PowerBI Deployment Pipelines as source Control

[julsr]

Hello Everyone,

I've already created my Deployment Pipeline using the PowerBI feature, and it's working without problem, but I have two questions:

1. Is it possible to do a rollback here? Imagine I uploaded a report in Dev, then we moved it to test and Prod, and three days after, we decided it was not okay, and we wanted to go back to the previous version; it's possible to do it?

2. Could we consider this as a Source Control? I mean, something like Github, where we upload it from our computer to the Server, and then we start moving from each one of our stages to another. 

Regards,

Julian

[v-tangjie-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @julsr ,

1. There is no built-in revert or rollback option in the deployment pipeline feature. However, you can use version control tools like Git to store and manage your Power BI files, and then re-deploy a previous version from dev to test and prod stages if needed. You can learn more about how to use Git integration with Power BI Desktop projects in this article.
2. The deployment pipeline feature is not a source control system by itself. It is a way to automate the deployment of Power BI content across different environments, but it does not track the changes or history of your files. You still need to use a source control tool like Git to backup, version, and collaborate on your Power BI files. You can also use Azure DevOps to integrate with Git and Power BI for a complete CI/CD workflow. You can find some useful resources on how to do this in this blog post.

Best Regards,

Neeko Tang

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

[julsr]

Great explanation, thanks! 

I agree that the Deployment Pipeline is not a Source Control, but it has the essential characteristics, right?

1. History of changes
2. Stages of development
3. Approval is required to move from one stage to another
4. It has the option to compare the differences (old vs. new report)

Except for the rollback, I think it's complete for the first version. The best practice as I understand, is to integrate with source control like Azure DevOps or Github; that's what I will do in the following weeks is to integrate with Git, but for now, this can work if we are a small team.

Do you recommend using AzureDevop integration or Github? (we don't have any of these yet, but we want to know one that makes the integration easier.)

Thanks!

[v-tangjie-msft]

Hi @julsr ,

Yes, the Deployment Pipeline does have some characteristics of a source control system, as you mentioned.

Both Azure DevOps and GitHub are good options for integration. Your choice may depend on your team's preferences and the tools you're already using. If you're using Azure services, Azure DevOps might be a more seamless integration, as it includes Azure Repos and Azure Pipelines. On the other hand, if your team is more familiar with GitHub, you can use GitHub Actions for your CI/CD pipelines. Both options can work well, so it's up to your team's preferences and requirements.

Best Regards,

Neeko Tang

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