Introduction

With Power BI’s modern paginated reports, many organizations are choosing to migrate from SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for more dynamic and interactive data insights. But effectively transitioning existing SSRS reports into Power BI’s environment takes careful planning and execution.

This blog will cover the fundamental distinctions between these reporting platforms, the benefits of switching to Power BI, and critical best practices to streamline your migration process. Following structured steps for setup, data connections, testing, and integration will unlock the full potential of Power BI while ensuring continuity for your users.

Understanding Key Differences Between SSRS and Power BI

Benefits of Migrating Reporting to Power BI

There are several compelling reasons for organizations to undertake migrating from SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to Power BI Paginated Reports. This migration can unlock immense value and deliver a modern, unified reporting solution.

Reduced Infrastructure Costs

Transitioning reporting to Power BI Paginated Reports reduces expenses associated with maintaining on-premises SQL Server infrastructure solely for the purpose of hosting SSRS reports.

Organizations can realize significant cost savings in the following areas:

• Eliminating SQL Server Instance License Costs: Power BI’s cloud-based model removes the need for purchasing SQL Server licenses solely for reporting purposes across production, testing, and development environments. This results in direct cost savings by eliminating redundant licensing overhead.
• Cutting Infrastructure Overheads: Moving to Power BI eliminates expenses related to server hardware, data center space, cooling systems, and on-prem maintenance.
• Lowering IT Labour Requirements: With Power BI as a managed service, DBAs and IT teams spend less time on SSRS patching, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

By reducing on-premises SQL Server to the bare minimum required for transactional systems, organizations can optimize infrastructure costs significantly. Power BI subscriptions provide a scalable and cost efficient reporting platform.

Unified Reporting Platform

Power BI delivers a single, unified platform for both operational reporting via Paginated Reports and analytical reporting through interactive data visualizations. This consolidation provides several advantages:

• Reduces Total Cost of Ownership – Eliminates the overhead of administering different reporting tools, infrastructure, and data sources. Power BI provides all capabilities within a single Azure-hosted platform.
• Enhances Data Governance – Common semantic layer and centralized data sources enable unified governance policies, security controls, and data lifecycle management.
• Improves Self-Service Access – Unified platform allows users to seamlessly transition from PixelPerfect paginated reports to interactive dashboards for data exploration without switching tools.
• Simplifies Embedding and Distribution – Power BI makes it easy to embed reports and dashboards into custom applications through REST APIs for broad consumption across the organization.

By bringing together paginated and interactive reports into a single Azure-hosted analytics platform, Power BI reduces complexity while providing flexibility to build modern analytics solutions.

Enhanced User Experience

The modern interface of Power BI delivers a far more engaging, interactive user experience compared to traditional SSRS reports. Key capabilities that enhance user experiences include:

• Interactive Data Visualizations – Users can showcase data through rich, interactive visuals like charts, graphs, maps, drill-through filters which make reports easier to interpret.
• Mobile Optimization – Responsive design and availability on mobile/tablet apps provides anytime, anywhere access while retaining fidelity.
• Real-time Insights – DirectQuery and Automatic Page Refresh allow near real-time insights into the latest data rather than static snapshots.
• Data Exploration – Visual drill downs and slicers enable users to interactively filter and explore data behind reports at ease.
• Automated Updates – Schedules and alerts keep reports refreshed automatically without manual intervention.
• Consumability Features – Comments, bookmarks, subscriptions and more features tailor reports to user needs.    

By focusing on visual appeal, interactivity and genuine self service, Power BI Reporting removes the traditional limitations of SSRS and delivers a modern analytics experience on any device. The outcome is higher report consumption, user adoption and actionability of insights.

Best Practices for Migrating SSRS Reports to Power BI

Carefully executing the following critical practices will ensure your Power BI migration initiative realizes maximum ROI:

• Analyze Current Reports, Rationalize as Needed: Inventory existing reports in SSRS and flag any that are outdated, redundant, or seldom used. Consider archiving these first to streamline what must be migrated. Focus priority on high-value reports with engaged users.  
• Optimize Data Sources: With Power BI’s extensive data connectivity options, migrate underlying SSRS data sources to cloud platforms like Azure Synapse for improved flexibility. Adjust SQL queries to be compatible during the transition.
• Performance Test with Real-World Loads: Validate that paginated reports render within users’ expected response times under peak concurrent loads. Use Power BI’s built-in analytics to pinpoint and remedy any bottlenecks.
• Preserve Pixel-Perfect Fidelity: Paginated reports should mirror legacy SSRS layouts and formatting to avoid disrupting dependent processes. Verify precision sizing, alignments, and font rendering before rollout.
• Enhance with Interactive Visualizations: Augment static, text-based reports with charts, graphs, and other visuals to uncover extra insights. Build drill-through capabilities to enable self-service analysis.
• Implement Rigorous Access Governance: Model fine-grained user permissions and data policies in Power BI to fulfill security and compliance requirements. Azure AD integration centralizes authentication for simplified user lifecycle management.
• Execute Comprehensive Testing: Validate performance, layout, and accuracy across varying usage scenarios. Fix issues before launch to minimize user disruption. Consider maintaining SSRS instances in parallel during a transitional period.
• Onboard Users, Gather Feedback: User adoption requires education on Power BI functionality relative to SSRS. Gather feedback early and often to drive iterative improvements in the maturation phase.
• Plan for Continuous Enhancements: to frequently enhance visualizations, connectivity, and overall utility. This ensures enduring value to your business.

