pbiplintRules / Error Prevention
Avoid structured data sources with provider partitions
What it checks
Partitions whose source is a legacy query, a provider partition, that points at a structured data source.
Why it matters
Power BI supports two combinations: a Power Query partition against any data source, or a legacy provider partition against a legacy provider data source. A provider partition against a structured data source is a mix the service refuses, so the model fails to deploy or refresh. Power BI Desktop never produces the combination; it appears in models migrated from Analysis Services or assembled by hand.
How to fix it
Rewrite the partition as Power Query, which is what Desktop would write: in the TMDL file, change partition Sales = query to partition Sales = m and replace the query text with an M expression such as let Source = Sql.Database("server", "db") in Source{[Schema="dbo",Item="Sales"]}[Data]. The other option is to change the data source itself to a provider data source so both halves are legacy; the elegantbi post in the links shows that conversion with Tabular Editor.