Migrating products to cloud

Data Warehousing solution’s jump to cloud: the supporting products

In a previous blog we discussed how to move an existing data warehouse environment to the cloud and start new development next to it.

At Islet, the focus is primarily on developing a new data and analytics environment directly in the cloud using cloud-native tools.

However, there are a large number of On-Premises environments where the obstacle to cloud adoption is too significant an investment in the current environment. In this case, it’s a big advantage if part of the old solution can be partially moved to work in the new cloud environment. Normal daily operations can continue uninterrupted, and after that, new development can be targeted at cloud-native technologies.

In addition to data warehousing and data integrations, the overall solution also includes data model for reporting and the actual reports. Now we will go through new features that also enable centralized integration of these into Microsoft’s Power BI service.

New migration opportunities have been introduced into Microsoft’s Power BI service, allowing migration of data models (AAS) and reports (SSRS). Additionally, Microsoft’s Power Platform offers alternatives to traditional methods, simplifying the development and management of the data and analytics environment.

Migration tools enabling transfer to cloud

Microsoft is clearly committed to helping their customers transfer to cloud environments and is strongly supporting the centralization of data storage under one service (Fabric / Power BI).

• Support for migrating Azure Analysis Services models has been added to the Power BI service.
• Also, SQL Server Reporting Services reports can now be published directly to the Power BI service.

In addition to these, data collection forms and programs operating on-premises environments can be replaced with Power Platform’s Power Apps products.

Migrating Azure Analysis Services models to Power BI Service as datasets

SQL Server Analysis Services models have long served as the primary sources for reporting in Microsoft’s data and analytics (data warehouse) environment. Cloud adoption of these models to Azure Analysis Services has been possible for some time, but now centralizing these models into the Power BI service is possible.

Several steps are required for successful migration:

• (Migration to SSAS -> AAS model, if the SQL Server Analysis Services model has not yet been moved to an Azure Analysis Services model)
• Power BI Premium workspace: Licensing as Power BI Premium Per User or purchased Premium capacity
• Microsoft Azure Data Lake and connection configuration
• Enabling Power BI service’s XMLA endpoints
• Sufficient Admin-level permissions in the Power BI service

Migration is done in a straightforward manner, and the necessary actions are guided:

• Choose the AAS resource to be migrated
• Select the Power BI Premium workspace
• Choose “Include in migration” for the models to be migrated

With each migration, the model itself is overwritten with the current migrating version, so care should be taken not to overwrite anything that should not be overwritten. The migration will indicate if there are any features in the model that the Power BI service’s Analysis Services model does not yet support.

Once the model migration is successful, the model can be used from the service. One note to add is that even if usage is already transferred to the Power BI service, it’s not advisable to delete the migrating models. Instead, it’s better to pause them – for at least the testing period.

Afterward, you’ll still need to switch the data sources to the new migrated models and test the reports’ functionality.

Migrating SSRS reports to Power BI Service

Previously developed reports may contain tens or even hundreds of hours of work, making it sensible and possible to utilize these reports even when moved to the cloud, provided that the source is transferred for report accessibility.

A big deal is that, going forward, the migration and usage of paginated reports (SSRS) no longer require a Power BI Premium workspace, so without Premium capacity or larger licenses, these can be moved to the Power BI service.

Before migration, it’s advisable to read about the restrictions related to migrating paginated reports. The migration tool will notify you if there are problems during the migration, and these usually relate on some level to compatibility issues, meaning that the Power BI portal may not support all features.

Otherwise, the migration process is quite simple: Starting from SQL Server Reporting Service 2017, an option has been added to the migration tool that allows reports to be published directly to the Power BI service. Using this option, reports can be published to your own workspace in the Power BI service.

Replacing Excels with Power Apps

At Islet, we aim to enhance our clients’ use of data and analytics environments through Microsoft’s Power Platform. Power Platform tools offer a lot of possibilities — the biggest part being the widely known Power BI with its extensive and well-known modelling and reporting capabilities. In addition to this, Microsoft’s Power Platform has proven itself as an effective package, enabling the development of small to large applications as well as the creation of integrations.

Personally, the most exiting use case has been enabling data input and management for end-users within data and analytics environments. Power Apps offers extensive integration possibilities and can be connected to multiple different sources as the base for the application. This makes it even more appealing for this purpose because it allows users to see information from a data warehouse, based on which they can save entries to another data source.

Previously, Excels have served as the spearhead for this kind of data management. However, generally speaking, Excels are prone to break down if made available to a large user base—not to mention issues related to validations, data refreshing within the Excel, and using Excels as a data source. Regardless of the use case among those previously mentioned, a catastrophic failure is inevitable at some point, requiring several hours or days to resolve.

What’s next?

We hope this blog series on the possibilities of moving to the cloud has sparked some thoughts. If you’ve ever considered migrating your data and analytics environment to the cloud or developing a new data and analytics environment, please feel free to contact us!

Up next, we will be discussing things related to Fabric, Power BI, and Power Apps –  so stay tuned!

Best regards,

Mikko and Ilkka

PS. In case you’re interested, read more about our data and analytics services here.