Tableau to Power BI migration projects involve migrating the data source connection, all the formulas and data visuals. After an active phase of the report development users are trained in Power BI to ensure adoption. In this Tableau to Power BI migration guide we will discuss our approach to ensure seamless transition based on our experience as Power BI consultants. We will discuss the steps that you need to follow and the migration tools that would make these steps easier.
We find that many companies start with Tableau for its strong visualizations and user-friendly interface. However, as data and analytical needs expand, the limitations of Tableau prompt a switch to more scalable solutions like Power BI. You can read our more detailed guide on Power BI vs Tableau if you are interested.
As organizations scale their data infrastructure, many find themselves outgrowing Tableau capabilities and facing performance or cost limitations. Tableau to Power BI migration offers several compelling benefits:
Power BI has a free license to develop reports which costs $75 per user per month with Tableau. The viewer access to Power BI costs $14-24 per user per month whereas Tableau licenses cost $15-42 per user per month.
Licensing cost savings are most relevant to companies with a lot of report users. However, if your company has a limited amount of users, it is better to choose a tool that helps you complete the job faster.
Power BI supports data extraction from 250+ data sources out of the box whereas Tableau supports around 100. It is common that Tableau developers use Alteryx to extract data from more data sources but it starts with $250 per month and could get as expensive as $5,000 per month for enterprise-level customers.
Power BI integrates really well with other Microsoft technologies like SharePoint, Dynamics and Microsoft Planner. If your organization relies on many other Microsoft technologies you can unlock a lot of easy integrations by migrating to Power BI.
Microsoft Fabric is an environment where data analysts, scientists and engineers can collaborate. They can all share their datasets with each other in the same file format which reduces the data transformation work. This makes Power BI an appealing choice for mature teams where multiple data professionals need to work together.
Microsoft Fabric is also appealing to non-technical users due to Microsoft co-pilot which is an AI agent helping to explore the data in Power BI using a chatbot interface. This helps regular business users to explore their data without raising new requests with Power BI analysts.
As of now we have been able to find one automatic Tableau to Power BI report migration tool which is called Pulse Convert. We haven’t had experience with it since this is a new tool on the market but it looks like Pulse Convert automatically generates a PBIX file which you might need to edit to get the final result.
It is clear that the accuracy of this approach is not 100% especially for complex files but it could still speed up your migration process. Another limitation might be migrating Alteryx workflows to Power BI since
Pulse Convert charge $1500 per migrated report so some reports might be cheaper to migrate by hiring consultants.
Vidi Corp provides an accelerator program as a service to help businesses migrate their Tableau files to Power BI faster. As part of this program the clients get help from professional BI consultants with experience in both Tableau and Power BI. This unique combination of skills is instrumental to anticipate potential problems during migration and minimize the number of revisions.
The average cost per report migration is $1,000 but it varies depending on the specific analysis you want to create. More complex files with many tabs can cost more to migrate due to amount of work that does into the project.
The video above shows the deliverables of the Vidi Corp Tableau to Power BI migration accelerator for one of the clients. You can see what the dashboards looked like before and after the migration in this video.
Here is a review from the client who migrated 40+ dashboards from Tableau to Power BI as part of the migration accelerator.
This client saved $2,500 per month in licensing fees by migrating from Tableau to Power BI, unlocked easy integrations with other Microsoft systems and improved the visual interface of their reports as part of the migration.
Whether you migrate by using automated tools or manually recreate the reports in Power BI, the approach is roughly the same. Here are the steps that you need to follow:
The most difficult part of the Tableau to Power BI migration project is making sure that the numbers match. Troubleshooting the differences can take up a lot of time. One way that you can reduce the time to value is to run the quality check in parallel with Power BI report creation. For example as the team is working on the next 5 reports, you can run the quality checks for the first 5.
Once you deploy your Power BI reports, it is important that the team is clear on how to use Power BI. If your team struggles with understanding how to use Power BI, this might be a roadblock for adopting the reports. As a result, the dashboards might become underused leading to lower return on your investment. One way of solving this issue is to arrange structured Power BI training where your team can get familiar with the basics and also ask questions.
