Embedding Power BI reports in WEBCON BPS Studio

Applies to version: 2024 R1; authors: Przemysław Sierant, Krystyna Gawryał

Description of the functionality

From version 2020 R1 of WEBCON BPS we have the possibility to embed Power BI reports on Portal dashboards. It allows us to present any data previously prepared in the Power BI service. We can embed both a view of the whole report as well as individual components.

Configuration

For correct operation of Power BI reports embedded in WEBCON BPS Portal you need to provide the correct Application ID in the System settings.

How do we get the Application ID? For this we need to register WEBCON BPS Portal in Azure AD.
The registration can be done in two ways: using the Power BI App Embedding setup (https://app.powerbi.com/embedsetup) or directly in the Azure portal. In the former case, select Embed for your organization.

Then log in to Power BI and click Next.

After logging in, you will need to complete the following information:

• Application Name,
• Application Type – Server-side web application (for web apps or web APIs),
• Home Page URL (e.g. https://webcon.com/WEBCONBPS),
• Redirect URL – you need to enter the address in the form: <portal address>/powerbiredirect (e.g. https://webcon.com/WEBCONBPS/powerbiredirect).

Select the API access permissions and click Register.

After correct registration of the application, you will receive an Application ID which must then be entered into the WEBCON BPS system configuration.

Next, in the Azure portal, on the Authentication page of the registered application, it is necessary to enable the Access tokens (used for implicit flows) and ID tokens (used for implicit and hybrid flows) options. In addition, the Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Microsoft Entra ID tenant - Multitenant) option must be selected.

For the Power BI report to work properly, you also need to create a new Single-page application platform. To do this, select Add a platform in the Platform configurations section, and then select the appropriate option on the right, as shown in the figure below.

Since the implicit grant settings have been enabled for the newly created application, it is necessary to migrate the redirect URIs. To do this, in the Web section, click the arrow to the right of the displayed message and check the boxes next to the two URIs in the additional window (see the figure below). Confirm by selecting Configure at the bottom of the window.

After this action, the specified redirect URIs will appear in the Single-page application section.

After completing the above instructions and saving the changes in WEBCON BPS Designer Studio, we recommend using the Load configuration button in the service configuration (see below).

For complete instructions on registering your application with Azure, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/register-app.

Example of use

How to add a new Power BI report? On the WEBCON BPS Portal home page, go to any application and add a new dashboard. Embed a new component named “Power BI” in the dashboard configuration.

During the first configuration (or when the authentication token expires), you are prompted to log in to the account that has access to the Power BI service. After you successfully log in, you can configure the Power BI component.

Let’s see what a sample Power BI report looks like in Webcon BPS Portal.