Set up the Power BI dashboard

The Power BI dashboard provides a holistic view with visualizations and insights into resources in your tenant: environments, apps, Power Automate flows, connectors, connection references, makers, and audit logs. Telemetry from the audit log is stored from the moment you set up the Center of Excellence (CoE) Starter Kit, so you can look back and identify trends over time.

Which dashboard to use?

You can get the CoE Power BI dashboard by downloading the CoE Starter Kit compressed file (aka.ms/CoeStarterKitDownload). Extract the zip file after downloading - it contains two Power BI template files:

• Use the Production_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit file if you've installed the CoE Starter Kit in a Production environment.
• Use the Teams_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit if you've installed the CoE Starter Kit in a Dataverse for Teams environment. This version connects to Microsoft Dataverse using the TDS endpoint, therefore the TDS Endpoint has to be enabled for the environment: Manage feature settings.
• Use the PowerPlatformGovernance_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit file in addition to the above dashboards to gain further actionable governance and compliance insights into your adoption. This report is only available if you've installed the CoE Starter Kit in a Production environment.

Note

• Before setting up the Power BI dashboard, you must have installed the CoE core components solution.
  
• Before you see data in the dashboard, the core components solution sync flows will need to have completed their runs.

Get the environment URL

You need the environment URL of the Microsoft Power Platform environment the CoE Starter Kit is installed in. Power BI will connect to the Microsoft Dataverse tables in that environment.

• If you've installed the CoE Starter Kit in a Production environment:

  1. Go to the Power Platform admin center.

  2. Select Environments, and select the environment where the CoE solution is installed.

  3. Copy the organization URL in the details window.

     

     If the URL is truncated, you can see the full URL by selecting See all > Environment URL.

     

• If you've installed the CoE Starter Kit in a Dataverse for Teams environment:

  1. Open the Power Apps app in Teams
  2. Select Build and select your CoE environment
  3. Select About > Session Details and copy the Instance URL from there.

Configure the Power BI dashboard

You can configure and modify the Power BI dashboard by working directly with the Power BI (.pbit) file and Power BI Desktop. Using Power BI Desktop gives you flexibility to modify the dashboard to your own branding, and including (or excluding) pages or visuals you want to see (or not see) in the dashboard.

1. Download and install Microsoft Power BI Desktop.

2. In Power BI Desktop, open the .pbit file, which can be found in the CoE Starter Kit you downloaded from aka.ms/CoeStarterKitDownload.

3. Enter the URL of your environment instance. If you're using the Teams_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit, don't include the https:// prefix or / postfix for OrgUrl. If you're using the Production_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit and PowerPlatformGovernance_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit, include the https:// prefix for OrgUrl. If prompted, sign in to Power BI Desktop with your organization account that has access to the environment you installed the CoE Starter Kit in.

   

4. Save the dashboard locally, or select Publish and choose the workspace you want to publish the report to.

5. Configure scheduled refresh for your Power BI Dataset to update the report daily.

You can find the report later by going to app.powerbi.com.

Troubleshooting

The Unable to connect (provider Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Couldn't open a connection to SQL Server) error message means that the connector has failed to connect to the TDS endpoint. This error can occur when the URL used with the connector includes https:// and/or the ending /. Remove the https:// and ending forward slash so that the URL is in the form orgname.crm.dynamics.com.

The A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the pre-login handshake error message means that the connector has failed to connect to the TDS endpoint. This error can also occur if the ports the TDS endpoint uses are blocked. Learn more: Ports required for using SQL to query data

When you see Unable to open document: The queries were authored with a newer version of Power BI Desktop and might not work with your version as an error message and you are on the current version of Power BI Desktop, select Close to continue to setup as it will work.

(Optional) Configure embedded apps in the CoE dashboard

The Production_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit and Teams_CoEDashboard_MMMYY.pbit dashboards can be configured to use embedded apps to enable you to drive action based on insights you find. With the embedded apps, you can grant yourself access to resources, delete apps and flows, and reach out to the maker via email. You'll have to configure the Power Apps visuals in the Power BI dashboard before you can use them.

1. Open the CoE Power BI dashboard in Power BI Desktop.

2. Go to the App Detail page.

   

3. Select Power Apps for Power BI from Visualizations.

   

4. Select the fields from your dataset that you want to use in the app.

5. With the visual selected, select admin_appid from App (on the Fields pane).

   

6. With the visual selected, select the admin_environmentid environment (on the Fields pane).

   

7. In the Power Apps for Power BI visual, select the environment of your CoE (where you imported the apps to).

   

8. Select Choose app.

9. Select Admin – Access this app.

   

10. Resize and move the visual to the location you want. Delete the placeholder from the template, and move your embedded app to the same place.

11. Next, go to the Cloud flow detail tab.

12. Select the Power Apps visual from Visualizations. Select the fields from your dataset that you want to use in the app.

13. With the visual selected, select the admin_flowid and admin_flowenvironment flows under Fields.

    

14. In the visual, select the environment of your CoE (where you imported the apps to).

15. Select Choose app.

16. Select Admin – Access this flow.

    

17. Resize and move the visual to the location you want. Delete the placeholder from the template, and move your embedded app to the same place.

Republish the dashboard, and view it under app.powerbi.com.

It looks like I found a bug with the CoE Starter Kit; where should I go?

To file a bug against the solution, go to aka.ms/coe-starter-kit-issues.