Unable to schedule refresh in PBI Service for a Web Data Source

[monaraya]

Issue: Unable to schedule refresh in PBI Service for a Web Data Source

Error:Query contains unsupported function. Function name: Web.Contents

Solution:

• We used Anonymous Auth in PBI Desktop for particular Web Source as the Access Token was passed in M Query. The Auth may differ based on the data source you have.
• The Privacy Level should be set to Organizational privacy level.
• Publish the pbix to PBI Service and make sure to updated Privacy on dataset on Power BI Service as well i.e.  Dataset Setting –> Data Source Credentials -> Edit Credentials -> Make sure to use credentials with same Auth/Privacy as in PBI Desktop -> OK
• Privacy Level in Power BI Desktop:

File -> Options and Settings -> Options -> Privacy Level of Global Setting -> Combine data according to privacy of each data source -> File setting -> Combine data according to privacy of each data

Data source Settings -> Edit Permissions -> Choose Auth as per you data source -> OK -> Privacy Level -> choose Organizational

Power BI Service: Data source Settings - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-scheduled-refresh#data-source-credent...

Summary:

• From the error message, it might look like we are using Dynamic Data sources or certain functions as Web.Contents in MQuery are resulting in error.
• There are couple of tests we can perform to conclude that issue is not with any function or MQuery. Some tests are below: -

• Removing dynamic parameters for example duration taken as last90 days using a function.
• Putting in static value of Date
• We could see issue persists. This time, we would get a refresh error as “value":"Information is needed in order to combine data"

• The above error indicated mismatch between authentication method or Privacy Level.
• The next step is to update all data sources in PBI Desktop with a particular Auth (based on data source) and set Privacy Level (preferably Organizational) -> Save -> Publish to Service
• Update Data source settings on PBI Service as well with same Auth and Privacy level that was used in PBI Desktop

Author: Srishti Sharma

Reviewer: Mounika Narayana Reddy