3 engines to combine,

for an automated migration from SAP BO to Power BI

Many companies are aiming to move away from SAP BO: price, unclear outlook, lack of resources for maintenance, cloud compatibility, etc.
Moving to Power BI is also a possibility: 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 stakeholders will not necessarily be the same:

Ideal for businesses, whose weight in the decision is often preponderant 😊, it will be a seamless transition : I find my dashboard as 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 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 one replicates the layout, intelligence, and semantic layer of SAP BO. But it doesn't address all the challenges. It was therefore necessary to build a second engine, then a third, to obtain results that best matched the company's real needs.

We'll explain everything to you.

Simplify:

Eliminate the “technical debt” present in SAP BO

before migration

We recommend removing all "dead matter" from the SAP BO platform before migration 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Outdated or broken SAP BO dashboards will be detected and can be archived instantly.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 instantly discarded.
Objects never used in SAP BO dashboards will be identified and can be removed en masse.
Data can be merged into the database before the migration to optimize performance : complex transformations and joins can be performed in the database. The benefit will also be to ensure centralization of the main transformation rules in the target.

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

Define :

Analyze what

must be migrated

through fine introspection

Beyond simplification, the in-depth analysis of SAP BO will allow us to know all its subtleties . They can then be reproduced in the target with 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 to Power BI layout : 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, data providers (with their objects) will be converted into folders in Power BI. The naming of the objects as they appear in the universes will be preserved.

SAP BO to Power BI sources : analysis of query structure, associated tables and dimensions, contexts, and prompts. The SQL from 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 you to integrate data directly into Power BI, while preserving the structure of the BO universes (classes and objects).

Strengths:

Intelligence and layout are carried over to the target.
Data structuring in Power BI as in SAP BO : Data providers and their BO objects are placed in folders in Power BI. They are classified very similarly, and the naming of BO objects will be retained as it appears in the universes. Power BI offers "Semantic Models" that allow you to approach the user experience of SAP BO.

Resumption of BO's prompt system which allows users to filter or select data before the dashboard runs.

Boundaries :

This mode involves loading data, and therefore high "capacities". The costs can be very high for the company.
Loading data into Power BI imposes processing volume limitations (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 ideal for simple to moderately complex dashboards.

Strengths:

Intelligence and layout are carried over to the target.
Data structuring in Power BI as in SAP BO : Data providers are converted into folders in Power BI in which the objects are reorganized. The naming of BO objects as they appear in the universes will be retained.
Dynamic execution of calculations via DAX, knowing that the analytical capabilities of DAX are very extensive.
No complex processing in the database, which makes things easier for the trades.

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

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

Strengths:

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 management rules in the database with a view to persisting them : creation of a data exposure layer that can potentially be interoperated with other tools.

Boundaries :

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

Compare the answers of the 3 engines to choose the best answer

We are providing an SAP BO and Power BI wrapper that will allow you to compare the results before and after migration between SAP BO and Power BI.

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