“A Connection Could Not Be Made to the Data Source” After Power BI App Upgrade

Overview

When using Business Central Insights Power BI Apps, you may encounter the following error in Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, or Excel:

A connection could not be made to the data source…

This issue can appear after upgrading a Business Central Insights App if the option Update the workspace and the app was selected during the upgrade. That option can rename the Power BI workspace, which breaks connections to its semantic model.

To avoid it, always select Update only workspace content without updating the app when upgrading, as described in step 4 of Upgrade your Power BI App.

Why This Happens

When you select Get it now to upgrade an app, Power BI offers three update options:

❌ Do not select: Update the workspace and the app
This option may add a date and time suffix to the workspace name. This is the only option that renames the workspace.
✅ Select: Update only workspace content without updating the app
This updates the reports and semantic model while keeping the existing workspace name unchanged. Select this option, then select Install.
❌ Do not select: Install another copy of the app into a new workspace
This creates another copy of the app in a separate workspace instead of updating the existing workspace.

If the first option is selected, the workspace name changes.

Example

Before upgrade:
Business Central Finance Insights
After upgrade with Update the workspace and the app:
Business Central Finance Insights 1/31/2025 2:23:52 PM

The renamed workspace causes downstream issues because:

Any custom Power BI reports built using the semantic model inside that workspace still point to the old workspace name.
Excel files analyzing data through “Analyze in Excel” remain connected to the original semantic model workspace path.

As a result, these fail to refresh or connect, which produces the error shown above.

Symptoms You May See

Power BI visuals fail with:
A connection could not be made to the data source
Excel files connected using Analyze in Excel display:
Unable to connect to the model
Custom reports referencing the semantic model stop refreshing
Semantic models show connection failures in Power BI Service
Dashboards display missing or broken visuals

How to Confirm the Issue

If the workspace name includes a timestamp like:

… 1/31/2025 2:23:52 PM
… 10/08/2025 10:48:27 AM

→ This confirms the issue.
The app was upgraded using Update the workspace and the app, and Power BI added the timestamp to the workspace name.

How to Fix the Issue

Solution: Rename the Workspace and Remove the Date/Time Suffix

This restores the original workspace name so all connections match their original paths.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Open Power BI Service (https://app.powerbi.com)
Go to Workspaces
Find the workspace with the date/time suffix
Click Workspace Settings

Rename the workspace back to its original name
(e.g., change Business Central Finance Insights 1/31/2025 2:23:52 PM → Business Central Finance Insights)
The changes save automatically

Once renamed:

All custom Power BI reports will reconnect automatically
Existing Analyze in Excel files will reconnect
Semantic models will refresh successfully
Visuals will load without error

Preventing Future Issues

On every upgrade, always select Update only workspace content without updating the app. Never select Update the workspace and the app. Follow the full steps in Upgrade your Power BI App.

If the first option is selected by mistake, rename the workspace back to its original name right away, using the steps above.