Power BI FAQs

Who can use Power BI?

All University Staff and Students have a Power BI Free licence allowing you to view content that has been shared with you via a Power BI App. In order to create and share content you need a Power BI Pro Licence. The Power BI Desktop Application can only be downloaded on a Windows PC. 

Can Students use Power BI?

Students can create content in Power BI Desktop but cannot publish it into the service as that requires a Power BI Pro licence, available to Staff only. Students can contact their Course Sponsor / Tutor or other appropriate Staff Member to publish content. That Staff Member may require a Power BI Pro licence if they or their department do not have anyone with one already.

I need help with a specific report

Please contact the owner(s) of the report if you have any queries with a specific report / app in Power BI.  

Why can I see so many Workspaces?

If you have a Power BI Licence, you may be able to see many other Workspaces other than your own. This is because you will have been added to those Workspaces either directly or via a group you belong to. For example, if someone shares a Workspace with the Entire Organisation, you will see this one in your list. You can use the 'Favourite' (star) icon to bookmark specific reports / content to create a smaller list if needed.

I cannot see a Power BI report in SharePoint

In order to view Power BI reports in SharePoint that have been shared with you, you must view the report in Power BI first. Open app.powerbi.com and click on 'Apps', then choose 'Get Apps' and search for the App that you need to access. If you are unsure of the App's name please contact the Owners of the report. If the App does not appear for you then the Owners will need to share it with you first. 

After this, re-open the SharePoint site and the embedded report should display.

Can I use Custom Visuals in Power BI?

Certified Custom Visuals can be used in our environment however uncertified visuals are blocked. Certified Visuals have gone through Microsoft's checks and are listed on the AppSource with the tag 'PBI Certified'. Any custom visuals without this tag are uncertified and cannot be used. 

Please note, Certified Custom Visuals are usually created by 3rd parties and therefore may be updated or removed at no notice and are unsupported by the University. It is recommended not to use any secure / protected / sensitive data with Custom Visuals and there may be hidden costs / trial periods that are beyond our control. Please read all the documentation on any Custom Visual you intend to use. 

How do I share my reports with others?

You can share reports with individuals or Groups via a Power BI App. For information on how to do this please see our Creating and Sharing Power BI Content pages. Please note you need to have a Power BI Pro Licence to be able to create and share content.

Creating and Sharing Power BI Content  

How do I restrict content in Power BI?

You should only grant access to people you wish to view your content. All University Staff get a Power BI Free licence which means that you would publish your content to an App, and restrict access to this. Access can be granted to individuals or to AD Groups of users (for example 'All UoE Staff'). Details on publishing Apps and how to restrict them can be found on Microsoft's guides.

Publish an App in Power BI

Power BI Workspaces can only be accessed by people with Pro Licences, but can also be restricted to only certain people. Open your Workspace via app.powerbi.com, click the 'three dots' in the top right of the content and select 'Edit this Workspace'. Here you can add others to it. 

There are other, more advanced ways to restrict content in Power BI. For example, 'Row Level Security' lets you restrict content based on specific fields in your data. We would recommend that you familiarise yourself with Power BI via training videos before attempting this. For information on Row Level Security, please see Microsoft's guidance.

Row Level Security with Power BI

How do I get a Power BI Pro Licence? 

Power BI Pro Licences can be requested via the form on our 'Power BI Licences' page.  

Power BI Licences

Who can get a Power BI Pro Licence? 

All Staff Members may request a Power BI Licence. Please contact the data stewards / owners or your college / department to check if there is a requirement for you to publish content. Licences are free of charge and we ask that you provide a business reason for needing a licence. 

Students cannot receive a Power BI Pro licence so will need to speak with their Course Sponsor / Tutor or other appropriate Staff Member to have content published into the service.

What training is available for Power BI?

Please see our Training Resources for Power BI pages which contains lots of useful links to training and guidance on using Power BI.

Training Resources for Power BI

We do not offer any Power BI Training at this time however we are happy to answer any questions about the service you may have. Please contact IS Helpline if you have any further queries. 

Contact IS Helpline

Power BI Pro user cannot create a Workspace

Under Advanced settings, make sure the 'Premium Capacity' toggle is set to ON and the available Premium Capacity is set to UoE - North Europe (instead of 'Premium Per User')  

Power BI Desktop / Analyse in Excel does not work on Mac

Power BI Desktop and Analyse in Excel are only available on Windows PC. Mac users could remote access a Windows PC (if one is available) in order to use these features. More information on how to remotely connect to an office machine is available below.

Remote Desktop Information

I cannot see any data in a visualisation (blank screen)

If a visualisation is showing a blank screen for you but is working for others, it could be that there are some filters applied. Please try resetting any filters / drop downs available to you or click 'Reset to Default' in the top ribbon to remove any user added filters. This will reset the visualisation back to the default state for you. 

If this still gives blank data please contact the Owner of the Report / App as it may be restricted and they would need to provide you with the correct access. 

What is the Power BI Gateway? 

The Power BI Gateway is used to update and refresh Dashboards and Reports where the data is stored locally or on-premises. Please read through our Power BI Gateway pages for more information.

Power BI Gateway Pages

Should I use the Gateway?

The Gateway is only required to refresh your data that is stored on-premises (eg. SQL or Oracle DBs or a University Shared Folder). It is not required when using a Cloud based data source (eg. SharePoint). If your data can be easily stored on a Cloud service, please consider using this instead of the Gateway as it will save resource. 

How can I access the Gateway?

Please read our Power BI Gateway information page and then contact Service Management to arrange a discussion or to get it set up. We will require the information listed in the 'Gateway Access' section.

Contact Service Management

What data sources can be used on the Gateway? 

Your data source must be one that Power BI supports. Please check the Gateway (supported) column to see if your source can be used on the Gateway. If it is not listed there, we cannot install it to our Gateway.

List of Power BI Data Sources

Please note that 'supported' means that it can be allowed on the Gateway. It does not mean that ISG will be responsible for, or that we will provide technical support on your choice of data source. 

My data source is not listed as 'supported' in the 'List of Power BI Data Sources'

This means that we cannot add your data source to our ISG managed Gateway. The alternative would be to use a supported data source, or to store your data on the Cloud (eg. Excel files on SharePoint) where the Gateway may not be required. 

More Power BI Gateway Information

Further information on the Power BI Gateway can be found on Microsoft's pages. 

Microsoft's Power BI pages

My new Data Source on the Gateway fails to connect 

There could be a number of reasons for the connection to fail. There will be an error message along with the failure but sometimes it is not clear where the issue lies. Some of the possible failure reasons are:

• The Data Source is not configured correctly in Power BI Desktop
• Incorrect credentials provided
• The account + credentials have insufficient access to your chosen Data Source
• The Gateway Firewall is blocking the connection (in which case, we will raise a call to the Application Management team to allow the connection)
• The data source is not supported

If you are using our Live or Test Gateway, we will work with you to figure out where the issue lies.