Super easy start with reporting and the Intune Data Warehouse

This week is all about creating awareness for the reporting capabilities of Microsoft Intune. An often heard request. An introduction to the recently introduced Intune Data Warehouse and how easy it can be used to build reports that provide insight into the Intune environment. The Intune Data Warehouse provides access to more information about the Intune environment than the Azure portal. With the Intune Data Warehouse it’s possible to access historical Intune data, data refreshed on a daily cadence and a data model using the OData standard. In this blog post I’ll show how to easily connect to the Intune Data Warehouse, using two different methods, and I’ll end this post with the end result after connecting.

Requirements

Before starting with creating the connection to the Intune Data Warehouse, it’s important to be aware of the authentication and authorization requirements. This is all based on Azure AD credentials and Intune role-based access control (RBAC). By default, all global administrators and Intune service administrators, of the tenant, have access to the Intune Data warehouse. When adding custom Intune roles, the user can get access by providing the Intune Data Warehouse > Read permission to the role.

Besides the mentioned permissions, a Microsoft Intune license must be assigned to each user that is accessing the Intune Data Warehouse.

Connection

Let’s start with making a connection with the Intune Data Warehouse. This can be done by simply using an OData URL to connect to the RESTful endpoint in the Intune Data Warehouse API or by using a Power BI file that contains the connection information. With both methods I’ll use Power BI Desktop, which is available for download here: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/desktop/

Method 1: Load data using OData URL

The first method is loading data by using the OData URL. With a user authenticated to Azure AD, the OData URL connects to the RESTful endpoint in the Intune Data Warehouse API that exposes the data model to, in my case, Power BI Desktop. The following 7 steps walk through creating the connection and loading the selected information from the Intune Data Warehouse.

1 Open the Azure portal and navigate to Intune;
2 On the dashboard click Set up Intune Data Warehouse below Other tasks to open the Intune Data Warehouse blade;
3 IDW_Setup_Method1On the Intune Data Warehouse blade, select Copy behind the custom feed URL;
4 Now open Power BI Desktop;
5 On the Home tab, select Get Data > OData feed;
6 PB_ODataSelect Basic, paste the custom feed URL and click OK;
7 PB_NavigatorIn the Navigator select the required tables and click Load;

Note: When signed in with the correct permissions this will start loading the information of the tenant from the Intune Data Warehouse.

Method 2: Load data and reports using Power BI file (pbix)

The second method is loading data and prebuilt reports using a downloaded Power BI file (pbix). That file contains the connection information for the tenant and contains a set of prebuilt reports based on the Intune Data Warehouse data model. The following 6 steps walk through downloading the pbix file and opening the prebuilt reports.

1 Open the Azure portal and navigate to Intune;
2 On the dashboard click Set up Intune Data Warehouse below Other tasks to open the Intune Data Warehouse blade;
3 IDW_Setup_Method2On the Intune Data Warehouse blade, click Download Power BI file and save the pbix file;
4 Now open Power BI Desktop;
5 On the File menu, select Open;
6 PB_OpenIn the Open dialog box, select the pbix file and click Open;

Note: When signed in with the correct permissions this will start loading the information of the tenant from the Intune Data Warehouse and built the reports.

Result

Now let’s end this post by having a quick look at the result of the 2 connection methods.

Method 1: Load data using OData URL

The result of the first method, of loading data by using the OData URL, is fairly basic. Below is an  example of the empty framework that will be available when connecting with the Intune Data warehouse.

PB_ReportStart

This example shows that, with number 1, the reports/dashboards can be created and that, with number 2, the user can switch between the reports, the data/tables and the relationships between the tables. This enables users that are familiar with Power BI Desktop to easily create reports/dashboards.

Method 2: Load data and reports using Power BI file (pbix)

The result of the second method, of loading data and prebuilt reports, is pretty nice. Let’s have a look at an example of the prebuilt reports below. It will show that this is an very easy method to start with reporting and the Intune Data Warehouse.

PB_Reports

This example shows that the pbix file contains connection settings for the tenant, and, with number 1, that it contains the following sample reports and dashboards:

  • Devices
  • Enrollment
  • App protection policy
  • Compliance policy
  • Device configuration profiles
  • Software updates
  • Device inventory logs

With number 2, the user can switch between the prebuilt reports, the data/tables and the relationships between the tables. This is standard information, but very useful for creating custom reports.

Note: Keep in mind that the Intune Data Warehouse data model isn’t complete yet. More information will be made available through this data model. Updates and changes are logged here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/reports-changelog

More information

For more information about reporting and the Intune Data Warehouse, please refer to the following articles:

4 thoughts on “Super easy start with reporting and the Intune Data Warehouse”

  1. I want to create a CSV with hardware details of all Intune managed devices (similar to what yo get in the classic silverlight portal).
    Is the Intune Data Warehouse the way to do it or should I be looking into PowerShell with Microsoft Graph to export a CSV?

    Reply

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