content distribution with apps

[Pikachu-Power]

Hi all,

I have questions to the following content distribution model:

1. App Workspace is here one of the deparments right? The Data modeler / report designer could create reports and publish it in the, for example, Marketing, Sales or Finance App Workspace?

2. What is the job of the workspace admins & members? Are they a part of a department? Couldn't be the Data modeler / report designer the workspace admin at the same time?

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

So, this tends to be a matter of opinion. Apps were really created in order to provide users kind of a nicer interface for accessing multiple dashboards and reports. It tends to be a nicer interface for users to get familiar with but it also comes with certain limitations. I am a fan of getting users familiar with the workspace interface versus just apps, especially for your power users. 

But, this is all a matter of opinion and what your needs are. Anything that can be done in an App can be done in a Workspace, but the opposite is not true. It is just going to depend. 

One of the big, in my opinion, mistakes that people do when going down the App route and I mention it because I have seen it multiple times is that people create a dataset, create a single report and then publish this out to a workspace and then as an App.  Then, people create a second, nearly identical dataset, create a report from this out to a second workspace and then a second App. And so on, and so on. This tends to lead to governance issues. For example, in my opinion, it tends to be better to create a dataset that can service multiple reports so that you have 1 dataset that services maybe 5, 10 or 15 different reports. 

Anyway, there are tons of different ways of doing this. The specifics for your situation only you are going to know so hard to provide recommendations.

[v-diye-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Pikachu-Power 

Based on the elaboration from @Greg_Deckler ,you can also refer to the official document:

Roles in the workspaces:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-new-workspaces#roles-in-the-new-workspaces 

With Power BI apps, you can create collections of dashboards and reports and publish these collections as apps to your whole organization or to specific people or groups. For you as a report creator or admin, apps make it easier to manage permissions on these collections.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-create-distribute-apps 

[Greg_Deckler]

1. Yes, a single report builder could have access to multiple workspaces and publish content to all of them.

2. Depends on your organization. Many times these people are controlling security access to data, commenting on reports, providing content, etc. Yes, your report builder could fulfill this role.

[Pikachu-Power]

Ok thanks for confirm my thoughts 🙂

So members of a department should only use apps? Since we have apps does it make sense to have members of a department in a workspace? For example with only view rights. So it would be possible to share everything without using apps? Does someone see advantage of this concept?

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

So, this tends to be a matter of opinion. Apps were really created in order to provide users kind of a nicer interface for accessing multiple dashboards and reports. It tends to be a nicer interface for users to get familiar with but it also comes with certain limitations. I am a fan of getting users familiar with the workspace interface versus just apps, especially for your power users. 

But, this is all a matter of opinion and what your needs are. Anything that can be done in an App can be done in a Workspace, but the opposite is not true. It is just going to depend. 

One of the big, in my opinion, mistakes that people do when going down the App route and I mention it because I have seen it multiple times is that people create a dataset, create a single report and then publish this out to a workspace and then as an App.  Then, people create a second, nearly identical dataset, create a report from this out to a second workspace and then a second App. And so on, and so on. This tends to lead to governance issues. For example, in my opinion, it tends to be better to create a dataset that can service multiple reports so that you have 1 dataset that services maybe 5, 10 or 15 different reports. 

Anyway, there are tons of different ways of doing this. The specifics for your situation only you are going to know so hard to provide recommendations.