Safeguarding FP&A Data: A Guide for Power BI Users

Summary

In this edition, we will be covering the following items:

1. The importance of auditing your data security measures

2. Understanding how to implement robust security with Power BI

Why You Need to Audit Your Reporting Security

FP&A teams work with a lot of sensitive data. These can range from budgets containing the company’s plans and strategic objectives to non-public financial figures. If you want to modernize your reporting and analytics infrastructure, you can’t ignore the impact of good data governance and security:

1. Increased Trust (and Adoption): When your stakeholders know that the data is secure, accurate, and well-governed, you can increase trust in (and adoption of) your reporting tools. Knowing that the security infrastructure is in place allows your business partners to invest more into the Power BI ecosystem.

2. Reduced Risk: Making the investment in establishing good security practices also reduces risk for your team and the organization as a whole. Sensitive data can be a liability, if not well-protected. Your team can use Power BI’s native security measures as an asset, centralizing access and security around confidential information.

3. Compliance & Governance: Your organization may have strict legal requirements to prevent the loss of sensitive non-public information. Having strong security measures in place will help protect you from legal and reputational risk.

Keeping Safe: Understanding the Layers of Security in Power BI

Luckily, Power BI comes with a suite of robust, easy-to-use security measures that your team can use to protect data. These tools allow you to enforce controls without creating complex internal overhead and red tape:

1. Row-Level Security: At the lowest level, Power BI allows you to assign users to roles (Treasury Analyst, Department Head) and then manage access to underlying data accordingly. This configurable security feature allows you to limit users’ data access dynamically (by business unit, department, etc.).

2. Workspace-Level Security: Your team can also grant (or deny) access to the workspaces where dashboards are published. Granting different levels of access (viewer, editor, etc.) allows you more granular control for each user. Users can be assigned to roles with pre-defined access patterns.

3. Data Source Security: Your team can further protect the underlying data within reports by requiring credentials and authentication t access datasets. Protecting data “at rest” is an important feature of a well-constructed security ecosystem.

4. Data Sensitivity Labels: Using Microsoft Information Protection, you can apply sensitivity labels to datasets, which can then be used govern the level of security applied to a given dataset. This allows you to avoid restrictive “one-size-fits-all” policies, while still protecting your data.

Security & Flexibility: Final Thoughts on Power BI Security Measures for FP&A Teams

Data security can be adaunting topic for your team to tackle. Done correctly, Power BI has the built-in infrastructure to simplify the workload and create repeatable “access patterns” for your organization to use. To make it work, your organization has to invest the time to define the security measures they want in place and where they need to be applied. Successfully implementing robust security is a major milestone in your finance transformation that unlocks the ability to “upgrade” the rest of your reporting and analytics infrastructure confidently. Here’s how to get started:

1. Assess User Requirements and Data Sensitivity

   1. Identify Stakeholders and User Groups: Map out who will need access to reports and data (e.g., executives, analysts, managers, etc.).

   2. Understand Data Sensitivity: Classify datasets based on their confidentiality (e.g., financial results, forecasts, PII) and decide who needs access to which dataset.

   3. Determine Data Access Needs: Ask each user group what data they require to make informed decisions.

2. Map User Access to Specific Reports and Dashboards

   1. Determine Report Usage: Identify which reports and dashboards each user group will need to interact with regularly.

   2. Segment Reports by Function: Classify reports by department (e.g., finance, HR, operations) or business function to ensure alignment between users and the specific information they need.

3. Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

   1. Create Roles Based on Job Functions: Group users into predefined roles that align with their job responsibilities (e.g., finance analyst, department manager).

   2. Define Access Permissions: Assign users the minimum access required for their roles (following the principle of least privilege).

   3. Control Data Visibility: Use row-level security (RLS) to ensure users only see the data they are authorized to access.

4. Determine Security “Layers” for Each Level of Access

   1. Workspace-Level Security: Define which users should have access to specific workspaces (e.g., read-only for analysts, full control for administrators).

   2. Report-Level Security: Ensure only authorized users can view, share, or export sensitive reports.

   3. Dataset-Level security: Implement RLS to manage access to sensitive data rows and prevent overexposure of data to unauthorized users.

   4. Apply Additional Protection Measures: Depending on your organization, consider other security features like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), encryption, and audit logging.

5. Test and Fine-Tune Security Gradually

   1. Pilot the Security Setup: Roll out security measures to a small group first, testing access permissions, role assignments, and data visibility.

   2. Adjust Security Based on Feedback: Evaluate whether any group feels overly restricted or if sensitive data is unintentionally accessible.

   3. Review and Revise Regularly: As team structures, data needs, and projects evolve, reassess security settings to ensure they remain effective without being overly restrictive.

In the Next Newsletter

We will learn about frameworks to manage your team’s finance transformation roadmap.