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How to View Power BI Report Usage Metrics for the Past Year
Question details
The user wants to track and review activity on their Power BI reports over a 12-month period to understand user engagement and access frequency.
- Product
- Microsoft Power BI
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Tracking long-term report engagement, user access frequency, and performance analytics.
- Observed behavior
- The user needs to locate the usage metrics feature within the Power BI environment and adjust it to show data for the past year.
Ensure you have Admin, Member, or Contributor permissions in the Power BI workspace. Note that default Power BI usage metrics only retain 90 days of data; viewing a full year requires your tenant admin to have configured Microsoft 365 Audit Logs or Azure Log Analytics beforehand.
View Usage Metrics via the Power BI Service
Access the built-in usage metrics report directly from your workspace in the Power BI service to monitor recent activity.
The Power BI service includes a built-in dashboard that displays usage metrics for your published reports. While the default view covers the last 30 to 90 days, you can customize the date slicers if historical data retention has been enabled by your organization.
Open your web browser, navigate to the Power BI service website, and log in with your Microsoft credentials.
Click on 'Workspaces' in the left-hand navigation pane and select the workspace containing the report you want to analyze.
Find your target report in the list, click the 'More options' (...) icon next to the report name, and select 'View usage metrics report'.
Once the metrics report loads, locate the date filter on the dashboard and adjust it to cover the dates for the past year (if historical data is available in your tenant).
Export Historical Audit Logs to Spreadsheet
Export extended historical data from Microsoft Purview (formerly Microsoft 365 compliance center) to analyze a full year of Power BI usage.
Analyze Exported Power BI Metrics with WPS Office
When you export large datasets of historical Power BI usage metrics, you need a powerful spreadsheet tool to make sense of the data. WPS Office is a completely free, lightweight, and user-friendly alternative to Microsoft Office. It allows you to effortlessly open, analyze, and visualize your exported CSV and Excel files without expensive subscriptions.
- 1. Install WPS Office: Download and install WPS Office for free from the official WPS website.
- 2. Open Your Exported Metrics: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open the CSV or XLSX file containing your Power BI audit logs.
- 3. Build PivotTables: Navigate to the 'Insert' tab, select 'PivotTable', and organize the data by report name and date to track annual usage trends.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my Power BI usage metrics report empty?
Your usage metrics report might be empty if the report has not been viewed recently, if it was just published, or if tenant settings disable usage tracking. It can take up to 24 hours for new views to reflect in the metrics dashboard.
Can I customize the built-in Power BI usage metrics report?
Yes. You can personalize the usage metrics report by opening it, clicking 'File', and selecting 'Save a copy'. Once saved to your workspace, you gain full edit access to modify visuals, add custom filters, and change layouts.
Who can view usage metrics in a Power BI workspace?
Only users who have an Admin, Member, or Contributor role within the specific Power BI workspace can access and view the usage metrics for reports contained in that workspace. Users with only 'Viewer' access cannot.
How do I automate the backup of Power BI usage metrics?
To preserve metrics beyond the 90-day default limit, administrators typically configure a connection between the Power BI tenant and Azure Log Analytics. This automatically archives usage data, allowing for multi-year historical analysis.
