Manage your Power BI workspaces like an expert

by | May 27, 2025

Introduction

Good management ofPower BI workspaces is a central element in any BI self-service environment. These workspaces enable teams to collaborate effectively, while ensuring data security and governance.

Without a clear structure, Workspaces can quickly become a source of confusion: duplication of reports, uncontrolled access, complex maintenance...
In this article, we present best practices for structuring, securing and optimizing your Power BI Workspaces, while ensuring a balance between user autonomy and IT control.

 

1. What is a Workspace in Power BI?

A Power BI Workspace is a collaborative space designed to enable teams to :

  • Create and share reports and dashboards,

  • Manage access via roles and permissions,

  • Publish standardized, reusable datasets.

There are two types of Workspaces:

  • My Workspace: personal use, limited in terms of sharing and governance.

  • Collaborative workspaces: team spaces dedicated to sharing and collaborating on reports and datasets.

Controlled management of Power BI workspaces prevents chaos, secures data and facilitates governance.

The image illustrates the 3 main reasons to manage your Power BI Workspaces.

 

2. Workspace organization and structuring

For efficient management, it is essential to structure workspaces according to a coherent logic, for example :

  • By business area: Finance, HR, Marketing, Sales ...

  • By environment: Development, Test, Production.

  • By strategic project: A dedicated Workspace for each project.

Example of Workspaces architecture :

 

Workspace Objective
Finance - ProdCentralized financial reports shared with management.
Finance - DevWorkspace for designing and testing reports before publication.
Sales - EuropeReports dedicated to sales performance in Europe.

 

3. Defining roles and permissions in Power BI

Power BI offers four roles for managing access to Workspaces:

 

RolePermissions
AdminComplete Workspace management (add/remove users, modify settings).
MemberCan modify datasets and reports.
ContributorCan publish and modify reports, but does not manage access.
PlayerCan only view reports and dashboards.
Best practices :

  • Restrict Admin roles to data managers,

  • Assign roles according to real needs to avoid unwanted actions,

  • Use Row-Level Security (RLS ) to filter sensitive data by user.

 

4. Centralize shared data models

Model centralization promotes consistent analysis, reduces redundancy and facilitates maintenance. It also provides a single source of truth.

 

Centralizing models and structuring your workspaces ensures consistency, security, efficiency and reduced maintenance.

This image shows the main advantages of a centralized data model in Power BI.

 

➠ Implementing centralization with Power BI

Microsoft recommends the use of dataflows to centrally prepare and transform data. These flows can then be reused in different reports or semantic models.
Key steps for structuring Workspaces in Power BI: data flows, connections, updates and accesses

The 4 key steps to effective data management in Power BI.

 

5. Facilitate model discovery and reuse 

Once shared models have been centralized, it's important to make them accessible to business users. Here are a few concrete actions:

  • Create a dataset catalog: a centralized list with clear descriptions helps users understand the nature and use of each dataset.

Centralized dataset catalog in Power BI for better data understanding and reuse

Dataset catalog view in Power BI, with information on usage, endorsement and owner.

 

  • Facilitate exploration: set up filters, tags or categories, enabling business analysts to easily search and explore existing models.

  • Standardize metadata: uniform names, clear descriptions for each column or measure.

  • Train users: offer guides, training courses or use Power BI Apps to centralize access.

6. Workspace security and governance in Power BI

Ensuring the security and effective governance of workspaces in Power BI is essential to protect sensitive data and guarantee its use in compliance with organizational policies. Here are some recommended practices for strengthening workspace security and governance:

 

➠ Avoid using "My Workspace" for collaborative reports

"My Workspace" is designed for personal use and does not offer the collaboration features required for teams. For reports requiring collaboration, it is recommended to use dedicated workspaces where roles and permissions can be managed appropriately.

 

➠ Restrict access to sensitive workspaces using Azure AD Security Groups

The use of Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Security Groups enables you to effectively control access to sensitive workspaces. By assigning specific roles to these groups, you can centrally manage authorizations and ensure that only authorized users have access to critical data.

 

Prerequisites: Make sure you have the System Administrator security role, or equivalent permissions.

Steps to take to restrict access :

  1. Log in to the Power Platform administration center.
  2. Select an environment, then select Settings>Users + permissions>Teams.
  3. Select + Create a team.
  4. Enter the following information:
Steps to restrict access in Power Platform by creating a team

Team creation form in the Power Platform administration center to restrict access.

 

➠ Enable multi-factor authentication to protect access to critical reports

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security by requiring additional verification at login. By enabling MFA, you significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access, even if a user's credentials are compromised.

 

MFA security settings in Office 365 with verification options and storage on trusted devices.

Configuration parameters for multi-factor authentication (MFA) in Office 365.

 

Conclusion: More structured and secure BI

Adopting rigorous workspace management in Power BI enables companies to :

  • Efficient data organization,

  • Secure access and guarantee compliance,

  • Avoid redundancy and optimize performance,

  • Promote model reuse to save time and improve analytical quality.

Thanks to these best practices, IT and business teams can work together more serenely, within a controlled, efficiency-oriented framework.

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Manal Rhiwi

Manal is an experienced Business Intelligence consultant, recognized for her reliability and ability to listen. She supports our customers in analyzing their needs and implementing appropriate solutions. Thanks to her mastery of SAP tools and HANA technology, she helps improve the performance of decision-making processes, while making the most of data in an efficient way.

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