Premium user can't access Workspace

[Anonymous]

Hi All, 

Could you please help me understand a few things around Premium. We recently purchased Premium on top of our existing 100 Pro Licenses and have assigned 2 Workspaces so far to a Premium instance. We controll level of acess to Workspaces through Azure security groups. A test user account was set up, as Premium is still new to us, to get an understanding of how it all works. This account has not got a Pro license but has been assigned to relevant security groups. 

My questions are as follows: 

• Workspace 1 and Workspace 2 are both on a Premium instance, User is a Viewer on Workspace 1 and an Admin on Workspace 2. In PBI Service the user can enter Workspace 1 and open reports, etc. On Workspace 2 user can't enter the Workspace and a Pro license message comes up. Why is this? Is this a bug? The linked thread describes a similar scenario. I tried the method advised there and entered the URL of Workspace 2 then clicked "Not now" on the message and I was able to consume all content within Workspace 2. Just generally confused about whether the Premium free account should be able to enter premium Workspaces or not? Can't seem to find straightforward documentation on this. https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Service/Consumers-cannot-access-premium-workspace/m-p/1273068#M1046...
• If a premium user should be able to enter a premium workspace and consume content in there is there a need to ever use Apps? My solution would be to add all free accounts as a new Viewer only security group and they could then access the same workspace as Pro license holders but without the ability to share, etc. 
• As per linked documentation, free Premium licenses can't create reports - however my test user can create a new report in My Workspace from datasets coming from the premium Workspaces where build permission was given. Can someone advise why the official PBI documents state otherwise?  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-features

Thank you in advance for your help! 

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi there

Thanks for the questions

1. The reason the user cannot access workspace 2 is because they are accessing content which is not included in the Free license. a Free license can only VIEW content in a Power BI Premium App Workspace or App.
2. The reason for the App is a way for users to view data that is in a better format. It also means users via the App could see a different view to what is in the App Workspace.
3. This is because any license type user can create content in My Workspace. If a report/dashboard gets shared that is when either Pro or premium licensing comes into effect. I would suggest not letting users create content in My Workspace because if the user leaves and you do not have the PBIX it is a lot of effort to get the reports out.

[Anonymous]

Hi GilbertQ! 

Thank youf or your response. 

1. That is strange, but makes sense, I just switched the role to Viewer on the security group in Workspace 2 and the user account now can enter it and see the contents. Learnt a lesson there, thank you 🙂 

3. Okay that makes sense, I think it confused me that the words "can't create a report" are used and on the chart it's marked as not available when in fact it is really. In our case the whole point is to enable self serve for a wider group without having to spend on Pro licenses for each individual but you raise a good point and it's something we will take into account going forward. 

Many thanks again for your insight! 

[GilbertQ]

Happy to help out and sometimes the terminology can be confusing!