By following this step-by-step process, you can ensure a smooth and successful migration from Tableau to Power BI, maximizing the benefits of your new BI platform while minimizing disruption to your organization’s reporting needs.
The key Tableau to Power BI migration challenges include differences in native connectors, data modelling differences, translating complex Tableau formulas to DAX and matching the data between Tableau and Power BI.
Power BI works very well with STAR schema whereas you can can be more flexible in Tableau and use different data models like snowflake schema. As a result, it is quite common that you need to change your data model when migrating to Power BI.
There are several reasons to optimize your Power BI data model:
Use our guide for Power BI best practices to optimize your Power BI data model.
The Tableau calculated fields will need to be migrated to Power BI DAX formulas. Writing DAX formulas takes a lot of time to master so this part of the project can be quite time-consuming. Luckily, Power BI offers several useful features to help you get started with DAX.
Once you migrate your Tableau reports to Power BI, you need to make sure that the values in Power BI match to Tableau. Matching data is important to ensure the continued reporting accuracy after migration.
It often helps to involve the future report users to help with data matching. If they find any discrepancies, those usually need to be communicated to the technical team. The Power BI developers can then investigate the source of those discrepancies and fix them.
Prioritize High-Value Assets
Begin by migrating the most critical dashboards, reports and datasets from Tableau to Power BI first. Quickly demonstrating success with high-impact analytics assets will build confidence across teams.
Take a Phased Learning Approach
Rather than trying to master all Power BI capabilities at once, take an iterative approach across a timeline. Identify feature gaps from Tableau and learn associated skills in Power BI incrementally.
Leverage Migration References
Use available blogs, tutorials and guides on transitioning from Tableau to Power BI. Leveraging others’ documentation will accelerate the learning curve.
Partner with Microsoft Services
Consider engaging Microsoft consultants to provide tailored guidance, best practices, and hands-on assistance with your Power BI migration. This can smooth hiccups.
Offer Access to Legacy Reports
Maintain Tableau dashboards in read-only mode during migration to offer continued access until new Power BI reports are validated.
Establish Centralized Content Hubs
Curate a structured set of shared Power BI apps and content packs aligned to major business areas. Well-organized hubs make it easier for users to discover and consume analytics assets.
Implement Validation Checks
Build schedules, alerts and processes for checking dataset health, identifying data quality issues, confirming calculation integrity, and monitoring usage and adoption levels of reports and dashboards.
Provide Self-Service Training Resources
Expand self-help training content like documentation, videos, live training sessions and chat support to continually ramp up Power BI literacy across the organization.
Encourage Usage-Based Improvement Cycles
Soliciting ongoing user feedback on Power BI reports and then incorporating suggestions into regular enhancement releases helps drive engagement.
Develop Usage and Impact Metrics
Design and consistently monitor performance indicators assessing consumption, effectiveness and business impacts across the Power BI platform. Feed insights back into governance processes.
Assign Clear Platform Ownership
Ensure unambiguous authority over change management and lifecycle stewardship of the Power BI environment – ideally aligning IT tools with analytical expertise.
Governing Power BI tightly from development through ongoing production usage is key for sustainable success migrating from Tableau. Applying these practices helps optimize value.
Migrating business intelligence platforms involves significant coordination across teams over an extended timeframe. While the process is undoubtedly intensive, methodically transitioning from Tableau to Power BI can pay major dividends through reduced costs, easier maintenance, advanced analytics and tighter integration with Microsoft cloud services.
If you have a Tableau dashboard that you wish to move to Power BI, we at Vidi Corp can help. Our data and analytics experts are ready to take complete control over the migration.
We Offer:
Our strategists help map out a structured migration plan aligned to your distinct use cases, data infrastructure, and business goals. We pinpoint priority workloads and optimization opportunities.
Where viable, our engineers build custom scripts and ETL process automation to accelerate data and analytics migration – minimizing business disruption.
We provide tailored training programs and change management frameworks so your users can unlock the full potential of Power BI quickly. Our support extends through go-live.
With careful planning and execution guided by the roadmap outlined here, organizations can smoothly unlock the full advantages of the Power BI platform. Contact us to learn more about our services today.
