Looking to connect with teams using Power BI for self-service reporting and insights
I lead product management for HR dashboards at a large organization, and we're migrating our self-service analytics reporting to Power BI. I have 13+ years in People Analytics, mostly on other BI platforms, so I'm looking to learn from teams already doing this well. I'd love to hear from HR or other functional leaders leaders who use Power BI for end-user self-service. In particular: Dashboard design: What does a great dashboard look like in Power BI? What are the art of the possibilities? Any examples or design patterns you'd recommend? Adoption and enablement: What training and support materials worked best for non-technical end users (for example, filtering, slicers, bookmarks, and exporting)? Governance: How do you manage workspaces and apps, and handle row-level security for sensitive HR data? Lessons learned: What would you do differently if you were migrating again? I'd also welcome a short conversation or demo with anyone willing to share how their team uses Power BI. Please reply here or message me directly. Thanks Natalie
Power BI Service Refresh Fails with DataFormat. Error 10942 - Desktop Refresh Works.
Hi Everyone, I need help troubleshooting a persistent Power BI Service refresh issue. I have spent considerable time debugging it using Copilot, AI assistance, YouTube tutorials, and community suggestions, but the issue remains unresolved. 1. Issue and Error My Power BI report refreshes successfully in Power BI Desktop, usually within 7–15 minutes, but every refresh fails in Power BI Service. Exact error: DataFormat.Error: We were unable to load this Excel file because we couldn't understand its format. File contains corrupted data. Microsoft.Data.Mashup.ErrorCode = 10942. The error appears while processing the semantic model. 2. Data Source and Dashboard Logic Data source: SharePoint folder using SharePoint.Files() in Power Query. SharePoint contains approximately 900 MB+ of data and hundreds of files. Files are spread across five folders, containing Excel and CSV files. Power Query filters files by folder path, imports Excel workbooks using Excel.Workbook(), promotes headers, changes data types, and combines files using the Combine Files / Transform Sample File mechanism. Multiple queries depend on a common BASE SOURCE query. These queries process different datasets, including MAIN, PROFILES, LOGIN, BREAK, QC, ABANDON, and other reporting datasets. The processed data is used in my VKYC Daily Reporting Dashboard. 3. Troubleshooting Already Done I have already tried: Re-authenticating SharePoint and Power BI Service data-source credentials. Checking file extensions, file formats, column names, data types, and historical schema differences. Standardising the historical ACHT column and newer TaskID column to TaskID. Checking for desktop.ini and other unexpected files. Reviewing Power Query dependencies and the Transform File / Transform Sample File helper queries. Testing try...otherwise logic and adjusting Excel sheet navigation. Checking queries individually. The MAIN query was the first to show an error during one Desktop debugging attempt; other queries failed because of dependencies. Creating a separate test PBIX and rebuilding the Combine Files logic, then publishing it to Service. The test PBIX also refreshes in Desktop but fails in Service with the same error. I have also checked the SharePoint file metadata, but I still cannot identify the exact file causing the problem. 4. Help Needed Could someone please suggest a reliable way to: Identify the exact Excel file causing DataFormat.Error 10942 during Power BI Service refresh? Log the file name and folder path of files that fail when Excel.Workbook() processes them? Diagnose why Service fails while Desktop refresh succeeds? Test or isolate problematic files without manually opening hundreds of files or rebuilding the entire dashboard? Use Power Query M code or another diagnostic method to capture the failing file and error details? I would particularly appreciate a practical, step-by-step solution or sample M code that can help identify the exact failing file. I have already tried multiple troubleshooting approaches and would really appreciate expert guidance. Thank you!
Get Bottom N from "Middle" of Data
Hello Power BI/DAX gurus, DAX has this RANKX function that basically do the ranking. For Top N, since data is going to take from the top of the data, measure was able to populate correctly. The issue that I want is to take Bottom N from the "middle" of the visual data. Above screenshot made up of 2 tables. The LEFT table shows the values of LOB for each period, whereas the RIGHT table shows the SUM of periods by LOB. Using the above screenshot, we can see the if user were to put value '5' on parameter [N value], with the slicer [Top/Bottom] value as 'TOP' the LOBs are 1002, 1005, 1008, 1011 and 1010. However, what I desire to have Bottom 5 (assume parameter [N value] is 5 and slicer [Top/Bottom] value is selected as 'Bottom'), is not from the very bottom, but from the "middle" which in this case, are LOBs 1017, 1003, 1007, 1015 and 1010. Some of you may have notice that LOB 1010 appears twice may it be TOP or BOTTOM. What would be the DAX formula to return ONLY the N value (i.e. 5 or 7 etc) of LOBs of Top/Bottom selection? In other words, I do not want to see lists of LOBs. But only Top or Bottom 5 LOBs of interest (assume user input 5 on [N value] parameter) The Logic that I have here is: For each LOB, if there is at least $5k in of the periods, this is the LOB of interest. In other words, even if all periods are blank/0 but have $5k in one of the period, this LOB should be of interest (this should result the green highlight as screenshot above - showing 'True' on measure [ListOfLOB_AtLeast_5k_onEachPeriod_IGNORING_Total]. This is the subset of data that we'd need for sorting later) After determining the LOB of interest, Sort the subset from 1,2,3, ... , to UpperValue based on the SUM of Periods (in other words Total or GrandTotal as showin measure [Salary Paid by LOB v3]) If 'Top' is selected, then Total should be sorted in DESC and if 'Bottom' is selected, then Total should be sorted in ASC order from the subset. After determining and able to spit top/bottom N of the LOBs of interest based on parameter [N value], I'd then bring in other measures to create line charts - which I have successfully able to create these measures but for all LOBs. In fact, one of the measure is [Salary Paid by LOB v3] PBIX Sample File I have attached the sample pbix file that resembles the original data with relationship. Thank you in advanced for your help
Service Principal Account Set-up (next steps)
Until now, I have maintained my organisations PowerBI reporting with pbix files saved in a directory. This has obvious risks, the most obvious one for us is if I was away and the report failed to refresh at month end, no body would be able to manually refresh them in my absence. I have just been told that the Service Principal account has been set-up and that I need to transfer ownership of my reports to it. I believe that 3 people will have access to this account and so, if I am absent, they will be able to maintain the reports. Can anyone provide some clear and easy to follow steps on what to do next please?Color Theme change when dimension selection is changed.
