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Enable Microsoft 365 usage analytics

To enable Microsoft 365 usage analytics in a Microsoft 365 US Government Community Cloud (GCC) tenant, see Connect to Microsoft 365 Government Community Cloud (GCC) data with Usage Analytics.

Before you begin

To get started with Microsoft 365 usage analytics, you must first make the data available in the Microsoft 365 admin center, then select Reports > Usage and initiate the template app in Power BI.

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You can also expand Products to buy a version of Power BI.

Note

You must have a Power BI Pro license to install, customize, and distribute a template app. For more information, please see Prerequisites.

To share your data, both you and the people who you share the data with need a Power BI Pro license. Or the content needs to be in a workspace in a Power BI premium service.

Enable the template app

To enable the template app, you have to be a Global administrator.

Important

Microsoft recommends that you use roles with the fewest permissions. This helps improve security for your organization. Global Administrator is a highly privileged role that should be limited to emergency scenarios when you can't use an existing role.

For more information, see about admin roles.

  1. In the admin center, go to the Settings > Org Settings page.
  2. Select the Services tab, then select Reports.
  3. In the Reports panel, select the checkbox next to Make report data available to Microsoft 365 usage analytics for Power BI.
  4. Select Save.

The data collection process completes in two to 48 hours depending on the size of your tenant. The Go to Power BI button is enabled (no longer gray) when data collection is complete. Once complete, the app provides historical usage data at your organization level.

Note

The data for the "User Activity" tab is only refreshed after the 15th day of the current month and the first day of the next month, so it will remain empty initially until the first refresh is completed.

Start the template app

To start the template app, you have to be either a report reader, Exchange administrator, Skype for Business administrator, or SharePoint administrator.

  1. Copy the tenant ID and select Go to Power BI.

  2. When you get to Power BI, sign in. Then Select Apps->Get apps from the navigation menu.

  3. In the Apps tab, type Microsoft 365 in the search box and then select Microsoft 365 usage analytics > Get it now.

    Select Get it now.

  4. Once the app is installed, open it by selecting the tile.

  5. Select Explore app to view the app with sample data. Choose Connect to connect the app to your organization’s data.

  6. Choose Connect, on the Connect to Microsoft 365 usage analytics screen, then type in the tenant ID (without dashes) you copied in step (1), and select Next.

  7. On the next screen, select OAuth2 as the Authentication method > Sign in. If you choose any other authentication method, the connection to the template app fails.

    Choose Microsoft account as authentication method.

  8. After the template app is instantiated, the Microsoft 365 usage analytics dashboard is available in Power BI on the web. The initial loading of the dashboard takes between 2 to 30 minutes.

Tenant level aggregates will be available in all reports after opting in. User-level details will only become available around the 5th of the next calendar month after opting in. This impacts all reports under User Activity (See Navigate and utilize the reports in Microsoft 365 usage analytics for tips on how to view and use these reports).

Display user-specific data

Reports provide information about your organization's usage data. By default, usernames and display names in usage reports are anonymous. Global administrators can update the settings to reveal usernames and display names if their organization's privacy practices allow it.

  1. In the admin center, go to the Settings > Org Settings page.
  2. Select the Services tab, then select Reports.
  3. In the Reports panel, to display user data, select the checkbox next to Display Concealed user, group, and site names in all reports.
  4. Select Save.

It takes a few minutes for these changes to take effect. Showing identifiable user information is a logged event in the Microsoft Purview portal audit log.

Related content

About usage analytics (article)
Get the latest version of usage analytics (article)
Navigate and utilize the reports in Microsoft 365 usage analytics (article)