Workspaces in Power BI - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a Power BI administrator at a retail company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to organize the company's Power BI reports and dashboards by department to improve collaboration and access control.

📊 Data: You have a list of reports and dashboards currently stored in a single workspace. Each report belongs to a department: Sales, Marketing, or Finance.

🎯 Deliverable: Create separate Power BI workspaces for each department and move the corresponding reports and dashboards into these workspaces. Then, set workspace access permissions so only department members can view or edit their content.

Sample Data

Report Name	Type	Department	Owner
Sales Overview	Dashboard	Sales	Alice
Monthly Sales	Report	Sales	Bob
Marketing Campaigns	Report	Marketing	Carol
Customer Feedback	Dashboard	Marketing	Dave
Budget Analysis	Report	Finance	Eve
Expense Tracking	Dashboard	Finance	Frank

1

Step 1: Create three new workspaces in Power BI named 'Sales', 'Marketing', and 'Finance'.

In Power BI Service, click 'Workspaces' > 'Create a workspace'. Name each workspace exactly as the department names.

Expected Result

Three empty workspaces named 'Sales', 'Marketing', and 'Finance' are created.

2

Step 2: Move the reports and dashboards to their respective department workspaces.

For each report/dashboard, open its settings, select 'Move', and choose the workspace matching its department from the sample data.

Expected Result

All reports and dashboards are organized into the correct department workspaces.

3

Step 3: Set workspace access permissions so only department members can access their workspace.

In each workspace, go to 'Access' settings. Add users from the department as members or admins. Remove any users not belonging to that department.

Expected Result

Each workspace has access restricted to its department members only.

4

Step 4: Verify that users can only see reports and dashboards in their department workspace.

Ask a user from each department to log in and check their visible workspaces and content.

Expected Result

Users see only their department's workspace and content, ensuring proper access control.

Final Result

Power BI Workspaces Dashboard

+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|    Sales       |   Marketing    |    Finance     |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| Sales Overview | Marketing      | Budget Analysis|
| Monthly Sales  | Campaigns      | Expense Tracking|
+----------------+ Dashboard      +----------------+
|                | Customer       |                |
|                | Feedback       |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+

✓Organizing reports by department improves collaboration and security.

✓Access control ensures users only see relevant data.

✓Workspaces help keep content organized and manageable.

Bonus Challenge

Create a Power BI app for each workspace to share reports easily with department members.

Show Hint

In each workspace, use the 'Create app' feature, customize the app navigation, and publish it to the department users.