Business Intelligence connector

The Power BI data catalog your whole team can trust.

The Dawiso Power BI connector turns your tenant into a searchable data catalog: every workspace, dataset, report, dashboard and measure, with dataset-to-report relationships from the Scanner API.

Read the docs

Live connector Stable connector

Power BI

Dawiso

Metadata-only · your data never leaves the source

Type: BI platform
Auth: Service principal (OAuth 2.0)
Sync: Daily, incremental
Direction: Read-only · metadata

First things first

What is a data connector?

Metadata-only Read-only access Incremental sync Cross-system lineage

A data connector is the bridge between a tool in your stack and the catalog that gives you a unified view of it. Once a connector is configured, it reaches into the source system on a schedule, reads out the metadata - schemas, tables, dashboards, jobs, ownership, lineage - and represents it inside the catalog. Your actual rows and values stay where they are.

Connectors are the reason a data catalog can answer questions like "which Power BI dashboard depends on this Snowflake table?" or "who owns the orders topic in Kafka?" - automatically, without anyone keeping a spreadsheet up to date.

Three properties separate a good connector from a brittle one: it should be read-only and safe, it should be incremental so a full re-scan isn't required for every refresh, and it should resolve lineage across system boundaries, not just inside one tool.

About the platform

What is Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI is the BI platform used by ~97% of Fortune 500 companies to turn data into reports, dashboards and self-service analytics. Workspaces hold the datasets, reports, dataflows and paginated reports that finance, ops and exec teams open every morning.

Power BI's own lineage view covers what lives inside a workspace. The hard part is what doesn't: who certified this measure, which sensitive columns flow into a dashboard a partner can see, and how Power BI content sits alongside the rest of your estate. That's where the Dawiso Power BI data catalog joins the picture: read-only, metadata-only, and cross-platform.

Architecture

How Dawiso connects to Power BI

A small read-only role on the Power BI side. The Dawiso scanner pulls metadata on a schedule. Everything ends up in your catalog, business-readable.

Source

Power BI tenant

Workspaces (Premium and Pro)
Datasets, dataflows, datamarts
Reports, dashboards, apps
Measures, calculation groups

REST · JDBC

Dawiso scanner

Read-only metadata

Schema & object discovery
Dependency resolution
SQL flow parsing (optional)
Sampling on opt-in

Internal

Catalog

Dawiso platform

Searchable metadata
Lineage & ownership
Business glossary
Policy & classifications

Connection details

Protocol: Power BI Admin / Scanner API
Authentication: Service principal (OAuth 2.0) with workspace admin role
Lineage: Power BI Admin / Scanner API exposes dataset-to-report relationships across workspaces, so Power BI content is catalogued with its dependencies.

Setup

Connect Power BI in 4 steps

01

Register an app in Entra ID

Register an Entra ID (Azure AD) app for Dawiso, enable the Power BI Service tenant settings that allow service principals to use the Scanner API.
02

Assign workspace access

Add the service principal to a Power BI security group and grant the group at least Viewer on every workspace Dawiso should catalog.
03

Connect and pick workspaces

Add the tenant ID, client ID and client secret in Dawiso. Choose which workspaces to ingest - all of them or a curated list.
04

Run ingestion

Daily incremental sync keeps the catalog current as workspaces, datasets and reports change.

Capabilities

What you get with the Power BI connector

Workspace & dataset catalog

Every workspace, dataset, report, dashboard and dataflow is searchable, with descriptions, sensitivity labels and the dataset they consume.
Dataset & report relationships

The Scanner API exposes which reports and dashboards consume which datasets and dataflows, so dependencies are visible across every workspace.
Sensitivity label sync

Microsoft Information Protection sensitivity labels are imported and stay in sync, so the catalog and Power BI never drift apart.
PII tracking into reports

Classify a column once in the source. Dawiso flags every Power BI dataset, dashboard and paginated report that surfaces that column.
Certified measure registry

See which measures are certified, which are promoted and which are unmanaged. Stop the "three different revenue numbers" problem.
Ownership & certification

Mark datasets and reports as certified, deprecated or under review. The owner is visible directly in the catalog and on the Power BI side.

Business value

Why teams turn on the Power BI connector

-65%
Fewer 'which dataset?' pings

Analysts find the certified dataset and the right measure in Dawiso instead of pinging the BI team to ask which dashboard uses the right revenue calc.
10x
Faster impact analysis

Before altering a source column, see exactly which Power BI datasets, reports and dashboards depend on it. Seconds, not days.
Audit-ready
GDPR & DORA evidence

Sensitive columns are classified once and the policy follows them through datasets, dataflows and downstream reports, with a full audit trail.

Ready to catalog your Power BI?

Set up the connector in an afternoon. See your first lineage graph the same day.

Read the docs

Frequently asked questions

Still curious? Talk to our team ->

What is the data catalog in Power BI?

Power BI surfaces datasets and lineage inside a workspace, with governance through Microsoft Purview and Fabric. Dawiso adds the cross-platform catalog: it reads Power BI metadata read-only via the Admin / Scanner API and catalogs reports and datasets with their dataset-to-report relationships, ownership and sensitivity labels.

What does metadata in Power BI include?

Power BI metadata covers workspaces, datasets, reports, dashboards, dataflows and measures. Dawiso reads it via the Admin / Scanner API read-only and catalogs every object with ownership, sensitivity labels and dataset-to-report relationships.

Does Power BI have a data catalog?

Not a standalone one - cataloging runs through Fabric and Microsoft Purview. Dawiso provides a business-facing, cross-platform catalog over Power BI with search, glossary and dataset-to-report relationships.

What permissions does Dawiso need in Power BI?

An Entra ID service principal added to a security group with at least Viewer access on every workspace, and Power BI tenant settings that allow service principals to use the Admin / Scanner API. Dawiso never modifies your reports or datasets.

Does Dawiso copy our Power BI data?

No. Dawiso calls the Power BI Scanner API for metadata only - workspace, dataset, report, dashboard, measure and DAX definitions. Row-level data and visuals stay inside Power BI.

How are dataset-to-report relationships built?

Dataset-to-report relationships come from the Power BI Admin / Scanner API, which Dawiso reads read-only. That tells you which reports and dashboards consume which datasets and dataflows across every workspace you catalog.

Does Dawiso work with paginated and Premium Per User?

Yes. Paginated reports (SSRS-style), classic Premium, Premium Per User and Fabric workspaces are all covered through the same Scanner API path.

Can Dawiso catalog Power BI apps and shared datasets?

Yes. Apps, shared datasets and the workspaces that publish them are catalogued with their consumers, so you can see which app pages use which dataset.