Microsoft Power BI Building and implementing a Governance

Microsoft Power BI: Building and implementing a Governance strategy— from self-service to Enterprise

Session overview Organizations are experiencing missteps when implementing Power BI due to the lack of a strategic Governance strategy. Not implementing a Power BI “Power User” strategy and not having a defined "Power BI 36 Month Roadmap" are just a few examples. • This session will cover core strategies and lessons learned from several hundred Power BI implementations that you can utilize to ensure long-term success with Power BI. • This session will provide guidance around the tasks and related resources required to implement these strategies and I will also review how to build a Power BI chargeback model as well as a Power BI Center of Excellence (Co. E). •

Author of Microsoft Power BI Dashboards: Step-by-Step Biography Errin is the Founder and Chief Architect for EPC Group and the author of four Microsoft Press books covering Power BI, Share. Point and Office 365. Errin focuses his efforts on implementing Microsoft technologies in organizations throughout the country and around the globe. Errin O’Connor Founder & Chief Power BI Architect EPC Group @errinoconnor errino@epcgroup. net www. epcgroup. net Errin's latest book "Microsoft Power BI Dashboards step by step" by Microsoft Press guides you through creating world-class business analysis dashboards that integrate today’s most widely-used data sources, using any of Microsoft’s Power BI platforms, including the new Power BI Premium. Errin’s Books:

Lack of Power BI Governance: Cause and effect

Lack of Power BI Governance: Real & recent use cases Large hospital system’s Power BI implementation allowed data to be shared to all medical practitioners within the organization • This was not a HIPAA or PHI violation but a major black eye on the Power BI implementation and the trust that its users put into it • • • The project was put on hold until a full review could be performed A detailed root cause analysis was performed and after 3 months the Power BI project was allowed to continue Large property management firm’s Human Resources (HRsalary) Data was shared to all users in the company • Three I. T. team members were let go and the Power BI project was also put on hold for 60+ days. The project was not allowed to continue until a full Power BI Governance strategy was put in place • • • Salary and the pay scale of every employee from the CEO to the CFO, from IT to the business was accessible Data was also exported and saved to Share. Point Online and Teams where it was later discovered during the audit

Lack of Power BI Governance: What else can happen? Security breaches • • Security by obscurity is not an option Data privacy and/or regulatory violations (HIPAA, PHI, PII, BAA, etc. ) • • Who can actually access your data and what are your external sharing policies? Violations of agreements with clients, vendors, suppliers, employees • • NDAs, MSAs, supplier agreements, employee contacts Loss of competitive advantage due to a lack of Governance • • • Billing rates being shared, profit margins being shared I have unfortunately seen these missteps cost organization’s future business and larger second phase projects and actually end business relationships Decreased usage and ultimate failure of Power BI within the company • • Users lose faith in Power BI, they revert back to their old ways or look at an alternative solution

Power BI Governance model (high level)

Understanding A Power BI Governance model defines your organization’s Power BI procedures and required practices and the responsibilities tied to it. It helps ensure the efficient and secure usage of your Power BI platform. A Power BI Governance model is broken up by three top level elements which are: • People and practices • Processes • Technologies

Power BI Governance model | What it covers & its goals Vision of Power BI usage and an outline of its Roadmap Strategic and operational Governance policies (business + functional) Ensure the ability to secure your data + provide confidence to users Establishing rules for your organization’s (BI) data usage Establishing how compliance data is handled in Power BI • • Regulatory related storage requirements must be established (i. e. PHI, PII, HIPAA, etc. ) Security for internal and external data sharing Repeatable compliance “the rules of the game” + monitoring and auditing Reducing risks & lowering the overall cost of ownership of Power BI • Improving communications between BI teams members • • Get everyone singing from the same sheet of music

Governance | What it covers & its goals (more details) Permissions model, access management, information security strategy • Process for provisioning new Power BI reports • • • Naming conventions Approved visualizations Approved branding elements Power BI development strategies Licensing strategies and usage (including mobile usage, tablet, BYOD | The whole “BI MDM”) Approved data sources • • What integrations will be allowed? | What data sources should be restricted? • Power BI support and training • • End-user support and end-user adoption strategies Power BI’s short and long-term training strategy

