Data flow ownership

[NoeAv]

Hi community,

I would like to know, based on your experience in large companies, how you manage the ownership of data flows in Power BI. Currently, I can see the dataflow, but unfortunately, I cannot edit it unless I take over ownership. The goal is to allow every team member the ability to edit. One solution I thought of is creating an admin account, such as admin@enterprise.com. However, this seems tedious because the account would need company approval and require access to all necessary data sources to run any dashboard. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you

[v-dineshya · Accepted solution]

Hi @NoeAv ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

Please try below approaches:

1. Use a Shared Service Account (With Caution): Your idea of using admin@enterprise.com is common in practice. This approach centralizes ownership, but you’re right it introduces complications: Requires IT/security approval. Must have access to all data sources. Credentials must be managed securely (e.g., password vaults or managed identity).

Note: Best used for production-grade, shared dataflows where stability and continuity are critical.

2. Create Dataflows in a Shared Workspace with Contributor Roles: If you’re using Power BI Premium or Fabric, create the dataflows inside a shared workspace and assign the relevant team members as contributors.

Note :In this model: The workspace owns the dataflow, not an individual. Anyone with contributor role in the workspace can edit the dataflow. No need to “take over” ownership each time.

Steps: Move the dataflow to a shared workspace (or create a new one). Add team members as Contributors or Admins. Set proper data source credentials in the service once. This is the most scalable and Microsoft-recommended way.

3. Use Power BI Deployment Pipelines (Premium): If you're using Premium, you can create and manage reusable dataflows via deployment pipelines good for promoting from dev to test to prod.

Note: Move your dataflows to a shared workspace and give team members the Contributor role. This is the cleanest and most supportable method within Power BI’s governance model.

If my response has resolved your query, please mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, a 'Kudos' would be appreciated if you found my response helpful.

Thank you

[andrewsommer · Accepted solution]

This is a common question/issue but unfortunately there is not a good answer to it.  Currently all data flows must have a single account as an owner and only owners may edit a dataflow. 

Some organizations take the approach you mentioned using a service account and sharing log-in information.  This is both tedious to set up and a security threat.  Maybe more importantly, it removes accountability from your engineers and analysts.

The best answer is the simplest, take the flow over when you need to.  It’s tedious but the safest.

Awhile back there was an item on their roadmap to add additional owners of a dataflow but I have not seen or heard anything about that in well over a year. 

Please mark this post as a solution if it helps you. Appreciate Kudos.

[v-dineshya · Accepted solution]

Hi @NoeAv ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

Please try below approaches:

1. Use a Shared Service Account (With Caution): Your idea of using admin@enterprise.com is common in practice. This approach centralizes ownership, but you’re right it introduces complications: Requires IT/security approval. Must have access to all data sources. Credentials must be managed securely (e.g., password vaults or managed identity).

Note: Best used for production-grade, shared dataflows where stability and continuity are critical.

2. Create Dataflows in a Shared Workspace with Contributor Roles: If you’re using Power BI Premium or Fabric, create the dataflows inside a shared workspace and assign the relevant team members as contributors.

Note :In this model: The workspace owns the dataflow, not an individual. Anyone with contributor role in the workspace can edit the dataflow. No need to “take over” ownership each time.

Steps: Move the dataflow to a shared workspace (or create a new one). Add team members as Contributors or Admins. Set proper data source credentials in the service once. This is the most scalable and Microsoft-recommended way.

3. Use Power BI Deployment Pipelines (Premium): If you're using Premium, you can create and manage reusable dataflows via deployment pipelines good for promoting from dev to test to prod.

Note: Move your dataflows to a shared workspace and give team members the Contributor role. This is the cleanest and most supportable method within Power BI’s governance model.

If my response has resolved your query, please mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, a 'Kudos' would be appreciated if you found my response helpful.

Thank you

[andrewsommer]

I’m sorry but I think this is incorrect information.  The #2 approach is incorrect, and the #3 approach does not address the issue. 

Dataflows in the service have a unique owner.  They are never owned by the workspace.  They can only be edited by the owner

[v-dineshya]

Hi @NoeAv ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and consider giving a KUDOS. Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance.

Regards,

Dinesh

[v-dineshya]

Hi @NoeAv ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and consider giving a KUDOS. Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance.

Regards,

Dinesh

[v-dineshya]

Hi @NoeAv ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and consider giving a KUDOS. Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance.

Regards,

Dinesh

[GilbertQ]

Hi @NoeAv 

As far as I know, this is not possible. It's worth Dataflow Gen 1. However, I think this is possible with DataFlow Gen 2 if you're using a fabric capacity.

[BhavinVyas3003]

Option is to keep dataflows inside a shared workspace and give Admin or Member access to all team members. Then, everyone can edit without taking ownership.