5Aug
Configure a dataset scheduled refresh – Deploy and maintain assets

Configure a dataset scheduled refresh

When you build a report, a common requirement is to keep the underlying data up to date. You can refresh a dataset manually in Power BI Desktop or the Power BI service, but this approach isn’t viable when you need to refresh data periodically. To address this issue, you can configure a scheduled refresh in the Power BI service.

You configure a scheduled refresh for each dataset individually in the dataset settings. For this, expand the Scheduled refresh section of the dataset settings and switch the Keep your data up to date toggle to On. You will then be able to configure refresh frequency and other settings, as shown in Figure 4-1.

FIGURE 4-1 Scheduled refresh settings.

You can configure the following settings for scheduled refresh:

  • Refresh frequency Specify how often the dataset will be refreshed: Daily or Weekly. If you set this option to Weekly, you can select the days of the week the refresh will run.
  • Time zone The time zone of refreshes.
  • Time You can add the time of refreshes in 30-minute intervals. The maximum number of refreshes you can set depends on whether the workspace is backed by a Premium capacity.
  • Send refresh failure notifications to This option can send an email to the dataset owner in case of a refresh failure. You can enter email addresses of other users who will receive the notifications, which can be useful when multiple people are responsible for the dataset.

After you adjust settings, select Apply. If you select Apply without setting the scheduled refresh time, your dataset will refresh at midnight.

You can see refresh history of a dataset at the top of the dataset settings by selecting Refresh history.
5Jun
Impact analysis – Deploy and maintain assets
Impact analysis

For datasets you share, it may be useful to know what other reports or dashboards use this dataset. Since Power BI allows you to use the same dataset across different workspaces, the reports and dashboards that use the dataset may reside outside of its home workspace, and the owner of the dataset may not always have access to the workspace. This information is contained in the dataset’s impact analysis. To see the impact analysis, in the dataset menu select View lineage. You’ll see the information shown in Figure 4-7.

FIGURE 4-7 Impact analysis.

Impact analysis shows the list of reports and dashboards across all workspaces related to the dataset. For each item, you can see how many viewers and views it had in the last 30 days, excluding today, and which workspace it’s in. Impact analysis is particularly useful when you’re making potentially breaking changes to the dataset because you know which items are going to be affected, as well as how popular those items are. You can notify contacts of the affected reports and dashboards by selecting Notify contacts.

Manage global options for files

When using Power BI Desktop, you can change some settings that will apply to your general editing experience when working in Power BI Desktop. To see the settings in Power BI Desktop, select File > Options and settings > Options and note the sections under the Global heading. For example, the Data Load section is shown in Figure 4-8.

FIGURE 4-8 Data Load section of Options.

In addition to global setttings, there are report-specific settings under the Current File heading. Some of the report-specific settings are also available in the Power BI service. To view report settings, open a report and select File > Settings.

Note File Settings

Describing all available settings is outside the scope of this book. If you want to learn more, see “Change settings for Power BI reports” at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/power-bi-report-settings.
5Apr
Assign workspace roles – Deploy and maintain assets

Assign workspace roles

You can see the list of users who have access to a workspace by selecting Access from the workspace, where you can also add or remove users. To reflect the different needs of users, Power BI offers four workspace roles:

  • Viewers can
    • View dashboards, reports, and workbooks in the workspace.
    • Read data from dataflows in the workspace.
  • Contributors can do everything that viewers can do and
    • Add, edit, and delete content in the workspace.
    • Schedule refreshes and use the on-premises gateway within the workspace.
    • Feature dashboards and reports from the workspace.
  • Members can do everything that contributors can do and
    • Add other users as members, contributors, or viewers to the workspace.
    • Publish and update the workspace app.
    • Share and allow others to reshare items from the workspace.
    • Feature the workspace app.
  • Admins can do everything that members can do and
    • Update and delete the workspace.
    • Add and remove other users of any role from the workspace.

As mentioned earlier in the chapter, there’s a workspace setting that allows contributors to update apps. This setting can be useful when you want a user to be able to update an app but not add other users to the workspace.

Note that giving someone a role in a workspace does not remove the need to give them additional rights. For example, you may make a user an admin of a workspace, but unless they have a Power BI Pro license, they won’t be able to fully use the role.

Important Row-Level Security

Row-level security applies only to viewers since all other roles have full access to all datasets within a workspace.