Watch Out for Common Migration Pitfalls  

Avoid these frequent issues when transitioning SSRS reports:

• Manually update embedded images during conversion
• Adjust for time zone differences
• Extend inactivity timeouts to >10 minutes
• Enable text search across all report pages  
• Expect some loss of specialized fonts
• Configure subscriptions through Power Automate
• Manage file share delivery via Power Automate APIs

Key Steps in the Migration Process

The following are the key steps;

1. Setting Up the Power BI Environment

To prepare Power BI for receiving the migrated SSRS reports, we will need to first structure the workspace environment. A well-organized workspace makes it easy for users to find the reports they need. We should aim to mirror the folder structure from the source SSRS environment to maintain consistency.

Specific steps include:

• Build out a folder hierarchy within the workspace to match the organization of existing SSRS report folders
• Set permissions at the workspace and report levels to restrict access as needed
• Configure row-level security rules or access controls to segment data as required

These steps establish a governed workspace for the migrated content before bringing reports over from SSRS.

2. Connecting to the SSRS Reporting Server

To extract reports from the source SSRS instance, we need connectivity between the two environments. The process entails:

• Cataloging all reports and confirming folder structures match planned Power BI environment
• Utilizing SSRS web portal to select reports for migration based on usage and importance

With read access confirmed, we can identify valuable reports to bring into Power BI. Careful organization ensures continuity for end users accustomed to existing structures.

3. Integrating with Azure Active Directory

To enable authenticated access between SSRS and Power BI, integrating with Azure AD provides seamless sign-on capabilities:  

• Register a Power BI app within Azure AD to establish trust for secure data access
• Record key credentials like application IDs, secrets, tenant details for use in API calls
• Configure API permissions to read from source SSRS and write to destination Power BI
• Store credentials securely to connect the two environments programmatically

Azure AD integration gives users single sign-on access to content while allowing apps to orchestrate behind-the-scenes migrations.

4. Automating the Report Migration

With setup steps completed, we arrive at the migration execution itself. Automating with Microsoft’s RDL Migration Tool reduces administrative overhead. Our approach is:

• Download and configure Microsoft’s RDL Migration utility
• Map SSRS data sources to equivalent connections in Power BI
• Execute migration runs for targeted reports, iterating folder-by-folder
• Monitor runs to validate successful completion without errors
• Repeat until all identified SSRS reports appear in the Power BI workspace

Automated migration eliminates the need to manually rebuild every report in Power BI. We handle exceptions and validate outputs through each migration pass.

5. Validating and Optimizing Reports

Upon migration, verification steps guarantee report fidelity and performance:  

• Open each report in Power BI Report Builder after migration
• Compare report visuals between SSRS and Power BI versions
• Identify any styling changes related to corporate branding
• Check for broken links, parameters, charts, or column misalignments
• Tune report queries and data models by analyzing in Query Editor
• Set data refresh cadence to ensure reports stay up-to-date

Optimization continues post-launch with real user monitoring and feedback addressed through incremental fixes.  

6. Integrating with Applications

Finally, application integration grants secure, governed access:

• Determine usage patterns of reports embedded within custom apps
• Enable Power BI REST APIs for programmatic report access
• Configure Azure AD app registrations for server-to-server data flows
• Restrict API access through permission scopes to only required actions
• Handle sign-on seamlessly through OAuth 2.0 authentication

Access governance maintains continuity of service for critical reports now sourced through Power BI’s enhanced visualization engine.

Conclusion

Migrating from SSRS to Power BI unlocks significant potential via cloud-hosted infrastructure, robust governance controls, and interactive visualizations for impactful reporting. But success requires methodical planning and validation. By following field-tested best practices around access, performance, and integration, your organization can confidently transition to accelerated data-driven decision making.

About Deevita

At Deevita, we recently helped a healthcare analytics client based in Michigan, MI, successfully migrate over 100+ SSRS reports into the Power BI Fabric environment. By modernizing their legacy reporting infrastructure, we eliminated significant SQL Server licensing costs, reduced infrastructure overhead, and enhanced report performance and accessibility across teams.

From rationalizing existing reports to automating the migration, optimizing visual fidelity, and embedding governance policies—Deevita ensured every step of the process was handled with precision and care. The result: a future-ready reporting platform aligned with modern BI best practices.