Performance problems - XML for Analysis request timed out

[mifi]

I have a matrix, let's call it Matrix-A, in my report showing a few, quite complex, measures per customer. It was never fast, but it worked.

I recently made som changes to the report, on other pages than the one described above, with august version of powerbi desktop. I did not change any of the measures referenced in Matrix-A.

Once published in a test workspace I noticed that Matrix-A started to timeout with the error "The XML for Analysis request timed out before it was completed". It couldn't render the matrix.

After that I tried a lot of things but couldn't get it working again without removing a few measures.

Today I downloaded the previous version of the report (which is still working in power bi service), saved it with september version of power bi desktop without changing anything. Published it again under a new name, and now that report also gets the timeout.

To verify I downloaded the previous version again under a new name. Opened it with september version of power bi desktop, changed nothing and published it without saving, and that one still works in power bi service.

That leads me to believe that something has changed with power bi desktop that affects how the reports perform in power bi service. Has anyone else experienced this?

[v-shex-msft]

Hi @mifi,

You can take a look at the feature summary blog of power bi to confirm if they add new timeout properties of dax expression calculate.

Power BI September 2020 Feature Summary 

In addition, maybe you can try to optimization the DAX expressions and try again to confirm if this fixed the issues.

Optimization guide for Power BI 

DAX optimization examples 

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

[mifi]

Hi @v-shex-msft Thank you for the links.

I might be able to do some optimizations but what I find very strange here is that the reports works differently depending on what version of Power BI Desktop it was saved with.

* Saved and published with september version of Power BI Desktop without any actual changes made = doesn't work, timeout at about 2 minutes.

* Published through, but not saved with, september version = works, gives response within 20 seconds

[v-shex-msft]

Hi @mifi,

It sounds interesting, perhaps you can try to contact to power bi team with your sample file to help them to confirm if any internal properties/options changes that cause the issue. (e.g. add some timeout check or maximum timeout on formula calculations)

submit a support ticket

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng