Using the Power BI Git Integration: A 6-Step Guide

In my last post, I discussed the long-awaited Git integration feature for Power BI, which is  part of MS Fabric, and highlighted its collaboration benefits. 

To recap, this is how the integration helps with source-control: 

• Creating reporting and dataset files using Power BI Desktop, which are compatible with source control. 
• Saving your work as a Power BI project (.PBIP) in a folder instead of a .PBIX file. 
• Collaborating with multiple developers, tracking versions, comparing revisions, and reverting to old versions using source control integration. 
• Implementing CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) to ensure quality before deploying to production environments. 
• Performing code reviews, automated testing, and automated builds to ensure deployment integrity. 
• Using Git integration and deployment pipelines to manage full application lifecycles in development, testing, and production workspaces. This can be done through the UI or automation tools like Azure Pipelines. 

Now, let's discuss how to use this feature in our work as Power BI developers. Here is a 6-step guide to getting started: 

(Note: The below photos are courtesy of Microsofts PBI Blog.)

[ 1 ] Activate the Git integration feature by going to File > Options and settings > Options > Preview and checking the box next to “Power BI Project (.pbip) save option”. 

[ 2 ] Create a report (it doesn't have to be finished), and instead of saving your file as a .PBIX or .PBIT, save it as a .PBIP. 

[ 3 ] This will create a structured folder containing all the necessary Power BI project files in a Git-friendly format. To work with Git, initialize a local branch with the .PBIP project folder inside. Personally, I like to use VS Code for its speed and simplicity, but you could also use tools like Visual Studio or the Git CLI. Whatever floats your boat. 

[ 4 ] Continue developing your report and the underlying data model. After making changes, connect your local repository to a remote branch. Note that GitHub is not yet supported, so you'll need to rely on Azure Repos. 

[ 5 ] Publish your local branch to Azure Repos, providing a new way to publish your work to Power BI Service. Previously, reports were published directly from Power BI Desktop to workspaces. With Git Integration, you can now load reports and data models from a connected remote branch.   

[ 6 ] When loading data models this way, they will not contain any data because only the metadata is saved in Git. However, you can simply refresh the dataset to retrieve the final data. If you make changes to the report in the Power BI Service, you can write back the changes to your remote branch and sync them to your local machine's branch.  

Voila, just like this, by utilizing the upcoming Git integration in Power BI, asynchronously developed reports will belong to the past. If you have any questions, be sure to leave them below or just message me directly.  

#DataAnalytics #DataReporting #MicrosoftFabric