We’re excited to announce two new enhancements to Power BI apps that help you share data more effectively with your organization. The new contact list for apps makes it easier for app users to get help when they need it and for app owners to receive notifications about the app. The new option to allow contributors to update app content helps workspace admins manage access more effectively. These new capabilities are available for apps in the new workspace experience and shine in the New look for the Power BI service.
New contact list for Power BI apps
Recently, we added contact lists for items and workspaces. The overwhelming response from Power BI users was ‘Can we get that for Power BI apps?’. We’re excited to bring this customer requested feature to the Power BI Service.
Now, when you open the app settings page, you’ll see the new contact list option.
By default, it shows the app publisher. However, you can opt to use the item contacts set on the reports and dashboards in the workspace, or to set a specific list of users or groups. This level of control helps ensure the right people get notified of any issues users are facing. The contact list is also used for app notifications, for example if someone requests access to the app.
New option to allow contributors to update app content
Many organizations control who can share content with others. They nominate some people like Workspace Admins or Members to control who can access content. They rely on lower privilege users like Contributors to create and update content. However, coordinating between the Contributors, Members, and Admins to update the app for the workspace is a hassle which can lead to delays in updating an app.
Now, we’ve introduced an option to allow Contributors to update the content for an App. A workspace Admin will find the Allow contributors to update the app for this workspace option in the settings pane for a new workspace experience workspace. Its located in Security settings when you expand Advanced.
By default the option is not checked. When enabled, Contributors can choose which content is included in the app and update the app with the latest content from the workspace.
The option doesn’t let Contributors publish a new app for the workspaces or to change who can access the app. Those activities require a workspace Admin or Member to setup the app first. This preserves the ability to control who can access app content, while giving more flexibility to those maintaining content to efficiently update the app with the latest reports.
One important note is that with this option enabled, a Contributor can add and remove content to a previously published app. Don’t use it if you also want to maintain control over which reports and dashboard are in the app.
We hope these options help you get more from apps as you distribute insights throughout your organization. As always we’re excited to hear from you how we could improve Power BI. Head over to https://ideas.powerbi.com to share your ideas.
Next steps