Dataflow refresh failure when appending (pro capacity)

[m13eam]

Hi - can anyone give advice why a dataflow refresh is failing (even though it appears to load ok when looking at it in the PQ editor)? I'm in a Pro capacity and trying to follow the method for appending discussed here: Linked Entities and Computed Entities; Dataflows in Power BI Part 4 - RADACAD

I have 2 queries - Query 1 and Query 2 - that extract from an Odata source.

It fails when:

• I have Query 1 with load enabled, and Query 2 that does not have load enabled. Query 1 appends (to itself, not as new) Query 2. It doesn't warn of being a computed entity and appears to load fine in the editor - it just fails when refreshed in the service. The error message returned is largely useless: "Error: Request ID: <ID removed> Activity ID: <ID removed>"

I don't think I'm breaking any rules for what's allowed in a pro capacity with this approach. Below are 3 scenarios I've run to try to prove that the issue isn't elsewhere: 

To eliminate data source issues, it works fine when:

• Query 1 & Query 2 both have load enabled, but no appending takes place
• Query 1 has load enabled and query 2 does not, but no appending takes place

Also, I understand that in a pro capacity it will not allow me to refresh when I create a computed entity:

• When I use "Append as new" to create Query 3 that appends Query 1 to Query 2, Query 3 becomes a Computed Entity which isn't possible to utilise in a Pro capacity.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Matt

[JoeBIGuy123]

I ran into this same issue, and this solution worked perfectly. What's kind of weird is that I have plenty of Dataflows (with Pro License) in which I use the same technique of appending different queries, but making sure some the upstream queries are disabled to avoid the final query becoming a Computed Entity (which is not allowed on a Pro License). I ensure all queries within the Dataflow have the same Privacy Levels so I don't encounter any issues when appending them...and all works just fine.
In my experience, despite taking all the above mentioned precautions, we sometimes run into the issue the original poster presented because some queries you are trying to append might be queries you have built from scratch (think of Date Table), which you then try to append to another query sourced let's say from an Excel File which you've set a Privacy Level of "Organizational". Your Dim Date query built from scratch doesn't have a Privacy Level setting (it's literally impossible to set Privacy Level setting for queries that you build from scratch) and so Power BI doesn't know if this query built from scratch contains sensitive information or not, and so it throws you an error message as the original poster stated. And so, as the original poster, replied back with the solution to his problem, you must "

• Go to Privacy and check "Allow combining data from multiple sources" within the Dataflow. This is basically telling Power BI that it's okay to combine/append your 2 queries (the one of which built from scratch in which Power BI can't tell what level of privacy it should be assigned).

[m13eam · Accepted solution]

Answering my own query as I got to the bottom of it (well, the very helpful Chaithanya of Mindtree Ltd from Power BI support did!):

• Open the dataflow
• Go to Home > Options
• Go to Privacy and check "Allow combining data from multiple sources".

[PBIUSER123410]

If I had found this earlier, it would have saved me 4 days of work... Thank you!