3 motors to combine,

for an automated migration from SAP BO to Power BI

Leaving SAP BO is the ambition of many companies: price, unclear outlook, lack of resources for maintenance, cloud compatibility, etc.
Moving to Power BI is also appealing: price, very manageable change management, advanced features, a large user community, compatibility with modern cloud systems, etc.

When it comes to migrating from one to the other, the expectations of the stakeholders will not necessarily be the same:

The ideal for professions, whose weight in the decision is often predominant 😊, will be a seamless transition : I find my dashboard as it is, same graphs, same indicators in the same places with a very short implementation time and contained license costs.
For IT, the objective will also be to carry the minimum amount of "technical debt" into the target and to be able to make continuous improvements after the migration.

To address these different challenges, we have developed 3 "As Is" migration engines from BO to Power BI.

The first engine replicates the layout, intelligence, and semantic layer of SAP BO. However, it doesn't address all the challenges. Therefore, a second engine, and then a third, had to be built to obtain results that best met the company's actual needs.

We'll explain all of this to you.

Simplify:

Eliminate the "technical debt" present in SAP BO

before the migration

We recommend removing all "dead material" from the SAP BO platform prior to migration in order to avoid perpetuating complexity in the target.

Outdated or broken SAP BO dashboards will be detected and can be archived instantly.
Replicated SAP BO dashboards will be detected and can be dismissed instantly.
Objects never used in SAP BO dashboards will be identified and can be removed en masse.
The data can be merged into the database before the migration to optimize performance : complex transformations and joins can be performed within the database. This will also ensure the centralization of key transformation rules in the target database.

We offer a feature within {openAudit} to implement all of these actions.

Define :

Analyze what

must be migrated

through subtle introspection

Beyond simplification, in-depth analysis of SAP BO will reveal all its intricacies . These can then be replicated in the target system using our migration engines.

SAP BO intelligence to Power BI : analysis of expressions and calculations in the SAP BO dashboard, for translation into DAX or SQL in Power BI.

SAP BO layout to Power BI : analysis of tabs, charts, filters, in order to reconstruct them in Power BI PBIX files.

The semantic layer from SAP BO to Power BI : schematically, the data providers (with their objects) will be converted into folders in Power BI. The object names will be retained as they appear in the universes.

SAP BO data sources in Power BI : analysis of query structure, associated tables and dimensions, contexts, and prompts. The SQL of the data providers will serve as the basis for reconstructing queries in Power BI.

Migrate:

3 engines

for 3 scenarios

1. "Import" engine: for broad use of Power BI

The "Import" engine allows data to be integrated directly into Power BI, while preserving the structure of BO universes (classes and objects).

Strengths:

The intelligence and layout are carried over to the target.
Data structuring in Power BI is similar to that in SAP BO : data providers and their BO objects are placed in folders within Power BI. They are classified very similarly, and the BO object names are retained as they appear in the universes. Power BI offers "Semantic Models" that allow for a similar user experience to SAP BO.

Reusing the BO prompt system which allows users to filter or select data before the dashboard is executed.

Boundaries :

This mode involves data loading, and therefore high "capacities". The costs can be very high for the company.
Loading data into Power BI imposes limitations on the volumes processed (unlike SAP BO).

2. "Direct Access DAX" engine: for greater efficiency

The Direct Access engine is based on DAX in Power BI. This engine is perfect for simple to moderately complex dashboards.

Strengths:

The intelligence and layout are carried over to the target.
Data structuring in Power BI is similar to SAP BO : data providers are converted into folders in Power BI, within which objects are reorganized. The BO object names will be retained as they appear in the universes.
Dynamic execution of calculations via DAX, given that DAX's analytical capabilities are very extensive.
No complex processing in the database, which makes things easier for the business.

Limit :

This engine may have performance limitations for high data volumes or complex processing with DAX.

3. "Direct Access SQL" engine: to streamline the platform

This latter engine relies on the use of SQL queries executed directly in the database for calculations, rather than in DAX in Power BI.

Strengths:

The intelligence and layout are carried over to the target.
Perfect for simple dashboards with excellent response times: often better than in SAP BO.
Ideal when you want to centralize business rules in the database in order to persist them : creation of a data exposure layer that may be interoperable with other tools.

Boundaries :

This engine is less suitable for complex dashboards that require advanced calculations : SQL is less flexible than DAX for handling complex analytical logic.
Unlike the output of the other two engines, BO objects are not classified into folders. They will simply be converted into a data table.

Compare the responses from the 3 engines to choose the best answer

We provide an SAP BO and Power BI wrapper that will allow comparison of results before and after migration between SAP BO and Power BI.

It will allow the retrieval of dashboards and data from SAP BO (before migration) and Power BI (after migration).
It will allow us to analyze the differences in results, layout and performance of dashboards after the implementation of the 3 engines and to generate comparison reports.