Power BI Deployment Pipeline issue: Semantic model displays no data when deployed to Test

[andrew_k]

Hi All

I have created a brand new basic Power BI report which uses one xlsx file as it's data source.
It has 1 page and a couple of basic bar charts.

• I created 3 new workspaces (premium capacity) in Power BI service named dev, test and prod.
• I then created a development pipeline with 3 pipelines (dev, test and prod) and assigned my workspaces to each pipeline.
• In Power BI desktop, I published my report to the dev environment.

All good so far but the next step is when I get the problem.

• I go to my development pipeline screen and deploy my report and semantic model from dev to test.
• A Power BI message appears that the deployment was successful. Big green tick.
• But when I go to the Test workspace and open the report, the data is blank. Nothing. Completely empty! Semantic model has no data.

I have watched several YouTube videos and tutorials and it all looks so simple and I followed all steps.

If anyone has any ideas what could be the problem or what additional steps need to be taken when you deploy items through pipelines then please let me know?

I was under the impression that post deployment, the semantic model would just be a straight copy from the pipeline it came from and no further action was needed.

For information:
I am doing this all as a test to understand how pipelines work. So I can use the same data source for now.
The xlsx file is on my local machine.
I do have a personal data gateway installed.
I'm using the latest November release of Power BI Desktop.
I've not done any additional steps other than those above.
My report contains no Dax. Just a simple excel file.

Many thanks in advance
Andrew

[v-jtian-msft]

Hello, blopez11 ,thanks for your concern about this issue.

Your answer is excellent!
And I would like to share some additional solutions below.

Hi,@andrew_k .I am glad to help you.
I agree with the suggestion made by blopez11 that the deployment process replicates the metadata of reports, datasets and dashboards. This means that the semantic model and report structure will be replicated, but the actual data will not be automatically replicated, so in order to ensure that the replicated report displays the data correctly, you will need to refresh the semantic model that it relies on to ensure that the actual data is updated. (Make sure the gateway connection and data source credentials are set up correctly.)

URL:
The Microsoft Fabric deployment pipelines process - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
 

I hope my suggestions give you good ideas, if you have any more questions, please clarify in a follow-up reply.
Best Regards,
Carson Jian

[andrew_k]

Many thanks for your response @v-jtian-msft . I was under the impression that when you deploy the semantic model, then the data would also get copied across. 
I have now deployed, refreshed the credentials in the data gateway and then refreshed the data.

It all worked although it was interesting that when I checked the semantic model immediately after the data refresh, I could see in PBI Service that the data had correctly refreshed.

However, when I opened my report immendiately after I checked the semantic model, I found that the new data wasn't visible in the report right away. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to show up and I need to close/re-open it a few times. Perhaps this  is normal/expected behaviour? I just though it was odd especially as my report is very basic (700 rows data and 2 simple bar charts).

Andrew

[blopez11 · Accepted solution]

Deploying only updates the meta data of the semantic model, and not the data.  You will need to refresh the semantic model in the test environment to pull in the data.  Please see the following:

Microsoft Power BI