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What is Power BI administration

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Power BI administration is the management of the organization-wide settings that control how Power BI works. Users that are assigned to admin roles configure, monitor, and provision organizational resources. This article provides an overview of administration roles, tasks, and tools to help you get started.

Screenshot of the Power B I admin portal, showing the organization-wide settings.

There are several roles that work together to administer Power BI for your organization. Most admin roles are assigned in the Microsoft 365 admin center or by using PowerShell. The Power BI Premium Capacity and Power BI Embedded Capacity admin roles are assigned when the capacity is created. To learn more about each of the admin roles, see About admin roles. To learn how to assign admin roles, see Assign admin roles.

Type of administrator Administrative scope Power BI tasks
Global Administrator Microsoft 365 Has unlimited access to all management features for the organization
Assigns roles to other users
Billing Administrator Microsoft 365 Manage subscriptions
Purchase licenses
License Administrator Microsoft 365 Assign or remove licenses for users
User admin Microsoft 365 Create and manage users and groups
Reset user passwords
Power Platform Administrator Power Platform Full access to Power BI management tasks
Enable and disable Power BI features
Report on usage and performance
Review and manage auditing
Power BI Administrator Power BI service Full access to Power BI management tasks
Enable and disable Power BI features
Report on usage and performance
Review and manage auditing
Power BI Premium Capacity Administrator A single Premium capacity Assign workspaces to the capacity
Manage user permission to the capacity
Manage workloads to configure memory usage
Power BI Embedded Capacity Administrator A single Embedded capacity Assign workspaces to the capacity
Manage user permission to the capacity
Manage workloads to configure memory usage

Administrative tasks and tools

Power BI admins work mostly in the Power BI Admin portal, but you should still be familiar with related tools and admin centers. Look at the table above to determine which role is required to do tasks using the tools listed here.

Tool Typical tasks
Power BI Admin portal Acquire and work with Premium capacity
Ensure quality of service
Manage workspaces
Publish Power BI visuals
Verify codes used to embed Power BI in other applications
Troubleshoot data access and other issues
Microsoft 365 admin center Manage users and groups
Purchase and assign licenses
Block users from accessing Power BI
Microsoft 365 Security & Microsoft Purview compliance portal Review and manage auditing
Data classification and tracking
Data loss prevention policies
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management
Azure Active Directory in the Azure portal Configure conditional access to Power BI resources
Provision Power BI Embedded capacity
PowerShell cmdlets Manage workspaces and other aspects of Power BI through scripts
Administrative APIs and SDK Build custom admin tools. For example, Power BI Desktop can use these APIs to build reports based on data related to administration.

Next steps

Now that you know the basics of what’s involved with Power BI administration, consult these articles to learn more: