Frequently Asked Questions

General

What are Nova Silva Visuals for Power BI?

At Nova Silva, we recognise the great potential of Power BI for bridging the gap between information and decisions. However, our experience in Effective Data Visualization triggered the need for additional visuals in Power BI. This resulted in developing custom visuals to enhance Power BI’s visualisation capabilities. We strongly believe that the end user experience with our visuals should be the same as with a standard Power BI visual. Furthermore, we want to make maximum use of all existing Power BI capabilities, so we develop all our visuals to be certified by the Microsoft PowerBI team.

What are Microsoft Certified Power BI visuals?

Certified Power BI visuals are Power BI visuals in AppSource that meet the Microsoft Power BI team code requirements. These visuals are tested to verify that they don’t access external services or resources, and that they follow secure coding patterns and guidelines. You can recognise these visuals by their blue checkmark. At Nova Silva all developed visuals are based on these requirements, so our visuals are either Certified or in the process of getting certified.

Where can I give feedback or share ideas about the visuals?

Feedback can be shared in the Community forums, which we monitor actively. Otherwise, feel free to send us an email to info@novasilva.com.

How can I try out the visuals?

You can find our visuals in the Microsoft Appsource by searching for “Nova Silva”, or follow this link: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-gb/marketplace/apps?search=Nova%20Silva. You can try all features without a paid license. When you start using our visuals in production or when sharing with others you require a license.

Licensing

What is a PER USER license?

The PER USER license is the license model of Microsoft and can be purchased directly through the AppSource.
From the AppSource you can purchase a visual for a single month or a whole year. You can select automatic renewal, purchase licenses on behalf of other users and (re)assign each license to a user or group of users.
Plans + Pricing can be found in the Microsoft Appsource by searching for “Nova Silva”, or follow this link: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-gb/marketplace/apps?search=Nova%20Silva.
After you purchase a license, you can assign each license to a user or group of users in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

What is a User?

A User is anyone who creates (Creator) or views (Viewer) a visual.
A Creator is a user who creates reports containing the visual and a Viewer is a user who only consumes the end-result.

Can a PER USER license be used in all environments?

No. Microsoft does not support PER USER licenses in the following environments:
• Embedded – Publish To Web, PaaS embed
• National clouds (Depends on general support for transactability in national clouds)
• Power BI Reporting Server (on-premises)
• Exporting (PDF\PPT) using REST API
For these environments you need a PREMIUM license.

How do we assign PER USER licenses?

Go to admin.microsoft.com and select the License link under the Billing node from the menu. A list of visuals will appear.

Once I assign a PER USER license, how long does it take until I can use it?

After you are assigned a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center, it should be available within an hour.
If you’re using the licensed visual in the Power BI Service, refresh the report by hitting F5.
If you’re using the licensed visual in the Power BI Desktop, close and reopen it.
If, after you refresh, the license is still not available, wait a while and try again. It could take up to two hours.

What is Power BI Premium?

Please check here for more information on PowerBI Premium: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/admin/service-premium-what-is

How do I purchase visual licenses for Power BI Premium?

Customers running a Power BI Premium Capacity P1 – P3, Power BI Embedded Node A1 – A2 or Power BI Report Server (on premises) are required to buy a PREMIUM license for these environments in the Shop. These licenses include unlimited number of users.

In case you are running a Power BI Premium Capacity P4 or higher or an Embedded Node A3 or higher and are interested in one or more of our visuals, please contact us.

What is a PREMIUM license?

The PREMIUM license can be purchased from our Shop and allows you to purchase a license for unlimited number of users for a specific Power BI Capacity.
These can be found in the Power BI Premium options from our website.

How long is the PREMIUM license valid?

The PREMIUM license can be valid for 12, 24 or 36 months. Once the license expires, it has to be renewed if you want to continue using the visual.

How will I receive my PREMIUM license(s)?

If you purchased a PREMIUM license through our Shop, after payment, you will receive an email containing the requested licenses within 1 working day.
You can also access your licenses at your Account page at: https://visuals.novasilva.com/my-account/orders/

How do I apply my PREMIUM license key?

Our visuals contain a category called License in the Format visual pane. Here, you can enter your License Name and License Key to remove any watermarks.
Make sure to add the complete license information, otherwise the license will not work.

Can I share license keys with my colleagues?

The PER USER license does not have license keys but each and every User needs to be licensed. Any User who wants to use the visual should be assigned a license.
The PREMIUM license includes unlimited number of users.
Please refer to our End User License Agreement for more information on this.

How can I get an Enterprise license?

Please contact us in case you are interested in an Enterprise license.

How long can I use a visual with a free license?

There is no limit to the amount of time you can use visuals with a free license. However 21 days after installing the visual an UNLICENSED watermark will show up in the Power BI Desktop and PBI Service.

What can I use visuals with free license for?

You can try all our visuals without a license. This makes it perfect to see if the visuals are suited for your needs. You can use visuals with a free license for as long as you’d like, but you can only do so in a development/ testing environment.
When using the visuals in a production environment, make sure to purchase a valid license through the Microsoft AppSource or our Shop.

Are the prices shown in the shop including VAT?

No, prices shown are not including Value Added Tax (VAT). The VAT will only be added in case you are purchasing from a company located in the European Union.

Support

Will there be future updates on the visuals?

Nova Silva is constantly developing on the existing and new visuals, based on the ideas we have and feedback we receive from our user base. The updates will be applied automatically once they become available in the AppSource or My organization.

How will I receive my license(s)?

If you purchased a PER USER license through the Microsoft AppSource, assign each license in the Microsoft 365 admin center, it should be available within two hours.
If you purchased a PREMIUM license through our Shop, after payment, you will receive an email containing the requested licenses within 1 working day.
You can also access your PREMIUM licenses in your Account page at: https://visuals.novasilva.com/my-account/orders/

How do I apply my license keys?

PER USER licenses purchased through the Microsoft AppSource do not have a License Name or License Key. These licenses need to be assigned through admin.microsoft.com

PREMIUM licenses purchase through our Shop, need license key(s). All our visuals contain a category called License in the Format visual pane. Here, you can enter your License Name and License Key to remove any watermarks. Make sure to add the complete license information, otherwise the license will not work.

How can I figure out how to … with my visual ?

Check out the in-depth tutorials in the Knowledge Base, post your question on the Community forum or send us an email.

Do you collect any usage telemetry from the visuals

No. Our visuals do not share any data with any external service.