Power BI Guidance
This guide explains how to get Microsoft Power BI workspaces and Power BI Pro licences in the Cabinet Office Digital M365 tenant (codigitalcloud.onmicrosoft.com).
This environment is separate from the primary Cabinet Office O365 tenant, managed by ICS through the Falcon Programme.
Prerequisites and approvals
Before you request a workspace or licence, you must define your data requirements and get approval from central teams.
Data classification
You must understand the data you will process. You can only use the Power BI platform for data classified up to OFFICIAL, including OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE.
Data privacy
The Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) team must review all use cases. You need to complete the DPIA process to identify and mitigate privacy risks.
Review DPIA guidance and start your assessment
Information management
You must consult the Digital Knowledge and Information Management (DKIM) team to ensure you comply with records management and information lifecycle policies.
Review the Information Management Policy and Guidance.
Consult the DKIM team about your data requirements and use of Power BI.
Information assurance
For complex cases, you might need to discuss your requirements with the Information Assurance Team. Read more about the information assurance process.
Request process
Once the DPIA and DKIM teams approve your use case, you can submit a request through the One Stop Shop (OSS).
Use the Power BI Access & Workspace Request form.
Required information
Include copies or references to your approvals. You must answer the following questions in your request:
- what name you want for the workspace
- the names and email addresses of users who need access
- if the dashboard will connect to live data sources like Azure SQL or Data Lake, or if you will upload content manually
- how many users will view the dashboard
- where the users are located, such as within the Cabinet Office, cross-government, or public
- the specific classification of the data
- confirmation that the DPIA is complete
Governance and support
Support model
Cabinet Office Digital only provides platform support.
We support:
- account provisioning
- licence assignment
- workspace creation
- some cases of underlying Azure connectivity
We do not support:
- dashboard design
- DAX formula troubleshooting
- data modelling
- report building
Service teams must handle their own Power BI development, content management and support.
Recharge policy
We fully recharge Power BI Pro licences and capacity costs to the requesting service team or business unit.
We will confirm costs after reviewing your user count and data volume. You must provide a valid cost centre for monthly recharging.
The recharge includes:
- the total cost of your licences
- costs related to provisioning your workspace and platform
- a 5% licensing fee
See more about the Azure Hosting Recharge Policy here
Security and compliance
All Power BI activity is subject to central audit.
Activity and access logs go into the central security pipeline for protective monitoring.
Access follows the principle of least privilege. You must provide justification to get elevated permissions for workspace administration.
For any technical queries regarding the Power BI platform setup, please contact the Platform Engineering Team via the One Stop Shop.