Problem with sharing Power BI Dataset across 2 tenants in ONE company/organization

[Jeick]

Hello dear Microsoft Experts,

right now, we're looking for the best way to share Power BI data sets from one tenant to another tenant in the SAME organization.

We're aware of the Microsoft Cross-Tenant Data Sharing Feature for guest users and we have already tried that one out, but only with very little success.

These are the settings we used while testing out that feature...

Of course we enabled everything in the Admin Portal:

- Share content with external users

- Allow external users to consume datasets in their own tenant

- Allow Direct Query connections to Power BI semantic models

And of course we also enabled all settings on the data set, we're trying to share from tenant "A" to tenant "B":

- „External sharing“ is activated

- Admin rights for my user

Our Licensing:

- Tenant "A": Microsoft Fabric F16 License + Power PI Pro for every user

- Tenant "B": Power BI Pro for every user

However, my experience with this feature is that it's just working with real guest users and not in scenarios like ours where my user is not a guest user but a real member of the other tenant.

We even invited someone from an external organization to clarify if we made any mistakes configuring this feature. - And this guy was able to access the external data set from our tenant "A" with direct query.

So... am I right in saying that this feature is by design not the right way to share data sets in 2 tenants across ONE organization?

What other options are there for sharing data sets in one organization with more than one tenant?

Or is using more than one tenant generally a bad idea in one organization?

My company has 2 Power BI tenants and my personal user is part of both tenants:

- first Tenant "A": Home Tenant; Member

- second tenant "B": B2B Collaboration Member through cross-tenant sync (NOT a B2B Guest User)

I followed steps from the official Microsoft Documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-dataset-external-org-share-abou...

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-ie/blog/introducing-cross-tenant-power-bi-dataset-sharing/

[v-sgandrathi · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jeick,

Power BI is typically most effective within a single-tenant architecture, even for large organizations. A single tenant streamlines identity management, sharing, and governance, and helps prevent many challenges associated with cross-tenant environments.

Multi-tenant setups are usually implemented for specific organizational or regulatory requirements, such as subsidiaries or data isolation. However, they introduce additional complexity, particularly with dataset sharing, which is primarily designed for B2B guest users rather than cross-tenant member accounts.

Best practices suggest consolidating into a single tenant whenever possible to facilitate collaboration and reduce restrictions. If multiple tenants are necessary, B2B guest access remains the most dependable method for cross-tenant sharing in Power BI. Some organizations also opt for data replication or centralized reporting layers to limit cross-tenant live sharing.

Ultimately, the optimal approach depends on your organization’s specific needs, but single-tenant configurations generally provide the most seamless Power BI experience.

Thank you.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @Jeick,

Your observation is correct, the behavior you're seeing is expected and relates to how Power BI distinguishes between B2B guest users and cross-tenant synced members. Currently, the cross-tenant dataset sharing feature is only available for guest users (B2B collaboration), not for users who are members in both tenants, even within the same organization. Power BI uses guest user identities to support external sharing and DirectQuery scenarios, which explains why your tests succeeded with an external guest but not with your own account as a member in both tenants.

At this time, the recommended approach is to invite users from Tenant B into Tenant A as guest users and share datasets or apps with those guest identities. While app sharing or Premium capacity can also support this scenario, they still rely on guest access for cross-tenant use. If cross-tenant collaboration is common, it may be worthwhile to review the multi-tenant setup, since Power BI is optimized for single-tenant architectures to minimize such restrictions.

Thank you.

[Jeick]

Hi @v-sgandrathi ,

Thanks a lot for your input! - That really explains what we've experienced. And it sound like we need to review our multi-tenant setup. ... So Just for clarification: Is it best practice, even for big companies, using a single tenant setup for Power BI?

Thanks a lot !

[lbendlin]

from one tenant to another tenant in the SAME organization.

doesn't really matter if it is the same organization. 

Ideally you would be able to lift both sides to F64 or better so you can avoid all the Pro license issues.

[Jeick]

But the feature seems to make a difference between users being guest users and users being real members. 

I can't make it work when I am trying to share a data set which is located in a workspace (set to premium F16 capacity) in my home tenant "A" with myself or other users in tenant "B" . In both tenants we're not guest users but real members ("A" is my Home tenant). However sharing with someone that is actually a "real" guest in tenant "A" is possible.

[ANA_3BRUM]

I've had this experience before, and we solved it by sharing via the app, but in my case, the user was configured as a guest in the tenant where the model was located, and the workspace was set to premium due to capacity.