Power BI Governance model: Lets get in the weeds

Power BI Governance: Deep-dive examples Data sources • • • What are the suggested data sources? | Suggested connection mode? (To your users…) Why would certain data sources be restricted? Power BI service | powerbi. com • • What are your licensing policies? The use of App Workspaces? The use of content packs? Power BI report creation • • • Power BI Desktop client distribution and its ongoing updates How are PBIX files handled? Where are they stored? Any naming conventions? Version history? Governance around desktop client updates for external users or remote workers? What are your policies around using custom visuals? What visualizations can be utilized? Ensuring strict and clearly communicated development practices

Power BI Governance: Deep-dive examples (continued) Data model usage | reports • What is your mobile and/or tablet strategy on distribution as well as management and usage? What integrations to you allow? | What are your report embedding policies or practices? • • Gateway management and ownership • Do you have repeatable processes for configuration as well as monitoring? • Scheduled reviews and updates to your Power BI Governance strategy • This must be developed and all key Power BI stakeholders must read it and acknowledge it A clear escalation path must be established and defined in your organization’s Governance strategy What data sources are allowed and documented specific to your organization? • • • Excel, SQL Server, Share. Point, CSV, Microsoft Azure-based, other databases, Saa. S-based, App APIs Dynamics 365, SAP, Enterprise Data Warehouse, Oracle, etc. What is your Power BI power user strategy?

Power BI: Power user strategy

Power BI Power user strategy: A silver bullet A successful power user strategy can make or break your Power BI implementation. They can need to: Setup and champion an internal Power BI user group for your organization Provide monthly training to your organization’s Power BI users from any and all departments This needs to be recorded and uploaded to Microsoft Stream, Share. Point or MS Teams Create a training curriculum from these monthly training courses as users will be able to take “refresher courses” New employees can start watching these Power BI videos as part of their onboarding to the organization Assist in quickly fielding access requests Provide users with links and videos to documentation and tutorials They should maintain a Share. Point Site or MS Teams channel to store these “best practices” and lessons learned Help to identify possible “additional” or “future” Power BI Power user candidates As the Power BI implementation grows, additional Power Users will be required Be the first line of defense in taking complaints about any performance issues or data quality issues

Power BI power user strategy: A silver bullet (continued) Power users can help answer everyday questions from a business perspective Examples of questions they can assist in answering, without the stigma of it coming from an “IT person” are: How can I get a Power BI Pro licenses and why don’t I have one already? They need to be prepared to answer this very loaded question that can cause frustration in many cases. They can assist in answering questions such as “What would my current Excel report possibly look like in Power BI? ” (Power users are great advocates for showing the business what is possible) Power users should be invited to assist in requirements gathering sessions when new reports are requested from the business When you have an advocate in the room that gives the appearance of a neutral party, and is assisting in gathering requirements from a new business unit or stakeholder, this goes a very long way in achieving buy-in

Power BI Governance: Roles and responsibilities matrix

Power BI Governance: Roles and responsibilities matrix Power BI role Role description Title example Power BI executive sponsor Executive sponsor of the Business Intelligence solution CIOCFO IT Director Power BI application owner Office 365 application owner (Power BI architectadmin) Owner of the Power BI solution and key decision maker Owner of the Office 365 Suite of Applications (Share. Point, MS Teams, One. Drive for Business, Flow, Power. Apps, etc. ) Technical business analyst who understands both the business Power BI business analyst side as well as the technical capabilities of Power BI A team member from the business or IT who is technically savvy Power BI power users and is passionate about business intelligence. The owner of any existing on-premise systems or cloud-based Infrastructure owner (SQL platforms such as Azure. Also typically the owner of the farm that DBAs, etc. )Data Steward supports Active Directory as well as SQL Server and VMs. IT security owner/manager is responsible for protecting the organization Power BI implementation as well as the systems and IT Security owner/manager platforms that support it. End users Mobile experience owner BI developer A user of Power BI within the organization. A team member who is responsible for ensuring Power BI’s capabilities or the lack of capabilities, on the organization’s mobile devices and tablets. A team member responsible for customization and/or custom developed capabilities requested by Power BI’s stakeholders. Sr. IT Manager | BI Director Sr. IT Manager IT Technical Team Member Tech Savvy Team Member IT Infra. Director, Mgr. Data WarehouseSQL DBA IT Manager, IT Security Member Team Member IT Team Member, Developer, Compliance Team Member IT Developer

