European Dates in Datamarts & Dataflows
Some of you who do not live in the US (like the rest of the world) might be experiencing a little problem with importing #dataflows into your #powerbi #datamarts.
You might encounter following error message:
Specifically we noticed this problem when the dataflow had dates in it. Looks like the tenant settings force the dates to be sent to the datamart in a local format that gets in conflict with the import engine in the data mart. We currently have a ticket open with Microsoft and they have aknowledged that this is a known bug. But for those of you needing a solution fast, here is a workaround.
Instead of importing a date field, create a datekey as number (20220908) for each date column and remove the date field itself. (just like we would do for classic DWH builds)
Then import the dataflow without headaches and hook it up to a date dimension that you build directly in the datamart that also has a numeric date key.
And there you have it. Date problem solved. It does force you to use the central Date Dimension for all date driven visuals, but then, that's a good thing, no?
Oh, and for those of you thinking, why not just activate the "use locale" feature on the column when importing the dataflow... Can't mess with dataflows in data marts. No power query steps allowed on dataflows. You will be forced to go back to the source flow to make any changes there.
Hope this quick post helps someone out there lose a few less hairs.