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Introduction
In the world of business intelligence, creating a report or dashboard often feels like reaching the finish line. You’ve connected your data sources, built the visuals, applied the DAX measures, and made sure everything looks polished. Then you publish it to Power BI Service, share the link with your team or leadership, and move on to the next report.
But here’s the thing:
Have you ever wondered what happens after you hit ‘Publish’? Does anyone use the report? Are they looking at the pages you designed so carefully? Are they finding it helpful or are they confused and abandoning it?
As Power BI users, developers, and analysts, we often focus so much on building reports that we forget to track their impact. This is where Power BI Usage Metrics become a game changer.
What Are Power BI Usage Metrics?
Power BI Usage Metrics give you insights into how your reports and dashboards are being used. In simple terms, it’s the analytics of your analytics.
With usage metrics, you can:
- Track how often a report is viewed
- Identify your most active users
- Discover which pages users interact with the most
- Spot trends in report usage over time
It’s like having a behind-the-scenes dashboard that shows how your reports are performing in the real world.
Why Should You Use Usage Metrics?
Here’s why usage metrics are important for every Power BI professional:
1. Measure Adoption
Get clarity on which reports are valuable to users and which aren’t.
2. Iterate & Improve
If a report page has low engagement, maybe it needs a layout change, or maybe users aren’t finding it helpful.
3. Declutter Workspace
Don’t waste time maintaining reports that no one is using. Use data to decide what stays and what goes.
4. Prove Value to Stakeholders
Show managers or leadership how widely reports are being used to drive informed decisions.
5. Ensure Proper Access
Confirm the right people are accessing the right data, and flag unexpected usage.
The “Analytics of your Analytics”
Usage metrics in analytics tools give organizations a powerful lens into how their BI solutions are actually being used, enabling them to measure impact by tracking how frequently reports and dashboards are accessed and ensuring that analytics investments deliver real business value. By highlighting the most popular visualizations, KPIs, and datasets, usage metrics reveal which insights drive decision making and where user attention is focused. This clarity allows teams to optimize resources retiring or consolidating underused content to reduce maintenance overhead while targeted training and communications can be directed toward areas of low adoption to boost overall engagement. Ultimately, basing your roadmap on real usage data rather than assumptions ensures that future enhancements align with user needs, transforming passive activity logs into actionable intelligence and maximizing the return on your analytics investment.
Before You Begin
Usage metrics only track published reports, not those opened in Power BI Desktop.
You need at least Contributor role in the workspace to view them.
Data is usually refreshed once a day.
If usage data is missing, check whether tracking has been disabled by your Power BI administrator
How to Access Usage Metrics in Power BI
Once you’ve published a report in the Power BI Service, you can easily view its usage statistics if you have the right permissions. These built-in metrics help you track user behavior and report adoption.
Let’s walk through the steps to access usage metrics for a report.
Step 1: Go to Power BI Service
Log in to the Power BI Service with your work credentials. Navigate to the workspace where your report is published.
Note: Usage metrics are only available for reports published in a workspace backed by a Power BI Premium or Pro license.
Step 2: Find the Report
Once inside the workspace, locate the report for which you want to view the usage data.
Step 3: Click on ‘Usage Metrics’
Hover over the report Click the ellipsis next to it Select Usage Metrics from the dropdown.
Step 4: Explore the Default Metrics Report
Power BI generates a default usage report, showing:
- Views Over Time
- Unique Viewers
- Top Report Pages
- Viewer List
Consumption by Platform (web/mobile, etc.)
This is a prebuilt report that can help you quickly assess how your report is performing over time.
Step 5: Customize the Usage Metrics Report Using Audit Log Data
Did you know you can build a fully customized usage metrics report in Power BI using audit log data?
While the default usage report in Power BI Service offers basic insights, it isn’t directly customizable. Instead, we accessed Power BI activity data from audit logs and used it to create a custom report tailored to our needs.
Once the audit log data is extracted (via Microsoft 365 Compliance Center or PowerShell), you’re free to:
- Add custom visuals or slicers
- Blend in other data sources (like survey feedback or CRM systems)
- Drill into specific users, workspaces, or timeframes
This approach goes beyond the limitations of the built-in report, letting you craft a usage dashboard that truly reflects how your reports are being used—all while maintaining full control over data structure, filters, and presentation.
Real-World Impact: How a Power BI Usage Metrics Report Helped Our Client
In one of our recent Power BI projects for LACSD (Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts), we implemented a dedicated Usage Metrics Report as part of our delivery. The goal was simple: track how their internal reports were being consumed by users and use that insight to make smarter data decisions.
The Problem:
LACSD had several reports published in the Power BI service across multiple departments. While some were built for leadership-level insights and others for operational monitoring, there was no clear way to know which reports were being used regularly, and which ones were gathering dust.
They asked us:
“Can we track which reports people are using? We want to optimize our Power BI environment and stop maintaining reports that aren’t helpful.”
Our Solution
We delivered a single, interactive Usage Metrics Dashboard that combined:
- Highlevel KPIs (Active Users, Total Actions, Top Datasets)
- Trend charts for monthly engagement
- User leader boards
- Detailed audit logs (timestamps, IPs, operation types)
Key Benefits
- Cut Maintenance: Archived >30% of unused reports, freeing BI resources
- Boosted Adoption: Targeted training increased usage by 25% in underperforming teams
- Enhanced Security: Rapidly spotted and investigated anomalous access
- Data-Driven Roadmap: Prioritized enhancements based on real user behavior
Seeing real usage data completely shifted our approach. We went from reacting to requests, to proactively optimizing our entire Power BI ecosystem. By turning passive usage logs into actionable insights, our custom Usage Metrics Report not only improved operational efficiency but also fostered a more datadriven culture at LACSD.
