Migration from SSRS to Power BI

Bhanu Nizampatnam 0 Reputation points
2026-10-12T23:51:59.3933333+00:00

Please assist with this.

Requirement is analyzing existing SSRS reports and migrate appropriate reports to Power BI paginated or interactive reports based on business, formatting, export, and distribution requirements.

Which tool is best and share the experiences and challenges faced? I have around 60 reports in SSRS. which has many datasets, parameters, expressions, subscriptions, and suggest the distribution patterns for migration assessment.

Appreciate all your help !

SQL Server Migration Assistant
SQL Server Migration Assistant

A Microsoft tool designed to automate database migration to SQL Server from Access, DB2, MySQL, Oracle, and SAP ASE.

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  1. Erland Sommarskog 138K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-10-13T06:56:47.0066667+00:00

    Power BI is not covered by Microsoft Q&A, so help here may be meagre. You may also want to ask this question in the Fabric Communities Forum: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/

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  2. AI answer

    2026-10-12T23:52:18.7533333+00:00

    For an SSRS-to-Power BI migration of about 60 reports, the best-fit tooling depends on the target report type and the SSRS version.

    • For paginated report migration (.rdl) from local SSRS servers to the Power BI service, use the RDL Migration tool.
    • If the environment is Power BI Report Server, Power BI 2022 Report Server, or SQL Server 2022 Reporting Services, the built-in publish/migration experience supports migrating .rdl files and .pbix files to the Power BI service.
    • If the environment is an earlier version of Reporting Services, continue to use the RDL Migration Tool.

    What the RDL Migration tool does:

    1. Converts shared data sources and shared datasets to embedded in the report and saves the files locally.
    2. Checks for unsupported data sources or report components when uploading to Power BI.
    3. Publishes converted files that pass validation to a specified Power BI workspace.
    4. Produces a summary of successful and unsuccessful migrated assets.
    5. Does not remove assets from the source environment.

    For the assessment phase, the most important first step is to build an inventory before deciding what becomes paginated versus interactive Power BI content.

    Recommended migration assessment approach:

    1. Inventory all reports
      • List the 60 SSRS reports that are migration candidates.
    2. Inventory all data sources
      • Capture every source used by the reports, including enterprise, departmental, and personal sources.
    3. Use audit information for prioritization
      • Identify report execution frequency.
      • Identify number of consumers.
      • Identify executive or critical-user reports.
      • Identify the most recently used reports.
    4. Gather report requirements for each report
      • Purpose, audience, and expected action.
      • How consumers use the report today.
      • Report owner and subject matter expert.
      • Delivery method requirements.
      • Interactivity requirements such as filters, drill-down, and drillthrough.

    This assessment is especially important because the migration is not always a like-for-like conversion. The migration can require redesign or refactoring, and it is not possible to completely automate a Power BI conversion process end-to-end.

    Practical experience and likely challenges, based on the documented migration flow:

    • Unsupported items: Some SSRS data sources or report components may not upload successfully; the migration tooling explicitly checks for this.
    • Shared assets: Shared data sources and shared datasets are converted to embedded definitions, which can affect how reports are managed after migration.
    • Refactoring effort: Existing reports may need redesign rather than direct conversion.
    • Prioritization complexity: With many datasets, parameters, expressions, and subscriptions, inventory and requirements gathering become critical to determine migration effort and sequencing.
    • Automation limits: Inventory collection can be automated in some environments, but the full conversion process cannot be fully automated.

    For distribution-pattern assessment, capture and classify each report by current and future delivery expectations:

    • On-demand interactive execution
    • Embedded in a custom application
    • Scheduled delivery using an e-mail subscription
    • Alert/notification requirements

    A practical way to assess the 60 reports is to group them into these buckets:

    1. Keep as paginated (.rdl) when formatting and delivery expectations are central.
    2. Redesign/refactor in Power BI when interactivity requirements are important.
    3. Retire or deprioritize reports with low usage based on audit data.

    Licensing and workspace prerequisites for publishing to the Power BI service:

    • My Workspace: paginated reports can be published and shared with a Fabric free license.
    • Other workspaces: require Power BI Pro or Premium Per User and write access to the workspace.

    If the goal is specifically to move an SSRS server installation to Power BI Report Server instead of the Power BI service, that is a different migration path. There is no in-place upgrade from SSRS to Power BI Report Server; migration is required.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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