User Problem

In Enterprise Insights, both the Program and Team tables establish a relationship with the Portfolio table via PortfolioID, resulting in two relational paths:

• Program → Portfolio → Team
• Program ↔ Team.

This dual-path structure creates ambiguous relationships in tools like Power BI, which flags the issue and disables key functionality like using a Team Name slicer. Since the data model is consumed in DirectQuery mode, DAX-based fixes (for example, using USERELATIONSHIP or CROSSFILTER) are not permitted, severely limiting reporting and filtering capabilities for end users.

Suggested Solutions:

• To eliminate ambiguity, simplify the data model by removing or deactivating redundant relationships between the Program, Team, and Portfolio tables.
• Introduce a dedicated bridge or lookup table to consolidate common keys or attributes, ensuring only one clean path between the Program and the Team.
• Offer a user-configurable relationship view or metadata documentation to help downstream users understand and work around these structural challenges in BI tools.

Current Workarounds:

• No reliable workaround exists when using DirectQuery mode in Power BI due to its restrictions on DAX fixes for ambiguous relationships.
• Some teams have experimented with creating custom intermediate tables in their own datasets, but this adds overhead and is not scalable across the organization.