Different times displayed for report in my workspace and app workspace

[Flippered]

I am aware of the limitations in displaying localized times in PBI service, leading to a discrepancy between the service and PBI Desktop, but I just noticed that the same report uploaded to My Workspace, which I was using for staging, and a shared App Workspace also display different times. The report was published to each workspace from the same .pbix file, minutes apart, and each was opened with the same device / browser / IP-address.

Does anyone know what is happening here? I've assumed that My Workspace runs in the cloud in a practically identical fashion to app workspaces, including location / timezone, but apparently that is not true. It seems that My Workspace is getting the location setting "correctly" and app workspace uses UTC, but where does each of them get their location from, and how can they be "synced"?

I really wish improving timezone handling was made a priority for PowerBI development. Dealing with timezones is tough enough at the backend without having to solve a whole new set of issues when reporting, and I can't be the only one who keeps running into these issues with PBI.

[Flippered]

I am aware of the limitations in displaying localized times in PBI service, leading to a discrepancy between the service and PBI Desktop, but I just noticed that the same report uploaded to My Workspace, which I was using for staging, and a shared App Workspace also display different times. The report was published to each workspace from the same .pbix file, minutes apart, and each was opened with the same device / browser / IP-address.

Does anyone know what is happening here? I've assumed that My Workspace runs in the cloud in a practically identical fashion to app workspaces, including location / timezone, but apparently that is not true. It seems that My Workspace is getting the location setting "correctly" and app workspace uses UTC, but where does each of them get their data from, and how can they be "synced"?

I really wish improving timezone handling was made a priority for PowerBI development. Dealing with timezones is tough enough at the backend without having to solve a whole new set of issues when reporting, and I can't be the only one who keeps running into these issues with PBI.

[Anonymous]

HI @Flippered,

Please take a look at below KB which told about time issue on power bi service.(current power bi service only support UTC format)

Time in PBI Service is inconsistent with the local time (non-UTC time) displayed in PBI Desktop

In my opinion, I'd like to suggest you use UTCNOW function to get local UTC time to handle time calculation.

Power BI Desktop February Feature Summary

Regards,
Xiaoxin Sheng

[Flippered]

Thank you for your response.

I am aware that PBI service supports uses UTC time and the inconsistency this creates with PBI Desktop. What I'm confused about is an inconsistency between times displayed in identical reports published to "My Workspace" and an app workspace. One seems to adjust DateTimeZone-typed times to display them in UTC, the other doesn't. While this isn't a critical problem in itself, I've implemented workarounds for this several times, it makes using "My Workspace" as a staging environment risky. Again, this isn't necessarily a problem as I can create a separate app workspace for staging, but it would be good to understand what is happening and how "My Workspace" differs from app workspaces.

[Anonymous]

@Flippered 

Did you ever find an understanding of the inconsistency between My Workspace and App Workspaces?

Or even better, a solution to make App Workspaces have the same settings as My Workspace?

I am facing the same issue and a description of this would be highly appreciated. 

[Anonymous]

HI @Flippered,

I also not sure why this issue appears(I can't repro this), maybe you can open a ticket  or direct contact to power bi team to ensure this.

submit a support ticket

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng