How to Use Power BI: A Practical Guide for Teams That Need to Share Reports

Published: 2026-06-09

⏲ Read time: 13 minutes

Power BI is one of the most widely used tools for turning business data into reports, dashboards and interactive insights. For many teams, the first question is simple: how to use Power BI in a structured way without creating confusion, duplicate reports or uncontrolled access.

The short answer is that Power BI is used in three broad steps. You connect to data, build a semantic model and report, then publish and share that content through the Power BI service. That sounds straightforward, but in a business environment the real work is not only creating the report. The harder part is often deciding who should access it, how it should be distributed, what each user should see, and how the experience should look when reports are shared beyond the core analytics team.

This guide explains how to use Power BI from a practical business perspective. It covers the core workflow, the difference between Power BI Desktop and Power BI service, how workspaces and permissions work, where licensing comes into the picture, and when a secure branded portal layer such as Skald BI becomes relevant.

What Power BI Is Used For

Power BI helps organizations connect data from different sources, prepare that data, create reports and make insights available to users. It is used by finance teams, commercial teams, operations, management, customer success, product teams and many others who need a clearer view of performance.

In practice, Power BI usually supports questions such as revenue development, sales performance, customer behavior, supply chain status, operational KPIs, cost trends or executive reporting. The value is not that Power BI creates charts. The value is that it helps teams work from a shared version of business data.

A typical Power BI setup includes Power BI Desktop for report creation and Power BI service for publishing, collaboration and sharing. Power BI Desktop is where many report builders connect to data, clean and shape it, define calculations and design interactive reports. Power BI service is the browser based environment where reports can be published, organized in workspaces and shared with users.

That distinction matters. Many organizations build strong reports in Power BI Desktop, but struggle when reports need to reach customers, partners, franchisees, suppliers, local teams or other stakeholders at scale. Power BI can support sharing, but the distribution model needs to be planned carefully.

How to Use Power BI Step by Step

 

The best way to understand Power BI is to think in terms of a report lifecycle. A report is not finished when the first visual looks good. It is finished when the right users can access the right version, trust the data and use it in their work.

 

A practical Power BI workflow usually looks like this:

• Connect to relevant data sources such as Excel, databases, cloud services or business systems

• Transform and structure the data so it is reliable enough for reporting

• Build a semantic model with relationships, measures and business logic

• Design reports that answer specific business questions

• Publish the report to Power BI service and manage access, sharing and governance

This sequence is simple, but each step creates decisions. Which data source is trusted? Who owns the model? Which measures are official? Which workspace should contain the report? Should users access the report inside Power BI, through Microsoft Teams, via a link, through an app, or through a branded portal?

For internal analytics teams, Power BI alone may be enough. For broader distribution, especially outside the organization, the delivery model becomes a strategic design choice.

Power BI Desktop vs Power BI Service

Power BI Desktop and Power BI service are often confused by new users. They are connected, but they serve different purposes.

Power BI Desktop is primarily the authoring environment. This is where report creators connect to data, use Power Query, build models, create DAX measures and design report pages. It is often the right place for more advanced report building and model development.

Power BI service is the online environment where content is published, organized, refreshed, shared and consumed. It is also where workspaces, apps, permissions, collaboration and many governance features become important.

A useful way to think about it is this: Power BI Desktop is where reports are built. Power BI service is where reports are managed and shared.

That separation is important for B2B use cases. A customer does not usually care whether the report was built in Desktop or the service. They care whether the report is easy to access, secure, relevant and presented in a professional way. This is where organizations often start looking beyond report creation and toward report distribution.

How to Build a Useful Power BI Report

A useful Power BI report starts with a clear question. Too many reports begin with available data instead of business need. The result is often a dashboard that contains many visuals but few decisions.

A better starting point is to define the user, the decision and the cadence. Is the report for a CEO reviewing monthly performance, a sales manager following pipeline, a customer checking delivery quality, or a partner monitoring activity? Each of these users needs a different level of detail and a different experience.

Good Power BI reports usually have a few common traits. They use consistent definitions, avoid unnecessary visuals, make filters clear and show the most important information first. They also separate operational detail from executive summary. A report can be interactive without forcing every user to become an analyst.

For organizations sharing reports with external stakeholders, the threshold is higher. External users do not have the same context as internal teams. Labels, navigation, filters and access logic need to be clear. A report that works for an internal analyst may not be suitable for a customer portal without additional structure around it.

How to Publish Power BI Reports

After a report is created, it can be published from Power BI Desktop to a workspace in Power BI service. A workspace is a container where teams manage related Power BI content such as reports, dashboards, semantic models and other items.

The workspace choice should not be random. It affects ownership, access, governance and future maintenance. For small teams, one workspace can feel sufficient. For growing organizations, workspaces often need to reflect business domains, security boundaries, customer groups or operational ownership.

Publishing also creates a governance question. Who is allowed to update the report? Who can edit the semantic model? Who can only view the report? Who approves changes before they are exposed to a wider audience?

These questions are not administrative details. They directly affect trust. If users receive different versions of the same KPI, or if too many people can edit a report, Power BI adoption can create more confusion than clarity.

Understanding Power BI Workspaces and Roles

Power BI workspaces use roles to control what people can do. Microsoft defines common workspace roles such as Admin, Member, Contributor and Viewer. These roles are used to manage collaboration and access inside a workspace.

For many organizations, this is where Power BI governance starts. Workspace roles should be assigned intentionally, ideally through groups rather than ad hoc individual access. The more users and reports you have, the more important this becomes.

A common mistake is giving too many people broad access because it is faster in the short term. That may solve today’s sharing issue, but it creates long term risk. Users can end up with access they no longer need. Reports can be edited by too many people. External distribution can become hard to audit.

When Power BI is used only inside a small team, this may be manageable. When reports are shared with customers, partners or large internal audiences, access design needs to be treated as part of the product experience.

How to Share Power BI Reports

Power BI offers several ways to share reports and dashboards. Users can share links, give access to specific people, use apps, collaborate in workspaces, embed content in other Microsoft environments, or use embedded analytics depending on the scenario.

The right method depends on the audience. Sharing with a finance team inside the same organization is different from sharing with 300 external customers. A report for a board meeting is different from an always on customer portal. A partner dashboard with restricted views is different from a public internal KPI report.

Before choosing a sharing method, answer four questions:

• Who needs access to the report?

• Are they internal users, external guest users, customers, partners or mixed audiences?

• Do they need to sign in with Microsoft credentials or access reports through another experience?

• Should the report appear as Power BI content or as part of a branded portal?

The last question is often overlooked. Power BI is strong for analytics creation and Microsoft ecosystem collaboration. But when the report becomes part of a customer facing or partner facing experience, presentation, access flow and brand context matter more.

Sharing Power BI Reports With External Users

Power BI can support external sharing, including scenarios that involve Microsoft Entra B2B guest users. This can work well when the external users are known, the access model is manageable and the organization is comfortable with the Microsoft based user journey.

However, external sharing should not be treated as just another link. It raises practical questions about identity, permissions, licensing, data visibility, user support, and how the external user experiences the report.

For example, a customer may not understand your internal workspace structure. A partner may need access to only one filtered view. A larger group of external users may create license and administration questions. A branded reporting experience may be important if the report is part of a commercial service, customer portal or partner program.

This is where Skald BI becomes relevant. Power BI helps teams create reports. Skald BI helps teams share existing Power BI reports through a secure branded portal layer. It does not replace Power BI. It sits around the reports and focuses on distribution, access, rights, branding and a more controlled experience for the people consuming the content.

Power BI Licensing and Cost Considerations

Power BI licensing can influence how reports are shared. The right setup depends on who creates content, who consumes it, whether content is stored in a capacity, and whether users are internal or external. Because licensing rules and product packaging can change, organizations should always verify the current Microsoft guidance before making commercial decisions.

From a management perspective, the licensing question is not only “what does Power BI cost?” A better question is: what is the most controlled and scalable way to deliver reports to the people who need them?

If a report is used by a small internal group, per user licensing may be acceptable. If a report must be shared with many customers, partners or occasional users, the cost and administration model may become more important. This does not automatically mean one model is better than another. It means the distribution scenario should be mapped before the technical solution is chosen.

Skald BI can be relevant when organizations want to keep building reports in Power BI but need a more structured way to expose those reports to larger or more complex audiences. The value is not in replacing the report layer. The value is in simplifying the delivery layer around existing Power BI assets.

Power BI Row Level Security and Permissions

Row level security, often shortened to RLS, is used to restrict which rows of data a user can see. This is important when different users should access the same report structure but only see data relevant to them.

A simple example is a sales report where each regional manager should only see their own region. Another example is a customer facing report where each customer should only see their own data. In these cases, the report design may be shared, but the data view must be controlled.

RLS is powerful, but it is not a complete governance model on its own. It controls data visibility at the row level. It does not by itself solve the full user experience around access, onboarding, branding, portal navigation or report distribution.

This distinction matters. A secure reporting setup usually combines several layers: workspace roles, report permissions, identity management, RLS where appropriate, and a clear distribution model. For external or large scale audiences, the portal layer can become part of that overall governance design.

