Forum Discussion
Shared Semantic Model - Connectivity Issue from different tenants
Power BI Desktop cannot:
carry over Databricks credentials,
rebind DirectQuery connections across tenants,
or safely republish that dataset binding.
So Desktop opens the report, but when they publish, the semantic model connection is dropped → “data disconnected”. This is expected behavior.
So you have a few limited options here which none of them would be a perfect solution as there is no any in your case.
Option 1: They publish reports, not datasets
You own and publish the semantic model (DirectQuery to Databricks).
Customers get Build permission on the semantic model.
Customers create reports:
in Power BI Service (web authoring), or
in Desktop using Live connection, then publish reports only.
They do not publish datasets.
This is the standard multi-tenant pattern.
Option 2: Customer-owned semantic models
If customers must publish datasets:
Each customer must have:
their own Databricks connection,
their own semantic model in their tenant,
their own credentials.
You cannot safely share a DirectQuery dataset across tenants and let others republish it.
Hi Scheneyder , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.
There is no remaining configuration or permission change that will make this work. If customers must publish from Desktop, they must own their Databricks connection and semantic model. If they cannot, then Desktop authoring is off the table and authoring must stay in the Service. Currently, Power BI does not support a middle ground for this scenario.
Here's what I found out so far:
When costumer connect to an external semantic model it creates a Direct Query AS in his computer, so when he publishes it to their tenant the model is connected to an Analysis Service via Workspace link:
Hi Scheneyder , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.
When the report connects to your semantic model, it uses your workspace’s XMLA endpoint and authenticates strictly through Microsoft Entra ID with SSO. There is no other way to authenticate that connection, no SQL login, no gateway override, no alternative method. If users need to access a model hosted in your tenant, they must exist in your tenant (as internal or B2B users). If you don’t want to onboard their users into your tenant, then the semantic model must be hosted in theirs.