BISM Connection is missing from Document Types in SharePoint

If you want to connect Power View to your Tabular model, then you need to create a BISM Connection file. What happens, however, if you try to create a new connection in your SharePoint Data Connections library, and cannot find the BI Semantic Model Connection document type under ‘New Document’? It is missing! Why?

This usually means that you haven’t enabled the Content Type for the Data Connections library, or wherever you want to store your Data Connections.

To do this:

• In SharePoint, go to ‘Library Tools’ for the Data Connections library
• Go to Library Settings
• About half way down, go to ‘Add from Existing Site content types’
• Look for ‘BI Semantic Model Connection’ and add it to the list of available Content Types
• When you return back to the ‘Settings’ page, you should now see the option available for BI Semantic Model Connection.

Here are some handy Books Online links, in case they help you to create the Connection file:

Create a Shared Data Source for a Data Model

Create a BI Semantic Model to a Tabular Database

Use a BI Semantic Model in Excel or Reporting Services

I hope that helps to save someone some time!

Jen x