PBI Service Refresh Fail but Works on Desktop

[tyw214]

Hello All,

We have several critical reports that works completely fine on PBI Desktop. They refresh in about 1-2 minutes. But once uploaded to PBI Service and we do an on-demand refresh it takes very long time, and eventually fails.

The data sources consists of SalesForce objects (using PBI's object connector), and they are joined several tiems using PBI's native join merge query function. We at first thought it's a performance issue, so we did some optimzation, and the Desktop refresh takes just about 1-2minutes. But once uploaded to the PBI's service, it chokes on these join tables. Any ideas?

Edit: It's using an On-premise Gateway (Personal mode) it's querrying some resources that's only configured on the personal gateway. Does the computer hosting the gateway affect the performance in anyway? Although I believe SF sources do not need gateways.

[ReportGuru]

Hi @tyw214 As a workaround, maybe you can try to test your connection with a 3rd party connector. I've tried windsor.ai, supermetrics and funnel.io. I stayed with windsor because it is much cheaper so just to let you know other options. In case you wonder, to make the connection first search for the Salesforce connector in the data sources list:

After that, just grant access to your Salesforce account using your credentials, then on preview and destination page you will see a preview of your Salesforce fields:

There just select the fields you need. It is also compatible with custom fields and custom objects, so you'll be able to export them through windsor.  Finally, just select PBI as your data destination and finally just copy and paste the url on PBI --> Get Data --> Web --> Paste the url. 

[GilbertQ]

Hi there

I would suggest that you migrate from the Personal gateway to the Enterprise Gateway, and have it installed on a dedicated PC/Server.

The reason being is that when you start a data refresh it will do all the Power Query Functions on the PC/Server where the Gateway is running on. So if you have it on a shared or local PC it could take a long time due to having to compete for resources.

Along with that if you are merging tables, this will happen through the Power Query Editor, which will require the gateway to complete those actions.