Showing a Power BI report on your screens

A step-by-step guide to putting a Microsoft Power BI report on a digital sign with piSignage — connecting your Power BI account, adding a report, and choosing exactly which page(s) each screen shows.

Connection options & approximate cost

There are three ways to get a Power BI report onto a screen. You pick one when you connect (Step 1). These costs are paid by you directly to Microsoft — piSignage adds no Power BI charge of its own. Figures are approximate (Microsoft pricing, early 2026); re-check before you commit.

Quick guidance:

• Just trying it out, or a handful of internal screens? Use Sign in with Microsoft — one Pro licence, one click, done.
• Confidential data, many screens, must run untouched for a long time? Use a Service Principal. It costs more but doesn't break when someone changes a password or leaves the company.
• The numbers aren't sensitive at all? Publish to Web is free — just remember anyone with the URL can see it. Set it up in Power BI itself and paste the public URL as a normal web link (not a PowerBI Report asset).

If you're unsure which options your organisation allows, ask whoever manages your Microsoft 365 / Power BI tenant.

Before you start

You need:

• A full-rights login to your pisignage account.
• A Power BI report you can already open in app.powerbi.com.
• One of:
  • a Microsoft account that can sign in to Power BI (for the one-click Sign in with Microsoft option), or
  • Service Principal credentials from your IT team (Tenant ID, Client ID, Client Secret) if your organisation uses that method.

You only connect Power BI once for the whole account. After that you can add as many reports to as many screens as you like.

Step 1 — Connect Power BI (one time)

1. Go to Settings → Power BI Integration.
2. Choose one:
   • Sign in with Microsoft (recommended for most people) — you'll be sent to Microsoft's login page. Sign in with the account that can see your reports and approve the permissions prompt. You'll return to pisignage.com showing Connected.
   • Service Principal tab — paste the Directory (Tenant) ID, Application (Client) ID, and Client Secret your IT team gave you, then Save credentials.
3. The page shows a green Connected status (and, for the Microsoft option, the signed-in account name).

If you ever see "Power BI is not connected" while adding a report, come back here and reconnect.

Step 2 — Find your Workspace ID and Report ID

Open the report in app.powerbi.com and look at the browser URL:

https://app.powerbi.com/groups/<WORKSPACE_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>/ReportSection

• The value right after groups/ is the Workspace ID.
• The value right after reports/ is the Report ID.

Copy both.

Step 3 — Add the report as an asset

1. Go to Assets and add a new link.
2. For the link type, choose PowerBI Report.
3. Fill in:
   • Name — a friendly name for this screen content.
   • Workspace ID and Report ID — from Step 2.
   • Page duration (seconds) — optional; see Step 4.
   • Pages to show — optional; see Step 4 (this is the key part).
   • Row-Level Security — optional, advanced; only used with Service Principal. Leave collapsed if you don't know what it is.
4. Save. The report is now an asset you can put into any playlist / schedule like any other content.

Step 4 — Choose which page(s) the screen shows

A Power BI report often has several pages (tabs). You no longer have to split a report into separate reports just to show one page on one screen — pick the pages right here.

In the Pages to show section:

1. Make sure the Workspace ID and Report ID are filled in and Power BI is connected.
2. Click Load pages. piSignage fetches the report's pages and lists them by their friendly names as checkboxes.
3. Tick the page(s) you want, then save.

What your selection does:

Page duration controls rotation speed (seconds per page). It applies when you've selected several pages, or when you've selected nothing and want the whole report to cycle. It's ignored when a single page is pinned. Leave it blank to disable rotation.

Tips

• Different screens, different pages, one report. Add the same report as several assets, each pinned to a different page — e.g. a "Sales" screen and an "Operations" screen from one dashboard.
• Re-Load pages after you change the Workspace/Report ID so the list matches the new report.
• If you edit the report in Power BI and rename or delete a page you'd pinned, the screen automatically falls back to showing the whole report instead of going blank — but you should re-open the asset and re-pick the pages.

Step 5 — Put it on a screen

Add the Power BI asset to a playlist (and schedule/group) exactly like any image or video. The player loads the live report, keeps the session token refreshed automatically in the background, and applies your page selection.

Editing a report later

Open the asset and click into its link details. You can change the Workspace/Report ID, page duration, and page selection, then Update. Click Load pages again if you changed the report. Your previously selected pages are shown so you can see what's currently configured.

Note: you cannot rename a Power BI link in place — if you need a different name, delete it and create a new one.

Troubleshooting

Quick FAQ

Do viewers need Power BI licenses? People walking past the sign aren't signed in — there are no per-viewer sessions. Licensing depends on the connection method — see Connection options & approximate cost above.

Can two screens show different pages of the same report? Yes — add the report as two assets and pin a different page on each.

Will rotation order match my selection? Yes. Multi-page rotation cycles in the order you ticked the pages.

What happens if I pick pages but no duration? With several pages and no duration, the screen shows the first selected page (no rotation). Add a duration to make it cycle.

I changed the report in Power BI — do I need to do anything? If you renamed/added/removed pages, re-open the asset, click Load pages, and re-pick. Data and visual changes need nothing — the screen always shows the live report.