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Troubleshooting Microsoft Power BI connectivity

Connect docs via MCP

This guide helps you resolve common Microsoft Power BI connector issues including performance problems, connectivity errors, and configuration issues.

Incremental extraction runtimes aren't improving​

Issue

Incremental extraction takes nearly as long as full extraction runs

Cause​

Incremental extraction performance depends on workspace modification patterns. When most workspaces are flagged as modified each run, incremental extraction processes nearly all assets, similar to a full extraction.

Solution​

  1. Schedule daily incremental runs instead of weekly runs to minimize changes per cycle.
  2. Monitor workspace modification patterns in your Power BI tenant.
  3. Adjust expectations based on your environment's activity level:
    • Stable environments: 60-70% improvement expected
    • Active environments: 20-30% improvement expected
    • High-churn environments: Under 5% improvement expected
  4. Verify that incremental extraction is enabled in your connector configuration.

For more information, see Incremental extraction

Source owner shows unexpected values or is missing​

Issue

Source owner displays an email address instead of a username, shows a different value than expected, or is blank for some assets in the same workspace.

Cause​

Atlan maps the source owner field directly from the Power BI API response — it doesn't derive it from workspace admins. The API returns:

The API only returns email addresses (not usernames) for supported asset types. For other asset types, or when the API response is null, no source owner is displayed.

Solution​

Source owner in Atlan reflects what Power BI APIs return — this behavior is by design and can't be overridden. If the value is null or inconsistent, it indicates the underlying API response is null or the asset type isn't supported by the Power BI source owner metadata fields.