Custom Visual Development Licencing

[richardcalvert]

I've developed a custom visual and am researching the publishing situation.

The documentation here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/visuals/office-store

...doesn't cover how licencing is administered and I couldn't find anything from searching Google or what at the time of writing is called "Fabric Community".

Is it possible to publish a certified custom visual to Appsource and allow users in my organization to get free licences, while charging external users? That would be ideal.

[Martin_D]

Hi @richardcalvert ,

Basically you have two options: Manage licensing all on your own or integrate with Microsoft 365 licensing.

Mange on your own:

A popular approach is adding a field to the visual formatting pane where you need to enter a license key. Then the visual checks the license key and shows features accordingly. For your company you can create license keys for free. Customers have to buy license keys directly from you.

Integrate with Microsoft 365 licensing:

Register at Microsoft Partner Center and create a new product entry to register your app. You can define pricing options there. For example the accoplanning custom visual uses this approach and appears as license in Microsoft 365 Admin portal: Buy and Assign Licenses | Accobat Knowledge Base

Kind regards,

Martin 

[Martin_D · Accepted solution]

Hi @richardcalvert ,

Here is the corresponding documentation for Power BI Visual offerings: Create Power BI visual plans in Partner Center for Microsoft AppSource - Marketplace publisher | Mic...

And how to integrate your visual with licensing API: Transactability and license enforcement - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Kind regards,

Martin

[richardcalvert]

Thanks Martin,

This gets me to my original requirement.

I can publish to the AppSource Marketplace and assign a private (free) plan to specific tenant Ids (used by my organization).