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Publishing Reports to the EBM Workspace

Tom S
Updated

After building and testing your Power BI report, the next step is publishing it to your EBM workspace. This makes the report available in Power BI Service, where it can be viewed online, shared with colleagues, or embedded into Catalyst. This guide covers the publishing process, update workflows, and best practices for maintaining your reports.

 

Overview

Publishing transforms your local Power BI report into a web-accessible dashboard that your team can view and interact with. This process uploads your report from Power BI Desktop to your EBM workspace in Power BI Service, where it stays synchronized with Catalyst data refreshes. Once published, your report can be accessed online, shared across your organization, or embedded directly into Catalyst for seamless user access. This guide walks through publishing workflows, update procedures, verification steps, and troubleshooting common issues to ensure your reports deploy successfully.

Publishing Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Power BI Desktop                 │
│    (Your Local Report)              │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
               │ Click "Publish"
               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Select Destination               │
│    (EBM Workspace)                  │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
               │ Authenticate & Upload
               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Power BI Service                 │
│    (Published Report)               │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
               │ Verify & Test
               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Ready for Embedding              │
│    in Catalyst                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Pre-Publishing Checklist

Before publishing, ensure your report is ready for production use:

Item What to Check
✅ Report Title Clear, descriptive name that matches intended use
✅ Page Names All tabs labeled appropriately (not "Page 1", "Page 2")
✅ Visual Titles Each visual has a descriptive title
✅ Default Filters Set appropriate default view (e.g., current year only)
✅ Data Accuracy Calculations verified against known values
✅ Performance Report loads in under 5 seconds with typical data
✅ Local Save Latest .pbix file saved with version number

Step-by-Step: Publishing Your Report

1

Open Your Report in Power BI Desktop

Ensure you're working with the latest saved version of your .pbix file. Verify all visuals display correctly before proceeding.

2

Click the Publish Button

In the Home ribbon, click Publish. You'll be prompted to save any unsaved changes first.

Screenshot of the Power BI Home ribbon, highlighting Publish.
3

Authenticate (If Prompted)

If you see a sign-in prompt, authenticate with your Microsoft 365 work account—the same credentials used to access Catalyst.

4

Select Your EBM Workspace

In the "Publish to Power BI" dialog:

  • Scroll to From External Orgs
  • Locate your workspace (e.g., "EBM Software – Acme Corp")
  • Click to select it
How content is organized in workspaces - Power BI
5

Click Select

Power BI will upload your report to the workspace. This may take 30 seconds to several minutes depending on report complexity and file size.

Publishing progress bar will show upload status...

✓

Publishing Complete

You'll see a success message with a link to view your report in Power BI Service. Click Open '[Report Name]' in Power BI to verify the published version.

Publishing success dialog

Verifying Your Published Report

After publishing, confirm that your report appears correctly in Power BI Service:

Verification Steps

🌐 In Power BI Service

  1. Navigate to app.powerbi.com
  2. Go to Workspaces → From External Orgs
  3. Open your EBM workspace
  4. Click the Reports tab
  5. Locate your newly published report
  6. Click to open and view

✅ What to Check

  • All pages/tabs appear correctly
  • Visuals load without errors
  • Filters and slicers function properly
  • Data displays accurately
  • Cross-filtering works between visuals
  • Report loads within acceptable time

💡 Tip: Test your report with different user scenarios before embedding it in Catalyst. Try various filter combinations to ensure it behaves as expected.

Publishing Updates to Existing Reports

When you need to update a report with new visuals, layout changes, or data corrections, follow this workflow:

📝 Option 1: Overwrite Existing

When to use: Minor updates, bug fixes, visual improvements

Process:

  1. Open the original .pbix file
  2. Make your changes
  3. Save with same filename
  4. Publish to same workspace
  5. Select "Replace" when prompted

Result: Report updates in place, embed links remain valid

🆕 Option 2: Publish as New

When to use: Major redesigns, testing new versions, archiving old reports

Process:

  1. Save .pbix with new name (e.g., add "_v2")
  2. Make your changes
  3. Publish to workspace
  4. Report appears as separate item
  5. Update embed references if needed

Result: Both versions available, old version preserved

⚠️ Important Notes on Updates

  • Overwriting preserves embed links – Reports embedded in Catalyst will automatically show the updated version
  • Publishing as new requires re-embedding – You'll need to update the Catalyst visualization reference
  • Test before overwriting – Verify changes in Power BI Service before users see them in Catalyst
  • Keep local backups – Always maintain versioned .pbix files in OneDrive/SharePoint before publishing updates

Understanding Report vs. Dataset Publishing

When you publish a Power BI report connected to the EBM semantic model, you're only publishing the report file, not the underlying data.

