Lesson 118 Power BI Row-Level Security (RLS): Control Who Sees What

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When building reports for multiple departments, clients, or roles, you don’t want everyone seeing everything, right? That’s where Row-Level Security (RLS) comes in!

RLS lets you filter data based on the user viewing the report — meaning each person sees only the data they’re allowed to.

👁️ What Is Row-Level Security in Power BI?

Row-Level Security (RLS) restricts access to specific rows in a dataset based on filters you define. It’s especially important when:

• Sharing reports with clients or partners
• Segmenting data by region, department, or user role
• Protecting sensitive business data

🛠️ How to Implement RLS in Power BI

Step 1: Create Roles

• Go to Modeling → Manage Roles
• Click Create, give a role name
• Choose a table, and define a filter (e.g., [Region] = "North")

Step 2: Test the Role

• Click View As Roles
• Choose your defined role
• Power BI will simulate the restricted view

Step 3: Publish & Assign Roles

• After publishing to Power BI Service:
• Go to Dataset → Security
• Assign users or groups to each role

Now, each user only sees their own slice of the data.

🧠 Real-World RLS Examples

⚠️ Things to Watch Out For

• RLS works only on Import and DirectQuery, not on Live connections to Analysis Services.
• Use USERPRINCIPALNAME() carefully — it must match Azure AD usernames.
• RLS does not apply in Power BI Desktop when exporting to Excel.

💬 Pro Tips

• Use dynamic RLS with user tables for scalable access control
• Test thoroughly before sharing reports
• Document role logic for audits and compliance
• Combine with Power BI Apps for better deployment

📧 Need help setting up RLS? 

Email us at support@virvijay.com — we’ll guide you step-by-step!

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