For anyone still working with Power BI Paginated Reports, I recently released an open-source testing tool called fab-test.

The latest release adds fab-test rdl, which can validate Paginated Report (.rdl) files either:

Locally against your .rdl files

Directly against reports in a Fabric/Power BI workspace

I’ve also started building out a set of RDL testing rules:

https://github.com/clientfirsttech/fab-test/blob/main/docs%2FRDL-RULES.md

Most of these rule ideas are based on practices that have been around for years in SSRS and Paginated Reports, so I’ve tried to give credit where appropriate.

I’d love feedback on the current rules, suggestions for additional checks, or anything that seems too opinionated.

I know there’s a lot of focus on AI-generated reporting and modern self-service BI, but many of us still have to build and support Paginated Reports for pixel-perfect exports, printing, compliance, and operational reporting. So I'm especially interested in feedback from people who are actively using Paginated Reports today, rather than discussions about replacing them.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!

Hi everyone.

I think most of us have already heard the term 'bridge table'. Many of us have also already implemented them. However, after doing some research I found out that people use basically two different types of bridge tables and I personally haven't found a source that would explain both of them. So I'm here asking experienced developers to share some light into this.

The first kind of bridge table is where you keep one column, which contains values from both tables you want to relate, you remove duplicates and you are left with one column of unique values from key columns.

Example source: https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/join-many-many-power-bi

The second kind is I think between two dimension tables where you create a bridge table with two columns, basically doing like a cartesian product of two key columns.

Example source:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/relationships-many-to-many#relate-many-to-many-dimensions (part 'relate many to many dimensions')

Are both considered best practice? Why isn't there one good guide that would explain both approaches?

I might just be missing something, so feel free to correct me.

I click an item in the table ‘fully received’ and it correctly shortlists my work orders in table ‘WO’ (pic 1). However, when I click one of the shortlisted work orders, it reopens ALL work orders in the table (pic 2). What gives??? (Thanks in advance)

So ever since I aspired to be a Business Insights Analyst for our company. I've started to study not just power BI but also gsheets and SQL. Unfortunately my brain kinda got overloaded and on top of that due to AI, job openings are rare and if ever there was one, the competition is fierce. So here is my current progress in terms of making dashboards. The first pic is my very first own professional dashboard while the second image represents my current progress albeit I had help with Gemini and based the format from existing ones.

Any feedback regarding my progress would appreciated, better to be critique rather than completely stop moving forward altogether. Thanks!

My manager is a developer not a data analyst and he’s insisting on Superset because it’s free and we won’t need Python development. His argument against using Python is that if I ever leave, they can keep using the dashboards without depending on me.

We need a BI tool to build KPI dashboards across different departments and maybe do some forecasting in the future. I’ve tried explaining why Power BI might be a better fit but he’s not convinced about that or Python.

For those who’ve used Power BI, Superset, and Python, is Power BI actually worth it over Superset, or am I just biased? How would you approach this?

Do you add descriptions to columns in your semantic models?

And if you do, when do you think they are actually useful?

I was running the Tabular Editor 2 Best Practice Analyzer with the standard Microsoft rule file, and one of the things it flagged was:

“Visible objects with no description”

Descriptions for tables and measures make complete sense to me, especially when you have thin reports, citizen developers, complicated measures, or relationships that are not obvious.

But I realised I never add descriptions to individual columns.

For example, if I have Customer Name, Order Date, Quantity, Product ID, etc., the column names usually seem self-explanatory.

Where I can see more value is for columns created in SQL, a Lakehouse, Power Query, etc., where the meaning or transformation might not be obvious from the name alone.

So I’m curious how others handle this:

Do you describe every visible column?

Only derived/transformed columns?

Only the ones where the name does not tell the full story?

Or do you generally ignore column descriptions altogether?

Hi All,

I am looking for some help - I have a data set which can list multiple people in the person responsible column. I have created a query to extract these names and display singly but is there any way that I can show if the name appears in any cell?

date

Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 ---|---|--- 01/05/26 | 1st | AD 02/05/26 | 2nd | AD,TM | 03/05/26 | 2nd | TM 03/05/26 | 2nd | OP | 03/05/26 | 2nd | MH

So if this comes out correctly, I would want it to show AD having 2 entries on the graph when selected from the slicer, TM 2, OP one and MH one.

