How to Change Semantic Model Owner in Power BI

Changing the owner of a Power BI semantic model is a common task, especially when a team member moves on or shifts responsibilities. This guide walks you through the process, covering why it's necessary and how to securely transfer ownership without disrupting your reports.

Why Is Changing the Semantic Model Owner Necessary?

In Power BI, the "owner" of a semantic model (formerly known as a dataset) is the person whose credentials are used to connect to the underlying data sources. This single point of contact is responsible for scheduled data refreshes. If that person leaves the company or changes roles, their account may be deactivated, causing data refreshes to fail and your reports to become stale.

Here are the primary reasons you'll need to change ownership:

• Employee Offboarding: This is the most common reason. When a report creator leaves, someone else must take ownership to keep the data current.
• Role Changes: An employee might move to a different team, and the responsibility for maintaining a specific report needs to be handed over to a new team member.
• Centralizing Ownership: A team might decide to assign ownership of all critical semantic models to a dedicated service account or a specific administrator to streamline management and improve security.
• Permission Issues: The original owner may no longer have access to a particular data source, requiring an ownership change to someone who does.

Understanding the "Owner" Role vs. Workspace Roles

It's important to distinguish between a workspace role (Admin, Member, Contributor, Viewer) and the semantic model owner. A user can be a Workspace Admin with full control over all content but not be the owner of a specific semantic model within it.

The owner is unique, their credentials are the key that unlocks the data for scheduled refreshes. Everyone else using the reports and dashboards connected to that model relies on the owner's refresh configuration to get updated information.

Who Can Change the Semantic Model Owner?

To change the owner, you must be an Admin of the Power BI workspace where the semantic model resides. If you are a Member, Contributor, or Viewer, you won't have the "Take over" option. In that case, you'll need to ask an existing Workspace Admin to perform the change for you or to grant you Admin-level permissions.

How to Change the Semantic Model Owner: The "Take Over" Method

The most direct way to change ownership is by using the "Take over" feature. This is typically used when the current owner is unavailable or has already left the organization. Be aware: initiating a takeover will immediately disable scheduled refreshes and clear the stored credentials for all data sources associated with the model.

Follow these steps carefully.

Step 1: Navigate to the Workspace and Access Settings

First, log in to the Power BI service at app.powerbi.com.

1. From the left navigation pane, click on Workspaces and select the workspace that contains your semantic model.
2. Once inside the workspace, you will see a list of all your reports, dashboards, and semantic models. Find the semantic model you need to take control of. Remember, you're looking for the semantic model (icon with cylindrical layers), not the report.
3. Click the ellipsis (...) next to the semantic model's name and select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Take Over Ownership

When you open the settings for a semantic model that you don't own, Power BI will display a notification banner at the top of the page. It will say something like, "You are not the dataset owner. Click Take over to become the owner."

1. In the settings pane, locate this warning banner.
2. Click the Take over button.
3. Power BI will ask for confirmation. Once you confirm, you are officially the new owner of the semantic model.

At this point, you've successfully changed ownership, but your work isn't done. The data connection is now broken, and your automated refreshes are off. The next steps are critical to get your report back online.

Step 3: Update Data Source Credentials

Since the takeover process clears all authentication tokens and passwords, you have to re-enter them using your credentials.

1. In the same Settings page for the semantic model, scroll down to the Data source credentials section.
2. You'll see a warning next to each data source used in your model, indicating that the credentials aren't valid.
3. Click the Edit credentials link for your first data source.
4. A dialog box will appear asking you to sign in. The authentication method will vary depending on the source:
5. Choose the appropriate authentication method, provide the required credentials, and click Sign in.
6. Repeat this process for every data source listed under Data source credentials. You should see a green checkmark or confirmation message once the connection is successfully re-established for each one.

Step 4: Re-enable and Configure Scheduled Refresh

With your data sources reconnected, the final step is to turn your automated refreshes back on.

1. Within the model's Settings, scroll down to the Scheduled refresh section.
2. Toggle the switch to turn the refresh On.
3. Review the refresh settings to ensure they meet your needs. You can set the:
4. You can also configure who receives an email notification if the refresh fails. It's a good practice to add your name here now that you are the owner.
5. Click Apply to save your changes.

Your semantic model is now fully under your control. It's connected to the data sources with your credentials and will refresh automatically based on the schedule you set. You can optionally trigger a manual refresh now by going back to the workspace view, clicking the ellipsis (...), and selecting "Refresh now" to confirm everything is working.

Best Practices for Semantic Model Ownership

Simply knowing how to change owners is good, but managing ownership proactively can save you a lot of future headaches. Here are a few tips to manage your semantic models more effectively, especially in larger teams.

Use Service Accounts or Service Principals

Instead of tying a critical semantic model to an individual's account, create a dedicated "service account" within your organization (e.g., powerbi.reports@yourcompany.com). Assign ownership of crucial, company-wide datasets to this account. This approach completely decouples the refresh process from individual employees, so even if the entire BI team changes, your data refreshes continue uninterrupted.

Maintain Clear Documentation

For each workspace, keep a simple record of who owns which primary semantic models and who acts as their backup. A simple SharePoint list or wiki page can work wonders. This makes handovers smoother and clarifies accountability.

Communicate Before and After the Change

If you're proactively changing ownership of a widely used report, let your end-users know. A quick email or Teams message like, "Heads up, the Sales Dashboard data will be paused for a few minutes this afternoon while we perform maintenance," can prevent confusion and support tickets.

Final Thoughts

Successfully changing the owner of a Power BI semantic model is a core administrative skill for anyone managing a BI workspace. The process is straightforward: take ownership of the model, re-authenticate the data source credentials, and then reactivate the scheduled refresh. Following these steps ensures your reports stay accurate and up-to-date.

Dealing with individual data source credentials and ownership is one of the many manual bits of friction that keep people stuck in reporting busywork. Here at Graphed, we found these repetitive administrative tasks were a major time-sink, which is why we built a tool to automate away the hassle. When you connect platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Salesforce, all your marketing and sales data is always in one place, continuously updated in real-time. You can just ask for a dashboard in plain English, and it’s built for you, ready to go - no worrying about who "owns" the connection or if the refresh is enabled. To spend less time managing reports and more time acting on them, check out Graphed.