Create alerts on an embedded report.

[Matthieu_R]

Hello guys,

i'm looking for a way to set alerts on my embedded report. Today the report is integrated in my web app and my customers access the report via the web app.

I'm using RLS (through the embed token with USERNAME() and CUSTOMDATA()) and it's working prety well so far.

But what now if the customer wants to set alert on some visuals ?

The customer see the report without any powerbi account, directly in my web app.

After some research, i came to two solutions :

1. Use Power Automate and Power BI REST API.
   Check periodically some values and compare them with the rules created in Power.
   Send an email if a target is reached.
   With this method the customer is not independant and can't create himself its alerts.
2. Create my own alerting module in my web app to give my user the ability to manage their own alerts.
   Then check periodically some values from the report via API.
   And compare the values with the target created via my own module.
   And send an email by myself if a target is reached.

The second option looks more confortable for the end user of the user but will take a lot of effort to put it in place.

Is there maybe another solution or method that i'm missing to make alerts available to my customers via my embedded report ?

Thanks in advance

[abpgupta]

Probably they can create personal bookmarks and/or subscribe to report to get updates. However, number of subscription has limitations so you may want to set up dynamic subscriptions in case it may work for your situation.
 
This may also be an option ( I am not sure if license will be needed): with Public URL, probably they can access via Power BI mobile app and they can set it as default report to open. 

[Matthieu_R]

Did you read my question ? 😂
How can a user without any power Bi licence can create bookmark nor subscribe to report ?

Thanks anyway

[collinq]

Hi @Matthieu_R ,

The first thing to take into consideration is that the native function of "alerts" in Power BI is on Dashboards only.  So, if youare embedding a dashboard, and you have allowed for alerts to be created, then you should be ok.

However, if you have this as a report or an app that the users are using, then your best bet for an "alert" is the Power Automate route.

BUT, if you are able to do it, I am wondering if the Dynamic Subscriptions might be a better solution.  You can learn about them here:  Create a dynamic subscription for a Power BI report (Preview) - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

[Matthieu_R]

But is your solution (to set alerts with Power Automate), suitable for users that do not have Power BI account ?
I need users to be able to set alert by themselves as i don't want to manage the alerts my self for all my customers that are using the report.

[collinq]

Hey @Matthieu_R ,

I was understanding that you wanted to send an alert and by using Power Automate you can send an alert to individuals based on their email address.  However, if they are going to see the report, they will have to have a license.  If you are wanting users to set their own alerts and see the report, then I would definitely go with allowing users to set their own alerts.

[Matthieu_R]

Thanks but how can i make users (without licence and account) setting their own alerts ? The report they are using is embedded in my web app.

[collinq]

Hey @Matthieu_R ,

Only a person with a licensed account can set those alerts if you want them to do it for themselves.

[Matthieu_R]

Ok, and what about my other solution ? Which involved to build my own alerting system and periodically retrieve data from the report (via API) to check ?
This can be a lot of effort to build i guess.

[collinq]

Hey @Matthieu_R ,

Your own solution should work but, yes, that might be a bit of effort - so, I guess that would be if you want to do that.  I was trying to help with built-in options so you wouldn't have to do that.  🙂

[abpgupta]

Dashboard component can help in setting predefined alerts based on KPIs.  

[Matthieu_R]

What dou you mean by dashboard component ?
I think in my case it is hard to make predefined alerts as customer A won't have the same requirements than customer B and so on...