Question

How can I implement approvals and validations in the Power BI deployment pipeline?
To maintain data governance and quality assurance, I want to incorporate validation checks and approval workflows before promoting reports or datasets through different pipeline stages (e.g., from test to production). What methods are available in Power BI for implementing these approvals and validations?

Answer 1

Techniques for Putting Approvals and Validations into Practice: Power Automate (Suggested)

• When a deployment request is made, a trigger flows.
• Include approval procedures (e.g., via Teams or email).
• Promotion should only be permitted following approval.
• Integration of Azure DevOps
• Prior to deployment, use pipelines with approval gates.
• As part of CI/CD, automated testing (DAX checks, schema validation, etc.).

Process of Manual Governance

• Use Teams, Excel, or SharePoint to keep track of a checklist or review procedure.
• To manage who can deploy to production, use role-based access.
• Dashboard + Custom Logging
• Use Power Automate or DevOps logs to monitor validation status and approvals in a Power BI dashboard.

Recommended Practices: Clearly define validation criteria (visual QA, DAX checks, and data freshness).

Limit deployment rights in order to uphold the approval procedure.

Approvals should be documented for auditing purposes.