In a recent Pragmatic Works training video, Angelica Choo Quan, a trainer at Pragmatic Works, explored a vital concept for Power BI users: endorsement of content. Endorsement in Power BI increases the visibility of datasets, reports, dataflows, and apps, making it easier for colleagues to identify reliable and trustworthy content. Angelica walked through the endorsement process, the available options, and the significance of promoting versus certifying Power BI content.
In organizations with a growing number of shared datasets, the Power BI service can quickly become saturated. Users may face hundreds of datasets—often with similar names and multiple versions—making it difficult to locate the right one. Endorsement helps solve this by providing clear visibility to content that has been reviewed, prepared, and validated for reporting purposes.
Angelica highlighted that endorsement is not limited to datasets alone. Within Power BI, the following content types can be endorsed:
For simplicity, the video focused primarily on datasets, since they form the foundation for building reliable reports and dashboards.
Before endorsing content, users must have the feature enabled by their Power BI tenant administrator. If endorsement options appear grayed out, it means permission has not been granted. Angelica advised contacting the administrator to request access, particularly for individuals who are responsible for managing and validating organizational data.
Angelica described three possible states for datasets in Power BI:
Promotion signals that a dataset is prepared and available for general use. For example, a dataset owner who has carefully cleaned and structured the data model can endorse it as Promoted so colleagues can confidently connect to it when building reports. While this provides visibility, it still allows for multiple promoted datasets to exist within the same environment.
Certification represents the highest level of endorsement. Unlike promotion, this designation should only be available to individuals with deep knowledge of the dataset, such as data stewards or senior BI professionals. A Certified dataset communicates to the organization that the content has been thoroughly vetted, meets all necessary criteria, and is safe to use for enterprise-wide reporting.
Angelica emphasized that certification should not be open to everyone. Restricting this capability ensures only the most reliable, performance-optimized datasets are marked as certified, thereby preventing confusion and maintaining consistency in organizational reporting.
Once endorsement has been applied, Power BI clearly separates datasets in the workspace and the data hub. Certified datasets are displayed above promoted ones, which in turn appear above those with no endorsement. This ranking makes it easier for users to identify trustworthy content quickly.
Additionally, organizations can choose to feature endorsed datasets on user homepages. This ensures the most important and reliable content is placed “front and center,” enhancing discoverability and reducing time spent searching through multiple datasets.
Endorsement in Power BI is a powerful way to guide colleagues toward the most reliable datasets, reports, and apps. By promoting content, dataset owners can mark their work as ready for use. By certifying content, organizations can ensure that the most trusted and authoritative datasets receive top visibility. Angelica Choo Quan’s walkthrough provides a clear path for organizations to use endorsements effectively, ensuring data is both discoverable and dependable across the enterprise.
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