Report refreshing problem

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

I have a report published on Power BI Service and I can't understand why the same report with the same amount of data can take a different time to refresh. 
In the screenshot below you can see how on 05/02/2024 it took less than 3 hours to refresh while a couple of days before it took almost 4 hours.

The latest refresh failed: 

Is there any explanation and is there anything I can do to improve the performance and speed up the refresh? 

Thank you!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

Here are some common reasons for the differences in refresh times:

1. Server Load: Power BI Service operates in a multi-tenant cloud environment. The load on Microsoft's servers at the time of your refresh can affect performance. If many refresh operations are happening simultaneously, it might slow down the process.
   
   

2. Data Source Performance: The performance of the underlying data sources can vary. If your report pulls data from external databases or web services, any changes in their response times will impact your refresh times. Maintenance, network issues, or high query loads on these sources can cause fluctuations.
   
   

3. Data Complexity and Transformations: The complexity of the data model and the transformations applied in Power Query can influence refresh times. Even subtle changes in data patterns can impact the efficiency of these transformations.
   
   

4. Network Latency: Variations in network latency can also play a role, especially if your data sources are located in different regions or if there's increased internet traffic.
   
   

5. Service Updates: Microsoft frequently updates Power BI Service, which can include performance improvements or changes that might affect refresh times. Occasionally, these updates could lead to variations in processing efficiency.

To address and potentially reduce variability in refresh times, consider the following approaches:

• Monitor and Optimize Queries: Use Query Diagnostics in Power BI Desktop to identify slow-performing queries and optimize them.
• Schedule Refreshes During Off-Peak Hours: Try to schedule refreshes during times when server load and network traffic are likely to be lower.
• Review and Optimize Data Model: Simplify your data model and reduce the complexity of calculations and transformations where possible.
• Incremental Refresh: If applicable, use Power BI's incremental refresh policies to limit the amount of data being processed during each refresh.

Best Regards,

Jayleny

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[aj1973]

Hi @Anonymous 

That's one exemple about Workspace in a shared capacity is about vs premium capacity. So the differences in time refresh could be explained by CU availabilty at that point of time, Internet connection, Server bandwidth, and also the semantic model(Relationships, DAX, Modeling...)

Yes there are always things that you can improve in the semantic model to improve performance and when all tunnings possible have been exhausted then upgrade the workspace to premium capacity is a must.