Alerts option not available

[bcincy99]

I have created multiple reports with single KPI visuals using direct query from Azure Sql to report on counts of items for the current month.  I've tried multiple scenarios and after pinning the KPIs to a dashboard, the alerts option is never available in the elipsis menu.  How do I make alerts available?

[captnchris]

Question to bcincy99: Did you pin the visual via its own pin on mouse over visual or via the ellipsis (...) found in the File toolbar right of Edit?

[vanessafvg]

@bcincy99 did you ever find a resolve to this issue?

[d_gosbell]

If you search for Data Alerts on this page https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/report-server/compare-report-server-service you will see that they are not currently available on Power BI Report Server, just on the Power BI Service.

[bcincy99]

That page also says Dashboards are not available which I do have.  I login to powerbi.microsoft.com to access my Power BI reports and dashboards that I have created with Power BI Desktop.  Does that mean I have the Power BI Service?  I was guessing when I picked Report Server because I don't know how to tell which one I have.

[d_gosbell]

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@bcincy99 wrote:

I login to powerbi.microsoft.com to access my Power BI reports and dashboards that I have created with Power BI Desktop.  Does that mean I have the Power BI Service? 

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Yes, that means you have the "Service". The "Power BI Report Server" is a on-premise version that an IT department can install on a local server on your network, but there are a lot of feature that it does not support like Dashboards and Alerts. There is a forum here specifically for the "service" where they may be able to help more. We are currently using Power BI Report Server at work as our IT dept are still working on our "Cloud Strategy".

However when I made a KPI chart with some dummy data and pinned it to a dashboard I could see the manage alerts options.

On this page https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-set-data-alerts it says:

You can set alerts on tiles if you have a Power BI Pro license, or if a dashboard has been shared with you from a Premium capacity. Alerts can only be set on tiles pinned from report visuals, and only on gauges, KPIs and cards. Alerts can be set on visuals created from streaming datasets that have been pinned from a report to a dashboard, but cannot be set on streaming tiles created directly on the dashboard using Add tile > Custom streaming data.

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Are you logged in with an account that has a Power BI Pro license? And are you using the built-in KPI visual (ie. not a 3rd party custom KPI visual)?

[bcincy99]

Yes, I have a Power BI Pro license and yes, I created a KPI from the Power BI Desktop, published it, then went into it on the website and pinned it to a dashboard tile.  I've created multiple KPIs and cannot get the alerts to appear.  Does the data source matter?  I'm using Direct Query datasets using Azure Sql. 

[d_gosbell]

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@bcincy99 wrote:

 Does the data source matter?  I'm using Direct Query datasets using Azure Sql. 

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Yes it does, the documentation I linked previously says that alerts are only supported on data sets that are refreshed. (the alerts are evaluated after the refresh). This could be your issue as Direct Query models are not refreshed by the Power BI service.

[bcincy99]

Are Import datasets refreshed?  Wondering if I should change my KPI query to use this instead.

[d_gosbell]

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@bcincy99 wrote:

Are Import datasets refreshed?  Wondering if I should change my KPI query to use this instead.

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They are if you configure a scheduled refresh. Basically it sounds like the alert threshold would be checked each time the scheduled refresh runs.

[bcincy99]

Hmmm...changed my KPI to use an Import instead of direct query, published it, added a scheduled refresh, pinned to my dashboard, and still no alerts option in the elipsis menu.

[d_gosbell]

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@bcincy99 wrote:

Hmmm...changed my KPI to use an Import instead of direct query, published it, added a scheduled refresh, pinned to my dashboard, and still no alerts option in the elipsis menu.

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Sorry, I don't know why that would be. I did the same thing on my test tenant (as we are using the on-prem Report Server at work which does not support alerts) And I get the alerts option from my dashboard tile even before I setup the refresh schedule (the alert would just never get triggered if the data set is not refreshed)

Maybe try asking on the service forum here or raising a support ticket off the Power BI page.