Workload Idea is to turn Power BI semantic model into a complete, editable documentation package (diagram + PDF + artifacts) inside Fabric, only in 7–10 clicks, in PDF format. Just click-click-click and have a semantic model documentation in PDF format.
Problem Solved
- Pain point: Documentation for semantic models is time-consuming, fragmented, and often out-of-date. I am sure people have created notebooks using INFO functions, but I was not able to find a document solution for diagram layout. Analytic Endeavors has a solution in their future release but that's for the desktop. I embeded draw.io into my workload for a diagram editor. It is a free tool and works great with the code, unlike visio.
- Solution: Automates metadata extraction, produces a high-fidelity draw.io diagram, generates a PDF summary, and stores artifacts in OneLake — all from within Fabric so teams can document, review, and share models quickly and reproducibly.
How It Works
- Create: Add a new SMDoc item in Fabric and open the Setup tab.
- Configure: Choose workspace, lakehouse, and semantic model, all from drop-downs. No manual inputs IDs or names.
- Generate: Click “Generate Doc File” — SMDoc programmatically creates and runs a Fabric Notebook to extract metadata and build artifacts, mainly through semantic link labs so no token generation require at each run like in Fabric Rest API.
- Edit: Open the embedded draw.io editor to inspect or modify the ER diagram. Main feature of my workload.
- Export/Combine: Export SVG/PDF and optionally merge diagram + summary into a single deliverable.
Key Features
- Embedded Draw.io: Interactive, colorful ER diagrams editable directly inside Fabric.
- Notebook Orchestration: Automated notebook creation and execution via Fabric Platform APIs.
- High-Resolution Output: 4K vector-quality PDFs and SVG exports for print-quality documentation.
- Lakehouse Artifacts: Saves CSV artifacts and Delta tables to OneLake for auditing and reuse.
- Quick Workflow: End-to-end documentation in ~7–10 user actions, lowering time-to-insight.
Limitations: Goal is to submit a working solution before the contest ends. Which is there and my workload is doing the job. Just some small tweaks required.
- PDF index layout: Index page sizing needs refinement.
- Post-merge metadata: Semantic vertipaq size and number of items not included after PDF combining in last step.
- UI tweaks: Lakehouse explorer is not yet resizable; initial item selection UX can be improved.
- Minor data gaps: Measures missing names in Delta exports (documented in repo).
- Logo: I missed the logo while making video. Added it now.
Why It Matters
- Time savings: It takes 3 minutes to install libraries in notebook. Except that it takes less than a minute to get semantic modle PDF. Zero time and effort required from the user.
- Governance-ready: Produces auditable artifacts (CSV + Delta) for compliance and reviews.
- Extensible pattern: The notebook + embedded-editor approach is reusable for lineage, model comparison, or automated audits.
Demo & Repo
- Demo video: (Watch the video to see the working in detail. If you have less time, just watch last 5 minutes of video) https://youtu.be/H0keB9JmlSg
- GitHub Repo: Removed the link. Found people copying the stuff without permission.
- To Discuss anything reach out on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-haider-ali-shah
I have used FUAM semantic model as an example. Was not able to find a complex free sample semantic model online.
