One the of the main value propositions of Power BI is the ability for users to access relevant analytical content in a context that's best suited to their needs. For example, many read-only users may log into the Power BI service to view dashboards or reports contained within Power BI apps specific to their role or department. Other users, however, may only receive snapshot images of reports and dashboards via Email Subscriptions or respond to data alert notifications on their mobile device. In other scenarios, certain users may analyze a dataset hosted in Power BI from an Excel workbook while other users could observe a Power BI report embedded within a team SharePoint site. 

Organizations can choose to distribute or expose their Power BI content hosted in the Power BI service in one or a combination of methods. The following table summarizes 11 methods of content distribution and data access: 

The most common corporate BI distribution methods for supporting large numbers of users are Power BI apps and embedding Power BI content into custom applications, that is, embed in custom applications. Several other methods, however, are useful for small-scale and self-service scenarios, such as Analyze in Excel as well as supplements to larger Power BI solutions. Additionally, email subscriptions, data alerts, and embedding options can serve to streamline the analysis process and increase user productivity.

The Power BI mobile application aligns with and supports several of the primary distribution methods including Power BI apps, the sharing of dashboards and reports, and data alerts. Examples of the relationship between the Power BI service, Power BI mobile and other Microsoft applications and services are included in the following sections.