Excels files --> SQL --> Power BI

[Tom_Y]

Hi all, it may be off topic here, but this's where I learn all the Power BI.

We're small company, say 5 teams, each 5 projects, and each projects 3 excel files (75 excel, not csv). Each excel has some similar columns (e.g client name, completion date, invoice amount etc) and some other specific columns for each project.

I now connect all of them into Power BI, and then all the Power Query/ DAX/ Star schema, and it's working.

Senior suddenly asks if SQL + Power BI will work for us and I have no idea at all.

Does it work in a Excel based company? (Or how)

Is there any benefit compared with existing star schema in BI?

If anyone can point me somewhere to explore it will be very much appreciated. (I know nothing about SQL, and I understand that it's must learn item for a data analyst, and I really want to learn it. Instead, I'm finding it a bit challenging to start from no where while I'm the only one working on data in a small company)

[lbendlin · Accepted solution]

The general question here seems to be - can Excel handle the potential growth in data size, how safe it is to continue using Excel (think data loss due to human error) and is it possible to improve your process by using SQL as the system of record for both Excel and Power BI.  So your title should say "Should I replace Excel sources with SQL sources?"

Absolutely. But yes, it will require upskilling. You will have to decide if that is something your company is willing to do.