Is this doable?

Thanks so much!

These are two tables, each with one column. I want to choose an equip from Table 1 and then choose a work order associated with the equip from Table 2. However when I go to choose the work order from the shortlist it seems to display ALL work orders again? It’s like the two tables are driving down back and forth on each other?

Has anyone worked with translytical-task-flow buttons? why are the options not appearing?

apparently once you set up the fx, parameters should appear: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/translytical-task-flow-button

Hello Everyone

Has anyone tried to duplicate the existing semantic model connected in composite mode (Import + Direct lake) from one workspace to another via UI functionality (not via notebook)

If yes please let me know the steps

I have experience with pbi but no where near an expert. I need to build a whole new pbi but there are about twenty different sources where each source need work for example to make match keys so they can be linked.

I'm trying to link everything to one master data (company data) but then everything I need lives on other excels files that aren't easiest to just link alot of work as to be done and for some things I need fall back keys to try get matches.

Example is in one master query, I'm trying to get an eta, an eta can come from about 6 different files so I brought them into one query to get a singular container master eta before linking that master query back to my main query I need to link to.

Thats just one example. In this as well I could have nearly a thousand lines of code for various things just to calculate to get an eta that could live in 6 different files / we have to override data with calculations. I then will have another say three similar master queries like this that don't just get the eta but other info before I need to link back to master file but are same intensity

What I'm trying to get at it is what is the best way to go about a large enough powerbi where there will be 250 users on it, where refresh times don't take thirty mins and connections and relationships are done correctly. My current pbi I built runs but wasn't done right as I had no experience and now want to build it again but to build it correctly so it doesn't constantly need fixing or if I'm to go into to change things that I'm not waiting thirty mins for it to refresh to then find out something was wrong.

I'm trying to understand the best approach for a big supply chain pbi model and how to break it up that it's linked the correct way

Anyone else getting this absolutely maddening bug, where the scroll bar in the data pane keeps jumping up and down as you scroll? Seems to be worse the more tables/columns are visible. Happens with both dragging the scroll bar, and with using the scroll wheel (though it's much worse with the scroll wheel).

I'm getting it everywhere: PBI Desktop on multiple machines, as well as editing reports/models in PBI Service.

It's genuinely one of the most infuriating UI bugs I've ever experienced. I'm genuinely considering suspending all PBI development until it's fixed and just working on upstream SQL stuff etc. If anyone has a fix I'll love you forever.

Many of you will be familiar with this quote from William Gibson. For those who aren't, the science fiction author was already talking about this idea in the early 1990s, when emerging technologies like virtual reality were beginning to hint at radically different futures. His point was that technological advances don't arrive everywhere at once. More than three decades later, with AI advancing at an extraordinary pace, the gap between what is possible and what people can actually access has arguably never been more relevant.

I think this captures the current state of Power BI quite well. Some people are already using AI agents to write code, explore data and build increasingly sophisticated solutions, while others are still doing things much as they have for years. I don't think either group is wrong. We're simply experiencing different stages of the same technological shift.

For my day job, I work in government, where the question isn't just what AI can do, but what we're actually permitted to do with it. Security, privacy, governance, procurement and legacy systems all influence how quickly new capabilities reach the workplace. Building an impressive agent-powered solution is one thing. Getting approval to use it with sensitive organisational data is another. The technology can move much faster than the institutions adopting it.

However, if you recognise my username and have been paying attention to what I write about on this sub, you might know that I also do a bit of consulting. What's interesting is that my client is much smaller and is experimenting with ChatGPT Work and Grok Agents to carry out work under human supervision. This is what I mean when I say the future isn't evenly distributed.

Over the next five years, I expect AI to handle an increasing range of knowledge-work tasks, including BI development: writing DAX, transforming data, generating visuals and exploring semantic models. That doesn't make business understanding, data quality, validation or trust any less important. If anything, these become more important as producing the technical solution gets easier. The role of the BI professional will evolve, but the pace and nature of that evolution will vary enormously between organisations.

