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The Power BI connector links a Microsoft Power BI tenant to Syntaxia. Use it to bring workspaces, datasets, reports, dashboards, and dataflow metadata into your unified ontology so analytics structure can be reconciled alongside CRM data.
Power BI is currently available as a data connector. Full ontology coverage for Power BI artifacts is on the roadmap. You can connect today and your data will be staged in the pipeline. Ontology discovery support will be enabled in a future release.

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Before you start

Connecting Power BI requires a one-time setup in the Microsoft Entra admin center and the Power BI admin portal. You will need access to both.
  • You are signed in to Syntaxia under the Data Ops function.
  • You have Microsoft Entra ID admin rights, or someone who does can complete the Azure steps with you.
  • You have Power BI tenant administrator access, or someone who does can toggle the required admin settings.
  • Your Power BI tenant uses a Pro, Premium, or Fabric capacity. These tiers expose the admin APIs Syntaxia reads from.
The Power BI connector authenticates as a service principal, not an interactive user. You cannot connect Power BI with a personal Microsoft account. A tenant admin must complete the Azure and Power BI configuration below before the source can sync.

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What syncs

Once connected, Syntaxia ingests metadata from your Power BI tenant, including:
EntityNotes
WorkspacesNames, IDs, and membership
DatasetsDataset metadata and schema
ReportsReport definitions and workspace assignment
DashboardsDashboard metadata and tiles
DataflowsDataflow definitions
CapacitiesPremium and Fabric capacity assignments
Syntaxia reads metadata only. Row-level data inside datasets is not pulled.

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Set up Power BI for Syntaxia

Work through these four stages in order. You will collect three values along the way, Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret, which Syntaxia needs to finish the connection.

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Stage 1: Register an application in Microsoft Entra

1

Open the Entra admin center

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center with an account that can register applications.
2

Create a new app registration

Go to Identity → Applications → App registrations, then click New registration.Enter a name like Syntaxia Power BI Connector, leave the default Single tenant option selected, and click Register.
3

Copy the Tenant ID and Client ID

From the app’s Overview page, copy the Directory (tenant) ID and the Application (client) ID. Save them somewhere you can paste from later.
4

Create a client secret

In the app’s left menu, click Certificates & secrets → New client secret. Set a description and expiry, then click Add.Copy the Value of the new secret immediately. Microsoft will hide it after you leave the page.

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Stage 2: Create a security group for the app

Power BI grants service principals access through a security group, not directly.
1

Create the group

In the Entra admin center, go to Identity → Groups → All groups → New group.Set the Group type to Security and give it a name like Syntaxia Power BI Access.
2

Add the app to the group

Under Members, add the app registration you just created. Click Create.

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Stage 3: Enable the required Power BI tenant settings

1

Open the Power BI admin portal

Sign in to Power BI as a tenant admin. Click the settings gear, then Admin portal, then Tenant settings.
2

Allow service principals to use Power BI APIs

Find Developer settings → Allow service principals to use Power BI APIs.Set the toggle to Enabled and apply it to the Syntaxia Power BI Access security group you created. Click Apply.
3

Allow service principals to use read-only admin APIs

Find Admin API settings → Service principals can access read-only admin APIs.Set the toggle to Enabled, choose Specific security groups, add Syntaxia Power BI Access, and click Apply.
4

Enhance admin API responses with detailed metadata

In the same Admin API settings section, enable Enhance admin APIs responses with detailed metadata and Enhance admin APIs responses with DAX and mashup expressions.These settings let Syntaxia read dataset schema details that feed ontology discovery.
Power BI tenant settings can take up to 15 minutes to propagate. If the Syntaxia connection fails on first attempt, wait a few minutes and try again.

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Stage 4: Grant workspace access

The service principal only sees workspaces it has been added to as a member or admin. For organization-wide visibility, add the Syntaxia Power BI Access security group to every workspace you want Syntaxia to see, or use a Workspace access policy at the tenant level. At minimum, add the security group as a Member of the workspaces you plan to include in ontology discovery.

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Connect Power BI in Syntaxia

1

Add the source

From your Data Ops command center, click Add Source, expand the Power BI card, and enter a connection label like Power BI - Finance or Power BI - GTM.
2

Enter your credentials

Paste the three values you collected in Stage 1:
  • Tenant ID
  • Client ID
  • Client Secret
Click Connect.
3

Wait for the initial sync

The source card shows status syncing while Syntaxia pulls the first batch of metadata. Most tenants finish within 15 to 45 minutes. The card turns green and switches to active once the sync finishes.

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After the first sync

Once your Power BI source is active, you can:
  • Resync at any time from the source card to pull the latest metadata changes.
  • Reconnect if the client secret expires. You will need to generate a new secret in Entra and paste it into Syntaxia.

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Troubleshooting

The service principal is missing access. Confirm that:
  • Allow service principals to use Power BI APIs is enabled for the security group.
  • Service principals can access read-only admin APIs is enabled for the security group.
  • The security group is a member of at least one workspace.
Tenant settings can take up to 15 minutes to take effect. Wait, then click Reconnect.
The most common causes are an expired client secret or a revoked app registration. Generate a new secret in Entra, then click Reconnect and paste the new value.
The connector only sees workspaces the service principal is a member of. Add Syntaxia Power BI Access as a member of the missing workspace, then click Resync.
Enable Enhance admin APIs responses with detailed metadata and Enhance admin APIs responses with DAX and mashup expressions in the Power BI admin portal. Then click Resync.
Some older tenants expose the developer and admin API settings under Tenant settings → Admin API settings. Search the page for service principal to jump to the relevant rows.