Once you set your PowerBI application ID and credentials, you'll be able to start displaying PowerBI dashboards in the following areas of Projector Web.
Permissions and Settings
To enable this section turn on Advanced Analytics from the Modules Editor.
To make changes on this tab you must have the global permission System Settings set to Update.
Just Getting Started?
Consider working with one of our PowerBI partners to help you get PowerBI licensing, help with your Projector configuration, and training on building your first dashboards.
Configure PowerBI Instance
Projector requires a specific setup of PowerBI in order to show dashboards within our platform. It must meet the following requirements:
PowerBI Pro - at least one user needs to be on a Pro account.
Two Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication must be OFF for this user
- Microsoft Azure - you have an Azure subscription
App Owns Data PowerBI instance tied to Azure - if you don't already have a PowerBI instance tied to Azure you can create one using this link https://app.powerbi.com/embedsetup/appownsdata
If you already have an application you can get the application ID from https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_RegisteredApps/ApplicationsListBlade. You can get the workspace ID by logging into https://app.powerbi.com and opening the workspace tied to your Azure application. Look in the URL for the workspace ID. If you aren't sure if your PowerBI is tied to an App Registration, it's easiest to follow the link above and create a new one. You can publish your existing reports to the new space.
When creating your application request API permissions for the following
After creating your application note the Application ID and Workspace ID
- API Access Enabled - under your App Registrations in Azure, open your application and go to API Permissions. If you requested permissions as suggested above you'll need an administrator to grant them. If you already have an app, grant the permissions by click Add a permission | Delegated permission | Select the Read permissions | click Grant admin consent for.
- User set to Admin - If the user accessing content via the API isn't already a workspace Admin, make them one at https://app.powerbi.com | Workspaces | Access.
Create PowerBI Content
If you do not already have content in your PowerBI instance, create at least one report. If everything is configured correctly you should see that reports are owned by the application and not by a specific user. In the screenshot below the name of our registered application is Power BI Embed PoC.
You can author PowerBI content on either their website at https://app.powerbi.com or via their desktop software.
Point Projector at PowerBI Instance
Before you can start adding PowerBI dashboards you'll need to register your PowerBI instance with Projector. This is done from the Integrations tab | Advanced Analytics/BI subsection | MS Power BI blue dot. Enter your application ID and credentials.
- Enter your application ID - if you do not know your ID see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embed-sample-for-your-organization#application-id
- Click Set Credentials and enter your username and password - requires the use of a Master Account with a PowerBI Pro license. Enter the master account's case-sensitive username and password here. Two-factor authentication is not supported
- Restart Management Portal
Pull Projector Data into PowerBI
PowerBI pulls data from Projector's reports tab. If you don't already have a Projector report accessible over the web, make one.
The following examples use PowerBI's desktop software.
Use Get Data | Web to connect to your Projector data.
Once you have a report's URL, paste it into the form and Connect
Create Content
The simplest way to get started is to build a table. In the screenshot below we have connected to a Ginsu report.
Publish PowerBI Dashboard
Once your dashboard is configured, Publish it to a workspace.
We need to figure out how to create workspaces and identify that it has been associated with an app registration.
View on Web
Find your new dashboard in the workspace at https://app.powerbi.com. Copy the URL into notepad or another text editor. It should look something like this:
You'll need to extract two, thirty-six character codes out of the URL to put into Projector. The first is the Workspace ID. The second is the Report ID. In the above URL they would be:
- Workspace ID = 7b087de2-53a5-4cc7-b51d-0d780508debb
- Report ID = 0c06c76a-0745-4a13-8bbd-abc108388407
We'll be using them in the next section.
If you have shared your report correctly it will show up like the screenshot below.
Configure Projector Dashboard
Now that you have connected Projector to PowerBI, pulled Projector data into PowerBI (optional), and published your dashboard to the web you can now display it one of three areas of Projector.
This next section explains how to show a dashboard on a home page, but the same steps apply to the other areas.
- Identify a user you want to show a PowerBI dashboard to
- Note their primary user type
- Edit that user type and go to the dashboards tab
- Name the dashboard
- Tick the checkbox for User's Home Page
- Enter a height (800 is often good)
- Choose MS Power BI from the Display dropdown box
- In the previous step you noted your Workspace and Report IDs. Enter them here
- Leave the Filters area empty for now. The next section will explain how filters work
Log into Projector Web as the user. On My Home Page you should see your PowerBI dashboard displayed.
Filters
Projector can dynamically filter displayed content. For example, you might have a report that shows profit for all your projects. When you display that project you want your PowerBI to automatically filter the displayed data to just that project. This keeps you from having to build a separate report for each project. You can build one report for all projects and filter as appropriate.
Filter Locations
Hard-Coded Filters
Combination Filters
Dynamic Filters
The filters available depend on where you are displaying content. To see the available filters see:
- My Home Page -User Types Editor - Dashboards Tab
- Performance Dashboards
- Project Workspaces -Project - Project Workspaces
Escaping Special Characters
Field Names with Spaces or Special Characters
If your field name contains spaces or non-ASCII characters they either need to be renamed or they need to be escaped. The most frequent character you'll see that needs escaping is a space.
To escape a character:
- Type '_x'
- Four-digit unicode character
- Underscore '_'
For example, a space becomes _x0020_. The field 'Project Code' would become 'Project_x0020_Code'.
Filter Example
Example syntax for various filters
//Basic filter constructor
[DataSetName]/[Field Name] eq '[Field Value]'
//Example of hard-coded filter
MyGinsuReport/ProjectCode eq 'P001023-001'
//Example of dynamic filter
MyGinsuReport/ProjectCode eq '{0}' //the {0} is automatically replaced based on the project you are viewing
//Example of dynamic filter on two fields
MyGinsuReport/ProjectCode eq '{0}' & ClientName eq '{7}'
//Example of escaping a the space character in 'Project Code' (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-url-filters#special-characters-in-url-filters)
MyGinsuReport/Project_x0020_Code eq 'P001023-001'