Row-Level Security (RLS) in Power BI –
Step-by-Step Instructions
Row-Level Security (RLS) in Power BI helps you restrict data access for certain users by defining
filters at the row level. Here’s a detailed step-by-step procedure to configure and use RLS in Power
BI Desktop and Service.
Procedure:
1 Open your Power BI Desktop and load the dataset you want to secure with RLS.
2 Go to the **Modeling** tab in the ribbon.
3 Click on **Manage roles**.
4 In the **Manage roles** dialog box, click **Create** to define a new role.
5 Give the role a meaningful name (e.g., 'Sales_Region_North').
6 Select a table where you want to apply the filter. For example, if you have a 'Sales' table with a
'Region' column, select it.
7 In the DAX filter box, enter the condition for restricting data. Example: `[Region] = "North"`. This
ensures users assigned to this role will only see sales data for the North region.
8 Click **Save** to store the role.
9 To validate the role, go back to the **Modeling** tab and click **View as role**. Choose the role
you created and test whether the filtering works as expected.
10 Once confirmed, publish your report to the **Power BI Service** ([Link]).
11 In Power BI Service, navigate to your dataset, click on the ellipsis (**...**) and select
**Security**.
12 You’ll see the role(s) created in Power BI Desktop. Select the role and add users (email IDs)
who should be restricted by that role.
13 Click **Save**. Now, when these users view the report, they’ll only see the filtered data
according to their assigned RLS role.
Notes & Tips:
• You can create multiple roles if you need to restrict data for different user groups.
• Dynamic RLS can be set up by creating a relationship between users and their allowed data in
a separate mapping table.
• Always test roles thoroughly using the 'View as role' feature in Power BI Desktop before
publishing.