Power BI usage metrics record that a report was opened, not what happened next.

You opened the usage metrics report to answer a reasonable question: is this dashboard working? You got view counts and viewer names.

View counts and viewer names tell you the report was opened. They do not tell you whether anyone used it. A user who opens a dashboard every morning, glances at it for five seconds, and moves on looks identical to one who filters, drills, and makes a decision.

Why Power BI usage metrics stop at the open

In Power BI usage metrics you see who opened what, and that part works well. You get view counts, viewer names, and a limited window of history.

The things that separate a working report from an ignored one all happen after the page loads: which visual someone clicked, what they filtered to, whether they drilled through, how long they stayed. Power BI counts the page view and stops there, so none of that behavior appears in usage metrics. Power BI also leaves out the reports you embed in your own application and the reports you publish to web. The one embedding Microsoft does count is a report embedded in SharePoint Online. With only the page view counted, you still cannot say whether a report is working.

Source: Microsoft: monitor report usage metrics

What the Pixies record once someone is inside the report

BI Pixie adds Pixies, invisible tracking pixels native to Power BI, and captures what people do after the page loads. It runs alongside Power BI usage metrics rather than replacing them.

A visual clicks heatmap over a Power BI report page, shading each visual by how often people clicked it, with several visuals showing no clicks at all
Every click on every visual, shaded by how often. The visuals with no shading are the ones nobody uses.
Every interaction, not just the open
BI Pixie records slicer selections, filter changes, bookmark navigation, drill-through actions, tooltip views, and clicks on hyperlinks, including the hyperlinks and bookmark actions you place on buttons, images, and shapes. Clicks on individual visuals are available too, and you turn that setting on in tracking setup.
What data people selected
BI Pixie can record the values people clicked and filtered to, so you can see which fields and values your report viewers keep coming back to. Tracking data selections is off until you turn it on in tracking setup.
Active versus passive users
BI Pixie counts a person as engaged once they click, filter, or navigate in a report, and as passive when their sessions hold only views. Session duration sits beside those counts, so you can also see how long each group stays.
Satisfaction alongside behavior
With feedback controls and embedded surveys, you can pair what people did with what they thought.
Anywhere the report runs
The same tracking works in the Power BI service, in the Power BI mobile apps, in Power BI Embedded, and in reports you publish to web.

What it takes to set up

  1. 1 Connect your Power BI workspace and pick the reports you care about.
  2. 2 Add Pixies. The tracking is invisible to the people reading the report.
  3. 3 Let people use them as normal.
  4. 4 Analyze engagement, adoption, and satisfaction in the BI Pixie Dashboard.

Worth knowing: Adding Pixies needs the Contributor, Member, or Admin role on the workspace, and BI Pixie only lists workspaces where you hold one of those. No personal data is collected by default. If you want to analyze behavior per person, you turn on user identity capture in tracking setup, and tracking the values people select in slicers and visuals is a separate setting that is also off until you turn it on.

Related reading

Other use cases

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