REST API GetUnusedArtifactsAsAdmin change / bug?

[Trish_Rye]

Hello,

We are using this REAST API: GetUnusedArtifactsAsAdmin (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/admin/groups-get-unused-artifacts-as-admin) for getting unused datasets.

We have witnessed a sudden drop between the numbers we obtained in April (around 6000 datasets) and the end of May (around 100). We didn't conduct any cleanup in the meantime and our ps script didn't change, they don't throw any errors either. Has any of you experienced a similar problem? Do you know if something was changed in the REST API? Maybe criteria? I believe unused was 'not refreshed, not even with a failure' and 'not queried". Or maybe there is a bug, like problems with storing / collecting data by MS on the usage of datasets? I haven't found anything on the subject of this REST API in Power BI blog.

Unfortunately this REST API  been in preview status for a few years now.

If it wasn't a problem with rest api, maybe you have an idea what could have happened with data? Or how we could try checking it.

Thank you in advance or your help

[v-saisrao-msft]

Hi @Trish_Rye,

Could you please confirm if the issue was resolved after raising a support case? If so, we’d appreciate it if you could share the solution to help others in the community. As we haven’t heard back, we’re closing this thread. For any further issues, please raise a new thread in the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum — we’ll be happy to assist.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

[v-saisrao-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Trish_Rye,

Thank you @tharunkumarRTK @rohit1991 @BhavinVyas3003, for you valuable insights.

Please raise a support ticket so that the backend engineer can assist you in rectifying the issue. Below is the link to raise the support ticket:
How to create a Fabric and Power BI Support ticket - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Thank you.

[tharunkumarRTK]

@Trish_Rye 

API documentation does not indicate any change, Not sure if Microsoft has done any change from their end. 

As @rohit1991 suggested, you can log a microsoft support ticket and get help from them.

Meanwhile if you want to investigate on your own, I would suggest you to extract the audit events of last 30 days

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/admin/get-activity-events

and then check if there any activities which could be the reason for this 

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[rohit1991]

Hi @Trish_Rye ,
what you're experiencing is likely related to backend changes or telemetry adjustments within Microsoft’s service. Since the GetUnusedArtifactsAsAdmin REST API is still in preview, Microsoft may modify the underlying logic or data sources without publicly announcing these changes.

A sudden drop from around 6000 to 100 unused datasets suggests that either the criteria for determining "unused" datasets have been refined—possibly considering additional signals like recent queries, service health pings, or refresh attempts—or there may be temporary inconsistencies in the usage telemetry that the API depends on. Given that your scripts and environment have remained unchanged, it's unlikely the issue originates on your side. Unfortunately, since the API relies on internal service data that isn't fully exposed, it's challenging to troubleshoot independently.

I recommend opening a Microsoft Fabric support ticket to check if any recent updates have impacted the API behavior. Additionally, you could manually validate a few datasets by reviewing their refresh history, audit logs, or activity logs to better understand which datasets are being excluded and why. Hopefully, as the API matures toward general availability, Microsoft will offer more transparency and stability.

[BhavinVyas3003]

• • Check Dataset Refresh History:
    Use REST API or Power BI portal to see recent refreshes for those datasets.
  • Review Query Activity Logs:
    Audit logs or usage metrics can help detect if datasets were accessed.
  • Verify Workspace Membership & Permissions:
    Confirm that the admin account running the API has visibility on all relevant workspaces/datasets.
  • Use Power BI Audit Logs (via Microsoft 365 Compliance):
    Query activity for datasets to see if there were recent queries not reflected in the API.
  • Run the API on Smaller Scopes:
    Try with a specific workspace or dataset group to isolate where data changes occur.