Anomaly Detection function is not returning possible explanations

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I am writing this question to draw your attention to the "Anomaly Detection" function for line charts.

Above in the screenshot, you may see I am getting a considerable number of anomalies. But unfortunately, there are no possible explanations to support this. This happening across all the anomaly data points. 

I have been actively following the Microsoft official document on this feature. Also, I am following the below-mentioned thread to understand the issue:

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Share-your-thoughts-on-the-new-Anomaly-detection-feature-pr... 

But none seems to accurately pinpoint for what kind of data does it return the explanations.

Details about my dataset:

Row count = 1196936

Column count = 11

Date = Weekly data(116 weeks)

Does anybody have any suggestions/solutions on how to solve this issue? Please share your thoughts on this.

Thanking you in advance.

[FrankTonsen]

Power BI Desktop is still producing this undocumented error. Very annoying. However, it does work and can be edited in the Service.

[zeeshan5k1]

I am facing an error

Possible explantions say "An error occurred while running the analysis"

can anyone help

[Conance-steven]

It appears to me this feature is currently bugged. it doesn't even return possible explanations from the sample file and dashboard which is referred to in the official documentation (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-anomaly-detection)

[v-robertq-msft]

Hi, @Anonymous 

According to your description, I think that only those field values that be placed into the “Explain by” have risen or fallen at the time when the data is abnormal can be explained as possible reasons.

What’s more, I think the preview stage can also be a reasonable reason for some small problems with this function. You can go to the case you posted to give some suggestions also.

You can also go to the Power BI Idea to submit a new idea so that people with the same idea can vote for you.

More info about Anomaly detection (preview)

Introduction to this function

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Robert Qin

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

[Anonymous]

Hi @vanessafvg, Thanks for sharing your views.

Ideally, if we don't add any fields in the "Explain by" section, the automatic field selection feature of this function searches across all the fields in the dataset. Otherwise, if we add specific fields, the algorithm running in the backend tries to restrict the explanations to only those fields.
In my case, adding some fields from the dataset is still not solving the issue. Below is the screenshot of the same.

[vanessafvg]

i dont know if i am stating the obvious but you dont have any fields in your explain by section?  the message it is giving you is to add more data ie context

[Steven-conance]

So I tested this again. In Power BI desktop, the demo dashoad Microsoft provided doesn't return any explanation. I get the ame error as @zeeshan5k1 "An error occurred while running the analysis".

This happends both the file is stored locally, as when it's stored in a sharepoint folder.

However in the Power BI service, it does return explanations.

I don't understand yet why, but it's good to know 🙂 

[zeeshan5k1]

This is the error i get