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ovonel
Post Prodigy
Post Prodigy

How to prevent unwanted access to SSAS source?

I have a typical fact table with dimensions Project, Profit Center, etc

 

In a report, I have a table visual that shows individual numbers; and another table shows the department numbers…

 

It looks something like this:

ovonel_0-1672221542865.png

(Left: personal numbers. Right: department numbers)

 

 

 

My goal is that Tim shouldn’t be able to see someone else’s number, but he definitely can (and should) see the aggregated numbers for his department.

 

I realized that someone accessing from PowerBI or excel can connect to the model and play with the tables, pick another name and see someone else’s number, therefore I have hidden most tables...

 

But now, I just realized, someone with access can connect from Visual Studio to the SSAS:

ovonel_1-1672221573918.png

 

 

 

 

 

The person can open the .bim, unhide all tables, and with the “analyze from excel” option in VS see any numbers…

 

Is there any way to avoid/prevent this?

 

More info:

My model:

ovonel_2-1672221602526.png

(Project table has columns Lead1,Lead2,Lead3,Lead4,Lead5 and Lead6… Engagement Role is just an unpivot of this).

 

 

On my left visual I have:

ovonel_3-1672221622726.png

 

(triggering a more restrictive access).

 

 

My RLS:

ovonel_4-1672221647794.png

 

 

2 REPLIES 2
NandanHegde
Super User
Super User

Rather than hiding the tables, you need to create roles to filter the access for resources based on his/her use case.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/analysis-services/multidimensional-models/roles-and-permissions-an...

 

https://www.wiseowl.co.uk/blog/s2488/security-roles.htm




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That's not the best link since Multidimensional doesn't work in Power BI. Here's the right one:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/analysis-services/tabular-models/roles-ssas-tabular?view=asallprod...

 

@ovonel you could also use perspectives to define which subsets of your model are viewable to your model, though that's not meant to be a security mechanism:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/analysis-services/tabular-models/perspectives-ssas-tabular?view=as...

 

Both roles and perspectives are an inheritance from SSAS so they're Power BI Premium only. If you need the equivalent in Power BI Pro, you'll have to implement a combination of RLS and OLS.

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