Dear All, I created a field parameter to allow dynamic switching of the dimension across different charts. However, when the dimension is changed, the color theme also changes, which is not the expected behavior. Interestingly, this issue only happens with measures that use dynamic formatting. Please help. Many Thx. Best Regards, Duncan
Filtering data is sometimes incorrect in the new Dynamic Text method
I am trying to make a dynamic text to show the Net Sales Amount of the brand with the highest net sales. I was able to do this using the old method of typing text and having Power BI try and make sense of what I want. Now, with the new method with filters, I can't get it to work properly any more. See attached Screenshot 1 to see the mismatc. For the Dynamic Text itself, I have tried setting the filter to be the top 1 Brand by Net Sales. The parameters I've set is in screenshot 2, basically making a basic Top 1 filter similar to the one I set on the Card visual. I have included the table to show the expected value. What's weird is I get the same erroneous value even if I filter directly for the highest selling brand in this specific filter set (see Screenshot 3). And actually, filtering directly by any brand does not provide the correct value. What is going on with this? The filtering only seems to fail in the text box.Replicating Excel Chart to Power BI
Hello Power BI Gurus, I have a chart that I created in MS Excel that people liked. I am trying to replicate the chart that I had made in MS Excel to Power BI. I am wondering if anyone of you could direct me to sources so that I can have the same (if not similar) result. The most important thing that I want are: 1. The Error Bars that shows as a "break horizontal line" on each period. Why I say break is that it doesn't connect from period to period. 2. A bar graph above/below the Error bar to show variance AND the color too - Green when it's above and Red when it's below 3. (if possible) a smooth line chart Thank youWhy Power BI Desktop Asking for Power BI Pro Licence?
Hello team, I am experiencing an issue with Power BI Destop that started recently. One of our user has been using Power BI Desktop to create reports and import data from sharepoint and this has been our normal practice without any issues. Howevr, when the user recently created a new Power BI report and attempted to import data from sharepoint the refresh failed with the following error: Has anyone experienced this error before? What is confusing is that; This is happening in Power BI Desktop not while publishing or sharing the report in Power BI Service The user has previously been able to import data from the same sharepoint enviroment The issue appered suddenly when creating a new report while he can still open, edit and updates the old reports The error specifically mentions upgradign to Power BI Pro even though the user is only trying to import the sharepoint data e.g. Excel or CVS file into Power BI Desktop.
How are teams handling AI-driven automation around Power BI Embedded applications?
I’m exploring patterns for adding AI-driven automation around Power BI Embedded applications. For example: Power BI Embedded → user interaction → backend/API event → AI analysis → business action I’m particularly interested in how teams are handling: event-driven actions from embedded reports calling backend APIs securely using AI to summarize or interpret report context triggering workflows based on report interactions authentication with service principals or managed identities keeping the architecture maintainable in production Are there recommended patterns for combining Power BI Embedded, Fabric APIs, and AI services without putting too much logic into the client application?Fabric Data Agent Access issue
I have created a fabric data agent using semantic model of a published report, It is working fine but I'm not able to share it with others I published the agent in M365 copilot and share with my teams of 100 people only 4 or 5 people can go to M365 copilot and search the agent and added the agent to their agent tab others are not even seeing the agent but if I share the agent link from M365 copilot then they see the agent but agent is not answering the questions but it's perfectly answering for me and other 4 to 5 people who see the agent when I surfed it said it said there are 2 level of access to get answer from the agent 1. agent level access 2. underlying data level access I have workspace contributor access for workspace, read, write, reshare permission for the agent. most of them share the same access but there are not able to see the only difference I found is I'm having premium per user license and most of other have pro license so I doubted it but internet says license is not an issue can anyone pls help me with this issue
