When a report is published to a Power BI workspace that many people have access to, there are always problems associated with it, some of them being related to permissions, dataset capabilities, or workspace setups. Below are some of the best practices to avoid such problems when publishing reports and to ensure that there are fewer surprises along the way:
Define Roles and Access Rights: Make sure all the participants in the shared workspace have the appropriate roles assigned. All Power BI roles – be they Administrator, Member, Contributor, or Viewer- hold different rights. When the role of users does not match their requirements, the user will face problems accessing the reports and editing them if necessary. For instance, not all can edit content; that privilege is only for Admins and Members, while the rest of the roles, such as Viewer, are only able to see the reports. That is why administering and controlling these roles is essential in order to mitigate such problems.
Contain and Control Dataset and Gateway Settings: If your report contains transactions from on-premises data sources, ensure that the corresponding gateway is well-installed and reachable by all users on that workspace. Every Dataset should point to the right gateway, and each dataset refresh should also be properly scheduled for the system's efficiency. Also, do not embed any usernames or passwords in the Dataset itself or any other secure geographical information, as this will present a problem if and when the information is published.
Implement Development and Publishing Strategies that are Standardized: When making changes to documents already published, for example, when removing or adding text or figures, a version control process should be utilized so as to prevent damaging the next user's work by overriding it. Also, testing should be considered in staging or development workspaces instead of being done directly in the shared workspace. Make sure to inform the team about any changes that need to be made or any maintenance activity that would cause reports to be down so that everything is clear during these times.
The above measures can help manage these portals effectively over resources in a shared Power BI environment and hinder problems that emerge while publishing the reports.
