Using workspaces – Managing Workspaces

Using workspaces

Power BI workspaces are places in the Power BI service where datasets, reports, and dashboards can be hosted or published for multiple users to use. Power BI Desktop is typically used to publish reports and datasets to workspaces; however, the service provides a REST API in which custom applications can interact with workspaces, including the management of assets on workspaces or even publishing. There are other workspace assets, such as dashboards and dataflows, that are created within a workspace using PowerBI.com but the primary authoring tool is Power BI Desktop.

Let’s next explore the ways in which workspaces can be managed through roles and permissions.

Using workspace roles

Workspaces allow users to be given permission to objects stored in the workspace. Those permissions center around distinct roles, such as Admin (or administrator), Member, Contributor, and Viewer. These roles each have unique permissions inside the workspace. For example, the Admin role can delete content, add users, and change user roles, while Member roles cannot. Figure 14.1 details the permissions attributed to each role. It’s important to remember that products and services like Power BI change over time and it’s best to look at the latest information available in the documentation here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-roles-new-workspaces#workspace-roles.

Figure 14.1 – Workspace roles and permissions

1 Additional permissions will be needed on the gateway; the scope of this table is the permissions within the workspace.

2 Copying reports and using datasets across workspaces require build permission in the source workspace dataset. The simplest way to add this is via the Contributor role.

3 Admin users can allow contributors to update the app for a workspace. If this is enabled, contributors still cannot publish a new app or change who has permission to use it.

This table in Figure 14.1 will help you when it comes to understanding the differences between the roles and how permissions within a workspace can be set up so that administrators have the permissions they need, while members or viewers have fewer permissions.

Next, we’ll look at how workspace licensing works so we can understand some important differences between Power BI free, Pro, and Premium with respect to workspaces.