Semantic layer first
Before a single chart is drawn, your sources are shaped into a star-schema model Power BI can actually optimise — the step that turns a pile of workbooks into one governed dataset.
Tableau to Power BI migration services
Fixed-fee Power BI migration services that retire Tableau one wave at a time
Semantic-layer-first Tableau to Power BI migration services from senior US-based Microsoft engineers: we rebuild the data model rather than re-publishing the visuals, validate every DAX measure against numbers you already trust, and move reports in waves by business unit — one written price, typical delivery in 2–4 weeks, 30 days of hypercare included.
Representative dashboard — sample data
What you get
A rebuild, not a copy-paste of your workbooks
The visuals are the easy part. What decides whether the move sticks is the layer underneath them.
Calculated fields translated to DAX
LODs, table calcs, and quick table calculations are re-expressed as DAX measures written once and reused, then tested against the figures your Tableau workbooks produce today.
Usage-ranked wave plan
We start from what people actually open. The reports carrying real weekly traffic move first, so the business feels the switch working long before the archive is dealt with.
Reconciliation you sign off
Each wave ends with a side-by-side comparison against the live Tableau report. Agreed check figures have to match before anyone calls that wave finished.
Governance carried across
Tableau permissions, project folders, and row-level rules are re-expressed as Power BI workspaces, app audiences, and row-level security — not left to be rediscovered later.
A clean decommission plan
A written inventory of what moved, what was deliberately retired, and what still points at Tableau, so you can cancel licences on a date instead of a hunch.
How it works
Three steps from a Tableau estate to a governed Power BI workspace
- 1
Inventory and rank
A free consultation plus a look at your Tableau usage data tells us which workbooks earn their keep. We reply with a written scope, a wave plan, one fixed price, and a delivery date.
- 2
Rebuild the model, then the reports
We construct the semantic model, translate calculated fields into DAX, rebuild each wave's reports on top, and reconcile them with your team against the live Tableau numbers.
- 3
Cut over and decommission
Reports publish to your governed workspace with access rules applied. Once the final wave is signed off, we hand over the decommission list and stay on for 30 days of hypercare.
Why the semantic layer has to come first
The failure mode of a rushed platform switch is recognisable: every dashboard gets re-drawn pixel by pixel, each one wired to its own extract, and six months later nobody can explain why two reports disagree. Tableau lets a workbook carry its own logic; Power BI is built the other way round, with a shared model underneath the reports. Microsoft's Power BI documentation (opens in new tab) sets out those layers — data, model, report, service — and a migration that skips the model layer simply reproduces your old sprawl in a new tool.
So we build the model first. Sources are shaped into fact and dimension tables, relationships are made explicit, and calculated fields become DAX measures (opens in new tab) defined once and reused everywhere. Level-of-detail expressions and table calculations rarely have a one-line equivalent, so each is re-derived from the business rule it encodes rather than transliterated — which is also the moment stale logic no one has questioned in years finally gets caught.
Migrating in waves by business unit
A big-bang cutover asks every team to change how they work on the same Monday. Waves do not. Each wave takes one business unit's reports, rebuilds them, reconciles them, and hands them over while the rest of the estate carries on in Tableau untouched. Momentum comes from the highest-usage reports landing first; the long tail — the annual board deck, the workbook two people open in March — is dealt with last, and some of it is honestly better retired than rebuilt.
Nothing is switched off early. Your warehouses, databases, and extracts keep feeding Tableau while Power BI connects to the same sources alongside it, so the two run in parallel until each wave matches. That overlap is what makes the reconciliation meaningful — you can put both reports on one screen and argue about the numbers before anyone commits.
Who this is for
It fits teams whose Tableau renewal is approaching, or whose licence spend no longer matches how much of the estate is genuinely used — often after a move to Microsoft 365 made a second BI platform hard to justify. It is scoped for small and mid-size organisations: a single fixed-fee project with a stated end date, not a multi-quarter enterprise programme with a discovery phase attached.