Exam Tip

You should know which role is appropriate for a user based on the business requirements. In most cases, you should follow the principle of least privilege.
5Feb
Configure and update a workspace app – Deploy and maintain assets

Configure and update a workspace app

When you are ready to share your reports and dashboards with users in your organization, you can publish an app. An app is a collection of Power BI items, such as a dashboard, reports, and workbooks, packaged together. There can be only one app per app workspace.

When creating or updating an app, you can select which content items appear in the app by toggling the Include in app switch to Yes or No, as shown in Figure 4-10.

FIGURE 4-10 Include in app switch.

Note that datasets and dataflows cannot be included in the app.

To publish an app from a workspace, select Create app. If an app already exists, you’ll see Update app instead. There are three steps in app configuration:

  • Setup
  • Navigation
  • Permissions
Setup

When you select Create app or Update app, you’ll be taken to app setup, as shown in Figure 4-11.

FIGURE 4-11 App setup.

To publish an app, specify the app name and description. Additionally, you’ll see the following options on the Setup screen:

  • Support site Share where your users can find help related to the app.
  • App logo By default, the app logo is the same as the workspace image. You can provide a different one here.
  • App theme color This color will be used for the app menu and navigation.
  • Contact information You can select the app publisher, workspace contacts, or specific individuals or groups.
Navigation

In the navigation step, you can customize the navigation pane. In addition to selecting the navigation pane width under the Advanced options, you can rename, reorder, hide, and group app content items under Navigation.

To group app content items, you must create a section first by selecting New > Section and giving it a new name. Then you can select an app content item and select a section from the Section dropdown list.

Furthermore, you can add links to the navigation pane. For each link, you can select where to open it:

  • New tab
  • Current tab
  • Content area

You can see the Navigation screen in Figure 4-12.

FIGURE 4-12 App navigation.
5Jan
Permissions – Deploy and maintain assets
Permissions

On the Permissions screen, you can select who has access to the app. You can grant access to the entire organization or specific individuals or groups. If you only grant access to specific individual or groups, you can select Install this app automatically so that it automatically appears in the Apps section of the Power BI service for each user—otherwise, each user will have to install the app manually from the Apps section.

Note Access for Workspace Users

Users and groups with access to a workspace can access the corresponding app without you explicitly granting them access.

For users with access to the app, you can grant the following rights:

  • Allow all users to connect to the app’s underlying datasets using the Build permission Although the datasets won’t show up in the app, this setting allows you to connect to datasets from Power BI or use Analyze in Excel.
  • Allow users to make a copy of the reports in this app This setting allows users to copy reports to their personal workspaces to customize them. It is available only if the Build permission is granted.
  • Allow users to share the app and the app’s underlying datasets using the Share permission Note that connecting to the datasets requires the Build permission.

The Permissions screen is shown in Figure 4-13.

FIGURE 4-13 App permissions.

App view

Once you publish an app, the result will look like Figure 4-14.

FIGURE 4-14 App view.

Note that the interface only has the app navigation; to go back and see the standard Power BI sidebar, you can select Power BI in the upper-left corner.

Update a published app

After you publish your app, you can make changes to it if you are a contributing workspace user. For this, you need to go to the app workspace and make the changes you want; once you have made the changes, go back to the app workspace list of contents and select Update app. You can also update the Setup, Navigation, and Permissions settings that you configured when you created the app, and then select Update app > Update to propagate the app changes.

Note that on the Permissions screen, you will see the app link, as well as dashboard and report links. When you share any of those links, users will see all contents of the app, not just dashboards or reports.

Unpublish an app

If you want to unpublish an app, you can do so from the app workspace by selecting More options > Unpublish app > Unpublish. Doing so will not delete the app workspace contents; instead, the app will be removed from the list of apps of each user and become inaccessible.
5Dec
Publish, import, or update assets in a workspace – Deploy and maintain assets

Publish, import, or update assets in a workspace

You can publish a report to the Power BI service from Power BI Desktop by selecting Publish on the Home ribbon. To publish a report from Power BI Desktop, you must be signed in. By default, your report will be published to your personal workspace, unless you already published to another workspace in the same session. If you are a contributor in other workspaces, you can select a workspace to publish to.

