Author:  Marnel Catlett

Info:  From time to time data refreshes may fail.  There are many reasons why they may fail and we will address some of those below.  Additionally we will show you how to set up alerts so you know when they happen.  At any time, please reach out to support@Cognition360.com for assistance. 

Please note - All report examples are based on our Demo data.  Any similarities are purely coincidental.


PowerBI - How to set up an alert for refresh failures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Step 1: Common reasons for refresh failures

  • Inactivity
  • Elastic Pool error
  • Data source Error - Missing or incorrect credentials
  • Transient Issue (Unspecified)

Step 1.1 Inactivity

Any report not accessed for a period of 2 months and where an automatic refresh is in place will cease to refresh automatically.  See this article for more.

To re-enable an automatic refresh, simply hit the refresh button (1 below) on the dataset of the relevant report in the workspace or re-activate it under the Schedule Refresh / Datasets menu options (2 below).


Step 1.2 Elastic Pool

Follow the same steps as outlined in Step 1.1  Typically a simple refresh will solve the problem.  It happens when large reports are refreshing at the same time and competing for resources.  One option is to update the refresh time to be outside of those of the other reports.  


All reports are scheduled to refresh between 6 and 7.30 am daily (Your Local standard time).  If there are reports not being used it is best to remove them from the apps and also remove their automatic refresh schedules.


Step 1.3 Data source or Credential Errors

As in all other aspects of life, sometimes things go wrong.  If you get this error it means that PowerBI was not able to figure out the data source or credentials - for this one, please contact us as we will need to re-deploy that report.

Please make sure to tell us which workspace and which report you are referring to.


Step 1.4 Transient Issue

Follow the same steps as outlined in Step 1.1  Typically a simple refresh will solve the problem.  It happens when large reports are refreshing at the same time and competing for resources.  One option is to update the refresh time to be outside of those of the other reports.  


All reports are scheduled to refresh between 6 and 7.30 am daily (Your Local standard time).  If there are reports not being used it is best to remove them from the apps and also remove their automatic refresh schedules.


Step 2: Setting up an alert on failures.

Select Datasets (1) then Expand the Scheduled Refresh option and under "Send refresh failure notifications to" (4) select "These contacts".  Now update the email and select Apply.



For queries, please contact support@cognition360.com