Once you land in Power BI, the work usually continues. Our Power BI dashboard development service covers new reports built after the migration, and the guide to what a Power BI dashboard actually costs explains how scope drives a fixed fee if you want the reasoning before you talk to anyone. If the data platform underneath needs attention first, Azure consulting handles the migration and cost work below the BI layer.
Delivery in three waves
Most report estates sort cleanly into three waves. The table shows scope and typical timeline rather than prices, because an honest number requires seeing your workbooks and sources first — the same principle described on how our fixed-fee process works.
| Wave | Scope | Typical timeline | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wave 1 — highest-usage reports | The handful of dashboards opened weekly by leadership and operations: core semantic model built, key DAX measures written and reconciled, workspace and access set up | About the first week | Fixed fee — scoped after your free consultation |
| Wave 2 — departmental reports | Finance, sales, or operations report sets rebuilt on the shared model, with row-level security, drill-through, and per-team walkthroughs as each unit is handed over | Weeks 2–3 | Fixed fee — scoped after your free consultation |
| Wave 3 — long-tail and archive | Low-traffic and periodic workbooks: rebuilt, consolidated into existing reports, or retired by agreement, plus the written decommission list for your Tableau estate | Week 4 and close-out | Fixed fee — scoped after your free consultation |
Everything produced is yours from the first day: the semantic model, the report files, every measure, and the workspace configuration all live in your own Microsoft tenant, never in ours.
Related services
Other ways we make Microsoft easy
Power BI Dashboards
Fixed-fee dashboard development for the reports you want built new, once your estate has landed on Power BI.
Microsoft Azure Consulting
Migration and cost optimization for the data platform sitting underneath your reporting layer.
How It Works
The scoping process, what a written fixed-fee proposal contains, and what happens after delivery.
Choosing a Power BI consultant
What to ask, what to check, and the answers that should make you walk away.
Licensing without the jargon
Pro vs Premium Per User vs Fabric, explained for small business budgets.
Power BI vs Excel reporting
Where a modelled BI tool earns its place — and where a spreadsheet still wins.
FAQ
Platform switch questions, answered
We rebuild the semantic model first, then recreate the reports on top of it. Copying visuals one-for-one carries Tableau's calculation logic into a tool that does not work that way. A star-schema model with tested DAX measures gives you reports that refresh, scale, and stay maintainable afterward.
Every rebuilt measure is reconciled against the live Tableau workbook before that report is signed off. We agree a set of check figures with your team — totals, period comparisons, key ratios — and both systems run side by side until each wave matches. Discrepancies get resolved, not explained away.
The fee reflects how many reports move, how tangled the underlying data sources are, and how much of the semantic model has to be rebuilt from scratch. After a free consultation we send a written scope with one fixed price. Nothing starts until you approve it.
Typical delivery is two to four weeks from kickoff. Wave one, covering your highest-usage reports, usually lands in the first week or so; departmental reports follow; long-tail and archive content closes it out. Your written scope states the dates before you commit, so the timeline is not open-ended.
They keep running. We connect Power BI to the same warehouses, databases, and extracts rather than cutting anything over on day one, so your Tableau estate stays live while waves complete. Decommissioning happens only after the last wave is reconciled and your team has signed off.
For 30 days after the final wave lands, we fix refresh failures, correct measures that behave unexpectedly, adjust visuals your users flag, and answer questions from people learning Power BI after years in Tableau. It is included in the fixed fee, not billed as a separate support contract.
Book a free consultation
Get more from the Microsoft tools you already pay for
Tell us what you’re trying to fix — a report, an approval process, an intranet, a Copilot rollout. We scope it as a fixed-fee project, you approve, and a senior engineer delivers in 2–4 weeks.
- Fixed-fee scope agreed before any work starts
- Senior, US-based Microsoft engineers — no handoffs
- Typical 2–4 week delivery
- 30 days of post-delivery hypercare included
The fastest way to reach us is the form — tell us the task and we’ll reply within one business day.