert can be configured either in the Power BI service or via the Power BI mobile app. In Figure 13.27, the ellipses (…) of a KPI visual are clicked, exposing the Manage alerts option:

Figure 13.27: Manage alerts in Power BI service

Choosing Manage alerts...

Email subscriptions

Power BI also provides email subscriptions for Power BI Pro users of both reports and dashboards as well as users with Free licenses if the content is hosted in a Premium capacity workspace (a P or EM SKU). With email subscriptions configured in the Power BI service, a user is sent a snapshot of either the report page or the dashboard canvas as well as an optional link to the content in the Power BI service.

In Figure 13.31, a user with a Power BI Pro license has accessed European Sales (dashboard), as described earlier in this chapter, from within a Power BI app:

Figure 13.31: Subscribe to the dashboard

Clicking the Subscribe icon, as shown in Figure 13.31, opens the Subscribe to emails pane to configure and confirm the email subscription, as shown in Figure 13.32:

Figure 13.32: Subscribe to emails pane

With the yellow slider set to On, selecting the Save and close button (not shown) at the bottom of the pane enables the email subscription...

Analyze in Excel

Users with Power BI Pro licenses can connect to datasets hosted in the Power BI service from both Power BI Desktop and Microsoft Excel. Either of these tools displays the tables, columns, and measures for the dataset and, based on the report visuals created (for example, pivot tables), sends queries to Power BI for execution by the source dataset.

In the case of Power BI Desktop, these reports can be published back to the Power BI service and retain their connection to the dataset, as recommended in the Live connections to Power BI datasets section of Chapter 6, Planning Power BI Reports.

Prior to broadly recommending Excel as a client-reporting tool, consider whether Power BI Desktop isn’t better suited to common use cases, such as pivot tables. As the adoption of Power BI increases, Power BI reports that are built in Power BI Desktop provide a richer and more familiar user experience.

The Analyze in Excel feature is exposed as an action for...

Self-service BI workspaces

As part of an organization’s effort to empower users and drive a data culture, some workspaces are often created for the purpose of enabling business users and their teams to create and manage their own content.

For example, although other workspaces and apps containing financial reporting could be wholly owned by the BI/IT team, a workspace could be created for certain members of the finance and accounting department, and a few authors could be assigned Power BI Pro licenses and some training and documentation on data sources.

Such a self-service BI workspace allows business users, versus the enterprise BI team, to create and share content. As per the Power BI deployment modes section of Chapter 1, Planning Power BI Projects, some organizations may choose to empower certain business users to create and manage the visualization layer (Self-Service Visualization).

This hybrid approach gives business users more flexibility to address...

Summary

This chapter provided a broad overview of Power BI’s different content distribution and data access methods. Power BI apps were particularly emphasized as they represent the primary distribution mechanism supporting large groups of users.

The essential details of utilizing other distribution methods, such as email subscriptions, data alerts, and sharing reports and dashboards, were also reviewed. Furthermore, guidance was provided on analyzing datasets in Excel as well as utilizing Power Automate to drive custom email alerts.

The following chapter looks at Power BI deployments from an administration perspective. This includes the Power BI service administrator role and the controls available for administrators to define and manage authentication, monitor user activities, and limit or disable various features.

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