October 15, 2026 | M&P Enterprise
Ask Copilot how sales are trending this quarter, and it may be able to answer using your Power BI reports and semantic models. Microsoft has been expanding how Power BI content works with Microsoft 365 Copilot, including new ways to reference reports in Copilot Notebooks. That makes this a good time to check whether your reporting environment is ready.
For companies with the right licenses, settings, and permissions, these capabilities can become available without a major implementation project. That is convenient. It also means employees may start asking questions about business performance before anyone has checked whether the underlying data is ready to answer them.
Copilot is only as good as what’s underneath it
Copilot uses the information it can access through your reports and semantic models to generate answers. If three reports calculate revenue differently, Copilot may return an answer that does not match another report. And if a column is named “Amt2” and nobody remembers what it means, that is not much help to Copilot either.
When someone reads a messy report, they may notice that a number looks off. When Copilot turns that same information into a polished summary, the problem can be harder to spot. The answer sounds reasonable, so people may trust it without checking the source.
Most of the fixes are practical, and you should probably be doing them anyway. We’d start with these three.
1. Get everyone on a current version of Power BI Desktop
Start with the easy one, because there is a deadline attached. Beginning in October 2026, Power BI Desktop versions from March 2026 or earlier lose the ability to save and share files directly to OneDrive and SharePoint through the older integration. This does not prevent users from saving PBIX files locally. Microsoft has updated the file-selection experience, so report authors should use a current Desktop release.
If someone on your team builds reports and has not updated Desktop in a while, they may discover the issue when they try to save to OneDrive or SharePoint. Have report authors check their version and update as needed. It is a straightforward fix.
2. Clean up your semantic models
The semantic model is the layer behind your reports that defines your tables, relationships, and calculations. It’s also what Copilot relies on to understand your business. Here’s what we look for:
- Use the names people actually say. “Total Revenue” is better than “Rev_Calc_v3,” and if your team calls it “bookings,” name it that.
- Add a short description to your key measures explaining what each number means and how it is calculated. That helps the next person who opens the model, and it gives Copilot more useful context. You can maintain measured descriptions in the semantic model.
- Pick one definition for each number. If profit margin is calculated two ways in two reports, settle on one and retire the other.
- Hide columns and tables that report users do not need, such as technical IDs, helper fields, and old test measures. Hiding them reduces clutter but remember that hiding a field is not a security control.
It’s tedious work, and it’s easy to put off. Copilot makes it a lot harder to put off.
3. Check who can see what
Copilot works within the permissions and security rules of the Microsoft 365 and Power BI content it can access. That is important, but it also means existing access mistakes deserve attention. If a sensitive report was shared too broadly, people with access may be able to ask questions about information they should not have received in the first place.
Review who has access to your workspaces, reports, and semantic models, especially those containing payroll, financial, or margin data. Check sharing links, workspace roles, and row-level security where applicable. If your organization needs to delay or restrict Copilot access, have your Microsoft 365 and Fabric administrators review the relevant licensing, tenant settings, and Copilot controls rather than assuming there is one switch for every feature.
Get your Power BI house in order
Being able to ask Copilot questions about your Power BI data is useful. Someone on your team can ask a question in plain English and get an answer based on your organization’s data. It works much better when the reports and semantic models behind it are clean, consistent, and accessible to the right people.
If you’re not sure where your Power BI environment stands, M&P Enterprise can help. We work with organizations to improve semantic models, strengthen data governance, review security permissions, and prepare their Power BI environments for tools like Copilot.
Ready to find out where your organization stands? Visit mandpenterprise.com or email us at contact@mandpenterprise.com to start the conversation.