Introduction

If you are building dashboards for clients, teams, or management, one thing is extremely important — controlling who sees what data.

That’s where Power BI’s Row-Level Security (RLS) comes in.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

What RLS is
How it works
How to create roles
How to assign rules
Real-world business examples
Mistakes to avoid in 2025

This is the most beginner-friendly and complete RLS tutorial you will find.

1. What Is Row-Level Security (RLS)?

RLS allows you to restrict data based on the user.
This means different users can see different data — even in the same dashboard.

Example:

North India Manager → sees only North data
South India Manager → sees only South data
CEO → sees full data

Same report. Different data views.

2. How RLS Works in Power BI

RLS uses:

Roles (groups of users)
DAX filters (rules that limit data)

You create these rules inside Power BI Desktop → then assign users in Power BI Service.

3. How to Create RLS in Power BI (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Open Power BI Desktop

Go to
Modeling → Manage Roles

Step 2: Click “Create”

Give a name to your role:
Example: North_Manager

Step 3: Select a Table and Apply Filter

Select the table → Apply DAX filter.

Example rule:
Show only North Region:


Region[Zone] = "North"

Another example:
Show only logged-in user’s email:


Sales[UserEmail] = USERPRINCIPALNAME()

Step 4: Save the Role

4. Test RLS in Power BI Desktop

Go to:
Modeling → View As → Select Role

Now Power BI shows the report exactly as that role will see it.

This step is important to avoid mistakes.

5. Publish and Assign Users in Power BI Service

After publishing the report:

Open Workspace
Click Dataset
Choose Security
Select your Role
Add users or groups

Now RLS is active for all users.

6. Real-World Examples of RLS

Example 1: Sales Territory Restriction

North Manager → Sees North
South Manager → Sees South
East Manager → Sees East

Example 2: Employee-Level Data

Employees can see:

Their own attendance
Their own performance
Their own salary (limited access)

Example 3: Client Dashboards

Each client only sees their own:

Orders
Revenue
Performance
Invoice details

Example 4: Multi-Branch Businesses

Each branch manager sees:

Branch revenue
Staff data
Expenses
Daily KPIs

7. Dynamic RLS (Most Powerful Method)

Dynamic RLS uses a mapping table.

Example Table:

Email	Region
manager@company.com	North
user@company.com	West

Apply rule:


Sales[Region] = RELATED(UserRegion[Region])

Benefits:
No need to create multiple roles
Easy to manage
Automatically updates

8. Common RLS Mistakes to Avoid in 2025

❌ Applying filters on wrong columns
❌ Using bi-directional relationships
❌ Forgetting to mark the Date Table
❌ Not testing “View As Role”
❌ Using RLS with Many-to-Many without bridge table
❌ Putting RLS rule on Fact table instead of Dimension table

Fix these mistakes → Your RLS becomes rock solid.

9. When Not to Use RLS

Don’t use RLS when:

Dataset is shared publicly
Report is exported to Excel (RLS breaks)
You want self-service reporting with full data visibility

Conclusion

Row-Level Security is a critical feature for organizations that need secure and personalized reporting.
With RLS, you can share one report with many users and each user sees only the data they are allowed to view.

Master RLS today because this is one of the most requested Power BI skills in 2025.