Workspace refreshes failing but desktop refreshes working fine - salesforce refreshes

[Anonymous]

Hi

I am relatively new to powerBI and have written some datasets extracting data from Salesforce.  They have been refreshing fine in both desktop and workspaces for months now, but a few days ago several of these projects started failing their refreshes for missing fields.

Data source errorThe 'xxxxxxx__c' column does not exist in the rowset. Table: Account.

xxxxxx__c is just one of our custom fields

I am actually getting a errors for some other fields as well.  The one thing in common though is that the fields are most definitely still in the salesforce production data.  I have had instances in the past where fields have been removed etc and that has  broken the dataset in powerBI but been easy enough to fix.  But this time around, the fields are still there, they not even accessed in any formula's, logic, conversions only in fields that I have removed because they are not needed.

Some of the projects that now don't refresh, also haven't been opened for months.   And again, when I refresh in the desktop for each project I get no errors.  

Any ideas would be most appreciated

John from DairyAus

[ReportGuru]

Hi @Anonymous As a workaround, maybe you can try to test your connection with a 3rd party connector. I've tried windsor.ai, supermetrics and funnel.io. I stayed with windsor because it is much cheaper so just to let you know other options. In case you wonder, to make the connection first search for the Salesforce connector in the data sources list:

After that, just grant access to your Salesforce account using your credentials, then on preview and destination page you will see a preview of your Salesforce fields:

There just select the fields you need. It is also compatible with custom fields and custom objects, so you'll be able to export them through windsor.  Finally, just select PBI as your data destination and finally just copy and paste the url on PBI --> Get Data --> Web --> Paste the url. 

[Anonymous]

Hi Rena 

Thanks for getting back to me on this.  I managed to get my workspace projects refreshing again by just going in and reconnecting with the same credentials I had used previously.  Just had to connect again and the refreshes are now working.  I did not change the credentials at all though so should I expect this to potentially happen again?

Also I hope you had a happy new year!

Regards

John

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Thanks for reaching out to us with your problem. Base on your description, it seems that you got error when refreshing your datasets(salesforce data source) in Power BI Service even though the same refreshes work fine in Power BI Desktop. According to the error message, it seems that the field  'xxxxxxx__c' doesn't exist in the table 'Account'. Please check if this field exist or renamed in Salesforce table 'Account' first. After done this, please try to do the following operations and later if can solve your problem: 

In Power BI Desktop: 

• Refresh Salesforce Metadata: Sometimes, the metadata cached by Power BI may become outdated. You can try to refresh the metadata by editing the query in Power BI Desktop and then republishing the report to the Power BI Service. - To do this, open the report in Power BI Desktop, go to "Edit Queries" and then refresh the data source. After that, save and republish the report to the Power BI Service.
• Test with a New Dataset: As a last resort, create a new dataset in Power BI Desktop with the same Salesforce data source and fields. Publish this to the Power BI Service and see if the refresh works. This can help determine if the issue is with the specific dataset or a broader issue with the connection to Salesforce. 

In Power BI Service side:

• Check Power BI Service Dataset Settings: Navigate to the Power BI Service and go to the dataset settings for the affected datasets. Ensure that the credentials are up to date and have the necessary permissions to access the Salesforce data. 
• Check for Schema Changes: Although you mentioned that the fields exist in Salesforce, it's worth double-checking if there have been any schema changes or permission changes that might affect the visibility of these fields to the Power BI Service. 
• Reconfigure Data Source: In Power BI Service, try to reconfigure the data source for the dataset. This can sometimes resolve issues with missing fields.

Best Regards