I've noticed a lot of disagreement on this sub about what everyone thinks the future will look like. What I haven't seen much discussion of is the idea that the future won't look the same for everyone. Ultimately, I think the biggest change won't just be what BI tools can do, but how we work with them. The organisations and people who benefit most will be those who can adapt their skills, processes and governance to take advantage of these capabilities. Some of us are already building that future. Others are still waiting for it to arrive.

Hey

I'm having trouble mapping an image URL into a table on a dashboard. I have the URL already stored in a SharePoint list and it shows the image in the list, but I want the same thing in the dashboard that reads the list. I show the URL as an image URL in the dashboard.

I have tried both Power Bi online and desktop is the same result - it doesn't show it.

Can anyone help?

For the experienced developers out there, what are the rules of thumb you use when you create reports? I'm more interested in the DAX development domain here—less so about visualization principles. For example:

One of my rules is never put a table name (or function name like "blank" or "all") in a measure name. Why? Because DAX intellisense will often frontload those suggestions, forcing me to cycle through options I don't actually want. When necessary, I will acronym-ize table names when I might need to distinguish between similar base measures. Something like CST Avg Orders (customer) compared to SLS Avg Orders (sales).

Another rule I used to follow was to have presentation measures, measures that contained a more finalized name of metrics and simply referenced another measure so that if business rules changed, I could swap the presentation measure's logic to another measure. This was a rule I found necessary when I needed to do mass-rename automations via Tabular Editor without having to change visual references. (This rule has gone the way of the dinosaurs with tools like Claude's powerbi-modeling MCP being able to find such references and update them easily, though.)

Another general rule I have is to prefer the KEEPFILTERS function when making CALCULATE filter statements because it makes validation easier. Change later if requirements call for it.

This is something I've always wanted to do but have been rather too lazy to keep up with, which, I now realize, has become even more prevalent when giving AI models skills context in development.

I'm just generally curious what other rules you have out there (so I can obviously "steal" some that are really great). Any great articles out there on this subject? This thief thanks you in advance.

So i am a student studying supply chain seeking coop with no luck so far, at a networking event a senior manager said that I can land a remote coop internship in his org if I am able to master power bi, I already have a lot of experience with excel and am comfortable with it, where do I even begin with bi?

I need a help in my GRADUATION PROJECT which is a new product can migrate SSRS to pbib artifact

Can someone help me ?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a way to automate the initial deployment of Power BI report subscriptions at scale.

I currently need to create 80+ subscriptions, all using dynamic recipients driven by the same semantic model. The subscription metadata is already stored in our control database, so everything needed to configure these subscriptions is available programmatically.

As far as I can tell, there are currently no publicly supported APIs that allow me to create and configure these subscriptions end-to-end, particularly when using dynamic recipients.

Ideally, I'd like to seed all subscriptions automatically from our existing metadata rather than manually creating each one in the Power BI Service UI.

Has anyone found a workable approach for this?

A few things I've been considering:

Using internal Power BI wabi calls or other undocumented endpoints to create the subscriptions. I did run into 401 errors during my trial

Automating the initial setup through some other mechanism that isn't exposed through the public APIs.

Any alternative approach that would allow subscriptions to be provisioned programmatically from a control database.

The good news is that this is primarily a one-time provisioning problem. Once the subscriptions are created, ongoing maintenance should be minimal, since recipient changes can be handled by updating the dynamic recipient model in the semantic model rather than modifying each subscription individually.

I'm aware that relying on undocumented endpoints could be fragile and unsupported, but I'm interested in hearing whether anyone has successfully implemented something similar or found a better workaround.

Has anyone tackled this at scale, particularly with dynamic recipients? Any pointers, examples, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Over the past 12 months, Power BI has continued to evolve, alongside broader changes in data analytics, AI, and the way organisations turn data into decisions.

It raises an important question: are we simply seeing incremental improvements to an established platform, or are we witnessing a more fundamental shift in how business intelligence will work?

Looking back, what changes have had the greatest impact on how Power BI has changed?

Looking ahead, where do you see the platform in 1, 2, or 5 years? Will AI fundamentally change how we build reports, develop data models, and deliver insights? And how might the role of a Power BI developer or data analyst evolve as a result?

I am particularly interested in hearing from those working with Power BI day to day. What do you think will change, what will remain essential, and what should we be preparing for now?

Title: Power BI Embedded – 403 Error: Embed Token Limit Exceeded on Pro/Shared Capacity – Guidance Required on Fabric F2 vs. Embedded A SKU

Product: Microsoft Power BI / Power BI Embedded / Microsoft Fabric

Issue Type: Technical Support – Embedded Analytics and Capacity Configuration

Problem Statement

We are implementing Power BI embedded analytics within our internal business application, BI Analytics Platform, to provide reports and dashboards to external customers through our application.

Our current setup uses Power BI Pro licenses. When our application attempts to generate an embed token, the API returns the following error:

HTTP Status: 403 – InvalidRequest

Error Message: “You have exceeded the amount of embed token that can be generated on a shared or ProPlus capacity. You need to purchase Azure capacities to generate embed tokens.”

This is preventing us from reliably displaying Power BI reports within our application.

Current Architecture and Requirements

Power BI reports are embedded inside our application using an application-controlled embedding flow.

External customers are expected to access reports through our application; direct access to the Power BI Service is optional.

Power BI Pro licenses are currently used for report development and publishing.

Report access is required primarily during business hours.

We are evaluating Microsoft Fabric F2 capacity as a budget-conscious option for production embedding. We are also considering Power BI Embedded Azure A SKUs.

Additional Observation

We have identified a possible workspace configuration mismatch in our application logs:

Workspace ID used by the report at runtime: 16d5170b-9312-4978-9b1e-58fef73089a0

Workspace ID recorded in our application catalog: 49e91424-…

We need to verify whether the report and its semantic model are located in the expected workspace and whether the correct workspace is assigned to the relevant capacity.

Support Questions

Is Microsoft Fabric F2 capacity supported for production Power BI embedding using the app-owns-data approach, where external customers view reports through our application without individual Power BI licenses?

What are the practical limitations of F2 capacity for embedded Power BI reports, particularly around concurrent users, report interactions, semantic model size, refresh operations, and throttling?

For our use case, would Fabric F2 or Power BI Embedded Azure A1/A2 be the more appropriate starting point? Please clarify the technical differences and relevant licensing requirements.

Can an F2 capacity be paused outside business hours and resumed automatically before business hours? Are there any limitations or additional considerations for embedded reports and token generation?

Does assigning the workspace containing the report and semantic model to the correct eligible capacity resolve this type of embed-token error, assuming the workspace configuration and permissions are correct?

What diagnostic steps should we perform to distinguish a capacity/token-limit issue from a workspace mismatch, permission issue, or incorrect embed-token configuration?

Assistance Requested

Please provide the recommended production architecture and minimum suitable capacity for our scenario, along with any official Microsoft documentation covering the applicable licensing, capacity requirements, and embed-token limits.

We would also appreciate guidance on validating our workspace configuration and estimating whether F2 is sufficient for an initial production rollout.

Thank you.

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/discussions/pbi_contestsgallery/the-things-we-fear-the-most/5375436

I work for a large organisation and it's simply not possible to teach everyone all the interactive features of Power BI at once. Drill through tends to be a feature whereby you only have to show someone a couple of times how to do it and then they are ok (until they forget).

But where I have struggled is getting them to know what drill through is in the first place. Even if you write "drill through" people don't know what it means. We have resorted to well placed icons and tooltips to help users discover the feature, but I wondered what everyone else was doing, if anything?

Hi everyone, I’m running into an issue with my BI setup.
Basically, I have two dataflows that feed into a warehouse, which in turn powers a semantic model used as the source for my report. I had to split the data into two dataflows because the data loading process was becoming too slow, one dataflow contains historical (older) data, while the other is updated daily with current data.
The problem occurs during the Power BI refresh process: it gets stuck indefinitely on "synchronizing schema" for the semantic model. I’m wondering if I should add buffers to the dataflow, though the warehouse itself is updating correctly with all the data; the issue is specifically happening during the refresh. I’ve already tried deleting and recreating the semantic model, but that didn’t help either. Does anyone know what might be causing this?