Trial #30: Accessing Active Directory Users in PowerBI Model

Problem:

PowerBI has supports connecting to Active Directory as standard. However, this is not as simple or as intuitive as either the popular Active Directory GUIs tool or the indispensable PowerShell ActiveDirectory Module.

I will first show how to connect to Active Directory Users and then have several more posts on the filters I applied to make a set of usable models.

Solution:

Connecting to Active Directory is as easy stepping through the New Source interface.

Adding an Active Directory Data to PowerBI Source

Scroll down to the Users Table.

Selecting the User Objects

Pitfalls:

As you will see, all user types are returned; Service Accounts, Contacts, User Accounts …

It is not obvious what type the users are, if they are disabled, or really any other of the information you are likely to want.

Furthermore the data returned is multi-dimensional. To make it more usable we will need to convert into a tabular form, perhaps utilising related tables.

Other Posts in the PowerBI-AD Series:

• Trial #34: AD User Account Status in PowerBI Model
• Trial #33: Querying AD Users Group Membership with PowerBI
• Trial #32: Making OUs More Readable with a Related Table in PowerBI Model
• Trial #31: Transform Active Directory User CN to OU in PowerBI Model
• Trial #30: Accessing Active Directory Users in PowerBI Model