Power BI’s delivery approaches

Power BI delivery approaches

Power BI self-service model

Power BI: Self-service BI (model # 1) Agile self-service Power BI • • • This is business driven and allows for rapid delivery. Self-service BI does not mean “less Governance” bur rather freedom for users to pursue BI exploration This also does not mean “less secure” Establish processes for Power BI proliferation • • Implement processes to reduce risks as both the business and IT stakeholders will be involved Data has to be accessible for users to access but it must be secure and governed The technology decisions (architecture and configuration) must be established Establish processes for auditing Power BI • Create a “gold image” for Power BI “power users” • • This will also greatly assist in increasing user adoption

Power BI: Self-service (model # 1) —how it can fail Self-service Power BI is typically not communicated enough to the audience | not enough effort is made around training • • • This typically means not enough training opportunities have been provided to users and the organization has not put the required emphasis on end-user adoption This leads to users reverting back to their old ways of Microsoft Excel and copying and pasting! Your support desk may not be equipped to handle PBI Requests • • • They don’t know how to handle or maybe just don’t know who to assign the request to Not enough time is even spent on training the support desk in many cases There is no clear escalation process from your support desk to the Power BI champions or Power BI owners in your organization • Reoccurring issues with performance, gateway issues, permissions • Lack of communication and end user adoption •

Self-service (model # 1)—how it can fail (continued)… Licensing confusion • • • “Why don’t I have a Pro license? ” | What type of license do I need? | Can I just buy it myself? This is “licensing Governance” that must be established, a subset of your Governance strategy Issues with data quality • • Users are not happy as they are seeing reports with incorrect dates, visualizations are not working as expected A lack of trust in Power BI begins to build • • Users may start seeing reports with incorrect dates and overall poor performance “We have our monthly executive meeting tomorrow, I am not confident enough to show Power BI” Users are going to start reverting back to their old “manual Excel” ways and adoption will slow When a lack of trust or lack of confidence exists, users start to look elsewhere • • “Well business unit “ABC” is now trying out Tableau, maybe we will see how that goes for them

Power BI self-service (model # 1)—when it succeeds The business users will contribute directly to Power BI’s development • • Users know and understand the data | They are able to then take the “Gold Image” and the “Power BI templates” that have been established for them and begin quickly developing reports When users are self sufficient in Power BI, ROI is quickly obtained • • • This will supercharge your organization’s adoption of the platform Other departments will want to get on board the “Power BI train” asap and you will be a rockstar Power BI solutions will be developed that you never planned for • • You will see real innovation and users will begin to develop reports that “think outside the box” This is the ideal scenario as potential problems start to be identified before they actually become problems • • Users will become proactive rather than reactive | Your bottom line will grow

Power BI enterprise BI model

Power BI: Enterprise BI (model # 2) This is the more traditional corporate (IT) driven BI model • • • Clearly defined IT-driven policy and procedures The most clearly defined Power BI Governance | The most standardized and secure Data quality must be extremely high to meet expectations • • Implement processes to reduce risks as both the business and IT stakeholders will be involved Data must be accessible to users to access but must be secure and governed The technology decisions (architecture and configuration) must be established The best model for business and/or mission critical reports • • Key reports the business relies on should be owned by the enterprise BI model A specific set of team members must be responsible for these reports These reports can be created and then published over to a workspace to then be shared to the overall end-users or consumers of these reports or even the executive teams

