To build or not to build a Data Warehouse?

[ronaldbalza2023]

Hi, I was wondering what are the advantage/disadvantages of building a data warehouse. Currently, we are using power BI which connects to various data sources using native connectors, clean the data using power query and build a reports/dashboards around it. My thought was is it expensive to build a datawarehouse rather than using the power bi itself and do the ETL, etc. from there?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi  @ronaldbalza2023 ,

A Data warehouse is a high-performance, scalable platform that will store current and historical data for the enterprise, while Power BI is mainly a visualization tool. You use Power BI for visualizing, analyzing your data, and share it with business users. Even though Power BI offers agile ETL functionality with Data Flows, its primary use is to allow Power BI users additional flexibility to transform merge and share additional data.

For specific details, you can refer to:

https://www.bi-builders.com/blog/what-is-the-point-of-a-data-warehouse-if-power-bi-has-etl-capabilit...

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Power-Bi-vs-Data-Warehouse/m-p/78205

https://www.altisconsulting.com/au/insights/i-have-power-bi-do-i-need-a-data-warehouse/

Best Regards,

Liu Yang

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[amitchandak]

@ronaldbalza2023 , If your data is large, you should build a Data warehouse. Power Query transformation and calculated column will increase load time once data size increase.

The ideal is to have no transformation in power bi unless it can not be avoided.