If the workspace you are publishing to already contains a dataset with the same name, you will be asked if you want to replace it, and you’ll see how many workspace items it affects, as shown in Figure 4-15. This feature can be particularly useful when you’re updating a dataset that has other reports built from it.

FIGURE 4-15 Dataset impact.

An alternative to publishing from Power BI Desktop is to publish from the Power BI service by going to a workspace and selecting New > Upload a file. You’ll be given a choice to publish a local file, a file from OneDrive, or a file from SharePoint, as shown in Figure 4-16.

FIGURE 4-16 Creating new content from files.

Selecting Local File will prompt you to select a file from your computer to publish, whereas OneDrive and SharePoint options allow you to publish from the cloud. Publishing from OneDrive can be beneficial because you can edit a report locally in Power BI Desktop in a folder that’s synced to OneDrive, and it will be published automatically upon saving and closing the file because Power BI can sync published files from OneDrive.

Apply sensitivity labels to workspace content

Within an organization, different data may have different security levels. For example, some data must not leave a specific department, and other data may be shared publicly. To help users understand the sensitivity level of workspace content, you can apply sensitivity labels.

Note Enabling Sensitivity Labels

For users to be able to apply sensitivity labels, they must be enabled in Power BI admin portal tenant settings, typically by the central IT department in the organization. The admin portal is out of the scope of the exam. For more information, see “Enable sensitivity labels in Power BI” at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/admin/service-security-enable-data-sensitivity-labels.

When information protection is enabled in your Power BI tenant, you can set a sensitivity label for a workspace item in the following way:

Go to the settings of a workspace item.

Select a sensitivity label from the dropdown list under Sensitivity label.

Optionally, check Apply this label to the dataset’s downstream content or similar.

Select Apply or Save.

After you set a sensitivity label, it will be displayed when anyone views the item, as well as in the list of workspace contents, as shown in Figure 4-17.

FIGURE 4-17 Sensitivity labels.

Note how two reports have sensitivity labels shown in the Sensitivity column. If you hover over a sensitivity label, you’ll see its description.
5Oct
Configure subscriptions and data alerts – Deploy and maintain assets

Configure subscriptions and data alerts

In the Power BI service, you can subscribe yourself and others to individual report pages, dashboards, and paginated reports, which will make Power BI send snapshots of content to your email. When subscribing, you can select the frequency and specific times when you want to receive subscription emails.

Subscribing to content

The process of subscribing to a dashboard, report page, or a paginated report is similar:

Navigate to the content item of interest and select Subscribe.

In the Subscribe to emails menu, select Add new subscription.

Enter the subscription name, addressees, email subject, frequency, time, start and end dates, and other options as needed.

Select Save and close.

You can create several subscriptions to the same content item. Figure 4-18 shows options available when subscribing to a dashboard as an example.

FIGURE 4-18 Subscription options.

When creating a subscription, you can select Run now to receive an email immediately. To disable a subscription without deleting it, switch the toggle next to Run now to Off. To delete a subscription, select Delete in the upper-right corner of the subscription settings. The Manage all subscriptions link takes you to a list of all subscriptions you created in the current workspace. Viewing all subscriptions you created is covered in the next section.

Need More Review? Subscriptions In the Power BI Service

For more details on subscriptions, including considerations and limitations, see “Email subscriptions for Power BI reports and dashboards” at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-subscribe.

Managing your subscriptions

In addition to viewing workspace-specific subscriptions, you can see all subscriptions you created in the following way:

Go to My workspace.

Select Settings in the upper-right corner.

Select Settings > Settings > Subscriptions.

Figure 4-19 shows a sample list of subscriptions to manage.

FIGURE 4-19 List of subscriptions.

While the page says My workspace, it shows subscriptions created across all workspaces. To edit subscriptions, select Edit under Actions. The Overview column shows how many subscriptions to a content item you have.
5Jun
Plan a Windows 10 deployment – Deploy and upgrade operating systems

Skill 1.1: Plan a Windows 10 deployment

Windows 10 offers organizations new and exciting methods for deploying the operating system to users. However, traditional on-premises image creation-based deployment methods continue to be supported and are widely used. You can expect that the adoption of the new dynamic deployment methods will gain traction in the modern workplace and will be featured in the MD-101 exam. You must understand when these methods should be implemented over more traditional methods.

This skill covers how to:

Assess infrastructure readiness

Embarking on any new project should be carefully planned so that the delivery can be given every chance of success. This is especially applicable when deploying Windows 10 within an enterprise environment.