Where Power BI Embedded Fits

Power BI Embedded is relevant when organizations want to embed Power BI content into applications. It is commonly discussed in software product, customer portal and embedded analytics scenarios. Microsoft describes embedded analytics as a way to integrate Power BI reports, dashboards or tiles into an application.

This can be the right approach for product teams and software vendors with development resources and a clear application architecture. It can also introduce technical and operational complexity, including capacity planning, identity design, permissions, deployment and ongoing management.

For many business teams, the question is not “can we embed Power BI?” The question is “what is the simplest controlled way to let the right audience consume our existing reports?”

If the organization already has strong Power BI reports and mainly needs secure, brand consistent distribution, a portal layer may be more relevant than building a full custom embedded analytics application from scratch. Skald BI is positioned for that practical gap: keep Power BI as the analytics and report creation tool, then add a secure branded sharing layer around the reports.

When Power BI Alone Is Enough

Power BI alone may be enough when reports are mainly used by internal employees, the audience is limited, Microsoft based access works well, and branding is not a priority. It can also be enough when the main challenge is report building rather than report delivery.

For example, a finance department publishing monthly management reports to a small leadership group may not need an additional portal. A data team collaborating internally in workspaces may be well served by native Power BI functionality. A department using Microsoft Teams and SharePoint for internal report access may not have a strong reason to add another layer.

The risk is adding complexity too early. Not every Power BI environment needs a portal. The case becomes stronger when the audience grows, when users are external, when access rules become more detailed, or when the report experience becomes part of the company’s customer or partner offering.

When a Secure Branded Portal Becomes Relevant

 

A portal becomes relevant when report distribution starts to look like a business process, not just an analytics task. This often happens when Power BI reports need to be shared beyond a small internal audience.

 

Common signs include customers asking for easier report access, partners needing controlled views, internal teams struggling with permissions, or management wanting a more professional branded experience. Another sign is when the organization has good reports but poor delivery. The insights exist, but the consumption experience is fragmented.

In these situations, the core question changes. It is no longer only how to use Power BI. It becomes how to use Power BI as part of a scalable reporting experience.

Skald BI is designed for organizations that already use Power BI and want to share existing reports more securely and professionally. The report work continues in Power BI. The portal layer helps with the surrounding experience: who gets access, how reports are presented, how rights are managed and how users consume reports in a branded environment.

A Practical Way to Think About Power BI Governance

Power BI governance does not need to start as a large policy project. It can start with a few practical decisions.

First, define which reports are official. Second, clarify who owns each report and semantic model. Third, use workspaces intentionally. Fourth, manage access through groups where possible. Fifth, decide which audiences should consume reports inside Power BI and which audiences need another experience.

The mistake many organizations make is treating governance as something that can be added later. In reality, governance becomes harder once reports have already spread across teams, links, exports and unmanaged workspaces.

Good governance does not slow down analytics. It protects trust. It helps users know which reports are reliable, who is responsible for them and how access is controlled.

How to Use Power BI Well in a B2B Context

In a B2B context, Power BI should be treated as both an analytics tool and a delivery component. The analytics work happens in the data model, measures and reports. The delivery work happens in access, packaging, presentation and user experience.

This is especially important when reports are shared with customers or partners. External users compare the reporting experience with other digital products they use. They expect clear navigation, controlled access and a professional interface. They may not care that the underlying report is built in Power BI. They care that the information is easy to reach and trustworthy.

For internal teams, the goal is often better decisions. For external users, the goal is often better service, transparency or collaboration. That difference should influence the report design and the distribution model.

The strongest setups usually keep each layer clear. Power BI is used to build and maintain the report logic. The workspace and permission model controls internal collaboration. RLS and access rules help protect data visibility. A portal layer can then make selected reports available to the right users in a more controlled and branded way.

Conclusion: Power BI Builds the Reports. Distribution Needs Its Own Design

Learning how to use Power BI starts with the basics: connect data, build a model, create reports, publish to Power BI service and share with users. But in a real organization, the bigger question is how those reports should be governed and distributed.

Power BI is a strong tool for building reports and making data accessible. But when reports need to reach customers, partners, external stakeholders or large internal audiences, report creation is only part of the solution. Access, permissions, licensing, branding and user experience become equally important.

Skald BI exists for that next step. It helps organizations that already use Power BI share existing reports through a secure branded portal, without asking them to replace Power BI or rebuild their reporting stack.

Ready to share Power BI beyond your workspace? Book a demo with Skald BI and see how your existing Power BI reports can be shared through a secure branded portal for customers, partners and internal teams.