Get-PowerBIActivityEvents returns a list of objects with empty list attributes

[ParsaJafarian]

I have the following code: 

$start = (Get-Date).AddHours(-10).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss")
    $end = (Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss")

    # Don't pipe through Out-String or ConvertFrom-Json
    $activities = Get-PowerBIActivityEvent `
        -StartDateTime $start `
        -EndDateTime $end `
        -ActivityType 'ViewReport' `
        -ErrorAction Stop | ConvertFrom-Json

    $activities[0]

That outputs the following:

Id                       : {}
RecordType               : {}
CreationTime             : {}
Operation                : {}
OrganizationId           : {}
UserType                 : {}
UserKey                  : {}
Workload                 : {}
UserId                   : {}
ClientIP                 : {}
UserAgent                : {}
Activity                 : {}
ItemName                 : {}
WorkSpaceName            : {}
DatasetName              : {}
ReportName               : {}
CapacityId               : {}
CapacityName             : {}
WorkspaceId              : {}
ObjectId                 : {}
DatasetId                : {}
ReportId                 : {}
ArtifactId               : {}
ArtifactName             : {}
IsSuccess                : {}
ReportType               : {}
RequestId                : {}
ActivityId               : {}
DistributionMethod       : {}
ConsumptionMethod        : {}
ArtifactKind             : {}
RefreshEnforcementPolicy : {}
BillingType              : {}

I am trying to figure out why I am getting objects for which each attribute is just an empty list. I have followed the official documentation for this Cmdlet but I can't figure out why this is happening. 
I've also tried not using ConvertFrom-Json and just log the Json string. However, I get the same result. 

Documentation I'm following: Access the Power BI activity log - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

[v-kathullac]

Hi @ParsaJafarian  ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[Deku]

You might need to add milliseconds to datetimes string to make it valid

[ParsaJafarian]

Good idea, I changed the dates as such:

$start = (Get-Date).AddHours(-10).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fff")
$end = (Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fff")

 I still get the same output though

[Deku]

Does it work without the activitytype filter? 

[ParsaJafarian]

Even without the activity filter, I get the same result.

[Deku]

Think either the dates are misformed or no data in the period. 

Try outputting the datetimes strings to sense check. Also try looking back a full 30 days, without a activitytype file

[ParsaJafarian]

Updated the code as such:

$start = (Get-Date).AddDays(-30).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fff")
$end = (Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fff")
Write-Host $start to $end
$activities = Get-PowerBIActivityEvent `
        -StartDateTime $start `
        -EndDateTime $end | ConvertFrom-Json `
        -ErrorAction Stop
$activities

I get the following output and error:

2025-03-16T08:15:00.598 to 2025-04-15T08:15:00.599
Get-PowerBIActivityEvent : Operation returned an invalid status code 'BadRequest'
At C:\Users\jafarip\OneDrive - TC TC\Desktop\DV-RD\Scripts\Get-MigrationActivityEvents.ps1:7 char:19
+     $activities = Get-PowerBIActivityEvent `
+                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.Power...BIActivityEvent:GetPowerBIActivityEvent) [Get-PowerBIActivityEvent], HttpOperationExcep  
   tion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Operation returned an invalid status code 'BadRequest',Microsoft.PowerBI.Commands.Admin.GetPowerBIActivityEvent

It's becasue the Cmdlet doesn't work with long time ranges (30 days). I tested that it works with max half a day worth of range.  

[v-kathullac · Accepted solution]

Hi @ParsaJafarian ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

The error you're getting from Get-PowerBIActivityEvents means your current Power BI account doesn't have the required admin privileges to access activity log data.

You must have :

• Power BI Service Administrator OR

• Office 365 Global Administrator

If you're not one of these, you'll need to request access from your IT/Admin team.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[Deku]

This is a wrapper on the Get Activity Events API. Make sure you are fabric admin or using a service principal with delegated permissions. 

[ParsaJafarian]

If I didn't have fabric admin role, I think I would have gotten 403 unauthorized but now I'm just getting bad request. Can you confirm if this is true?