Forum Discussion
Semantic model refresh failure notification across tenant
Hi
Currently, when a semantic model scheduled refresh fails, it sends an email notification to the user/ users mentioned in the refresh settings of that model.
We have more than 100 data models.
Is there a way to notify certain important users via email, whenever any data model fails across the tenant?
We do not want the hassle of changing the individual refresh settings of each semantic model.
I've heard that this is not possible within PowerBI service and that we have to use Power Automate.
Any help is appreciated.
Hi balafbm ,
No, there isn’t a built-in tenant-wide refresh-failure alert in the Power BI service that automatically notifies a central set of users. To achieve this at scale (100+ datasets), you’d typically use Power Automate (Flow) or a custom script that polls the Power BI REST API and notifies a distribution list when any dataset fails.
Recommended approach: Power Automate flow (tenant-wide monitoring) What you’ll do
Create a service account (or use a service principal/App registration with appropriate permissions) that can read all workspaces and datasets.
Build a Flow that runs on a schedule and checks refresh history for all datasets in all workspaces.
If any dataset has a failed refresh in the recent window, email a distribution list (or post to Teams) with details.
Suggested flow outlineTrigger: Recurrence (e.g., every 60 minutes)
Action: List Groups (Power BI) to get all workspaces the account has access to
For each Group:
Action: List Datasets (Power BI) to enumerate datasets in that workspace
For each Dataset:
Action: Get Dataset Refresh History (Power BI) and look at the most recent refreshes
If the latest refresh (or any within the window) has Status = Failed:
Collect details: workspace name, dataset name, refresh start time, failure reason (if available)
If any failures were found:
Action: Send an email (Outlook/Office 365) to your important recipients with a compiled list of failing datasets
Optional: Persist a small log (e.g., in SharePoint, Dataverse, or a blob) to avoid sending duplicates for the same failure windowPlease mark this post as solution if it helps you. Appreciate Kudos.
7 Replies
Hi balafbm ,
No, there isn’t a built-in tenant-wide refresh-failure alert in the Power BI service that automatically notifies a central set of users. To achieve this at scale (100+ datasets), you’d typically use Power Automate (Flow) or a custom script that polls the Power BI REST API and notifies a distribution list when any dataset fails.
Recommended approach: Power Automate flow (tenant-wide monitoring) What you’ll do
Create a service account (or use a service principal/App registration with appropriate permissions) that can read all workspaces and datasets.
Build a Flow that runs on a schedule and checks refresh history for all datasets in all workspaces.
If any dataset has a failed refresh in the recent window, email a distribution list (or post to Teams) with details.
Suggested flow outlineTrigger: Recurrence (e.g., every 60 minutes)
Action: List Groups (Power BI) to get all workspaces the account has access to
For each Group:
Action: List Datasets (Power BI) to enumerate datasets in that workspace
For each Dataset:
Action: Get Dataset Refresh History (Power BI) and look at the most recent refreshes
If the latest refresh (or any within the window) has Status = Failed:
Collect details: workspace name, dataset name, refresh start time, failure reason (if available)
If any failures were found:
Action: Send an email (Outlook/Office 365) to your important recipients with a compiled list of failing datasets
Optional: Persist a small log (e.g., in SharePoint, Dataverse, or a blob) to avoid sending duplicates for the same failure windowPlease mark this post as solution if it helps you. Appreciate Kudos.
Hi, I don't see any action called Get Dataset Refresh History. Has this been deprecated?
Hello balafbm ,
No, there is no native centralised solution.
Either you do what you don't want to do 🙂 and for all new semantic models, you put that in a procedure to add yourself as a person to be notified.
You also have the ‘Refresh Summary’ screen in the admin portal, but it's up to you to monitor it, as you won't receive any notifications.
Otherwise, you'll need to use the PowerBI Rest API with PowerShell / Azure Function or Power Automate.
Please feel free to give me a kudo and accept my answer as the solution if it suits you.
Have a nice day,
VivienHi balafbm,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum. You are right its not possible and also as already mentioned by FarhanJeelani and vivien57there’s no built-in way in the Power BI Service to centrally send email alerts to a chosen list of people whenever any semantic model (dataset) refresh fails across the tenant. The practical way to solve this without editing every model one-by-one is to implement a small monitoring job that uses the Power BI REST API to detect failed refreshes and then notifies the important users (via email / distribution list).
I would also take a moment to thank FarhanJeelani and vivien57, for actively participating in the community forum and for the solutions you’ve been sharing in the community forum. Your contributions make a real difference.
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.
Best Regards,
Hammad.Hi balafbm,
As we haven’t heard back from you, so just following up to our previous message. I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help.
If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround so that other users can benefit as well. And if you're still looking for guidance, feel free to give us an update, we’re here for you.
Best Regards,
Hammad.
