Power BI Service for Business Users

[leahschneider]

Has anyone rolled out Power BI Service for business users?  I just started with the Service (been using the desktop version for a couple years).  It seems very buggy and under developed.  My users are not super tech savvy but they have to be able to manually refresh the reports.  In order to do this I have to give them delete permissions on the reports (and as of Monday, have them use workspaces instead of apps).  There seems to be very little consideration on how anyone who doesn't have all the permissions can use the service.  I don't know if this is intended as a tool for users even, or a way for BI developers to share ideas.  I need some direction before I release this to production and realize that my assumed functionality is going to be deprecated.

[GilbertQ]

Hi there

If you use the new App Workspace V2, you can give different permissions which will allow the users to create content and reports but with restricted permissions

Have a look at this link which goes into more detail: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-create-the-new-workspaces

[leahschneider]

@GilbertQ  I use V2 apps.  There are three incredibly broad and totally non customizable groups.  If I need people to be able to manually refresh datasets, which I do, they need to be at least members.  But even contributers - the lowest level - have the ability to delete items within a workspace.  I want to specify separate CRUD permissions, which seems super standard for business users.  I need my users to refresh data in an app (but that disappeared for no reason Monday) and I'd like to give them the ability to explore the datasets in a workspace without downloading Power BI desktop and without messing up the structures I've created.

[GilbertQ]

Hi there

I think currently there is not this capability in the product.

If you make them contributors I would say it might be an education in terms of deleting items and being responsible for looking after their App workspace?

[leahschneider]

That would seem to mean that business users are not meant to use the Power BI service.  If I want users to be able to run a stored procedure in SQL, I would never also give them delete database permissions and just hope that they're responsible.  I want to know if anyone is actually letting business users use this product in a production setting because it seems unsafe.  

[GilbertQ]

I agree, that is why the App Workspace V2 is what I would look at using.

[leahschneider]

@GilbertQ You agree that Power BI service is not designed for business users?  I am using V2.

[GilbertQ]

I think it is, it often comes down to their requirements.

And also to how they have been trained on the Power BI Service capabilities.

When you say refresh the reports, is this refreshing the data or updating the actual reports?

[leahschneider]

I mean refreshing the data from the datasets that the reports pull from.

[GilbertQ]

I would then suggest possibly using the Enterprise Gateway and configuring the Admin for the refreshing. Then allowing those users to refresh the dataset in that manner?

[leahschneider]

As I mentioned before @GilbertQ , I have done this.  I just don't think that it's good practice to give business users admin privileges.  I'd like them to be able to get the latest data, not be able to delete all reports in the app.  You are very responsive but you keep trying to fix a specific problem and I don't have a specific problem.  I know how to use Power BI Service, but I'm concerned with releasing apps and reports to business users.  Do you let your business users access Power BI Service without being proficient in Power BI Desktop?

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi there

I totally agree with what you are saying and apologies if I mis-read what you are trying to say.

What I normally say to business users is that the reports are refreshed on a schedule (which is only 8 times on Power BI Pro) per day. And that it is on a schedule defined by the business. This should then resolve the issue on the refreshing of data.

After which you could then let them create new reports either in the Power BI Service, or from Power BI desktop connecting to the datasets already published and that have got the scheduled refresh happening for them.

In the past some users do not even have Power BI desktop and only create reports in the Power BI Service, after they have got training on how to use the Power BI Service.

[leahschneider]

Thanks.  This doesn't actually solve my problem but it seems that there is no good way for me to have business users who can interact with the data in an easy, limited way.

[GilbertQ]

Thanks for letting us know. Hopefully there will be improvements in the future.