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Pre-Announcing Automatic Installation of the Power BI app for Microsoft Teams

Headshot of article author Lukasz Pawlowski

Many organizations use modern collaboration in Microsoft Teams to enable faster decision making and action. Now, Power BI is making it easier for organizations to roll-out Power BI experience in Teams, so users get can discover and use data where they work. This helps people get notified faster, get richer link sharing experiences, and access all their data without leaving Microsoft Teams.

To enable organizations to easily roll-out of Power BI in Teams, we’re add the following:

  • Power BI will begin automatically installing the Power BI app for Teams for users when they visit the Power BI service
  • Power BI admins can choose not to auto-install through a new Power BI tenant setting
  • The tenant setting has started to roll-out now, giving admins time to opt-out if desired
  • The automatic installation will start to take effect in November 2021, for organizations with the setting enabled.

Let’s look at the details of this announcement.

 

New auto-install for Power BI app for Microsoft Teams

When the Power BI app for Microsoft Teams is installed, users get better experiences without leaving Teams, like:

These capabilities are available once the Power BI app for Teams is installed for a user. With automatic installation, we’re help more users get these experiences. It also helps Power BI and Teams admins, since it reduces the need to create and manage Microsoft Teams app setup policies just to install the Power BI experiences in Teams for a user.

The Install Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatically tenant setting is added to the Power BI admin portal. Power BI admins can control the auto-install behavior. By default, the auto-install is enabled.

Screenshot of the "Install Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatically" Power BI tenant setting that controls automatic installation of the Power BI app for Microsoft Teams for a user.

The automatic installation happens for a user under the following conditions:

  1. The Power BI app for Microsoft Teams is set to allowed in the Microsoft Teams admin portal
  2. The Power BI tenant setting Install Power BI app for Microsoft Teams automatically is enabled
  3. The user has a Microsoft Teams license
  4. The user opens the Power BI service (e.g. app.powerbi.com) in a web browser

Initially, auto-install applies to new users the first time they visit the Power BI service in a web browser. In the future, auto-install will occur for all active users of the Power BI service who meet the criteria.

When auto-install occurs, the following notification is shown in the Power BI service notification pane.

Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated

We’re excited to help users to collaborate faster, discover their data more easily, spend less time switching apps, and to reduce the effort required for organizations to roll-out Power BI in Microsoft Teams. As always, we’re eager to hear your feedback and how we can continue to improve Power BI.

 

Questions and Answers

What happening today?

We’re pre-announcing auto-install of Power BI in Teams. We’re also starting to roll-out a Power BI tenant admin setting which enables Power BI admins to choose to opt-out of the automatic installation behavior.

When will these changes take effect?

In November 2021, Power BI auto-install of Power BI in Teams will start rolling out.

Which users will be affected?

If the Power BI tenant setting is enabled, the Power BI app for Microsoft Teams will be installed for users who meet the criteria specified in this blog post. Initially, automatic installation will apply to new users and will expand to all users who visit the Power BI service in a web browser after the initial roll-out in November 2021.

When should I use a Microsoft Teams App Setup Policy?

Microsoft Teams app setup policies allow Microsoft Teams Admins to install an app for a target set of users. Since this applies to all users in the specified group, you can ensure everyone who needs Power BI has it, even if they’re not active Power BI users. It’s a great way to achieve blanket coverage to support organizational goals for driving a data culture. Additionally, app setup policies can be used to pin the Power BI app in Teams to the Microsoft Teams left rail. This additional step makes data and analytics prominently available throughout your organization. It helps keep data top of mind and encourages more people to use data in their decision making. If you’d like to ensure blanket coverage and/or pin the Power BI app, use an app setup policy in the Teams Admin center.

 

Next Steps

Read more about automatic installation in the Power BI documentation

Read more about the Power BI app for Microsoft Teams

Read more about collaboration in Microsoft Teams with Power BI