Microsoft Fabric migration: Key challenges in execution and alignment

Microsoft Fabric changes more than tech—it changes how your business uses data.

Many organizations are considering a move from Power BI Premium to Microsoft Fabric. On the surface, it seems like a natural upgrade—Fabric offers a unified analytics platform that brings together data engineering, science, and business intelligence. But as teams begin the migration process, they often realize that this isn’t just a new tool—it’s a new way of thinking about data. 

Let’s walk through some of the biggest challenges we see when organizations begin this transition. 

It’s not just an upgrade—it's a redesign 

One of the most common misconceptions is treating Fabric migration as a simple replatforming exercise. But Fabric doesn’t work the same way as Power BI Premium. It changes how data is ingested, modeled, governed, and consumed. That means success depends on more than just technical lift-and-shift. It starts with rethinking your data strategy, your value chain, and how your teams interact with data. 

Dealing with legacy BI environments 

Many companies still rely on fragmented data models, outdated refresh logic, and dashboards built years ago. These setups can’t fully take advantage of what Fabric offers. Migration often exposes how much “technical debt” has built up over time. Cleaning that up requires coordination across architects, engineers, and analysts. It's not just about moving content—it's about building cleaner, leaner, more connected data pipelines. 

Learning new tools and approaches 

Fabric brings in features like Direct Lake and OneLake that offer real advantages—but they also require new skills. Many BI teams aren’t familiar with working across both analytics and data engineering. That’s why training and enablement are so important. Teams need support to adapt to a new platform and adopt a more product-oriented mindset around data. 

Getting governance right from the start 

Fabric combines workloads that used to live in separate systems. As a result, governance becomes more important—and more complex. You can’t rely on add-on controls or late-stage fixes. Security, access management, and data lineage need to be built into your migration plan from day one. Otherwise, you risk exposing sensitive data or creating new silos. 

Speed isn't the only goal 

Yes, Fabric is faster. Dashboards that once took several minutes to load may now render in seconds. But performance gains aren’t the whole story. The real opportunity lies in changing how insights are created and shared across the business. That’s where long-term value is unlocked—and that takes alignment across both tech and business teams. 

How we help 

At Traxccel, we guide organizations through the full journey—from planning to execution. Our team not only migrates your reports; we help you redesign your architecture, build alignment across teams, and make sure governance and performance are built in from the start. The result isn’t just a working Fabric deployment—it’s a data platform that’s ready for the future.