Download report (Preview) is converting .pbix file to a Live Connection Instead of PBI Service

[alexhauge6]

Hello All,

I am in the process of migrating some reports to a new tennant. For this process, I was intending on downloading the .pbix files from the original tenant/workspace, logging into the new tenant's Power BI service through Power BI Desktop, and switching the connection to the new tenant's data model, which is hosted on the new tenant's Power BI service.  As a note, the data models are identical so it should be a seamless swap.

The issue that I am now facing is that as I try to download the .pbix file, it is automatically switching the indiviual reports to "Live Connection" mode directly to my Azure Analysis Services instance despite the fact that the reports are actually connected to an intermediary "data model" that acts as the bridge between Azure Analysis Services and Power BI.  This results in a 1:1 creation of data models to reports, which is not the desired result.  We want all reports to point to the single "data model" file hosted on the Power BI service.  

Here is what I am seeing:

In this screenshot, you can see that the "Company Drill-down Report" is connected to the "[REDACTED] Tabular" data source hosted on the Power BI service.

Here you can see after downloading the .pbix file, it is directly connecting the report to Azure Analysis Services, which is not the desired or proper behavior.

Has anyone else seen this behavior?  My current work around is to use a PowerShell script to rebind the report to the Power BI Service hosted data model file, but I really shouldn't have to do that.  I have not had to do this historically while doing similar tasks in the past.  Since I am migrating a large number of reports, this becomes a very cumbersome process.

Thanks,

Alex

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi there

This is as far as I have seen how it is currently designed.

When you download a PBIX it goes back to the source when using a LiveConnection when the underlying source is AAS.

I think the way you are currently doing it is one way of doing it.

Another way is to upload one file which will become your dataset in your new tenant.

Then using the tool below from PowerBI.Tips you can then rebind the connection without having to use the rebind API. When using the tool you will then open the PBIX again and connect to the uploaded dataset in your new tenant

https://powerbi.tips/2020/08/hot-swap-report-connections-external-tools/

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi there

This is as far as I have seen how it is currently designed.

When you download a PBIX it goes back to the source when using a LiveConnection when the underlying source is AAS.

I think the way you are currently doing it is one way of doing it.

Another way is to upload one file which will become your dataset in your new tenant.

Then using the tool below from PowerBI.Tips you can then rebind the connection without having to use the rebind API. When using the tool you will then open the PBIX again and connect to the uploaded dataset in your new tenant

https://powerbi.tips/2020/08/hot-swap-report-connections-external-tools/

[alexhauge6 · Accepted solution]

Thank you both for taking a look and responding!

This current design surprises me and feels like it is a step backwards from what was available previously.  Due to the creation of numerous data sources, it makes it very difficult to have a goal of getting to "one source of the truth" in Power BI reports without having to use PowerShell or another tool.

For now I will continue using my PowerShell script as it is currently suiting my purpose, but would really love for Microsoft to either revert back to the way it was (keeping .pbix files connected to a Power BI service hosted data source) or at least giving Power BI Administrators the ability to choose how this is handled.

Thanks again for looking into this!

Alex

[GilbertQ]

Thanks for letting us know.

[Greg_Deckler]

@alexhauge6 I have not but that is extremely interesting. You could check the Issues forum here:

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Issues/idb-p/Issues

And if it is not there, then you could post it.

If you have Pro account you could try to open a support ticket. If you have a Pro account it is free. Go to https://support.powerbi.com. Scroll down and click "CREATE SUPPORT TICKET".