January 2025: Top Power BI Updates With Soheil, Microsoft MVP

1. "Explore This Data" Option
2. Semantic Model Version History (Preview)
3. Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL)

Let's dive into these features and explore their benefits for business users and developers.

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The "Explore This Data" Option

This new feature allows users to dive deeper into their data directly from the visual’s options menu.

By simplifying data exploration, it enables business users to gain insights without needing extensive technical assistance, thereby reducing reliance on developers and associated costs.

This is by far one of the most helpful productivity features providing more flexibility to the business users. This feature provides multiple benefits, such as:

• Empowering business users: Allows for self-service data exploration, reducing the need for developer assistance.
• Cost efficiency: Minimises development costs by enabling users to generate insights independently.

Here’s a short video demonstrating how to leverage this new feature effectively in your reports.

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Semantic Model Version History (Preview)

This feature automatically captures versions of semantic models edited on the web, allowing users to view and restore previous versions easily.

It provides a safety net for self-service users, ensuring that critical mistakes can be undone without extensive rework, thus saving development time and costs. This feature brings the following benefits to the table:

• Error mitigation: Enables easy rollback to previous versions, reducing the impact of mistakes.
• Enhanced collaboration: Facilitates better teamwork by keeping track of model changes.

To make this feature work, you need to be mindful of the following:

• You need to open the semantic model from the Power BI Service (in Microsoft Fabric), which means this feature must have been enabled by the administrators. Learn more about it here.
• This feature requires the users to have write and build permissions on the semantic model. Read more about semantic model permissions here.
• It is available only on large semantic models. You can learn more about it here.
• Since the large semantic models require a premium workspace, this feature requires either Premium Per User (PPU) or a Fabric capacity.

While this feature is in public preview, we do not recommend enabling it in production environments. Read more about this feature here.

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Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL)

At first glance, TMDL might sound like just another hyped-up feature. But make no mistake, this is a real deal that will fundamentally change how Power BI models are managed and deployed.

The TMDL is by far one of the most important features from a development perspective that comes with many benefits, including but not limited to the following:

• Simplifies model management: Introduces a structured, text-based format for defining semantic models, making it easier to manage changes.
• Enhances DevOps and automation: Developers can now apply version control and automate deployments using source control tools like GitHub or Azure DevOps.
• Reduces development costs: By allowing easier debugging, auditing, and collaboration, TMDL minimises the effort needed to maintain and update Power BI models.

For organisations with multiple developers working on Power BI models, TMDL ensures a more structured and controlled development process, reducing errors and improving maintainability. Learn more about TMDL here.

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Final Thoughts

The January 2025 Power BI update brings practical, cost-saving enhancements that empower both business users and developers. Whether it’s enabling self-service exploration, providing built-in version control, or revolutionising model management with TMDL, these features significantly improve efficiency and reduce development overhead.

For organisations looking to optimise their Power BI workflows while minimising costs, these updates are a must-explore.