Power Bi & Fabric setup

Danielle Repic

I am interested in setting up an Azure database in Fabric for reporting purposes. IT has asked me to figure out what I need and how they can help. Apparently, the university has some Fabric and Power BI licenses but need to track them down. I would like to report off a database rather than SharePoint lists. (I'm a Crystal Reports user and creating a "like mdb" environment over csv files would be preferable) I have read others' posts about what they are doing (many amazing users in this group), just don't know what first steps to take. I would appreciate any advice. Thnx

Alex Wong

Azure and Fabric means 2 different things to me. So do you mean:

Azure SQL database allowing SQL database tables and SQL querying of data table

or

Fabric Data Lake where you have a "UI" interface of creating data table.

Danielle Repic

😥🤔 Well, that's a good question that I'm not sure I know how to answer. I believe a Lakehouse/Data warehouse to with a semantic model to use for reports, similar to how we can export an mbd file and then use that to report/query on. As I understand, from my limited MS training, Fabric is the overall container that combines the Lakehouse, Power BI to report from One Lake.

I have heard you speak about the SQL database that you use to report from so you're not having to use constant api calls. I may have misunderstood that point and I apologize. bbdev days put so much information into an already crowded space:)

Dennis Ladnier

Danielle, having done many of these I would suggest a basic Azure Elastic Server (this is the least expensive) and also some type of compute (i.e. vm). PowerAutomate will get you a lot of the basic's but at some point you will probably need to manage any single end-point calls (as part of a larger automation process) with a bit more flexibility. Anyway, would be glad to chat off-line should you have interest.

Dennis

Alex Wong

@Danielle Repic if you or your team have expertise with SQL already, go with Azure SQL Server. SQL is always powerful.

if there is no SQL expertise already, then you may want to invest into learning Fabric which aligns more with low/no-code methodology.

However, as Dennis pointed out, Azure SQL is much more economical than Fabric.

Xochitl Supervisor Record

Danielle- I am so glad you asked this - I am going down this road too- with the goal to have a 'data lake' that RENXT, FENXT, MailChimp, WealthEngine, Sharepoint and Excel lists, MSOutlook, LinkedIn, etc. exist in- so I can report on and create a way for fundraisers to access data in a centralized place/manner. Am I thinking too big with MS Fabric?

Alex Wong

@Xochitl Supervisor Record not too big, perfectly doable with either Azure SQL or Fabric.

Danielle Repic

Thank you, Alex & Dennis

As with most, I have way too many irons on the fire and get too little time for PA & PBI. I have SQL experience; however, it has been may years since I've coded other than Crystal Reports. Since IT is NOT involved in our RE/RE NXT side of things, Do I need to set IT up with a Blackbaud account or would I be able to set up an Azure database once I have a place on the mainframe to store it?

Thank you & @Xochitl Supervisor Record hopefully with their brilliant help we can get further along the process

Danielle

Danielle Repic

I just realized that it's cloud based not mainframe 🤦‍♀️ dating myself lol 🤷‍♀️

Alex Wong

You are going to need IT to help setup the Azure SQL instance. If IT is unfamiliar, which sometime can happen, you can get help with AI.

Since you already know SQL, even if dated experience, you are already ahead than using Fabric. +Fabric ~10x more expansive and does really add too much more to the table. I would say go with a SQL setup. You can easily brush up your SQL skills through AI.

Danielle Repic

Thank you, I will steer them towards SQL though they are looking into Fabric for me.