The Challenge
What Was Holding the Business Back?
Portal users lost completed report output whenever the embedded report session expired while longer jobs were running.
Session Timeouts
Embedded reports expired after ten minutes idle and discarded generated output.
Lost Output
Users returning after a long run found the files gone and had to start over.
Fixed Limits
The timeout was fixed in the platform, with no setting available to extend it
Repeated Rework
Rerunning long report jobs consumed hours and delayed dependent business tasks.
Objective
What We Set Out to Achieve
Enable portal users to generate paginated reports reliably without depending on an active browser session. The solution needed to run report generation on the server, capture inputs within the portal, and deliver completed files that remain available after the user steps away, using existing platform capabilities without additional licensing.
Our Approach & Solution
How We Delivered Results
Report generation moved from the live browser session to the server, orchestrated by the portal backend using the Power BI REST API.
01
Secure Authentication
The portal backend authenticates with the Power BI service to obtain a short-lived access token, allowing report generation to run without any signed in user session.
02
Server Side Export
Parameters captured in the portal form are passed to the export API, which queues report generation on the server and returns a job identifier for tracking.
03
Automated Delivery
The backend monitors the export job until it completes, removing the need for users to stay on the report screen while longer jobs finish processing.
Results & Impact
The Outcome
Report generation became reliable and fully independent of user session activity in the portal.
0
Session Timeout Failures
100%
Report Completion Rate
Conclusion
The Bigger Picture
By moving report generation from the browser session to the server through the Power BI REST API, the solution removed a platform limitation that could not be configured away. Users now submit inputs in the portal, continue with other work, and return to find completed reports waiting. The approach required no additional licensing or external automation platform, relying only on capabilities already available within the existing environment.