Enabling Q&A visual with Power BI with SSAS Tabular Live Connection

[psreddy]

Hello,

I am trying to add a Q&A visual to our Power BI Reports. We use a Live Connection to SSAS Tabular. Is there a way to add synonyms to the semantic model in SSAS Tabular, the descriptions don't seem to be helping. Is there a way to get Q&A Visual to return meaningful results using Live Connection to SSAS Tabular by directly editing the .bim file or adding Linguistic Mapping to the .bim file.

If there are other ways to achieve this, please share.

[v-sshirivolu]

Hi @psreddy ,

Thank you for reaching out to Community Forum.
Thanks for outlining your scenario. The issue you’re encountering is a recognized limitation, the Q&A visual typically functions in Power BI Desktop, but may not respond after publishing when using a live connection to an SSAS Tabular model. To address this, please ensure your SSAS model is optimized for Q&A by assigning friendly names and clear descriptions to tables and columns, marking them as visible, and adding synonyms using tools such as SQL Server Data Tools or Tabular Editor. For synonyms, Tabular Editor allows you to edit the .bim file’s Cultures section to include the necessary linguistic metadata, which is generally safer than manual editing.

Within Power BI Service, confirm that Q&A is enabled in the dataset settings and that any required on premises gateway is properly configured with User Principal Name (UPN) mappings. Please note that live connections have certain limitations, such as partial row level security support and the absence of the Teach Q&A feature, so thorough testing is recommended. If full Q&A functionality is essential, switching from a live connection to import mode is the most reliable solution, as this allows Power BI to index data internally, though it does mean sacrificing real time updates. After making these adjustments, redeploy your SSAS model and refresh the dataset to enable the Q&A visual to function as expected. While live connections do present some Q&A limitations, using friendly names, configuring synonyms via Tabular Editor, reviewing service settings, and considering import mode can help resolve the issue.

[v-sshirivolu]

Hi @psreddy ,
I hope the information provided above assists you in resolving the issue. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to support you and will be happy to help with any further assistance you may need.

[v-sshirivolu]

Hi @psreddy ,

I hope the above details help you fix the issue. If you still have any questions or need more help, feel free to reach out. We’re always here to support you

[KNP · Accepted solution]

If you save the model as a PBIP file it should be relatively easy to edit from there.

You're looking for...

You can then edit as required.

Here's a snippet from that file...(the ball velocity was manually added)

"entity__measure.ball_speed": {
			      "Definition": {
			        "Binding": {
			          "ConceptualEntity": "_measures",
			          "ConceptualProperty": "Ball Speed (mph)"
			        }
			      },
			      "State": "Generated",
			      "Terms": [
			        {
			          "ball speed": {}
			        },
			        {
			          "ball speed (mph)": {}
			        },
			        {
			          "speed": {
			            "Weight": 0.97
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball velocity": {
			            "LastModified": "2025-10-20T18:53:17.966Z"
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball rapidity": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.5
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball swiftness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.5
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball speediness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.5
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball quickness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.5
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "ball promptness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.5
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "rapidity": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.491
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "swiftness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.491
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "speediness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.491
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "quickness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.491
			          }
			        },
			        {
			          "promptness": {
			            "Type": "Noun",
			            "State": "Suggested",
			            "Source": {
			              "Agent": "Thesaurus"
			            },
			            "Weight": 0.491
			          }
			        }
			      ],
			      "Units": [
			        "miles per hour",
			        "mph"
			      ]
			    },