A Comprehensive Guide to Power BI Migration
by Ankit Shah
Power BI
November 12, 2024
Introduction
Switching to Power BI is a calculated step toward better data visualization, more robust reporting capabilities, and increased analytics in the ever-changing field of business intelligence. To ensure a smooth and effective migration, organizations must handle the collection of issues that come with this move. This blog covers the typical difficulties of moving to Power BI, along with workable fixes to ensure a smooth transition.
Power BI Migration Steps
This is the migration strategy that will be put into action.
Migrating BI assets to Power BI
Performing pre-migration measures is essential before moving on to the five major phases of migration:
- The associated evaluation and cost-benefit analysis
- Clearly defined stakeholders and high-management support
- The first creation of a governance model
- Preliminary preparation for deployment
- First architecture establishment
Stage 1: Requirements Gathering
Gathering requirements and ranking them for future transitions is a recurring element in the process. This presents an opportunity to assess the current state of the BI items and determine which ones need to be changed or redesigned for the upcoming Power BI environment.
For requirements gathering, information on the report’s objective, audience, and anticipated action will probably be required. It is also important to identify the elements that users interact with while using the reports to decide which aspects may be improved or eliminated in the new architecture. It is important to specify who will be in charge of change management, approval, and sign-off for specific reports, such as subject matter experts (SMEs) or owners.
This stage also includes other crucial tasks, including studying security requirements. This is the place to discuss role-based access control, privacy and data sensitivity concerns, legal requirements, and compliance considerations in detail. But be ready to identify any known disadvantages, risks, and problems.
The identification of report requirements depends on the timely and equally rigorous compilation and prioritization of requirements. The essential elements to work with here are:
1. Current report inquiries
2. Types of data sources
3. Organization and purification of data
4. Data incorporation
5. Data quantity, scale requirement, and the ability to accept latency
6. Both privacy and security.
Stage 2: Deployment Plan
Once all requirements have been reviewed and prioritized, the features’ needs can then be included in an iterative, non-linear deployment approach.
First, it usually has to be decided whether to use a Power BI service or a Power BI reporting server. Microsoft recommends using one of these products over Power BI Desktop because of their greater stability regarding security, content distribution, etc.
The next step is to choose the workspace management strategy. This includes deciding whether you want to create a new workspace entirely, whether you can manage data and reports in a single workspace, whether you need multiple workspaces, and the workspace security settings.
Next: How will the product be used and implemented? Is access limited to mobile devices, Teams, SharePoint Online, corporate portals, or the Power BI app? But ultimately, it’s up to you.
Stage 3: Creation of Proof of Concept
One of the most important steps in this phase is defining and recording the PoC goals and objectives. These objectives are to learn more about the initial requirements and the data’s functionality to identify possible issues.
To check all the functionality and security settings, ensure the required data source can connect, and play around with the layout and other design-related options.
Some fundamental differences in Power BI may also surface during the PoC creation stage. The firm’s data architecture may also need to be modified, and this step also includes the plan for managing the conversion of the business intelligence dashboards.
Stage 4: Creating The Text and Confirming The Data
At this level, the proof of concept is achieved by utilizing the knowledge gained throughout the PoC development stage to translate it into a producible solution that can deliver the benefits envisioned for the organization. If time permits, contact the people in charge of this exact incident.
If a Power BI dataset already in existence doesn’t suit your needs, you can improve it or create a new one by:
1. Information collection from several data sources
2. Data generation, blending, and transformation
3. Creating the perfect dataset for training
4. Verifying the links between models
5. putting in place row-level security.
The next phase in the development process is to design new dashboards and reports, choose data visualization tools, describe the terms to be used to avoid acronyms and specialist language whenever possible, and explain how to handle the interaction.
Stage 5: Deployment and Support
The initial steps towards achieving this are installing the solution in the test environment and starting user acceptability testing. After implementing it in the production environment, the group should carry out the retrospective.
Minimizing Risk
The new solution should be tested concurrently with the old one for a predetermined amount of time to avoid losing crucial mission reports in the future. Once the migration has been carried out and successfully finished, one needs to take control of the solution.
For example, they incorporate subscriptions to new feeds, content updates, control activity logs, and other relevant data. It would be helpful to know if the migration solution needs to be modified further when the company grows. For this reason, post-migration support is essential, whether it is external or internal migration support services.
Conclusion
Moving to Power BI is a crucial first step in realizing business intelligence’s full potential. Even if there might be obstacles, a proactive approach and well-thought-out plan can ensure a smooth transition.
Organizations may effectively leverage Power BI Solutions to make data-driven decisions and maintain a competitive edge in the contemporary business intelligence market by resolving issues related to data compatibility, integration with outdated systems, user acceptance, security issues, and limitations on customization.
Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Power BI Migration Steps
- Minimizing Risk
- Conclusion