Power BI gets native connectivity with OneDrive and SharePoint

Last month, Microsoft released a new Power BI component to enable Power BI integration in web apps that are developed using Vue.js. Today, at its Ignite conference, the tech giant has unveiled enhancements for the data analytics platform, as well as new features for other services in the Power Platform.

Kicking off the announcements related to Power BI, it now has native integration with OneDrive and Sharepoint. This essentially means that reports can now be viewed and edited directly in the aforementioned two services, without requiring users to download the desktop variant of Power BI as used to be the case. On a similar note, Power BI will now be automatically installed for users with an Office or Microsoft 365 E5 solution subscription.

There are a couple of updates with regards to actual data in the service as well. First up is an optimization setting in the Power BI Desktop ribbon to potentially enhance response times when dealing with large datasets in DirectQuery mode. On a similar note, B2B dataset sharing and discoverability now allows users to build reports in their home tenants using shared datasets. Lastly, Azure Analysis Service customers will be able to migrate to Power BI Premium with more ease, in what is termed a "cost-effective migration journey".

With regards to other services, Power Apps - updated earlier this year to get integrated into Teams - is getting new features in preview. These include:

• Co-authoring to allow simultaneous, real-time editing - such as that which users of Microsoft 365 products will be familiar with
• An integrated virtual agent to assist users with the app development process
• Cards with drag-and-drop support for improved collaboration, with the introduction of a new cards designer as well

While on the topic of Power Apps, Microsoft Dataverse is getting a new release as well. This will allow users to create tables that showcase external data through simple to set up connections with external services such as an Excel workbook in OneDrive. The update will be making its way to the community in the form of a preview early next year.

Power Pages was first introduced as a standalone platform at Build 2022. The low-code development and hosting platform has now been made generally available as well. Updates in the last few months which are packaged in the latest release include a new design studio, 16 more template options, and a learning hub with various tutorials. Furthermore, the licensing model has also been simplified to monthly, capacity-based subscriptions, as opposed to the prior model based on daily sign ins and page views considerations.