Need Access to Power BI workspace for Assessment

[YashikaAgrawal]

Hi,

There are around 700 workspaces in the tenant (ABC). I am supposed to perform an assessment of the reports and dashboards.

I currently have the Global Reader and Power Platform Administrator roles, and I have a Free license.

Under Power BI Premium, we have 1 capacity (P1).
Under Trial, we have 5 capacities.
Under Fabric Capacity, we have 1 capacity (F2).

My questions are:

1. Do I need to be added as a Viewer in all workspaces, or can I access all reports across all workspaces without being added individually?

2. Do I need a Pro or PPU license if:

• The report is in a Premium capacity workspace, but

• Its semantic model is in another workspace that is not in Premium capacity.

  Thanks,

[cengizhanarslan]

1) Yes you need at least Viewer role to see those reports. Ask your tenant admin to grant you the Fabric Administrator role temporarily for the assessment period. This gives you access to all workspaces via Admin portal → Workspaces → open any workspace directly. Or use the Power BI REST API or PowerShell with admin endpoints so that you could see at least metadata across all workspaces.

2) Yes, you need a PPU license in your scenario.

[krishnakanth240]

Hi @YashikaAgrawal 

Q1

Yes, you would be added (Viewer or above) to each workspace or through AD group you can be added to a e-mail they create.

Q2

Yes, you need Pro or PPU because access depends on dataset location. If dataset is not in Premium, free license will not work even if report is in Premium.

So, workspace access requires the permission and dataset location determines the license.

License - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/end-user-license

Workspace - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-new-workspaces

[Olufemi7 · Accepted solution]

Hello @YashikaAgrawal,

No. Your roles do not grant automatic access to all workspaces in Microsoft Power BI.
You must be added to each workspace (Viewer or higher), typically via a security group. Tenant-level roles (such as Global Reader or Power Platform Administrator) do not provide access to workspace content.
Roles in workspaces in Power BI 
Licensing:
A Free license works only when both the report and its semantic model are in Premium capacity.
If the report is in Premium but the semantic model is in a non-Premium workspace, a Pro or PPU license is required.
Licenses and subscriptions for business users