How to Migrate from OBIEE to Power BI: Step-by-Step Guide

Is your organization still struggling with high costs and slowing down your analytics? This is a common problem faced by Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition(OBIEE). 

Many organizations that rely on OBIEE are struggling with many disadvantages. It includes high licensing costs, limited self-service options, and is not ready to move on to the cloud. 

So, they start considering an alternative that offers agility and powerful analytics - Power BI. Power BI provides an intuitive interface and strong data visualization capabilities. It has frequent updates and seamless integration with the Microsoft ecosystem.

This blog provides a step-by-step roadmap for a smooth and efficient OBIEE to Power BI migration.

What Makes the OBIEE to Power BI Migration Beneficial?

Legacy OBIEE has served its purpose, but now organizations are finding it difficult to keep up with modern analytics needs. So there is an urgent need for organizations to migrate from OBIEE to Power BI. Its distinctive features include advanced visualization features and scalability.  The key advantages that organizations can benefit from are 

• Real-time insights: Power BI provides faster and real-time data insights with the help of AI. It analyzes data, identifies patterns, and helps users discover the information that a human can miss.
• Cost-effectiveness and licensing advantages: Power BI provides a more cost-effective solution, especially through Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium models, which make the deployment easier. It offers a more affordable and flexible licensing model than OBIEE.
• Enhanced functionality and user experience: Power BI offers a drag-and-drop interface, attractive visualizations, and easy-to-use interfaces. It requires a lower learning curve, so that even a non-technical user can handle it easily.
• Scalability: Power BI’s cloud-based infrastructure offers flexibility, scalability, and enhanced security. It can easily scale up to its growing demands, whether it is department-level analytics or enterprise-wide intelligence.
• Data governance and security: Power BI offers features like data lineage tracking, role-based access controls, and auditing tools that make it easier to stick to governance policies. It also provides advanced security features like built-in encryption and multi-factor authentication. This is critical for maintaining data integrity during and after the OBIEE to Power BI migration. 
• Community support: Power BI has more active community support than OBIEE. Organizations can expect regular updates, learning resources, and a pool of talented Power BI knowledge professionals who can help in solving the problem.

Challenges faced during OBIEE to Power BI Migration and ways to overcome

Migration from OBIEE to Power BI is considered a strategic move, and though it gives a lot of benefits, it comes with its own set of challenges.

• Architectural changes: OBIEE’s multi-tier, on-premises architecture differs significantly from Power BI’s cloud-based model. This needs an infrastructure change in data management approaches. To overcome this, re-engineer the semantic model to suit Power BI’s data modeling approach. Use star or snowflake schemas wherever possible to simplify models.
• Security and Access controls: Power BI supports robust security features with different implementation methods. To overcome this, re-map OBIEE security roles to Power BI’s row-level security (RLS) and workspace access models. Do a security audit post-migration to ensure compliance.
• OBIEE Repository (RPD) conversion: OBIEE’s complex RPD -semantic layer to manage metadata, joins, and logical models, whereas Power BI relies on Power Query and Tabular Model (DAX-based). This shows Power BI’s data model is powerful and does not have an equivalent for RPD. So to overcome this hurdle, we need to map out all business logic, calculations, and hierarchies. Redesign your data model to implement star schema design wherever possible to optimize for Power BI’s VertiPaq engine. Use DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) for creating measures and calculated columns that replicate the business logic for RPD’s business model and presentation layers.
• Query and formula language: For Data querying, both OBIEE and Power BI use different query languages. Oracle SQL does not have a direct equivalent for Power BI’s DAX and M Query. To overcome this, replicate the business logic of SQL queries in DAX and M query language. Give proper training for teams to become familiar with both platforms. 
• Dashboard recreation: Since OBIEE’s dashboards are often designed for “pixel-perfect” operational and financial reporting, with a focus on structured layouts. So transforming these formatted dashboards into Power BI’s interactive dynamic visuals requires a complete redesign of the user experience.
• Performance bottlenecks: Large volumes of data in OBIEE may cause performance bottlenecks in Power BI if not optimized properly. Use data reduction techniques like aggregations, incremental refresh, composite models, and optimize queries at the database level.

Best Practices for a Smooth OBIEE to Power BI Migration

A clear road map of how to proceed with OBIEE to Power BI migration can become a complex and time-consuming process. Below are the best practices for achieving a smooth OBIEE to Power BI migration.

• Migrating all unnecessary OBIEE reports can be costly and unnecessary. Do a report usage analysis to identify the high-value and frequently used ones and start migrating.
• Start with pilot projects and migrate gradually. 
• OBIEE and Power BI have different data architectures. Rebuild data models, joins, and aggregations natively in Power BI based on OBIEE’s existing RPD design.
• Use direct query for real-time data access when needed, and start importing in smaller data sets to obtain high-performance datasets.
• Define strict governance policies to avoid duplication, enforce naming standards, and integrate with Azure Directory (AAD) for centralized identity management.
• Enable seamless integration with Microsoft’s ecosystem and third-party tools for better collaboration.
• Give proper training for both business users and IT teams. Develop self-service documentation, video tutorials, and FAQs.

