SharePoint is an important part of how many organizations organize and distribute BI content to users. In recognition of how important this approach is, we’ve invested in modernizing and creating deeper integrations with SharePoint. Over the last year, we have introduced the Power BI webpart for SharePoint Online and an updated Reporting Services Report Viewer webpart for SharePoint on-premises. Customers like the flexibility this gives them to build highly-customized SharePoint experiences using their BI content.
Yesterday’s announcement and release of the public preview of SharePoint 2019 continues to deliver on the vision we first outlined in our Reporting Services blog by simplifying deployment modes for Reporting Services by removing SharePoint integrated mode, while still allowing integration with SharePoint using the updated web part. This decision was based on the consistent feedback from our users, and by making these changes, we’ll be able to innovate and release integration capabilities faster and more often that best meet the needs of customers now and in the future.
The Path Forward
Now, customers can use Power BI and optionally integrate their Power BI content into SharePoint 2019 and SharePoint Online, using either Power BI or Power BI Report Server. We’re making this experience in Power BI better than ever by:
· Adding support for all major report types across both platforms. In the coming weeks, we’ll have the first public preview of Paginated (RDL) reports in Power BI Premium, giving customers full support for Paginated Reports, Power BI Reports and Excel Workbooks in Power BI.
· Providing easier ways to report on your data in SharePoint. We’ve recently announced new functionality to make easier than ever to start visualizing your Excel tables and CSV files stored in SharePoint Online in Power BI.
Additionally, for Power BI Report Server, we’re adding some new features that already exist in Power BI, but were previously available only through SharePoint integration for on-premises deployments. These include –
· Power Pivot Scheduled Data Refresh. We first added support for Excel Workbooks in Power BI Report Server in October 2017, including the hosting and viewing of Excel Workbooks containing data models. We’ll be expanding this support to include scheduled data refresh of these workbooks.
· Modern Authentication support. Security considerations are a key part of any BI deployment strategy, and many customers used SharePoint to handle claims-based authentication scenarios for their users. We’re adding native support for ADFS/AAD authentication to Power BI Report Server in an upcoming release.
To help with migration scenarios, the team will be offering additional documentation, blog posts and other product capabilities as we move towards the GA of SharePoint 2019. We’ll also continue to fully support the previous versions you’ve deployed throughout their product support lifecycle.
We’re thrilled with the customer feedback we’ve received with the direction we’re headed, and we’re looking forward to hearing from you as we move forward together.
Thanks!