How to add Power BI dashboards to Dynamics 365: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before You Start: What You Need

A handful of things need to be true before you can embed a dashboard, and it's worth checking these first so you're not troubleshooting halfway through.

• A Power BI account with access to the dashboard. You'll need to be able to sign into the Power BI service and reach the workspace that holds the dashboard you want to embed.
• Dynamics 365 admin access. Turning on embedding is a system-level setting, so you'll need a System Administrator (or equivalent) role.
• Third-party cookies enabled in your browser. The embedded dashboard authenticates through a pop-up flow, and if third-party cookies are blocked, that authentication fails silently.
• A Power BI report connected to your Dynamics 365 or Dataverse data. Either a Microsoft-built template app or a custom report, covered in Step 1.

Step 1: Connect Power BI to Your Dynamics 365 Data

You have two practical paths here, and which one you pick depends on how much control you want over the dashboard's design.

Option A: Use a Microsoft template app (fastest)

Sign into powerbi.com, select Get Data, and search AppSource for "Dynamics 365." Microsoft publishes ready-made template apps for different areas of Dynamics 365, including Sales Analytics for Dynamics 365 Sales. Select Get it now, then enter your organization's Dynamics 365 URL (for example, https://contoso.crm.dynamics.com) and the last month of your fiscal year. Choose oAuth2 if you're prompted for an authentication method, then wait for Power BI to pull your data in. This can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on data volume.

Option B: Build a custom report

If you need specific KPIs or a layout the template apps don't cover, connect Power BI Desktop directly to Dataverse, build the report against the exact tables and measures you need, and publish it to a workspace in the Power BI service. This takes longer up front but gives you full control over what the dashboard shows.

Either way, you'll end up with a dashboard living in a Power BI workspace, ready to be embedded in the next step.

Step 2: Enable Power BI Embedding in Dynamics 365

Before anyone can add a Power BI dashboard inside Dynamics 365, an admin has to turn the feature on.

1. In your model-driven app, open Advanced Settings.
2. Go to System > Administration > Reports.
3. Find Embed Power BI visuals and set it to Yes. On some tenants this setting still shows up under its older name, Allow Power BI visualization embedding, on the Reporting tab of System Settings. Same setting, different label depending on which admin experience your tenant is running.
4. Save.

Step 3: Add the Power BI Dashboard to Your App

With embedding turned on, adding the dashboard itself only takes a few clicks.

1. Open your app (Sales Hub, Customer Service Hub, or wherever you want the dashboard to live) and go to Dashboards.
2. Select New, then choose Power BI Dashboard.
3. In the properties dialog, select the workspace that holds your dashboard, then select the specific dashboard you want to embed.
4. Select Save.

Give it a moment on first load while the data renders. After that, you'll have a live Power BI dashboard sitting inside Dynamics 365, and clicking into it opens the full interactive Power BI report in a pop-up window, complete with drill-throughs and every tab your dashboard's underlying report contains.

Bonus: Add Individual Power BI Tiles

If you don't want to hand over an entire dashboard tab to Power BI, you can mix individual Power BI tiles into a personal dashboard alongside native Dynamics 365 charts and lists. Go to Dashboards, open or create a personal dashboard, select an empty area, and choose Power BI Tile from the toolbar. Pick the workspace and the specific tile, and repeat for as many tiles as you want. This is a good middle ground when you want one or two Power BI visuals next to your regular pipeline views, rather than a full dashboard swap.

One thing worth knowing before you share either a dashboard or a tile with your team: sharing requires matching access in both Dataverse and Power BI. The person you're sharing with needs the same level of access in both systems, or they'll hit a permissions wall even though the dashboard shows up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I customize a Power BI dashboard to show my own KPIs instead of the default template?

Yes. The Microsoft template apps are a starting point, not a fixed layout. Once a report is in the Power BI service, you (or a Power BI Desktop user) can edit visuals, add measures, and rebuild pages around the metrics your team actually tracks.

Is embedding Power BI dashboards in Dynamics 365 still free?

Embedding itself doesn't cost anything extra. What costs money is the underlying Power BI license, and that depends on where your dashboard lives. Content in a workspace that requires Pro means every viewer needs a Pro license, a Premium Per User license, or access through a shared Fabric/Premium capacity. Check the workspace requirement before you tell your team it's free.

How is data security handled between Dynamics 365 and Power BI?

Power BI respects the access controls already in place in Dataverse and Microsoft Entra ID. Embedding uses the signed-in user's own authentication token, so a user only sees what they'd already be allowed to see, and an admin can disable embedding tenant-wide at any time if needed.

Why isn't my embedded dashboard loading?

The most common culprits: third-party cookies are blocked in the browser, the embedding setting got turned off, or the viewer doesn't have a Power BI license that covers the workspace the dashboard lives in. Work through those three before assuming something's broken.

Get Help Setting This Up

Embedding a single dashboard is a quick project. Building out governed, licensed, org-wide Power BI reporting across Dynamics 365 is a bigger one, and it's easy to underestimate the licensing and data modeling work once you're past the first dashboard.