Power BI: Enterprise BI (model # 2) —how it can fail Users are not provided with all of the reports they truly need • • IT rolls out a few key reports but doesn’t give users the flexibility they need to perform the ad hoc reporting they had hoped to create New custom report requests take more time than expected • Power BI power users are not empowered enough to “make them dangerous” enough to get the organization’s user base existed • Adoption rates for Power BI initiatives that are completely controlled at the Enterprise BI level are much slower • New reports with “new math” type “outside the box” thinking are typically not driven at the Enterprise BI level •

Establishing Power BI’s system Governance model

Establishing Power BI’s system Governance: examples Security and sharing • • How are reports secured and shared? AD groups and DLs | What about Office 365 groups? What are your AD group policies? A clear guide to sharing dashboards in your organization must be established System usage, monitoring and auditing • • • Utilizing the Power BI admin portal Accessing the unified audit log Create alerts to ensure dataset owners can quickly resolve any issue that arises Scheduled specific times to audit actions performed by users in Power BI Monitor your gateways and review any errors or excessive memory utilization Data freshness • • What are your requirements around data freshness? Does this vary by data source? There must be data source owners clearly defined who are responsible for data freshness

Developing a Power BI 36 month Roadmap

Power BI 36 month Roadmap Development of a detailed 36 month plan for the organization’s Power BI implementation and the related business intelligence capabilities, on average, amounts to a 20% cost savings on your Power BI effort This includes a Governance strategy and planning services spanning all components of the Power BI service (people, process, and technology) to manage the deployment and continued use of Power BI This roadmap must provide a clear definition of requirements from a business and technical angle This must be a clear and detailed strategy to implement the solutions needed to meet the organization’s business intelligence requirements

Power BI 36 month Roadmap (continued) Change management strategy and related plan for both internal as well as any externally required consulting services that includes a fully functional change management strategy to user acceptance as well as overall use of the Power BI solution and related toolsets Definition of clear roles and responsibilities to ensure long-term successful adoption Steps for infrastructure planning prior to Power BI’s actual components being deployment Implementation roadmap outlining specific steps in 6 month increments

Developing a Power BI Center of Excellence (Co. E)

Power BI Center of Excellence (Power BI Co. E) Establishing a Power BI center of excellence (Co. E) is a cutting edge approach to achieving a cohesive, strategic, and scalable enterprisewide Power BI environment. A Power BI Governance team will be established that will provide core answers and related services as well as oversight on Power BI for your organization. A Power BI Center of Excellence consists of 5 core elements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Defined Power BI development model Defined Power BI Governance model A strategy for Power BI training and end-user adoption Clear development and configuration standards for Power BI solution architecture framework

Developing a Power BI chargeback model

Power BI chargeback model Implementing a Power BI chargeback model is key to ensuing the costs of Power BI’s licensing as well as any related Power BI consulting services your organization procures are funded. This ensures that each department or operating company within your organization bears the cost of the platform. A Power BI chargeback model insures: Clear and defined budget: Each aspect of a Power BI implementation has a defined and identified cost which can be equally spread out to the organization’s key departments. This allows IT or the overall “shared IT services” model to correctly budget out the Power BI platforms costs and the associated level of effort to ensure all costs are properly shared by all those using the solution. Best practices Roadmap & planning: A large number or organization’s hold off on key elements or phases of a Power BI implementation due to cost constrains and related budgetary concerns before they realize the full ROI potential of the platform. By implementing a Power BI chargeback model the required phases and granular milestones can be properly allocated and planned by the organization

Power BI chargeback model (continued) A Power BI Roadmap helps ensure the platforms long-term success Future scalability: When a best practices Power BI chargeback model is put in place, the various stakeholders in the organization will become more “on board” with the key aspects of Power BI. This drives the Power BI Roadmap! This also includes conversations that can sometimes otherwise be put off around future planning which allows for a more long-term and thought-out strategy. This is key for future scalability and compatibility Stronger Power BI Governance: When organizations adapt a Power BI chargeback model, they are required to identify the key players in each department which are utilizing the solution. This enables IT and the members of the business organization as a whole to assign key Power BI stakeholders to each department. This will help you align the Governance tasks and responsibilities with the known, and now identified, members of these departments

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