Power BI Is a Toxic Relationship while Everyone Pretends It’s Fine

If your report looks fine until Power BI says “MODEL ISSUE,” you’re going to feel seen. Read this before your next refresh.

Author

Glenda Carnate
February 13, 2026

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Initially, everything seems fine with the relationship. The visuals appear clean, the KPIs are trending, the refresh schedule is on schedule, and you feel like you have built a “solid” report. So, now you trust the report, defend it, and present it confidently.

Then Power BI hits you with the most tranquil form of betrayal: “There is a MODEL ISSUE.” 🙂
No warning, no context, and no useful explanation... just a sentence like this will ruin your week!

How Does Power BI Affect Your Emotions?

1. Think of the semantic model as production

A messy model yields an unstable DAX measure.
Solution: Create a star schema and name the tables properly.

2. Fix the relationships before the measures

Most "weird" totals are due to relationship issues, which then become DAX problems. Solution: Fact tables must be filtered with dimension tables. Create single-direction relationships by default.

3. Do not allow tables to have multiple grains

Power BI does not provide any protection if the grains do not match.
Solution: Clearly define the grain and validate the total.

4. Have a documentation of the measures you expect to be questioned

If the CFO asks, “What determines revenue?” your model should already have the answer.
Solution: Add measure descriptions to build standard definitions of KPIs.

5. Use the Performance Analyzer before blaming the UI

When reports are slow, they are not perceived as a defect... they create distrust between Power BI and the end user.
Solution: Record the visuals surrounding the performance, determine where the bottlenecks occur in the report, and then fix the real problem.

💡Key Takeaway: 

Power BI doesn’t ruin dashboards. It exposes modeling shortcuts... right when you least need the drama.

👉 LIKE this if “MODEL ISSUE” has ever personally attacked you.

👉 SUBSCRIBE now for Power BI truths that save your dashboards and your sanity.

👉 Follow Glenda Carnate for clean modeling, governance, and analytics that survive real exec scrutiny.

👉 COMMENT with the most unhinged Power BI error you’ve ever seen.

👉 SHARE this with a Power BI developer who’s one refresh away from quitting.

Reply

or to participate.