Peter Speden on 09 Oct 2015 04:09:31
Refresh the hidden model of a database structure on the PowerBI Portal, everytime a dataset is republished.
Recently we encountered an issue where a table and some fields had been removed from a source database. I have a couple of PowerBI datasets which connect to this SQL Database. I do this to make it easy for users to find information and fields if they use the datasets.
I have been told by PowerBI support that when you submit a dataset, a separate background thread creates a model of the database for reference.
The assumption is that you would only have one Dataset referencing the database.
The impact for me was that to get everything working again, I had to delete all datasets, reports and dashboards that referenced that database, and then republish them, reset the credentials, and rebuild all the dashboards. This will be a maintenance nightmare in the future.
It was suggested that we either build one really big model or dont delete anything from the database. Neither is a good option.
I personally would rather be notified which datasets are no longer correct, so I can fix them in PowerBI Desktop, and then republish them. Will save me a huge amount of effort.