There are several tools and services available to help you evaluate, learn, and implement Windows 10. By following best practices and avoiding making deployment mistakes, you can ensure that your users are productive and that the project is delivered on schedule.

Windows 10 is released using a continuous delivery model known as Windows as a Service, with a new version of Windows 10 available every six months. Therefore, the skills you learn in deploying Windows 10 to your users will be reused again, and often.

It is recommended that you choose a group of users and deploy Windows 10 into focused pilot projects. This enables you to test each version of Windows 10 within your organization before rolling out the operating system to larger cohorts of users.

Plan pilot deployments

Each organization is different, and therefore, you must determine which deployment method (or methods) you will use. For example, you may choose to deploy new devices to your remote salesforce using Windows Autopilot and perform an in-place upgrade of your head office computers using the in-place upgrade method, perhaps.

To make effective decisions relating to the deployment method, you should perform testing in a non-production environment, and if you are successful, you should proceed to roll out Windows 10 to a small group of users.

By breaking down your Windows 10 deployment project into multiple stages, you can identify any possible issues and determine solutions where available. This will involve documenting and obtaining feedback from stakeholders at each stage. The first stage of deploying the operating system will be with a pilot deployment.

As part of the pilot, it’s important to determine the following:

  • Production hardware, including PCs, laptops, and tablets, meets the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10.
  • Peripherals, such as printers, scanners, projectors, and other devices, are compatible with Windows 10.
  • All required device drivers are available.
  • All apps required following the deployment will work on Windows 10.
  • Any existing third-party disk encryption will work with Windows 10 (alternatively replaced with BitLocker Drive Encryption).
  • Your IT support staff has the necessary skills to support Windows 10.

The pilot is essential because it can be useful to ensure compatibility with existing hardware, apps, and infrastructure, and it provides you with an insight to the gains and potential pitfalls that you are likely to encounter during the later stages of the roll-out program. By reviewing and implementing feedback gained during the pilot phase, you can seek to minimize the future impact of any problems encountered.

If you find that your existing IT support staff doesn’t have the necessary skills to support Windows 10, you may use the pilot deployment phase to identify any training needs; doing so gives you time to implement the recommendations before a larger roll-out. You should also consider your non-technical users, who may require information relating to the new operating system so that their day-to-day productivity is not affected by the adoption of the new operating system.

You can also use the pilot to help to determine user readiness for Windows 10 and to identify any training needs—for both users and IT support staff.
5Mar
Verify Hardware Compatibility for Multiple Devices – Deploy and upgrade operating systems
Verify Hardware Compatibility for Multiple Devices

When you have many computers to install or upgrade to Windows 10, it is not feasible to visit each computer and verify device and peripheral compatibility. In this situation, consider using a tool to help determine compatibility.

If you have a traditional on-premises infrastructure, you can use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) to assess the computer devices attached to your network. You can use MAP to:

  • Determine feasibility to upgrade scanned devices to Windows 10
  • Determine your organization’s readiness to move to Microsoft Azure, Office 365, or Azure AD
  • Plan for virtualizing workloads to Hyper-V

Note Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

You can download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit from the Microsoft website at https://www.microsoft.com/download/confirmation.aspx?id=7826.

Implement Desktop Analytics

Desktop Analytics is a cloud-based service that integrates Configuration Manager with Intune. By using Desktop Analytics, you can:

  • Create inventory
  • Evaluate app compatibility
  • Create pilot groups for deployment
  • Deploy Windows 10

Consider using Desktop Analytics as part of your overall assessment strategy. But first, you must verify that you meet the requirements for Desktop Analytics. To enable and configure Desktop Analytics, you’ll need:

  • An Azure subscription
  • Global admin permissions
  • Configuration Manager version 1902 or later
  • Full administrator role in Configuration Manager
  • Devices running Windows 7 or later
  • Windows Diagnostics data
  • Internet connectivity
  • Licensing considerations:
    • Devices enrolled in Desktop Analytics must have a valid Configuration Manager license.
    • Users of devices require licenses for one of the following: Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5, Windows 10 Education A3 or A5, or Windows Virtual Desktop Access E3 or E5.

