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Category: Power BI

Data-Level Security in Power BI

Published 2023-04-11 by Kevin Feasel

Reza Rad explains different ways to secure data in Power BI:

Power BI supports the security of the data at the dataset level. This security means everyone can see the data they are authorized to see. There are different levels of that in Power BI, including Row-Level Security, Column-Level Security, and Object-Level Security. All these help Power BI Developers create one dataset but give users different views of the data from the same report. In this article, I’ll explain each of those methods and give some guidance on how to use them.

This serves as the opener to a series of articles on Power BI data security.

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Allowing Multiple Users to Use the Same Data Source in a Power BI Dataset

Published 2023-04-10 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers answers a question:

Recently I got a question on the Power BI Community forum which was “Is it possible to allow multiple users to use the same data source for their report”?

I thought it would be a great blog post so that other users could also benefit from this knowledge, as once you know it is quite a simple process to complete

I’m mildly surprised by the question itself, as one of the core reasons for having datasets be top-level entities in Power BI is to allow people to re-use them.

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Building a Time Dimension in Power BI

Published 2023-04-07 by Kevin Feasel

Allison Kennedy shares a variant of DimTime:

 Today’s post is going to be short and sweet. I’m simply publishing my version of a DimTime table for Power BI.

Thanks to Radacad for posting a great article on why we need a DimTime table, along with their script for creating one in Power BI. 

If you don’t already have a DimDate table, you can find my version in my DimDate: What, Why and How blog article. I update the script occasionally with new requests. 

Click through for the script.

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Managing Report-Specific Objects in Power BI Datasets

Published 2023-04-06 by Kevin Feasel

Kurt Buhler takes us through some report-specific objects and how we can use them effectively:

These last examples are report-specific objects. They allow flexibility and customization of report visuals. However, report-specific objects create challenges for developers and end-users using the model to create new content. These objects typically only work with specific client tools, visuals or evaluation contexts. In the wrong scenario, they produce incorrect or confusing results. Further, they can quickly overwhelm or pollute the model, confusing the person using it. Even when hiding these objects, they still appear in intellisense when typing DAX. They can also be revealed by right-clicking the “fields pane” in Power BI Desktop and selecting “view hidden”. Because of this, report-specific objects can hurt both the sustainability and adoption of your dataset. How can we use and benefit from report-specific objects, while preventing them from making a model that’s hard to use?

Click through to learn more.

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Hiding Power BI Pages Is Not for Security

Published 2023-04-05 by Kevin Feasel

Marc Lelijveld points out that, just because the kitten covered its eyes and can’t see you don’t mean that you can’t see it:

Most of us probably know, but every now and then, I still run into cases where hiding pages in a Power BI report is used for security purposes. Although hiding pages might seem like a security feature, it is not intended to be used as one since it can be easily bypassed. Users can find hidden pages by simple URL tweaking or right-clicking on the tabs. The article provides an example of how users can use the Reports-Get Pages API to get all report pages and report sections without having to write a single line of code. The default page when publishing a report is the one that is open, even if it is hidden.

Yeah, hiding pages is really more of a convenience thing, especially if you’re making heavy use of drillthrough and other cross-page functionality.

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Power BI Dataset CI/CD with Azure DevOps

Published 2023-04-03 by Kevin Feasel

Stephanie Bruno does a bit of continuous integration:

There’s a lot of information on how to get around the lack of an out-of-the box CI/CD solution for Power BI datasets, but for me it’s often complicated and I have to read too many pages before making much progress on my own. This post is here to strip it down and provide you with the easiest way we know to enable a bonafide CI/CD process for Power BI datasets with Azure DevOps. The post is still longer than we’d like, but it includes detailed step-by-step instructions to walk you through every part of the process. To save space, we used slideshows for the screenshots, but you can pause them as you follow along.

There are a lot of steps but the goal is a worthwhile one.

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Which Power Query Operations Are Most Resource-Intensive?

Published 2023-04-03 by Kevin Feasel

Chris Webb answers a question:

Last year I wrote a post about a change in the Power BI Service that meant the CPU Time associated with Power Query transformations was added to the total shown for a dataset refresh operation in Profiler traces and Log Analytics:

https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2022/07/03/measuring-power-query-cpu-usage-during-power-bi-dataset-refresh/

This was useful, but it didn’t tell you directly how much CPU Time was used by Power Query and it didn’t tell you which tables or partitions in a refresh were using the most CPU. It also didn’t tell you anything about Power Query memory usage. The good news that recently there has been another change that solves these problems.

Click through for the solution.

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Tips for Enhancing Power BI User Experience

Published 2023-04-03 by Kevin Feasel

Mara Pereira provides some guidance:

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s address the elephant in the room – what exactly is user experience, and why is it such an indispensable factor in reporting and Power BI?

To put it simply, user experience (UX) is the overall impression and interaction your audience has with your report. It goes beyond aesthetics; UX focuses on the ease of understanding, navigation, and the ability to extract valuable insights from the data presented. In the world of reporting, having a top-notch user experience is crucial, as it can make or break the effectiveness and adoption of your reports.

The post stays mostly at a high level, providing motivational guidance rather than “here are the specific actions to take on a given report.” What it does provide is the reasoning behind why you would make those changes.

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The Problem with Stacked Bar Graphs

Published 2023-03-28 by Kevin Feasel

Rita Fainshtein looks at a stacked bar graph:

Let’s look at what motivated our choice and whether it is indeed a graph that will convey accurate messages to those who read it.

Here are some reasons why this type of visualization is preferred:

1. The graph on the right is one of the “recommended” graphs provided by tools (both Excel and Power bi).

2. It seems logical: there is a height comparison between case managers, clear separation between client types and the graph looks colorful and appealing.

But behind this, there are some major problems with the visual. Read on to learn what those are and for one alternative visual which can be better.

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