RLS with multiple roles in Power BI - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Row-Level Security (RLS) lets you control what data different users can see in a Power BI report. Using multiple roles means you can create different rules for different groups of users, so each group sees only their relevant data.

When your sales team needs to see only their region's sales data in the report

When managers should see all data but employees see only their own department's data

When you want to share a report with multiple departments, each with different data access

When you need to test different security roles before publishing the report

When you want to combine several roles for a user who belongs to multiple groups

Steps

Step 1: Open

- Power BI Desktop

Your report file is ready for editing

Step 2: Go to

- Modeling tab > Manage Roles

The Manage Roles window opens showing existing roles or empty if none

Step 3: Click

- Create button in Manage Roles window

A new role is added with a default name

Step 4: Rename

- New role name field

Role is named to represent the user group, e.g., 'SalesRegionEast'

Step 5: Select

- Table in the role filter pane

You can add a filter expression for that table

Step 6: Type

- DAX filter expression box

The role filters data based on your expression, e.g., [Region] = "East"

Step 7: Repeat

- Steps 3 to 6

Create multiple roles for different user groups with their own filters

Step 8: Click

- Modeling tab > View as Roles

A window opens to test roles by selecting one or more roles to simulate

Step 9: Select

- One or more roles in the View as Roles window

The report view updates to show data as filtered by the selected roles

Step 10: Publish

- Power BI Desktop > Home tab > Publish

Report with roles is uploaded to Power BI Service

Step 11: Go to

- Power BI Service > Dataset settings > Security

You can assign users or groups to the roles created in Power BI Desktop

Before vs After

Before

Report shows all data to everyone regardless of user

After

Users see only the data allowed by their assigned roles, e.g., East region sales only

Settings Reference

Manage Roles

📍 Power BI Desktop > Modeling tab

Create and manage roles with filters to control data access

Default: No roles defined

View as Roles

📍 Power BI Desktop > Modeling tab

Test how the report looks for users assigned to specific roles

Default: No role selected

Security (in Power BI Service)

📍 Power BI Service > Dataset settings > Security

Assign actual users or groups to roles to enforce RLS in published reports

Default: No users assigned

Common Mistakes

Assigning users to roles in Power BI Desktop instead of Power BI Service

User assignments only work in Power BI Service after publishing

Publish the report, then assign users to roles in Power BI Service under dataset security

Using incorrect DAX filter expressions in roles

Filters may not restrict data as expected or cause errors

Use simple, tested DAX expressions like [Column] = "Value" and test with View as Roles

Not testing multiple roles together when users belong to more than one role

Data visibility may differ from expectations if roles combine unexpectedly

Use View as Roles to select multiple roles and verify combined filters behave correctly

Summary

RLS with multiple roles lets you control data access for different user groups in one report.

Create roles with filters in Power BI Desktop and assign users to roles in Power BI Service.

Always test roles using View as Roles to ensure data is filtered correctly for each group.