⚠ Important — Please read before setting up

This integration requires a Microsoft account with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) completely disabled. If MFA is active, the integration will not work.

If these limitations are a concern for your organisation, consider using the Power BI Enterprise integration (OAuth), which supports MFA and is the recommended option for most business environments.

Overview

The Q-Play Power BI integration displays live screenshots of your Power BI reports directly on your signage screens. Q-Play logs into a dedicated Microsoft account, captures a screenshot of your chosen report, and displays it at your chosen refresh interval.

Before You Begin

You will need:

• A Microsoft account with MFA completely disabled.
• We recommend creating a dedicated account solely for Q-Play — do not use a personal or primary work account.
• Access to the Power BI report you want to display, and permission to view it from the dedicated account.

Step 1 — Enter Your Account Credentials

In Q-Play, navigate to the Power BI integration settings and enter:

• Username / Email — the email address of your dedicated Microsoft account.
• Password — the password for that account.

Step 2 — Find and Enter Your Report URL

Open your Power BI report in a browser. The full URL will look something like this:

https://app.powerbi.com/groups/abc123/reports/xyz456/ReportSection

Copy only the part starting from /groups, for example:

/groups/abc123/reports/xyz456/ReportSection

Paste this into the Report URL field in Q-Play.

Step 3 — Configure the Refresh Mode

Choose how often Q-Play should capture a new screenshot. There are two modes:

On-Demand
A new screenshot is taken when the presentation or player needs the latest image — but only if a minimum wait time has passed since the last capture. Set your preferred minimum wait time in the configuration field (e.g. 5 minutes, 30 minutes).

Scheduled
A new screenshot is captured at a fixed interval, regardless of whether the content is currently being shown on screen. Set your preferred interval in the configuration field (e.g. every hour, every 6 hours).

Step 4 — Add the App to Your Presentation

Once the integration is configured, you need to add the Power BI app to your presentation in the Q-Play editor.

In the app's Template Settings panel, you will find a setting called Reload image. This controls how often the app fetches the latest screenshot from the integration.

⚠ Important: Do not leave "Reload image" set to "never". If it is set to "never", the app will display the same screenshot indefinitely and will never show updated report data. Set it to match how often your integration is capturing new screenshots.

If Your Integration Stops Working

Please check the following before contacting support:

1. Has the password changed or expired?
   The dedicated Microsoft account password may have been changed or expired. Update the password in Q-Play to match the current one, or reset it in your Microsoft admin portal.
2. Has MFA been enabled on the account?
   If MFA has been enabled on the dedicated account since setup, the integration will stop working. MFA must remain disabled at all times. Check with your Microsoft administrator.
3. Has the report URL changed?
   If the Power BI report was moved, renamed, or republished, the URL may have changed. Open the report in your browser, copy the updated /groups/... path, and update it in Q-Play.
4. Is "Reload image" set to "never"?
   If the app is not showing updated data, check the Reload image setting in the app's Template Settings. It must not be set to "never".

If none of the above resolves the issue, please contact support.

Troubleshooting

Login fails
Verify that MFA is disabled on the Microsoft account, and that the username and password are correct.

Report not visible
Ensure the dedicated Microsoft account has been granted permission to view the report within your Power BI workspace.

Incorrect URL
Make sure the URL starts with /groups and does not include https://app.powerbi.com.

Report not updating on screen
Check that "Reload image" in the app's Template Settings is not set to "never", and that it matches your integration's refresh interval.

How to Check the Job Logs

If your integration is failing, the job logs are the best place to start. They show exactly where the process broke down, including a screenshot of what the virtual browser saw at the point of failure.

To access the logs:

1. Go to Integrations in Q-Play and open your Power BI integration.
2. Click the Report tab at the top of the page.
   [IMAGE: Screenshot showing the Report tab selected, with the Recent Runs list visible below]
3. Under Recent Runs, click on a failed run.
4. A side panel will open showing:
   • A step-by-step log of what the integration did.
   • A screenshot of what the virtual browser captured at the point of failure.
   • A red error message describing what went wrong.
     

The screenshot is particularly useful — if it shows a login page, an MFA prompt, or anything other than your Power BI report, that gives you a clear indication of where to start fixing the issue.

We recommend checking the logs as a first step whenever the integration stops working.