Skip to McMaster Navigation Skip to Site Navigation Skip to main content
McMaster logo

Getting Started with Power BI

Expandable List

Are There Any Costs?

  • The desktop version of Power BI is provided at no cost and available to all staff, students and faculty.
  • There are costs associated with Power BI Pro licensing. Please submit a ticket to the UTS Service Desk to request access.

How Do I Get It?

  • Power BI Desktop is the application that runs on a Windows computer, mainly to design and publish reports. It is available at no cost and available to all staff, students and faculty. This version will allow a user to create reports for personal use or to export for others.
  • Power BI Pro is the licence distributed at the University. Utilizing a Pro licence will allow content creators the ability to publish and share dashboards and reports with other Pro users.
    • This license is required if:
      • A user needs to create a dashboard to share with others.
      • A user needs to view a shared dashboard.
  • Power BI Premium is the enterprise subscription managed and administrated by the University. Utilizing the Premium subscription on one of your workspaces will allow content creators the ability to share dashboards and reports with other users without the requirement of everyone needing a Pro license.
    • This subscription is required if:
      • A report or dashboard will be shared with multiple people who are not publishing content as well.