Power BI Data Management Architecture Example

Power BI can host datasets and tabular data models alongside reports and other content for Power BI users to create reports and for analysis. It provides a structure for architecting deployments where data access is centralized, and report creation and analysis are decentralized. The illustration shows an example Power BI Premium deployment (right) receiving data from on-premises and Azure-hosted data sources (left).

Architecture Basics

The Power BI deployment is structured in three levels:

• Tenancy is the highest level
• Capacity is a set of allocated resources analogous to a VM with assigned virtual cores, memory, and storage
• Workspace is a secure area for creating and sharing content; typically created for specific activities or departments.

Enterprises typically have multiple capacities and numerous workspaces, each performing a different part of the overall design. Power BI Premium customers can have a tenancy with multiple capacities, and each capacity can contain multiple workspaces, while Power BI Pro customers can have a tenancy with multiple workspaces. The tenancy also includes access to the customer’s Azure Active Directory tenancy that authenticates users and stores credentials that are used to secure workspaces, reports, and data.