Prepare to run the PowerBI collector

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Set up Azure application registration, authentication, and permissions before running the collector.

    Before you begin

    Role required: admin

    Important:
    A Power BI Administrator is needed to enable settings in the Power BI Admin Portal.

    About this task

    The collector uses Azure application registration and supports two authentication methods: service principal or username and password. You must register an application, configure authentication, enable metadata scanning, and retrieve the tenant ID. Optionally, configure report image harvesting and lineage mapping.

    Procedure

    1. Register an application in Azure and create client credentials.

      See Register Power BI application.

    2. Configure authentication based on your preferred method.
    3. Enable metadata scanning to access detailed data source information.

      See Configure Power BI metadata scanning.

    4. Get the Power BI tenant ID.

      See Get Power BI tenant ID.

    5. Optional: Configure report image harvesting to collect preview images from Power BI reports.

      See Configure Power BI report image harvesting.

    6. Optional: Configure lineage mapping for ODBC connections, server aliases, or custom SQL statements.

      See Configure Power BI lineage mapping .