In the energy services market, transparency on consumption and access to analytical data have become fundamental differentiating factors. When an innovative company in the sector approached us, the goal was clear: to develop a platform to share Power BI reports in a secure and personalized way with its business customers.
Our customer, a dynamic company in the energy services sector, needed to share with your customers i Power BI report internally generated. These reports contained valuable data on energy consumption, but there was a lack of a secure mechanism to share them, ensuring that each customer only saw their own data.
Power BI Embedded represents a revolution in the way in which companies can share insights and analytics with their customers. It's not just a matter of exporting reports to PDF or sharing screenshots: it's the complete integration of Power BI's analytical power into custom applications.
In the context of energy services, where consumption data is sensitive and strategic, Power BI Embedded has allowed us to implement a Row-Level Security (RLS) system dynamic that automatically filters data based on the user's identity. Each customer, logging in with their credentials, sees only their energy consumption, their trends, their savings opportunities. Everything happens in a completely transparent way: same report, same structure, but completely segregated data.
The real power of Power BI Embedded emerges in managing massive datasets typical of the energy sector. We are talking about millions of readings, thousands of points of consumption, years of history. The service natively manages the optimization of queries, the intelligent caching of the most requested data, and the incremental refresh that keeps the reports always updated without affecting performance. Customers can apply filters, drill down into details, export subsets of data, all in real-time and with sub-second response times even with gigabytes of datasets.
Some reports take advantage of PowerBI's real time integration to provide users with real-time data. An example case is that of the occupancy of parking spaces, where in real time the user can see which parking lots are free and know exactly what they are.
We also have monitoring on cameras placed in the city, to know how many vehicles have passed and, for example, at what speed they passed, with data such as the license plate or the color of the car, for security and city management purposes.
The implementation of Azure B2C and B2B Active Directory in a single solution, it represents an advanced architectural pattern that elegantly solves the challenge of authentication in complex scenarios.
Azure B2C manages the identity of external customers with a level of customization that goes far beyond simple login. We have configured personalized user journeys that allow staff to manage the reports that can be viewed for each individual user, allowing a personalized and dynamic use. We have developed a configuration portal dedicated to the management of external users, so as to allow the customer's business staff to manage and monitor, in a simple and intuitive way, access to the platform for external users. A customer of a company can never, under any circumstances, access the data of another.
In parallel, Azure B2B allows internal users to log in with business credentials through your Azure AD tenant. This means full single sign-on, conditional access based on location and device, and native integration with corporate security policies. Administrators can invite external partners as guest users, granularly controlling what they can see and do.
The real innovation lies in the orchestration of these two systems with Power BI Embedded. We have implemented a token service that dynamically generates embed tokens for Power BI based on the user's identity, whether B2C or B2B. This allows you to apply different RLS, different capabilities, even completely different reports, all based on the type and identity of the user.
We have developed a web portal Dedicated that integrates Power BI Embedded with this sophisticated multi-tenant authentication system.
The architecture manages two completely different types of users. External customers access the portal through Azure B2C credentials, viewing only their energy data. Instead, internal users use Azure B2B credentials, with access to aggregated views to monitor the entire customer portfolio.
The implementation presented significant challenges that we faced with innovative solutions. The integration of Azure B2C for the management of external customers required particular attention in the configuration of authentication flows. The integration of Power BI Embedded was just as complex, requiring the implementation of security mechanisms to ensure the correct segregation of data.
The solution was created with:
This technology combination ensures enterprise security and a first-class user experience.
The implementation of the portal has transformed the way in which the company interacts with its business customers. The main result was the sharing of dedicated energy data for each customer, who now have 24/7 access to their consumption data through interactive and personalized dashboards. The transparency offered by the portal has become a strong differentiating element in the market, strengthening the relationship with customers and positioning the company as a strategic partner for energy optimization.
The Modern Apps team responds swiftly to IT needs where software development is the core component, including solutions that integrate artificial intelligence. The technical staff is trained specifically in delivering software projects based on Microsoft technology stacks and has expertise in managing both agile and long-term projects.
