PBIP and RDL folder structures

[DSQU]

We have 1000 RDLs on a SSRS 2016 server we're migrating to the Power BI Service, broken up into ~50 or so departments/folders on th server. 

As examples, the structure is something like a "Finance" solution in visual studio with 100 RDLs all with their own data sets. "Audit" solution with 25 RDLs. etc. 

In the the power BI service we're going to start with a "Finance" workspace that will have the 100 RDLs to start, and then going forward, net new reports will be Power BI reports. So all "Finance" reports are in 1 place. 

I started a PBIP project in Power BI Desktop called "Finance" but now it seems i am required to have a "Finance" report which i don't want.

How can i create a PBIP for "Finance" without the report? Or should I create a Finance root folder first and each new power bi report will typcally be it's own project and the name of the report is typically the project name?

I don't quite understand if a Project is for grouping similarly themed reports (even with different data sets) or if a Project is intended more to group an individual report's components? The legacy 100 RDL's use the 3 same SQL data sources, but have wildly different datasets/queries behind each of them. If these were in the power BI infrastcuture, it sounds like these would end up being 100 different projects? But if say 2 reports did use the same data set, they could be in the same PBIP?

Where should my existing Finance RDL's live in this folder structure? inside the PBIP Finance.Report folder? or in a root Finance folder i should create? so RDLs and Power BI reports are all in the same place. 

[v-karpurapud · Accepted solution]

Hello @DSQU 

Thank you for your question. I understand the challenge of migrating your 1000 RDLs from SSRS and integrating them with new Power BI reports while maintaining a structured organization.

A PBIP is linked to a specific Power BI report (.pbix) and cannot exist independently; creating a PBIP for "Finance" will designate "Finance" as the report name, generating a Finance.Report folder, as PBIP is designed to group files related to a single report rather than all reports for a department.

If two reports share the same dataset, they can be part of the same PBIP project. Otherwise, separate them.

In Power BI Service, there are no folders like in SSRS. SSRS RDL reports should be uploaded as Paginated Reports into the Finance workspace without using PBIP, by publishing them via Power BI Report Builder.

In the meantime, please ensure that new Power BI reports are organized separately, clearly distinguishing them from previous paginated reports and latest Power BI reports.

If my response has resolved your query, please mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, a 'Kudos' would be appreciated if you found my response helpful.

Thank you.

[v-karpurapud]

Hi @DSQU 

I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have any further questions or if you'd like to discuss this further. If this answers your question, please Accept it as a solution and give it a 'Kudos' so others can find it easily.

Thank you.

[v-karpurapud]

Hi @DSQU 
Hope you are doing well!

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it.

Thank you.

[v-karpurapud]

Hello @DSQU 

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

[v-karpurapud · Accepted solution]

Hello @DSQU 

Thank you for your question. I understand the challenge of migrating your 1000 RDLs from SSRS and integrating them with new Power BI reports while maintaining a structured organization.

A PBIP is linked to a specific Power BI report (.pbix) and cannot exist independently; creating a PBIP for "Finance" will designate "Finance" as the report name, generating a Finance.Report folder, as PBIP is designed to group files related to a single report rather than all reports for a department.

If two reports share the same dataset, they can be part of the same PBIP project. Otherwise, separate them.

In Power BI Service, there are no folders like in SSRS. SSRS RDL reports should be uploaded as Paginated Reports into the Finance workspace without using PBIP, by publishing them via Power BI Report Builder.

In the meantime, please ensure that new Power BI reports are organized separately, clearly distinguishing them from previous paginated reports and latest Power BI reports.

If my response has resolved your query, please mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, a 'Kudos' would be appreciated if you found my response helpful.

Thank you.

[DSQU]

thank you! this is what i was looking for: "If two reports share the same dataset, they can be part of the same PBIP project. Otherwise, separate them."

We've started a source control folder structure like this for our "Finance" workspace. Hopefully it will workout with CI/CD and the git integration we want to do eventually: 

\Finance\RDLs

                         \Report1

                         \Report2

              \PowerBI

                         \PBIPReport1

                                   \ReportComponent1

                                   \ReportComponent2                        

                         \PBIPReport2

\Sales\etc.etc.

The only thing that's kind of odd is that the report components aren't natively grouped into 1 folder. We'll have to create a folder to keep report components together. 

[v-karpurapud · Accepted solution]

Hello @DSQU 

Your source control structure is well-organized and should work effectively for CI/CD and Git integration. Regarding your concern about PBIP components not being grouped into a single folder, PBIP automatically structures them separately (e.g., .report, .dataset, metadata files). While this behavior cannot be changed at the project level, you can introduce an optional PBIP_Components folder within each PBIP report to logically group related files together.

For example:

\Finance\PowerBI

   \PBIPReport1

       \PBIP_Components

           \PBIPReport1.Report

          \PBIPReport1.Dataset

This approach maintains PBIP’s required structure while providing a more organized view for version control.

If you find this post helpful, please mark it as an "Accept as Solution" and give a KUDOS.

Thank you!

[lbendlin]

small word of warning: Each workspace can only host up to 1000 artifacts, and each user can only own 1000 artifacts.  These limits are independent of each other.

You may have no choice but to divvy this up across workspaces AND users.

[DSQU]

Thanks, i *think* we should be well below that threshold. We have 1000 reports but it's split up between the 50 or so workspaces. So the most one has is 70 currently.