The document discusses monitoring Power BI tenants, outlining objectives, tools, and techniques for effective administration and governance. It highlights essential monitoring aspects such as usage metrics, security validation, and performance tracking. Various automation methods, including PowerShell and Azure Automation, are also presented to streamline management tasks and ensure optimal operations.

2. Monitoring your
Power BI Tenant
Angel Abundez

3. Angel Abundez
• VP Solutions Architecture, DesignMind
• Power BI and MSBI User Group Leader
• BI Consultant for 9 Years, Been in BI since 2007
• VP, Project Manager, Mentor
• Soccer Coach, Musician, Father of 4

4. Session Objectives & Agenda
• What should you Monitor in your Power BI tenant?
• What tools exist?
• Tooling you can build, or eventually… buy 

5. Power BI system
governance
critical reports, and/or potential ownership transfer
validation of security and compliance
report rendering speed
potential flaws
in data integrity or even overlap in effort

6. Power BI Ecosystem

7. Current Admin Tools
Examples of tools admins use today to monitor their workspaces and/or tenants:
• Usage Metrics in Admin Portal
• Usage Metrics in Workspaces or Individual Reports
• Workspace view in Admin Portal
• Refresh History in Datasets
• User Security of Workspaces (New and Classic)
• User Security of Apps
• Gateways and Datasources in Power BI
• Personal and Enterprise Gateways in the Power Platform
• https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/ext/DataGateways
• Premium Capacity App (for Premium customers only)
• Performance Analyzer

8. Admin Tools are improving
• Admin Portal received new Workspaces page
12/2018
• Premium Capacity Metrics App updated Feb-
2019
• Personal Gateways visible Apr-2019
But…

9. …there are Gaps
WHAT REPORTS AND
DATASETS ARE OUT
THERE?
DO CONSUMERS AND
AUTHORS HAVE
CORRECT ACCESS?
HOW ARE PRO
WORKSPACES BEING
UTILIZED?
HOW’S PERFORMANCE
LOOKING ON DATA
REFRESH?

10. Administrator Screens

11. Cataloging your Tenant
• Catalog the Power BI Service
• Catalog Licenses and Security with Azure AD (not MSOnline)
• Collect O365 Audit Logs
• Automate and Publish

12. What You’ll Need
• Powershell 5.0 or greater
• .NET Framework 4.5 or higher
• MicrosoftPowerBIMgmt Module
• Power BI Service Administrator role or Office 365 Global Administrator
• https://github.com/aabundez/powerbi-
admin/blob/master/PBI_Inventory.ps1

13. • https://github.com/Microsoft/powerbi-
powershell/blob/master/ROADMAP.md
• Cmdlets
• Install-Module -Name MicrosoftPowerBIMgmt
• Login-PowerBI
• *Get-PowerBIWorkspace
• *Get-PowerBIReport
• *Get-PowerBIDataset
• *Get-PowerBIDatasource
• *Get-PowerBIDashboard
• *Get-PowerBITile
• Invoke-PowerBIRestMethod
• Resolve-PowerBIError -Last
PowerShell Cmdlets
*Test to be sure they work. Known Issue.

14. REST APIs
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi
• Power BI Assets
• Data Source
Example: SQL, File, SharePoint List etc
• DataSet
Power BI Data Models
• Report
Canvas with multiple pages
• Dashboard
Arrangement of Tiles
• Tiles
Visual Element with title
• Groups - Workspaces
Container to group related item and manage permission
• Gateway
On-prem data source connector
Groups
Data Source-1 Data Source-2
Tile
Gateways

15. Cataloging your Tenant

16. Automating and Publishing
• Run Powershell from a Server
• Windows Task Scheduler
• Run Powershell Runbooks in Azure Automation (Serverless)

17. Azure Automation
• Securely store O365 Service Account credentials
• Cheaply run nightly jobs on schedule
• Kick-off from other tools such as ADF
• https://github.com/aabundez/powerbi-
admin/blob/master/PBI_Inventory_Azure%20_Automation.ps1

18. Azure Automation – First
Look

19. There Are Limitations
• No Dataset size
• Deleted Groups (Workspaces) are returned
• APIs can change without notice
• Need $top parameter now in query
• New [IsOrphaned] and [Users] attributes in Get-PowerBIWorkspace cmdlet
• Security on O365 Audit Logs

20. Troubleshooting Tips
• Use Fiddler to get better error descriptions
• Use Powershell ISE or VS Code
• There is a Powershell test website