Changing OData Source

[BritPearl]

Does anyone has any experience with changing the server (and subsequently URL) of source data for BI reports? We are switching servers for our ERP system, and in doing so the URL for the source of our Odata will change. We are hoping that all we will need to do is manually change the URL in the source of each dataset, but would love to hear from anyone that has experience with this. Our fear is that we are going to have to rebuild all of our BI reports from scratch.

Thanks!

[d_gosbell · Accepted solution]

If it's the same API just running on a different server then yes, you should just need to change the url in the source without re-building your reports from scratch. The other thing I've done in the past is to ask IT to setup a DNS alias for the system so you can point at https://our-erp/api   or something like that instead of pointing at a specific server name. Then if you move servers again in future you just need to get the alias re-pointed and you don't need to change any reports. (we also took this approach with our report server instance so that we could upgrade that in future without breaking end user bookmarks)

[Serenge]

We've encountered this issue before, and while there’s no quick fix, there are smarter ways to manage OData sources in Power BI.

A practical approach is to create individual OData feeds for each table. You can optimize these feeds using parameters like $select, $filter, and date ranges to limit the data to only the necessary columns and records. This not only improves performance but also simplifies future maintenance.

When it comes time to switch servers, all you need to do is:

1. Go to Edit Queries.

2. Open the Advanced Editor.

3. Replace the old OData URL with the new one.

4. Update your credentials.

5. Repeat the process for each table.

Although it may seem tedious, this method is much easier and more efficient than rebuilding everything from scratch.