Power BI suitability for SSRS replacement

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have been working with Power BI for some time creating solutions it is good at, eg: combing large data sets into a dashboard.  I have a client that needs to re-write their SSRS reports and they are considering moving everything over to Power BI.  My concern is many of these reports need to be run in realtime and require filtering based on the user.  For data retrival speeds they also would require other filters, eg: Date and type.

I have been working on try to implement this in Power BI but I feel they are best served with SSRS.  The problems with Power BI include:

- Doesn't support dynamic parameters.

- Not optimised to run ad-hoc data requests.

I have tried some work arounds but I feel using Power BI would be a hack job.  Am I wrong?

[Icey]

Hi @Anonymous ,

For your questions,

1. Doesn't support dynamic parameters.

No. You can refer to these documents or videos:

Deep Dive into Query Parameters and Power BI Templates

Parameter Tables in Power BI / Power Query

How to create and use Dynamic Query Parameters in Power BI Report

Dynamic Parameter in POWER BI

Dynamic Power BI reports using Parameters

2. Not optimised to run ad-hoc data requests.

No. But for ad-hoc report in Power BI, there are some limitations.

You can refer to these documents:

Review of new Features coming to Power BI by Oct 2018 – From Business Applications Summit

Power BI Security – What is Dynamic Row-Level Security

Row-level security (RLS) with Power BI Desktop

Using DirectQuery in Power BI

And you can refer to these documents to learn Pros and Cons of Power BI:

Pros and Cons of Power BI

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI

9 Reasons why Power BI is the Best Tool for Data Analysis

You can also give your ideas here.

Best Regards,

Icey

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[Anonymous]

Thank you @Icey  for the help.

I've looked into those options for facilitating parameters but there is one key requirement missing that my client relies on using SSRS.  They want to be able to select multiple parameters from the published report, loading all the data to then filter from Power BI would impact performance too much.  As far as I can see parameters can only be implemented while using Power BI Desktop or from a linked parameter source (eg: a table).  Unfortunately neither of these solutions would be acceptable to them.  I can't see this being added to Power BI as Microsoft provides this functionality in SSRS.