Nov 19, 2024

External Sharing in Power BI

ByVlad Mihanta

Sharing Power BI Reports with External Users: Options and Limitations

As organizations work more closely with external stakeholders, sharing business intelligence data safely and efficiently has become critical. Power BI is a popular tool for visualizing data — but sharing reports with people outside your organization brings its own set of challenges.

There are several ways to share Power BI reports with external users, each with distinct strengths and limitations. Walking through them shows why Power BI Embedded, in particular, delivers a secure and scalable solution for broad external access.

Options and Limitations for Sharing Power BI Reports with External Users

Direct Sharing in Power BI Service

The Power BI Service allows you to share reports directly with external users. This option allows you to invite external users to view reports if they have a Power BI account and the necessary permissions. The benefit of this strategy is that it is reasonably simple to implement if your organization allows sharing with external users. However, there are important limits to this method:

License Requirements:

External users need a Power BI license (either Pro or PPU), which complicates the process. You either purchase and assign a license to the external guest user, or — if the guest already has one — they use their own.

Access Management:

Maintaining control over external users' access can become cumbersome, especially as the number of external collaborators grows.

Branding:

When giving access to external users, you might want them to log in to a branded portal and not the Power BI Service. You might also want to give them other functionality inside that portal. With the Power BI Service, you are restricted to the look and feel as well as functionality provided by Microsoft.

Conclusion:

Direct sharing may work for smaller, one-time collaborations, but it lacks scalability for broader external sharing needs and doesn't allow for any custom design or added functionality.

Power BI Publish to Web

The Publish to Web option allows users to embed Power BI reports on websites, blogs, and social media. This is an ideal solution for publicly available reports as it eliminates the need for a login, enabling anybody with the URL to view the content.

For example, an organization that wants to publish their annual performance indicators to its public website. The data is non-sensitive and intended for public consumption, making this option ideal.

However, there are significant limitations:

No Data Security

This method doesn’t provide data protection, making it unsuitable for reports containing sensitive or confidential information.

Unrestricted Public Access

Once a report is released online, anybody who has the URL can see it without restrictions. Even if the report is embedded on a password-protected website, anyone with access can copy and distribute the iframe code from the source, allowing all those with the code to view it without requiring credentials.

No Row-Level Security (RLS)

RLS is not supported in public reports, which means that everybody with the link to the report can see all data.

Conclusion:

Because of these limitations, Publish to Web is generally recommended only for non-sensitive, public-facing content.

Power BI Embedded: A Secure and Scalable Solution for External Sharing

Power BI Embedded allows organizations to share reports with any external user, regardless of whether they have a Power BI license. This is especially useful for businesses that need to securely share interactive reports with clients, partners, or external stakeholders on a big scale. Here's how Power BI Embedded stands out:

Customizable Access

Power BI Embedded allows you to customize the user experience to match your branding and application requirements. Users can access reports directly through the embedded application, which eliminates the need for a Power BI account or license, making it perfect for external sharing.

Scalability

Power BI Embedded is designed to manage a large audience with no user-based license restrictions. Organizations can share reports with a virtually unlimited number of users, allowing the solution to easily scale to meet rising collaboration needs.

Data Security through Row-Level Security (RLS)

Security is one of the most important issues when exchanging data externally. Power BI Embedded supports comprehensive data security options with Row-Level Security (RLS), which limits data visibility depending on user roles or permissions. RLS ensures that users may only access data that they are authorized to see, making it critical for compliance and data security.

For example, an investment firm shares performance dashboards with its clients, with RLS restricting access so each client sees only their portfolio data.

Steps to Get Started with Power BI Embedded

1. Set Up an Azure Subscription

Power BI Embedded runs on Azure. Create an Azure account and set up a Power BI Embedded or Microsoft Fabric capacity.

2. Create Reports on Power BI Desktop

Design and publish your reports to the Power BI Service.

3. Integrate Reports into Your Application

Use Power BI Embedded APIs to embed the reports into your web application or portal.

4. Configure Row-Level Security (RLS)

Set up RLS to restrict data access based on user roles.

5. Test and Deploy

Test the embedded reports for performance and user experience before rolling them out to external users.

Key Takeaway

Power BI Embedded is the most versatile option for organizations looking for a safe, scalable solution to share Power BI reports with external users. While various Power BI sharing methods are appropriate for specific scenarios, Power BI Embedded offers a comprehensive solution that balances ease of access with exceptional security. It's especially adept at incorporating analytics into external-facing apps, resulting in a streamlined and professional experience for users.

Ready to share your Power BI reports with the world? Explore Power BI Embedded to transform your external reporting strategy with scalability, security, and customizability.