Forum Discussion
Helper ILimiting Access to Contributors
Hi!
Our company is relatively new to Power BI. I have a workspace designed for billing managers and have granted them all contributor access so they can feel empowered to build and explore the data they regularly use. However, our CFO and I built a report that he wants to live in that workspace but does not want anyone to edit for fear of breaking the report. How can I achieve this?
I do not see permissions to take away rights from contributors but if I give someone viewer access, I do not see the ability to add permissions to reports they should have contributor access to.
Is the only solution to build a NEW workspace just for this one report? That feels excessive.
I found a "Guy in a Cube" video from 4 years ago that said, premium workspaces and premium apps could be viewed by free users. Did they change that!?No, still true, and pretty much the main reason for Premium - only developers need a Pro license, everybody else can consume for "free" (at the cost of the Premium SKU) through the app.
If Apps require updating for every change to a report, do they require updating for every data refresh? i.e. if I refresh the semantic model, do I need to hit update app?Excellent question. In fact, data refreshes (semantic model mashups) are entirely separate from meta data changes (report design and data model changes). A data refresh does NOT require an app update. A meta data change most of the time does require an app update.
What are the pros/cons to workspace/app?Think of Power BI Desktop as your Dev environment. Then the workspace is your ITG environment, and the App is the PROD environment. ish.
5 Replies
- lbendlin
Super User
Get used to creating separate workspaces for different audience groups. Consider purchasing a premium capacity where you can stop sharing via the workspace and only share via the app.
- ZSF0003
That is an insane limitation given Microsoft's robust administration controls. IIRC, Premium capacity is a massive expansion in cost. Myself and other admins are Premium users and all of our stakeholders are pro-licensed users.
Can we not build and share apps with pro-users?
If I have reports that refresh daily, can I schedule app refreshes?
What are the pros/cons of an app vs. workspace/dashboard?- lbendlin
Apps are a Premium-only feature. For your scenario a separate workspace seems appropriate.
Please note that contributor access is not required for consumption of content in the workspace.
Roles in workspaces in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
