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Anonymous
Not applicable

Share content with external users and be able to collaborate with them on editing the reports.

Hei! I am trying to figure out the best way to share content with external users and be able to collaborate with them on editing the reports.

 

I have created a tabular model in analysis services and connected to it via DirectQuery in PowerBI Desktop. The external user that I am sharing with is added to our AD B2B, and in AS I have created a role and added them as a member. So as an external user they have access to the AS Server.

 

I have connected to the AS server in PowerBI from my own account and created a report and then published it to Power BI Service. In PowerBI Service I have the option to edit the report and add more visualizations.

I shared the report with the external user, they opened the report via the link they got in the email address and they can visualize and interact with the report, but they can't edit it (which is expected behaviour as per the documentation). We both have Pro licence btw.

 

I also tried to create a workspace that included the external user, but that workspace never showed up in the Power BI account of the external user.

 

From what I have read, Power BI embedded might be an option, since it allows for edit/create mode on reports, but the pricing on the lowest Power BI embedded tier is not affordable right now, since we are talking about collaborating on the reports with just one external customer at the moment. And I am not exactly sure how the PowerBI embedded edit function would actually work in terms of allowing collaboration (that I can have access to the changes the external user has made, and continue making changes on top of those)

 

What other options do I have?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

@Anonymous First, thanks for the awesome question. Really clearly described and easy to follow! Unfortunetly there is no way to accomplish what you are talking about within the Service. One of the limitations of the B2B scenario is that it is purely for sharing to consuming users, not those you would use to collaborate. You can find this in the documentation page here ->https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-admin-azure-ad-b2b

"

  • External B2B guests are limited to consumption of content only. External B2B guests can view apps, dashboards, reports, export data and create email subscriptions for dashboards and reports. They can't access workspaces or publish their own content.

"

In order to collaborate, you would need to create an account for that user within your domain if they needed to update and modify the report.


Looking for more Power BI tips, tricks & tools? Check out PowerBI.tips the site I co-own with Mike Carlo. Also, if you are near SE WI? Join our PUG Milwaukee Brew City PUG

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2 REPLIES 2

@Anonymous First, thanks for the awesome question. Really clearly described and easy to follow! Unfortunetly there is no way to accomplish what you are talking about within the Service. One of the limitations of the B2B scenario is that it is purely for sharing to consuming users, not those you would use to collaborate. You can find this in the documentation page here ->https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-admin-azure-ad-b2b

"

  • External B2B guests are limited to consumption of content only. External B2B guests can view apps, dashboards, reports, export data and create email subscriptions for dashboards and reports. They can't access workspaces or publish their own content.

"

In order to collaborate, you would need to create an account for that user within your domain if they needed to update and modify the report.


Looking for more Power BI tips, tricks & tools? Check out PowerBI.tips the site I co-own with Mike Carlo. Also, if you are near SE WI? Join our PUG Milwaukee Brew City PUG
Anonymous
Not applicable

Thank you for your answer @Seth_C_Bauer ! I think the way we will move forward with this customer is to publish the PowerBI report to their workspace, and I will get a new user in their domain to be able to collaborate on their reports, since the customer wants to have the possibility to share content internally afterwards. What I am wondering is when the reports/dashboard will be shared internally just for viewing by other members (in the customer's organization), do those members need to have access to the AS server ?(registered as external users in our AD), or will the impersonate account work in this case? Would need to do some testing to figure out how this will work I guess...

 

And what about PowerBI embedded? I see in their samples you have the option to view/edit/create on the reports, so is my assumption correct? If we choose to use PowerBI embedded in the future, then our customers can edit the reports and add their own visualizations? And their edits will be saved so that I can also go in and continue working on the latest report that includes those changes, thus allowing for collaboration?

 

-Luiza

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