Forum Discussion
Recommended Deployment Process for Incremental Refresh Changes
Hi manoj_0911,
For an existing semantic model that already has Incremental Refresh enabled, the usual deployment approach is as follows -
1. New column added to the source view -
- Update the model in Power BI Desktop.
- Republish the semantic model.
- Run a refresh in the Power BI Service.
2. Incremental Refresh policy changes (archive period, refresh period, detect data changes, etc.)
- Modify the policy in Desktop.
- Republish the model.
- Trigger a Service refresh so Power BI can re-evaluate and manage partitions based on the updated policy.
3. Changing the partition/date column
- Update the RangeStart/RangeEnd filtering and Incremental Refresh configuration.
- Republish the model.
- Perform a Service refresh to rebuild partitions using the new partitioning logic.
Incremental Refresh partitions are created and maintained by the Power BI Service during refresh operations.
If you're using Premium/Fabric capacity with XMLA read-write enabled, there are additional deployment options -- Using tools such as SSMS or Tabular Editor, you can perform metadata-only deployments, manage partitions directly, and execute targeted partition refreshes rather than republishing the entire model.
- This is often preferred for large models where preserving existing partitions is important.
For most deployments the recommended sequence is Modify → Publish → Service Refresh.
XMLA/SSMS-based partition management is only needed for advanced scenarios requiring fine-grained control over partitions and refresh operations.
📌Microsoft reference -- Configure incremental refresh for Power BI semantic models - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
- Configure incremental refresh and real-time data for Power BI semantic models - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
- Advanced Incremental Refresh and Real-Time Data With the XMLA Endpoint in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
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Best regards,
Rupasree Achari | BI & Fabric Analytics Engineer
Hello manoj_0911
1) Is a full refresh in Power BI Desktop required before publishing?
Answer: No, the full refresh in Power BI Desktop is not recommnded one. why bcz, PBi desk to can't handle huge data refresh, somtimes it may hang or stuck.
2) After publishing, is a dataset refresh in the Power BI Service sufficient, or are additional steps recommended?
Answer: Just semantic model refresh is sufficiant, no additonal steps reuqired
3) When Incremental Refresh settings are changed, is it necessary to publish twice (once without Incremental Refresh and again with Incremental Refresh), or is a single publish followed by a Service refresh the recommended approach?
Answer: Not required, change settings in Power Bi desktop and refresh the semnatic model in services. The Services will detecct the new change and automatiically drop the old partitionss and build the new partition structure and populate the relevant data into report.
4)Is there any Microsoft documentation describing the recommended deployment process for semantic models that use Incremental Refresh?
Answer: Pls read this links below
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/incremental-refresh-xmla
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/incremental-refresh-configure
Thank you!!
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