Dataflow Lineage

[AnkitKukreja]

Hi! All,

I am facing issues with few of my dataflows as they are failing and when I checked their sharepoint files some of them were last updated few months back. And some of them get's updated weekly.

I'm working for my client so I have admin permissions on the workspace, I'm looking out a way to know if my dataflow is actually being used. I don't see anything in the lineage because there is no report build on it in the same workspace. 

My ask is like we get notification for reports or analytics that if it's actually being used, is there a way to check the same for the dataflow to know if it is actually need to be refreshed?

Appreciate the help.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @AnkitKukreja,

Thank you @cengizhanarslan and @Thomaslleblanc for your responses to the query.

Currently, Dataflows do not have a built-in usage metrics feature like reports or semantic models do. While lineage view can help identify Power BI dependencies, a lack of lineage does not necessarily mean a dataflow is unused, since lineage only shows Power BI artifacts and not usage from external tools such as ADF, Synapse, APIs, notebooks, Excel/Power Query, or cross-tenant access. If a dataflow has no lineage dependencies, no activity in logs, no scheduled or recent refreshes, and its source files have not been updated for months, it is likely not in use. As a best practice, consider disabling the scheduled refresh and monitoring for a few weeks before deleting the dataflow, to ensure there are no issues or dependencies.

Thank you.

[cengizhanarslan]

There is no built-in “usage metrics” for Dataflows like there is for reports.

[Thomaslleblanc]

Verify actual usage via audit/activity logs

A. Power BI Activity Log & Microsoft Purview Audit

• Use the Power BI Activity Log (or Microsoft Purview Audit) to see Dataflow viewed/edited/exported events and dataset/report views downstream. These logs tell you if people are interacting with items fed by your dataflow.
  • https://teddata.github.io/2024/11/02/PowerBIAuditLogsScript/
• Admin monitoring workspace’s built‑in Feature Usage & Adoption report for a quick who‑used‑what view; combine this with Purview audit for user-level evidence. 
  • https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Service/Query-for-Dataflow-usage-by-others/m-p/4404326

Admin API access with a service principal must be enabled in tenant settings (“Allow service principals to use read-only admin APIs”).

[AnkitKukreja]

Thanks @Thomaslleblanc 

Also, if I see lineage for some of the dataflows it shows the report or semantic model linked with it in other workspaces but nothing for this one. Is my assumption correct that this is not being used anywhere then?