Before beginning, we very much appreciate your work on PowerBI Report Server. It is an amazing product which has consistently been of a very high quality.
As developers ourselves, we have no issues whatsoever with the slow release cycle (and in fact appreciate and even prefer it!) but the lack of knowledge on what features will (if ever) be released and when is maddening.
When new features are mentioned on PowerBI Report Server or PowerBI Desktop releases, it is vey rarely clear which features will make it into PowerBI Report Server (for non PBIRS desktop releases), which features will work with Custom Authentication, and whether API's have been added yet or are planned for service and Report Server features.
For instance, when adding RLS for PowerBI Report Server, the fact that it works for Custom Authentication had to be discovered in the comments and forum posts (and, with due respect to the MIcrosoft Team, in the official documentation) is dissappointing. And despite this feature being documented here, the documentation is woeful regarding compatibility, for instance composite models do not even mention PowerBI Report Server at all, leaving its compatibility completely ambiguous.
In monthly PowerBI Desktop Releases, however, it is always completely up in the air whether a feature will or will not make it to PowerBI Report Server. Every release, there is a massive amount of comments asking if any particualr feature will or will not make it to Report Server. The most specific information we usually get is one or two specific features officially documented, and a general statement on "most visual features" or "most modelling features" making it to PowerBI Report Server.
Unfortunately, the comments section has been where we have been able to gather nearly all information on what features will and will not make it to PowerBI Report Server. While we very much appreciate the strength of will of delving into the comments section, we feel that the effort would be better spent documenting, for each feature:
- Whether a feature is currently planned on being compatible with PowerBI Report Server
- Whether a feature is still under consideration
- Whether a feature is compatible with with Custom Authentication, and if so how (if appropriate)
- Whether a feature will work with Direct Query/Live Connection (if appropriate)
- Whether a modelling feature will support RLS
- Whether (or rather when, given the shared technology) a Modelling feature will make it to Azure Analysis Services
- Whether (or rather when, given the shared technology) a Modelling feature will make it to SQL Server Analysis Services
- When the API's for the feature will be exposed in PowerBI Report Server (RLS I am looking at you), and if they exist then a link to documentation
- Whether an API for the feature will be exposed in PowerBI Service, and if it exists then a link to documentation
In summary, the issue is the lack of consistent standards in documentation, including in official documentation.
For instance, the aforementioned composite models documentation should establish a standard similar to SQL Documentation, with a list of products at the top (Desktop, Service, Report Server (and version)), and a series of ticks and crosses indicating compatibility. In addition, it would mention if RLS would work, and if so how it would work with the various data sources.
Apologies for the long post, it is hoped that it does not come off too critical.