After ensuring you have all you need to deploy Desktop Analytics, use the following high-level steps to set it up:

  1. Run the on-boarding wizard.
  2. Grant user access.
  3. Set up your workspace.
  4. Confirm the settings.
  5. Connect Configuration Manager.
  6. Enroll devices in Desktop Analytics.

Need More Review? How to Set up Desktop Analytics

To review further details about enabling Desktop Analytics, refer to the Microsoft website at https://docs.microsoft.com/mem/configmgr/desktop-analytics/set-up.

After you’ve set up Desktop Analytics and enrolled your devices in the service, you’re ready to create a deployment plan. A deployment plan enables you to:

  • Determine which devices you should include in pilot deployments
  • Identify compatibility issues
  • Suggest mitigations for detected issues
  • Track your deployment progress

When you create your deployment plan, you must:

  • Specify the Windows 10 versions you want to deploy
  • Specify to which groups of devices you want to deploy Windows 10
  • Define readiness rules
  • Define app importance

Based on Desktop Analytics recommendations, you must:

  • Select pilot devices
  • Determine how to fix issues with apps

Need More Review? How to Create Deployment Plans in Desktop Analytics

To review further details about deployment plans in Desktop Analytics, refer to the Microsoft website at https://docs.microsoft.com/mem/configmgr/desktop-analytics/create-deployment-plans.
5Dec
Provisioning packagesProvisioning packages – Deploy and upgrade operating systemsProvisioning packages

Provisioning packages are created using the Windows Configuration Designer, which is included in the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK). You can also download the standalone Windows Configuration Designer app from the Microsoft Store.

Note Download Windows ADK

You can download the Windows ADK from the Microsoft website at https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install. Ensure that you download the version of the Windows ADK that matches the version of Windows 10 that you intend to deploy.

Provisioning packages use very small configuration files. These are used to modify existing Windows 10 installations and configure their runtime settings.

A provisioning package can perform a variety of functions, such as:

  • Configure the computer name and user accounts.
  • Add the computer to a domain.
  • Upgrade the Windows 10 version, such as Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Enterprise.
  • Configure the Windows user interface.
  • Add additional files or install apps.
  • Remove installed software.
  • Configure network connectivity settings.
  • Install certificates.
  • Implement security settings.
  • Reset Windows 10.
  • Run PowerShell scripts.

To create a provisioning package, you should complete the installation process of Windows Configuration Designer using either the Windows ADK or the Microsoft Store. Once you have done so, you are ready to create and deploy your provisioning packages. Start by opening Windows Configuration Designer. On the Start page displayed in Figure 1-1, select the option that best describes the type of provisioning that you want to do. If you’re unsure, choose the Advanced Provisioning tile.

Figure 1-1 Creating a new provisioning package

Use the following procedure to create your provisioning package to deploy a universal line of business (LOB) app:

  1. Select the Advanced provisioning tile.
  2. In the New project wizard, on the Enter project details page, enter the name and a meaningful description for your provisioning package. For example, enter Deploy LOB App1 and then select Next.
  3. On the Choose which settings to view and configure page, select All Windows desktop editions and select Next.
  4. On the Import a provisioning package (optional) page, select Finish. (You can use this option to import settings from a previously configured package that mostly, but not entirely, meets your needs.)
  5. On the Available customizations page, in View, select All settings, and then expand Runtime settings, as displayed in Figure 1-2.
  6. On the Available customizations page, in the navigation pane, expand UniversalAppInstall and then select DeviceContextApp.
  7. In the details pane, in the PackageFamilyName text box, enter a name for this collection of apps. For example, enter LOB App1.
  8. Select the PackageFamilyName: LOB App1 node.
  9. In the ApplicationFile text box, select Browse, navigate to the .appx file that represents your app, and select it, as displayed in Figure 1-2.
  10. In the File menu, select Save and note the location of the saved provisioning package file.

Figure 1-2 Available customizations for your provisioning package

You have created a customization for your app, and you are now ready to deploy this customization by applying the provisioning package.

Note Deploy Powershell Scripts from Provisioning Packages

If you want to use PowerShell scripts with provisioning packages, you need to select All Windows Desktop Editions on the Choose Which Settings To View And Configure page within Advanced Provisioning. You can then add command-line files in the Runtime Settings\ProvisioningCommands\DeviceContext area of the available customizations. To view detailed information about using scripts in provisioning packages, visit this Microsoft website at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/provisioning-packages/provisioning-script-to-install-app.

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