Cannot set up RLS against re-used datamodel used in a new report

[Anonymous]

Hi

I've tried researching this issue in this forum but am coming up empty.

I have set up a report/datamodel (with RLS set up within it) "MainReport" stored on my firm's PBI service, and have created another report "NewReport" which uses the first datamodel as it's primary data source (so this is treated as a Direct Query) and has a couple of Excel/Sharepoint files as additional tables.

My problem is PBI tells me the RLS doesn't roll through to my "NewReport", and when I try to set up RLS in "NewReport", I am not able to apply RLS to any tables from "MainReport" as they don't appear in the RLS table list section.

My RLS in "MainReport" is applied to a staff table, so I've attempted a work-around by duplicating this staff table in "NewReport" & relating it to the staff table in "MainReport" (as 1:1) and applying RLS to the "NewReport" staff table, however if I try to test this via the "NewReport" datamodel's 'Test as Role' security option, I get a 'Something went wrong. Not Supported' error message suggesting this is not possible.

Without the ability to test the new RLS via the "NewReport" datamodel's Security, I've no idea whether my workaround actually works or not.

Have I just missed something or is there something else I can try / change to get this to work?

This is my first attempt to 're-use' a datamodel and to get to this point and now find out the RLS doesn't 'roll through' and is so problematic to set up is quite frustrating, especially with a deadline looming.

Many thanks in advance. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Yes, I had come across these limitations but was hoping there was some workaround that would help.

We had brought the original semantic model into another report and added to it a set of Excel tables. With this saved as a new semantic model, the RLS was no longer available.

We subsequently reverted back to just using the original datamodel and the RLS was then available.

Thanks for your time to reply Amit.

[amitchandak]

@Anonymous , RLS is supported on the base dataset, if you try to use the same, you will not be able to set RLS again.

Also, consider these limitations

• The Test as role/View as role feature doesn't work for DirectQuery models with single sign-on (SSO) enabled.
• The Test as role/view as role feature shows only reports from semantic models workspace.
• The Test as role/View as role feature doesn't work for paginated reports.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/enterprise/service-admin-rls#considerations-and-limitations