Deployed items with the same name in the target and source stages are not bound.

[armieromasanta]

No longer able to make effective use of folders within deployment pipeline in PowerBI.   Can still publish if I move models back to the root folder. Typically get "Can't start the deployment" message.

Also, when troubleshooting, why One Semantic Model Deploys Successfully and Another Doesn’t?

A user was able to successfully deploy a powerbi semantic model from a source folder deployed to a target folder but cannot deploy another semantic model from another source folder. The model is currently sitting in a root folder and he is manually moving the model inside folder during deployment just to be organized and start deploying from that folder where he moved the model into prod. Do I need to advise him to republish the semantic model inside the folder ,avoid manual moves during deployment and start deploying from the inside of a test folder again? Or any suggestions you may have.

Please help on the unbound items.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @armieromasanta ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum. 

I understand you are facing issues deploying semantic models in Deployment Pipelines when they are placed inside folders, and that this results in “unbound” items unless the models are moved back to the root. This behavior occurs because deployment bindings in Power BI are matched based on both item name and folder path. If a semantic model in the target stage is manually moved to a different folder after deployment, its path no longer matches the source stage, and the pipeline treats it as a new item rather than an update leading to the “Can’t start the deployment” message.

For consistent deployments:

• Avoid manually moving semantic models between folders in the target stage after deployment.
• Ensure the folder structure in the source and target stages is identical. If you want a model to be in a specific folder, publish it into that folder in the source stage so the pipeline binding is preserved.
• If an item is already unbound, re-publish it in the correct folder path in the source stage, then redeploy so that the pipeline can bind them correctly.

This will help maintain bindings between stages and prevent the need to move items manually.

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.

Thank you.