Component What Gets Published Managed By
Report (.pbix) Visuals, layout, pages, filters, formatting You
Semantic Model Tables, relationships, measures, data source connection EBM
Data Refresh Scheduled updates from Catalyst EBM

Key Takeaway: Your published report is a live connection to the EBM semantic model. When the model refreshes (synchronized with Catalyst), your report automatically displays updated data—no republishing required.

Managing Published Reports

Renaming Reports

To rename a published report without breaking embed links:

  1. Go to Power BI Service and open your workspace
  2. Find your report in the Reports tab
  3. Click the More options (…) menu
  4. Select Settings
  5. Update the report name
  6. Click Apply

✅ Renaming in Power BI Service preserves embed links in Catalyst. You don't need to re-embed the report.

Deleting Reports

⚠️ Caution: Deleting Reports

Before deleting a report from your EBM workspace:

  • Verify it's not embedded in Catalyst (check Visualizations menu)
  • Confirm with stakeholders that the report is no longer needed
  • Archive the .pbix file locally before deletion
  • Understand that deletion is permanent and cannot be undone

If a report is embedded in Catalyst and you delete it from Power BI, users will see an error message when trying to view it.

Report Permissions

Access to published reports in your EBM workspace is controlled by EBM. Individual report permissions are not configurable—all workspace members can view all reports in the workspace.

For granular access control, use Catalyst's Navigation Access settings to determine which users can see embedded reports. More details in the Embedding Reports in Catalyst article.

Troubleshooting Publishing Issues

❌ "Publishing Failed" Error

Possible Causes

  • Lost internet connection
  • Authentication expired
  • Workspace access revoked
  • File corruption
  • Power BI service outage

Solutions

  1. Check your internet connection
  2. Sign out and back into Power BI Desktop
  3. Verify workspace access in Power BI Service
  4. Try saving .pbix to a new file and republishing
  5. Update Power BI Desktop to latest version
  6. Contact EBM Support if issues persist

❌ "Workspace Not Found" When Publishing

Solutions:

  • Confirm you've accepted the EBM workspace invitation
  • Sign out completely from Power BI Desktop and sign back in
  • Verify workspace appears in Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com)
  • Check that you're selecting from From External Orgs section
  • Request workspace access confirmation from EBM Support

❌ Report Published But Doesn't Appear in Workspace

Solutions:

  • Refresh your browser in Power BI Service
  • Check the Reports tab (not Dashboards or Datasets)
  • Clear browser cache and sign in again
  • Wait 1-2 minutes for propagation, then refresh
  • Try opening the direct link from the publishing success message

❌ Report Published But Shows Errors When Opened

Solutions:

  • Verify the EBM semantic model is still accessible
  • Check if dataset connection credentials need refreshing
  • Confirm no breaking changes were made to the underlying data model
  • Test the report locally in Power BI Desktop first
  • Contact EBM Support to verify dataset health

Best Practices Summary

✅ Do This

  • Save .pbix locally before publishing
  • Test report thoroughly in Desktop first
  • Use descriptive report names
  • Verify published version in Power BI Service
  • Keep versioned backups in OneDrive
  • Document major changes in file notes
  • Overwrite existing reports for minor updates

❌ Avoid This

  • Publishing without testing
  • Using generic names like "Report1"
  • Deleting reports without checking Catalyst
  • Publishing with unresolved errors
  • Overwriting without local backup
  • Publishing unfinished reports to production workspace
  • Forgetting to verify after publishing

Next Steps

Once your report is successfully published and verified in Power BI Service, you're ready to embed it into Catalyst so your users can access it directly within the platform.

✅ Report published successfully → Proceed to Embedding Reports in Catalyst
🔄 Need to update report? → Republish with same name to preserve embed links
❌ Publishing errors? → Contact EBM Support

Publishing reports is simple: click Publish in Power BI Desktop, select your EBM workspace, and verify in Power BI Service. Overwrite existing reports to preserve Catalyst embed links. Reports connect live to the EBM semantic model for automatic data updates. Save local backups before publishing and contact EBM Support for any access or publishing issues.

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