Power BI dashboards. Some best practices for the implementation are as follows:
1. Collection and Storage of Data
Power BI Audit Logs (Microsoft 365 Compliance Center): To pull in fine-grained user activity-related data, logging can be enabled using the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal or PowerShell (Search-UnifiedAuditLog).
Power BI Activity Log API: Use the Admin API (GetActivityEvents) for a near-real-time monitoring mechanism that captures events like report view, dataset refresh, and access change.
Third-party Applications (e.g., Azure Log Analytics, Power BI Monitoring Solutions): Automate the pipeline for log collection into a centralized storage like Azure Blob, SQL, or Data Lake for better retention and analytics purposes.
2. Processing and Optimizing Data
Incremental Data Loads: Pull log data incrementally using Power Query or Azure Data Factory (ADF) while avoiding reprocessing of logs.
Data Model Optimization: Optimizing the performance of log storage in fact tables with relationships to user profiles, reports, and timestamps.
Scheduled Refreshes: Based on user activity, optimize refresh schedules (say, every 24 hours for audit logs, while APIs could do near-real-time).
3. Visualization and Insights
Usage Metrics Reports: Built-in Power BI usage metrics for quick insight into report views and interactions by users.
Custom Dashboards: Create Power BI reports that include:
Heat maps to visualize peak usage periods.
User Segmentation (frequent vs. inactive).
Drill-down for user-specific report access trends.
Alerts & Automation: Use Power Automate to notify admins about any anomaly, such as unauthorized access or high report load time.
