Getting Started with BiMA·gov

Ship your first governed Power BI change request in under 10 minutes.

BiMA·gov turns a JIRA (or Linear, or ServiceNow) ticket into a validated, rollback-safe semantic-model change. This guide takes you from a fresh install to an applied CR, against the bundled demo model.

1. Install

Download the installer from your welcome email or from the dashboard, and run bima-setup-<version>.exe. The installer puts bima.exe under %LOCALAPPDATA%\BiMA·gov, registers a .pbip file association, and copies the bundled demo model to %LOCALAPPDATA%\BiMA·gov\demo. No admin rights required.

If you're on a Mac or Linux for now, grab the Docker image instead — instructions at the end of this guide.

2. Activate your license

Launch BiMA·gov (Start Menu → BiMA·gov). It opens a browser tab at http://localhost:8000.

Paste the license key from your welcome email into the Activate form. BiMA·gov exchanges it for a short-lived session token and lands you in the app.

Free tier? Skip to step 4 — the demo model works without activation.

3. Point BiMA·gov at your model

On first launch BiMA·gov opens the bundled BimaDemo.SemanticModel. When you're ready to work on your own repo:

Click Settings → Model path and paste the absolute path to your .pbip.
BiMA·gov reads the TMDL side of the PBIP project only. It never touches your .Report folder.

4. Connect your ticketing system (optional)

BiMA·gov works without a ticketing connector. But for inbound automation (tickets → CRs) and outbound updates (CR ready → comment back), wire up JIRA:

Settings → Integrations → JIRA
Paste your Atlassian domain and an API token.
Test the connection — you should see recent issues from your JQL.

5. Generate your first CR on the demo

In the app's main view:

Leave Ticket ID blank.
Summary: Add % Gross Margin by Category
Description: Marketing wants margin rate per product category, ignoring other filters on the product dim.

Click Generate CR. BiMA·gov classifies the intent, picks a table, synthesizes DAX, and attaches a validation plan.

6. Apply the CR to the demo model

The result card shows the proposed DAX, auto-checks, and manual checks. Click Download JSON to save the CR spec, or move to step 7.

7. Review the before/after diff

Click View model diff on the result card. Green lines are additions, red lines are removals. Scroll through, then hit Apply this patch (paid tiers) or Cancel.

8. Publish (Autopilot tier only)

Autopilot tier automates publish via Tabular Editor 2:

Settings → Publishing → Backend: te2
Point at TabularEditor.exe.
Paste your workspace XMLA endpoint.
Click Publish on the CR result.

Lower tiers hit the free-tier path: BiMA·gov opens your .pbip in Power BI Desktop for a manual File → Publish click.

9. Roll back if needed

Every applied CR writes its prior state to outputs/latest/rollback/. Open History, pick the CR, click Rollback. Free on every tier.

10. Next steps

Wire your ticket queue — let BiMA·gov auto-draft CRs from labeled tickets.
Set governance policy — config/governance.json controls forbidden DAX, fiscal calendar, naming.
Invite your team — Team tier includes 5 seats.
Turn on drift detection — Pro+ tiers alert when Service diverges from PBIP.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
bima.exe won't launch	Check Event Viewer. Usually missing VC++ runtime.
Activation hangs	Verify `license.bimagov.com` is reachable.
CR has no DAX	Ambiguous ticket — read the clarifications and rewrite.
Diff view empty	Model path not set — Settings → Model path.
Publish fails	See `outputs/latest/publish.log`. Often an expired XMLA token.

Questions? Hit the Help button in the app topbar to chat live, or email [email protected].