Challenges

The customer, a multinational technology company, wanted to further customize the Neal Analytics Power BI Usage Insights template to govern their licensing model, as well as ID certain activities for security purposes. The goal was to expand Power BI Usage Insights to fit their needs around active directory integration, more detailed telemetry and license management, and on-premises focused deployment.

This would also require the integration of multiple data sources with Neal-sourced Office 365 Audit Log data.

Solutions

Neal Analytics created two solutions:

• One to get the data
• One to surface the data in reporting

Using the back end of the Power BI Usage Insights template, our solution pulled data (such as how many licenses, what kind of license was assigned to an individual, etc.) down from the cloud to the on-premises database.

This data was then combined with on-premises analysis services tuning data, tenant specific user data, and AAD data on users to compile a complete user and usage profile.

The solution surfaced detailed breakdowns on different areas including:

• Did the activity follow security protocol?
• Did anyone print the report?
• Did this individual share it?
• Who is experiencing report loading issues and why?
• Who is licensed for what?
• What reports have been accessed, and by whom?

Results

With Power BI Usage Insights, and further customization by the Neal Analytics team, the customer gained the ability to proactively manage and monitor actions using integrated data extending from the solution. This provided improved security and governance, enabling them to get the most out of the Neal Analytics Power BI Usage Insights solution.

To learn more about Power BI Usage Insights and how you can customize it to fit your needs, contact us.