Forum Discussion
Optimising Fabric Capacity Usage
Hi all, Due to the recent changes in Fabric capacity metering, I've been spending quite a bit of time trying to optimise our CU consumption. The challenge I've run into is that it's difficult to dis...
Murtaza_Ghafoor
Super User
Super UserI would suggest if you opt for medallion architecture
Bronze → Silver → Gold Delta → Semantic Model → Power BI
Please don’t optimize SQL Endpoint consumption in isolation—compare the total CU consumption across the complete workload.
- Keep SQL Views when the logic is simple and inexpensive.
- Materialize into Delta/Gold tables when the transformation is expensive and reused frequently.
- Keep reporting-specific calculations in the semantic model (measures, time intelligence, etc.).
- Moving transformations into Power BI may reduce Fabric CU, but it can increase refresh time and duplicate business logic.
- Separate semantic model refreshes from direct SQL/Excel queries when benchmarking, because user activity can significantly distort the results.
For your Fabric architecture, a good pattern is medallion architecture
Bronze → Silver → Gold Delta → Semantic Model → Power BI
with lightweight SQL views where needed.
The best approach should be determined by measured total CU + refresh performance, rather than assuming Delta tables are always cheaper than SQL views.
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