Power BI Live Connection: Central Model

Key insights

• Live Connection: A Power BI report connects directly to a central dataset or Analysis Services model so visuals send queries to the model at runtime, keeping data current without importing it into each report.
  
• Central Data Model: Host measures, relationships, and business logic in one shared dataset to ensure consistent metrics across all reports and reduce duplication of ETL and calculations.
  
• Single source of truth: Using one curated dataset improves governance, ensures consistent KPIs, and speeds up report creation because authors reuse certified measures instead of rebuilding logic.
  
• Model editing limits: Reports using a live connection cannot change the dataset’s model (no new relationships, calculated columns, or editing core measures in the report); update the central model when you need new logic.
  
• Gateway and licensing: On-premises Analysis Services requires an on-prem gateway; larger workloads, XMLA read/write, and advanced deployment features often require Power BI Premium or Premium Gen2 capacity.
  
• Certified datasets: Follow best practices—build and optimize the central model, publish certified datasets, implement RLS in the dataset, add aggregations, and monitor performance to keep reports fast and governed.
  

Keywords

Power BI live connection, Central Power BI data model, Power BI live connection tutorial, Power BI shared dataset, Power BI semantic model, Power BI live vs import, Power BI modeling best practices, Power BI dataset management