How to track which dataflows are not used

Currently, there isn't a built-in report or a single API that directly identifies unused Dataflow Gen1s (i.e., dataflows with no downstream dependencies) across a tenant or workspace.

However, you can use a combination of the following approaches:

• Lineage View provides the most accurate dependency visualization, but as you mentioned, it doesn't scale well for a large number of dataflows.

• Power BI REST APIs (such as Get Dataflows, Get Datasets, and Get Datasources) can be used to inventory your dataflows and downstream artifacts. You can then correlate this information to identify dataflows that aren't referenced by any semantic models or other supported artifacts.

• If your organization uses the Power BI Scanner APIs (Metadata Scanning), these APIs provide tenant-wide metadata and lineage information that can be used to build a governance report highlighting orphaned or potentially unused dataflows.

• Additionally, reviewing refresh history alongside dependency information can help identify dataflows that continue to consume capacity despite having no active downstream consumers.

For governance at scale, many organizations build a custom inventory report using the Scanner APIs and REST APIs to periodically identify:

• Dataflows with no downstream dependencies.

• Dataflows that haven't been accessed recently.

• Dataflows with frequent refreshes but no business usage.

• Candidates for retirement to optimize capacity consumption.

For more details, see:

• Power BI Scanner APIs: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/admin/metadata-scanning-overview

• Power BI REST APIs: https://learn.microsoft.com/rest/api/power-bi/

• Lineage in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-data-lineage

💡 Helpful? Give a Kudos 👍 — keep the community growing.

✅ Solved your issue? Mark this as the Accepted Solution ✔️

Best regards, Prince Singh | Data Science & Microsoft Fabric Enthusiast