Semantic Models

Hi binitafulpagare,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community forum.

It depends on your organization's size, data domains, and reporting requirements. However, many organizations follow a domain-driven approach rather than relying on one large semantic model.

Here are some general recommendations:

• Use domain-specific semantic models (for example, Sales, Finance, HR, and Operations) to make models easier to maintain, secure, and optimize.
• Avoid creating a single, monolithic semantic model unless your business requirements justify it, as large models can become more difficult to maintain, govern, and optimize over time.
• Promote consistency by using shared dimensions (such as Date, Customer, and Product) and standardized business definitions across models.
• Reuse existing semantic models whenever possible instead of creating duplicate models for similar reporting scenarios.
• Implement Row-Level Security (RLS) and Object-Level Security (OLS) where appropriate to support different user groups without duplicating models.
• Optimize performance by following a star schema, keeping only the required tables and columns, and minimizing unnecessary calculations.
• Establish good governance practices by using clear naming conventions, documentation, version control, Git integration, and deployment pipelines as your Fabric environment grows.

In practice, many organizations adopt a hybrid approach:

• Enterprise-certified semantic models provide trusted, reusable models for common business reporting.
• Domain-specific semantic models address specialized departmental requirements while maintaining consistent business definitions across the organization.

This approach often provides a good balance between scalability, maintainability, performance, governance, and business flexibility.

For additional guidance, Microsoft recommends designing semantic models using a star schema, as it improves both performance and usability:

Understand star schema and the importance for Power BI - Microsoft Learn

Understand star schema and the importance for Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
Thank you.

Hi binitafulpagare,

You're welcome, I'm glad you found the information helpful.

There isn't a prescribed threshold for merging a domain-specific semantic model into an enterprise-certified model. Instead, certification is intended for semantic models that meet your organization's quality standards and are considered reliable, authoritative and ready for use across the organization. Models that are valuable for sharing but haven't met those governance standards can be promoted instead.

The decision is typically based on your organization's governance and certification criteria, rather than on factors such as dataset size alone.

Additionally, you may find the following Microsoft Learn articles helpful:

Endorse your content - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Promote and Certify Power BI Content with Endorsement - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Thank you.