Do we maintain query control on dataset shared with Client.

[rwjg]

Good morning,

I have to admit I am not a current Power BI user, although I have extensive SQL and SSRS knowledge.

One of my clients has requested that we provide him with, I quote: 

" I would like to get XX Data. We have an approach of pulling all data to our Power BI Tool, including Service Now data.

We just need hooks into your data to pull it into Service-Now.

Are there integrations hooks into your data?"

Now;  I understand where he is going and what he is asking for, but this is not something we have done before.

What I would like to know; before we move forward;

• What is the proper term for "hooks", is he just talking integration? 
• When we provide a client access, can this be done through a SQL Query that we control, and can thus update on our side, without client interaction?
  • My thought: if the client has "Read only" access to a shared query, this is no different than providing him access to a report, which would take away quite some concerns.     If this is not controllable, we would grant this client access to all our clients and company data, which, needless to explain, can't happen.
• To accomplish this; what version/license of PowerBI will we require, if at all necessary.

Thank you in advance,

-Rudy

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@rwjg,

Firstly, based on the above quote, it seems that your client asks for that if there is a possibility to get/migrate data from your data source to Service-Now, and your client want to import data from Service-now to Power BI, then create Power BI reports. 

Secondly, I am not sure about your requirement. If you want to share Power BI report to your clients without providing them access to  the underlying data source/dataset, it is possible in Power BI. You can share Power BI report/dashboard to your client. However, if you want to migrate data from your data source into Service-now, this question is out of Power BI's scope.

Thirdly, to share Power BI dashboard/ report to clients, both you and your clients require Power BI pro license.

Regards,
Lydia

[rwjg]

Good Afternoon.

Thank you for your response.

The customer is definitely looking for a dataset that they can access directly from their Power BI environment.

My primary question is;   Can we control what the client has access to?   I.e.   Can I write a SQL Query which generates a certain dataset, and the customer can remote hook into the results of that Query only, instead of getting access to our database directly.

That query would remain under our control, in case we need to make changes.

Thank you in advance,

Sincerely,

Rudy

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@rwjg，

Yes. You can write SQL query in Power BI Desktop to import certain data, create report in Desktop and publish the report into app Workspace of Power BI Service, then add your clients as members of the app workspace and grant them edit permissions. In this case, they are able to access the dataset in Power BI Service and unable to access to your database directly, but please note that your clients should be in same domain as you in order to successfully add them as members of app workspace.

If you are in different domains, you can directly send the PBIX file to your clients, they can add their own visuals in Power BI Desktop.

Regards,
Lydia