You’ve created a fantastic Power BI report—now what? One common approach is to publish it to a Power BI workspace and share a direct link with your users. While this method works, it comes with a few challenges:
- Users must keep track of the report link manually.
- Users may forget where they saved the link, leading to frustration and inefficiency.
- Multiple clicks are required to go to Power BI, find the applicable workspace, and then find the applicable report.
This approach is fine for those who regularly access the report, but it places the burden on end users to maintain access. Fortunately, there are more seamless ways to share Power BI reports.
Two Effective Alternatives
Rather than relying on direct links, consider these approaches:
- Embedding the report in a Microsoft Teams channel
- Embedding the report on a SharePoint site
Both options are simple to implement and provide users with easier, more centralized access to the report.
Important note on licensing: Before diving in, it’s important to note that Power BI licensing requirements still apply. Users will need at least a Power BI Pro license to view the embedded reports.
Let’s walk through each approach.
Embedding the report in a Microsoft Teams channel
Adding a Power BI report to Microsoft Teams is a fantastic way of making your Power BI report accessible to your team. This is especially true if your team is regularly using Teams for their day to day activities.
Start by adding a new tab to a channel. The image below shows this:
Select the Power BI tab. If it doesn’t appear, you can use the search box. Then simply select the report from the available workspaces. As an alternative you can provide a link to the report.
And that is all there is to add the report to your Team’s channel. And, as the report is updated, it will be reflected here accordingly.
Embedding the report on a SharePoint site
If your team uses SharePoint, embedding your report directly on a SharePoint site is another alternative. Note that you will need to have the ability to edit pages in order to do so.
Adding this is also very simple. I’ll start with a blank page, although an existing one will work as well.
Hovering your mouse in the blank white area will bring up the option to add a web part. This will bring up a host of available options. If “Power BI” is not readily visible, you can search for this. Select that web part and then select the button to add a Power BI report.
You will need to include a URL to your report. Now there is the tricky part. Unlike sharing a link with users, there is a different option in Power BI to embed the report in SharePoint. This option is found in Power BI under “File -> Embed Report -> SharePoint online”
Simply copy the link provided there and paste into the SharePoint link area. There are some additional options available as well.
And that is all there is to providing alternative ways for your users to access your Power BI report quickly and easily.
Leave a Reply