Scheduled refresh for multiple reports with same source

[JoepKamps]

Hi all,

If I would have multiple online Power BI reports that use the exact same data source (tables from a SQL Server database) and which are scheduled to refresh at the exact same times, does the refreshing of these reports take place in parralel or in series (queued)? In particular, does the refresh of the second report only starts after the refresh of the first report was completely finished (and refreshing the third report only after the second was finished and so forth)?

Many thanks!

[v-jayw-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @JoepKamps ,

First things first, data refresh is based on dataset not report. Second, schedule refresh for different datasets has different refresh processes no matter if the datasets have same source. So the question should be whether two datasets will refresh at the same time.

As far as I know, the datasets will be refreshed one by one randomly, and the gateway will work twice, thought they are set in the same schedule refresh time. 

And from the Microsoft Official document https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refresh-data#setting-a-refresh-schedule , we know:

>>Note also that the configured refresh time might not be the exact time when Power BI starts the next scheduled process. Power BI starts scheduled refreshes on a best effort basis. The target is to initiate the refresh within 15 minutes of the scheduled time slot, but a delay of up to one hour can occur if the service can't allocate the required resources sooner.

Best Regards,

Jay

Community Support Team _ Jay Wang

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[AilleryO]

Hi,

It will depends on how you build your reports...

If you create first a dataset, and build all your reports based on this same dataset... All reports will be refreshed simultaneously since it's the dataset that is refreshed (not the report itself, but the report is based on the dataset, so the content of the report is updated).

If you want your report to be refreshed in a specific order (sorting), maybe you should set different automatic refresh and diffrent dataset...

Hope this help... Let us know

Olivier

[JoepKamps]

Hi Olivier,

In my case, these reports do NOT use the same dataset on powerbi.com. They all have their own dataset, though the underlying source is the same. Bottom line: multiple datasets are refreshed at the same time and they depend on the same source. Will this invoke a queue for refreshing these datasets?

Thanks!