Pro License Disable Personal Workspaces

[icassiem]

Hi,

Pro License Disable Personal Workspaces

I dont hink what i am asking is possible, but i need to block some cowboys from publishing to workspace and sharing url, distributing access to the workspace accross the organization. After severla discussions we want them to publish to dept workspace but also ensure we have vivibilty of files sources and soultions to not be on their pc but in the sharepoint central location

Please any help, any ideas

Regards

[MFelix]

Hi @icassiem ,

To my you cannot disable the personal workspaces because that is where people will have the way to test out Power BI and so on. However you can disable the publish to web option on the admin portal. Believe that there is no option to force users to only get files from a sharepoint central location.

This is a difficult point because users will always tend to go to the "fast lane", I know this may not be the best advice but after getting into that situation several times, what worked for me was to remove access to specific individuals, and then got into a discussion about what is wrong with their approach. In those cases, and I was lucky enough this was not a high number of cases, I even had to bring other players into the meeting so we could get things up and running properly.

[icassiem]

@MFelix Thank You

what does the "disable the publish to web option on the admin porta" do?

we on i think the E3 license where pro is available for all users, if i remove the access means the user cant view or publish at all any reports? i just wanted to block a few users from personal workspace sharing reports

[MFelix]

Hi @icassiem ,

Apoligies but when you refer that the persons share the URL what is the URL they are sharing? Are they using the publish to web or the sharing option at the top of the report?

I assumed it was publish to web and should have done the previous question first.

To my knowledge E3 license do not include Power BI~, that is only included in E5 please chek the link below with the options for E3 vs E5

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/office-365-e3#whats-included

Try this option on the admin:

Probably you will need to use the except specific security groups so you would create a group wiht the persons you want to exclude and then use the specific security groups.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-share-dashboards?wt.mc_id=power...

Be aware that I'm not sure if this will remove the option from the personal workspaces but believe it will also.

Based on my test the report cannot be share even on personal workspaces.

If the person already has the link it will return this error

[icassiem]

@MFelix wow, thanks, i did the below and disabled the option

Mostly the "sharing option at the top of the report"

1. Does this mean that shared links no longer work for all and they can only access via the workspace?

2. what happens if the user was already provided access via the share link to the workspace, would it just stop working for all that has the forwarded link?

3. does that mean any reports copy url will also stop or should only i block the cowboys?

This will be great if users can only access via the workspace because they wont be able to access the cowboys personal workspace in the pbi service

[MFelix · Accepted solution]

Hi @icassiem ,

Based on the test, this was a very small scale, entering in my tenant with two differentes users (I did both roles) I have done this are the answers:

1. Does this mean that shared links no longer work for all and they can only access via the workspace?

None of the shared links will work.

2. what happens if the user was already provided access via the share link to the workspace, would it just stop working for all that has the forwarded link?

Previous provided links will return a message that the user does not have access to the underalying semantic model they need to get in contact with the owner of the semantic model.

3. does that mean any reports copy url will also stop or should only i block the cowboys?

Yes they will not be able to share the copy URL because the buttons on the share pop up will be greydout.

Maybe you can test this out with a co-worker of yours sharing a report with him and the turning off that option for you and see the end result on their side.

[icassiem]

@MFelix  thank you, this works on my side too, had some complaints but i refered them to the workspace to access. i will need to communicate the way of working to these dept champs

Is there any other ideas you awre of i could also do please?

[MFelix]

Hi @icassiem,

I would also do a Development, test and Production environment setup that would allow you to deploy the reports to the final consumers on a much proper way in terms that they would not have access to the development and experiences that developers always tend to do.

Concerning the questions about your co-workers is normal when you remove them the option to do wrokarounds they will complain.

Just remember to accept the correct answer so it can help others.

[icassiem]

@MFelix thank you so much

one last one, "development, test and Production environment setup that would allow you to deploy the reports to the final consumers" are you refering to a SharePoint folder structure (PowerBI > Domains > per dept > solutions > source)?

reason being these users will just continue dev from their pc for solutions and file dumps, dont mind the dumps but the head of dept wants visibility of solutions and sources but we keep having the older outdated versions. - was powerbi desktop could stop publishing to personal workspace

i hope this stopped sharing of links from personal workspaces , users cant access personal worksapce will at least get them to publish in their dept workspaces that will allow for proper usage reports and some auditing

[MFelix]

Hi @icassiem ,

I'm refering to creating some workspaces only for development purposes, and then deploy to the production when they are finalized, that would allow you to get more control over wath is passed to the end consumer, this will make that you have a clear separation between the end users and the developers, some of those developers can be admins that will be able to share in both enviroments but will allow for a better split between reports.

Off course you can even then take it to the next level where users can have only specific domains and so on.

[icassiem]

@MFelix Thank You so much

i dont want to get involved of deploying on their behalf in so i become part of the process

i will have to have hard conversations if this continues outside the centralised folder location

[MFelix]

Hi @icassiem ,

Not saying that you need to be part of the process, but there needs to be a clear workflow for the deployment and development of the reports.

Good luck. If you need anything just let me know.

[icassiem]

@MFelix thank you

with the level of maturity, i would need to be the person to deploy only to the prod workspace, also the reason why i was hoping to disable personal workspaces