Viewer Role Cannot Access Cross-Workspace Semantic Model-Based Reports

Hi Zhongyuan ,

Yes, there is official documentation related to this behavior. In Power BI, when using cross-workspace models (semantic models from one workspace in a report published to another), the Viewer role has limitations. Specifically, viewers can only view reports and dashboards that are fully within the workspace they have access to. If a report includes visuals based on semantic models or datasets from another workspace, users must have at least Build or Contributor permissions for the dataset or model in the external workspace to access those visuals.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points:

1. Viewer Role Restrictions: The Viewer role only provides access to the report itself, not the underlying datasets or models. For users to access visuals tied to a model from another workspace, they need to have sufficient permissions on that model, such as Build or Contributor permissions in the source workspace.

2. Cross-Workspace Access: For cross-workspace access, the user’s permissions in the source workspace (Workspace B, in this case) need to allow for model usage. When the user does not have the necessary permissions, they encounter errors because they can't retrieve the data from the external model.

For official documentation, you can refer to:

• Dataset permissions: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-datasets-manage-access-permissions
• Accessing models in different workspaces:https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-roles-new-workspaces

Essentially, for cross-workspace semantic model-based reports, Viewers in the destination workspace need to have appropriate permissions on the dataset in the source workspace.

Please accept this as solution if it helps. Appreciate Kudos.