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Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

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cbailiss on 02 Apr 2016 02:44:09

ALL user activities in Power BI should be logged for auditing purposes, including datasets accessed, reports/dashboards accessed, and especially data exports performed. The audit data should be accessible as a dataset to build reports against as well as easily exportable / downloadable.

Administrator on 16 Aug 2020 02:15:34

We released a US only preview for auditing Power BI. Read more about it here: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-admin-auditing/

Comments (71)
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a3309361 99be-ea11-a812-000d3a8ddfb2 on 16 Aug 2020 03:58:27

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

You should be able to use the audit log data as a source to create your own reports. Currently, all you can do is dump the log from excel. I should be able to use PowerBI to easily monitor the environment. It's great you can look at an individual dashboard, but doesn't really give an admin the level of info needed.

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5f0abfcc 648a-48ea-a60c-7b6b6dfbf429 on 16 Aug 2020 03:57:33

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

This should be available as a Content Pack. The current preview for auditing is very limited and cumbersome.

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03abc427 97de-45ea-891b-6f3dd9641654 on 16 Aug 2020 03:57:21

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

Is there any plan to get this into PowerBI Embedded? Happy to create an idea if not.

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4a9fa078 a9bb-41a5-83a6-efb7f6900373 on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:39

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

'@ajay - Can you provide an update on this?

To echo @VLJ 's comments: "Power BI needs to be able to connect to the audit data as a data source, so usage reports can be written."

You have built-in connectors for almost every dataset under the sun. I can write a Power BI report how people are using ZenDesk or Salesforce, but I can't write a report on Power BI usage itself?

Can you confirm whether the final solution will allow (1) access to plug into Power BI usage as a live dataset in "Get Data" and (2) ability to do advanced transforms on this audit data in Power Query?

I imagine this will help Power BI adoption significantly, since many BI managers are eager to show adoption trends, and use usage/adoption metrics themselves as success indicators of our Power BI investments.

Thanks so much!

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65550624 2666-4e00-b5d9-6e5bb0cf8556 on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:38

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

We need to be able to audit and report on usage without needing O365 admin rights - our BI will not be given these.

Can this information be made available as a content pack / data set that we can use to create reports in PowerBI itself?

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ebedb3c1 25b6-47ed-923a-3b5eae4e265d on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:37

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

we need to be able to audit users without doing a manual dump from the security portal thats soo outdated relative to the integrations throughout power bi... :(

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2387057d 0f30-4732-b039-e638e3736ec3 on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:32

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

I can see there is functionality for PowerBI Audit log search. But is it possible to create a PowerBI dashboard that shows the stats from the audit log?

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6ac2e7cf 22d9-43b7-aa7b-5be45d890f48 on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:23

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

The preview functionality in the O365 Security & Compliance centre is great. However, having to navigate away from Power BI and then manually search through it is not ideal. Power BI needs to be able to connect to the audit data as a data source, so usage reports can be written.

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1a979dee a8a7-4bd0-838b-a1318e520dfe on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:20

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

It would be great if you could see which reports people are looking at

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5cdc8490 92f9-4717-87b2-c1e90b19536d on 16 Aug 2020 03:56:10

RE: Better Auditing of User Activity (Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, Exports)

When will this be released for the UK version?