Background
So I am still a bit new to Prophix, but have been a data analyst and scientist since before I got my degree, so I’ve created a lot of dashboards across many systems. Often, I’ve found, the biggest limitation to adopting the use of such dashboards is the number of steps to get to them and/or the disparate locations of information. e.g. CRM data is shown in the CRM system. General reports end up in Power BI, Tableau, or other BI tools where preferred dashboards have to be searched each time you log in. Even more custom reports are still managed in Excel where the most recent version has to trickle its way through an organization.
Prophix, however, takes a novel approach that I am coming to believe may resolve a lot of this issue. You’re dashboard IS your home screen (at least the most important dashboard)! Not only that, but this dashboard can embed iframes as well. I saw this as an opportunity. What if our Prophix users could access their most relevant information from Prophix and Power BI in one place as soon as they logged in to Prophix?
Note: Putting Prophix data and Power BI together in one place is not new, since Prophix data can be exported to Power BI dashboards, but that still requires opening Power BI just for that dashboard (and little organizational control over which dashboards are the first ones seen by each user). Not a huge issue, but still worth looking into if an easy alternative for certain uses can be integrated into someone’s regular work activities. (i.e. If they use Prophix anyway, why add a stop?)
The Good
Power BI already assumes that you will embed reports in other applications, and so each dashboard includes an embed-able link for iframes that can be obtained by following the steps outlined by Microsoft in the following documentation page: Embed a report in a secure portal or website - Power BI | Microsoft Docs. The link can then be added to an iframe element of a Prophix dashboard right next to your Prophix charts, favorites, and other information. Perfect!
…Right?
The Bad
Ever heard of the “No Free Lunch” theorem? Well the same principle seems to apply here. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. If you want to use a secure embed link (which is pretty much everyone’s company standard), then the embedded report will initially appear with a blank page with a sign-in button.
Fine, just sign-in, right? That’s normal. Well, clicking the button will, unfortunately, do nothing. Why? I did some digging (not much, just reading the docs page listed earlier, testing embedding my Power BI reports elsewhere, and using the “launch” function from the Prophix dashboard tile), and I realized the issue. Power BI’s sign-in button opens a new tab to enter credentials or apply SSO credentials. The way iframe tiles in Prophix work, there’s nowhere for that new tab to open, because the iframe is contained within something like a virtual browser, not just the browser where Prophix is running. This means that, to sign in to Power BI, you need to sign in to Power BI online in the same browser but a different tab/window (either by using the “launch” option or going directly to Power BI online) before refreshing the Prophix dashboard iframe tile to see the report. Shoot! We still ended up going to multiple locations to get the data! Granted, the “launch” option is still a smoother option than we had before, but not what we hoped.
The Ugly?
Is this the end? As good as it gets? I still see this as worthwhile as-is, but it would be nice to allow links to open tabs outside the iframe for uses such as this. It would just be more intuitive so we don’t have to remind users to “launch” the window in order to show data side-by-side. I guess we’ll have to see if either Power BI or Prophix implement any changes that would augment this already pretty-sweet Prophix feature.
Until then, I hope you found any of this interesting. If anyone knows something I don’t about how to improve on this dashboard use, please share! Thanks!