7 Step Migration Process

Migration from OBIEE to Power BI involves a structural process that requires careful planning and rebuilding of existing assets. Below is the step-by-step migration process that helps us in a seamless and smooth transition

1. Assessment and Planning: Analyze the OBIEE system by identifying and documenting all data sources, reports, dashboards, security configurations, and data sources. Make a document of all custom code, calculations, and complex data transformations present in the OBIEE environment. Establish Power BI administrators and assign initial user licenses. Set up an initial high-level governance model and success criteria.
2. Data source migration:  The first step is to re-establish the connectivity to all data sources in Power BI. Using Power BI’s Power Query Editor, connect the sources and start performing necessary data transformations.
3. Data model rebuilding: Now the main task is to convert the OBIEE’s RPD metadata model to a Power BI data model.  Build the data model in Power BI, joins, aggregations, and business logic from the OBIEE model. Manually do this by recreating the relationships, joins, and aggregations in Power BI. Rewrite Oracle SQL queries from OBIEE to Power BI’s Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), as it does not have one-to-one mapping.
4. Map security and parameters: OBIEE’s RPD-level security model is different from Power BI’s security levels. Map OBIEE application roles to Entra Id (Azure AD groups). Implement Row-level Security (RLS) in the dataset and Object-Level Security for columns/tables. Replace OBIEE’s session variables with dataset parameters. 
5. Rebuild reports and dashboards: Recreate selected reports and dashboards in Power BI using its visualization and drag-and-drop features and pagination features to accelerate development. Manually rebuild each chart, graph, and table by ensuring data and its calculations align with OBIEE’s original reports.
6. Testing and data validation: Continue the process of recreating data models and reports, ensuring accuracy and user satisfaction. Thoroughly test the Power BI solution to ensure its data integrity with that of OBIEE. Validate that the new reports and dashboards produce the same results as the OBIEE.
7. Deployment and support: For some time, do a parallel run of both OBIEE and Power BI systems. Provide comprehensive training to end users to adapt to the new Power BI environment. Continuously monitor the performance of the Power BI environment and provide ongoing support to the users. Document all the steps that are done for an effective migration to happen successfully.

Post OBIEE to Power BI Migration and Adoption 

After a successful migration to Power BI, post-migration steps are very much needed to improve the new platform’s value and to ensure data governance and security. The key steps to be taken after migration are:

• User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Perform a thorough data validation of OBIEE and Power BI to ensure data integrity and accuracy. Execute sample reports and key metrics side-by-side to verify that calculations, aggregations, and values match. Ask the business users to do data accuracy checks by measuring KPIs and validating reports.
• Performance monitoring: Regularly monitor the performance of Power BI reports and datasets. Use tools like Power BI’s performance analyzer to identify slow-running visuals. Review refresh performance and add any incremental refresh if needed. Fine-tune RLS/OLS rules to avoid any bottlenecks.
• Security Audits: Review and audit Row-level Security (RLS) and other security configurations to ensure they are working properly. Make sure that data access is compliant with the company’s policies.
• Usage tracking and continuous improvement: Understand which reports are frequently used. This will guide further resource allocation and future development. Gather user feedback, which will help to identify areas of improvement, new feature requests, and pain points.
• User Training: As Power BI’s features are constantly evolving, continuously provide regular training sessions, workshops, and tutorials about the new features and functionalities. Ensure the teams follow best practices. Establish a Center of Excellence (CoE) team that provides governance, guidance, and support for the Power BI platform.
• Decommissioning OBIEE: Best practice is to run both OBIEE and Power BI in parallel for a period. It will actually act as a time frame to fix the issues that arise during testing. Gradually start decommissioning OBIEE once the new Power BI is stabilized. This approach will minimize the downtime and any disruption in business hours. Properly archive the old RPD files, reports, and other metadata as a disaster recovery step. 

How can Entrans help with OBIEE to Power BI Migration?

Migration from OBIEE to Power BI delivers measurable benefits such as lower licensing costs, improved data accessibility, and faster decision-making. It is a strategic step towards modern cloud-based analytics. 

Partnering with a team of migration experts like Entrans takes away the risks that come with manually migrating from OBIEE to Power BI. Our technical team has deep knowledge of both OBIEE and Power BI. From pre-migration planning to post-migration optimization, we ensure a seamless transition and manually rebuild difficult layouts and securely move all your content and images. 

Want to know more? Book a consultation call today with no obligation!.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can we automate the entire OBIEE to Power BI migration?

No, it cannot be fully migrated since OBIEE’s RPD logic, roles, and reports require redesign in Power BI. Due to their architectural difference, automation tools can assist in extracting metadata, mapping reports, and accelerating parts of the migration process.

2. How do we verify that Power BI reports match OBIEE results?

We can verify the Power BI report with OBIEE by comparing side-by-side data and KPI comparisons using a reconciliation checklist. The most common method is to export data from OBIEE reports to CSV or Excel and then validate the data points, their row counts, and totals.

3. How is security handled in Power BI compared to OBIEE?

Power BI handles security through Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) groups and implements Row-Level Security (RLS) and Object-Level Security (OLS) in datasets.

4. How can we replicate our OBIEE dashboards and reports?

OBIEE dashboards can be replicated using Power BI reports, slicers, and drill-through navigation. If we need pixel-perfect or operational reports, we should use Power BI paginated reports.