No, you do not need a Windows computer to view or create reports. 

Mac and Windows users can view reports, add comments, download data, create subscriptions, and receive alerts through our Power BI Service. You can also use the Power BI Service to make new reports and build data models directly within it.

Optionally, Windows users can download Power BI Desktop, available for free with Microsoft 365, which offers all the same features as the Power BI Service.

A Pro license is required to publish dashboards. 

You need a Pro license to develop reports or models for sharing.

Users without a license can view reports, add comments, download data, create subscriptions, and receive alerts through our Power BI Service. You can also use the Power BI Service to make new reports and build data models directly within it.

No, Power BI Desktop is not required to create semantic models or reports. While Power BI Desktop is an optional application for Windows users, development can also be completed in Power BI Service.

For more information, see Microsoft's Edit semantic models in the Power BI service documentation.

To find out which Power BI license you have, visit the Power BI Service and click the account manager icon located in the top right corner of the screen.

Visit our Get Started with Power BI page for helpful guides and additional learning opportunities.

We are still exploring how these AI features can benefit us. You can learn more about these features from Microsoft's Overview of Copilot for Power BI.

Yes. Report developers can automatically apply the CMU-branded template following the appropriate steps below.

Power BI Service: View menu, select Theme, and choose CMU Theme (Preview) under Organizational themes.

Power BI Desktop: Navigate to the View tab, expand Themes, and select CMU Theme (Preview) under Organizational themes.

You should use Import mode whenever possible when building semantic models for Power BI reporting.

DirectQuery should be reserved for instances where near-real-time data is required, the dataset is too large to be imported and refreshed efficiently (hundreds of millions or billions of rows), and/or the data must be secured at the data source level.

For more details, view the comparison table on the Getting Started with Power BI page.

When using a spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) as a data source in Power BI, we recommend storing the file in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. This approach ensures reliable scheduled refreshes, centralized access control, and eliminates the need for personal gateways. Currently, we do not recommend using Box or Google Drive, as they are not well supported for self-service Power BI use.

Note: Spreadsheets should only be used for lightweight or staging data. Larger or frequently refreshed datasets should be stored in a database or data warehouse, such as Snowflake.

Yes. A single Power BI semantic model can pull data from multiple Snowflake databases, schemas, or even different accounts.

When setting up the connection, only complete the required fields:

Server: cmu-data.snowflakecomputing.com
Warehouse: powerbi

Leave the Role and Database fields blank in Advanced Options. This allows the Snowflake session to use its default permissions and access any database or schema you’re authorized to use, instead of restricting the connection to a single database.

Yes. You can use the native Google Sheets connector in Power BI via OAuth authentication. This ensures your credentials are authenticated directly through Google and are never stored within Power BI.

IMPORTANT: Power BI treats every Google Sheet URL as a distinct data source. This means you are required to create and sign into a separate connection for each individual file you pull into your model.

For long-term sustainability and a more seamless experience, we recommend using OneDrive for flat file storage. Furthermore, if your data is already available in Snowflake, connecting directly to it is the most robust, automated, and enterprise-ready solution for long-term data modeling and reporting.

Power BI identifies a unique data source by its Server and Warehouse strings. If both values are identical, Power BI will reuse the same stored credentials. To force a distinction for different authentication types, follow these steps:

Power BI Desktop (The Casing Trick)

Connection strings are case-sensitive. You can create separate credential contexts by changing the casing of the Warehouse value (e.g., “POWERBI”, instead of “powerbi”). Because the casing differs, Power BI treats each as a separate data source and prompts for credentials independently.

Power BI Service (Shareable Cloud Connections)

Create two separate connections using the same Server and Warehouse values, but assign different connection names (e.g., “Snowflake_SSO” and “Snowflake_ServiceAccount”). When building or updating your semantic model, select the appropriate connection.

Yes. Many Grouper groups are automatically synced to Active Directory and can be used to assign permissions on workspaces, app audiences, reports, and models. When synced to Active Directory, the Grouper Group name is inverted (e.g., Apps:PowerBI:Licensing becomes Licensing.PowerBI.Apps).

Requests

• For groups that are not automatically synced with Active Directory, complete the General Ticket form.
• To set up customized Grouper Groups for Power BI (a self-service group sub-tree), complete the Power BI Request form and select the Grouper Tree option. This can be beneficial if complex group inclusions are needed or if a new set of manually maintained groups is required.

Renaming grouper groups can cause a failure during the Active Directory sync. If an existing group needs to be renamed, we recommend deleting the group and recreating it from scratch.