Organizing Version Control for Power BI Projects

[vigneshkumarcvk]

In consulting and teaching, I often face challenges with version control in Power BI—especially when multiple contributors are involved. How do you organize your version control strategy? Do you rely on Git integration, or do you prefer manual workflows? Curious to hear what works best in real-world scenarios.

[tayloramy · Accepted solution]

Hi @vigneshkumarcvk, 

Git is the gold standard of version control in the development space.

This is what my org uses. 

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Thankyou, @tayloramy for your response.

Hi vigneshkumarcvk,

We appreciate your inquiry on the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Based on my understanding, the version control challenge in Power BI arises from the conventional use of binary .pbix files, which do not support effective change tracking, merging, or safe collaborative work when multiple contributors edit the same report or semantic model. The best solution is to adopt the Power BI Project (PBIP) format together with Git integration in Microsoft Fabric. This converts Power BI items into text based files and enables standard Git workflows such as branching, pull requests, version history, and controlled collaboration without file conflicts. For structured enterprise deployments, this approach can be combined with Power BI Deployment Pipelines to manage safe releases from Development to Test to Production. Manual PBIX versioning, such as creating file copies or using naming conventions, may suffice for a single developer but does not scale well for teams.

Additionally, please refer the links below:
Power BI Desktop projects (PBIP) - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Get started with Git integration - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
Overview of Fabric deployment pipelines - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

We hope the information will help resolve the issue. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to contact the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi vigneshkumarcvk,

We would like to follow up and see whether the details we shared have resolved your problem. If you need any more assistance, please feel free to connect with the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[v-pnaroju-msft · Accepted solution]

Thankyou, @tayloramy for your response.

Hi vigneshkumarcvk,

We appreciate your inquiry on the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Based on my understanding, the version control challenge in Power BI arises from the conventional use of binary .pbix files, which do not support effective change tracking, merging, or safe collaborative work when multiple contributors edit the same report or semantic model. The best solution is to adopt the Power BI Project (PBIP) format together with Git integration in Microsoft Fabric. This converts Power BI items into text based files and enables standard Git workflows such as branching, pull requests, version history, and controlled collaboration without file conflicts. For structured enterprise deployments, this approach can be combined with Power BI Deployment Pipelines to manage safe releases from Development to Test to Production. Manual PBIX versioning, such as creating file copies or using naming conventions, may suffice for a single developer but does not scale well for teams.

Additionally, please refer the links below:
Power BI Desktop projects (PBIP) - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Get started with Git integration - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
Overview of Fabric deployment pipelines - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

We hope the information will help resolve the issue. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to contact the Microsoft Fabric community.

Thank you.

[tayloramy · Accepted solution]

Hi @vigneshkumarcvk, 

Git is the gold standard of version control in the development space.

This is what my org uses.