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Making It Easier To Administer Power BI

Headshot of article author Fetiye Karabay

The Power BI Admin Portal gives organizations the ability to view usage data and set controls and limits on how Power BI is used throughout the organization.  We have heard from many administrators that these capabilities are critical, but sometimes getting the right person access to the Portal was hard because it was only available to Office 365 Global Administrators.

Introducing the Power BI Service Administrator Role

Today we’re introducing the new Power BI Service Administrator role, which can be assigned to users who should have access to the Power BI Admin Portal without also granting them other Office 365 administrative access.

You can assign the Power BI Service Administrator role today through PowerShell using the command below.  To run the PowerShell command, you must have the Azure Active Directory PowerShell Module installed, which you can download here.

Add-MsolRoleMember -RoleMemberEmailAddress "tim@contoso.com" -RoleName "Power BI Service Administrator"

If you’re not a PowerShell user, the capability to assign the Power BI Service Administrator role will be coming to the Office 365 Admin Center by the end of the year.

(Update: The Power BI Service Administrator role can now be assigned through the Office 365 Admin Center. Learn more here. )”

Easier for Cloud Solutions Providers too

If your organization relies on a Cloud Solutions Provider to manage your Microsoft services, administration is now easier for your partner as well.  They will be able to access the Power BI Admin Portal on your behalf to review configuration and help configure Power BI settings. 

These changes make give you more control about how Power BI is administered in your organization.