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Note
This article forms part of the Power BI implementation planning series of articles. This series focuses primarily on the Power BI experience within Microsoft Fabric. For an introduction to the series, see Power BI implementation planning.
This article introduces the content lifecycle management series of articles, which helps you to plan how to manage the lifecycle of your Power BI content. The series of articles is primarily targeted at:
To ensure that you deliver reliable and useful Power BI content to consumers, it's important to follow effective content lifecycle management practices. Lifecycle management refers to how you handle content from creation to publication (or deployment), including retiring content when users no longer need it. Planning your lifecycle management strategy for Power BI content is an essential step to scale and grow for successful enterprise and self-service analytics.
Note
This series provides an overview of Power BI content lifecycle management. It focuses on key considerations and guidance to plan your content lifecycle management strategy. These articles describe different approaches to lifecycle management from smaller, self-service environments, to more sophisticated enterprise scenarios.
This series focuses primarily on the Power BI workload within Microsoft Fabric. However, the underlying concepts can also be relevant for the other Fabric workloads. Some lifecycle management features discussed in this series can also be used for other items in Fabric.
The following diagram depicts a typical Power BI content lifecycle.
Tip
For guidance about how to plan and create Power BI content, see BI solution planning.
The six stages shown in the diagram include:
Each of these stages is described in detail in the articles in this series on content lifecycle management. The guidance in these articles helps you to determine your approach to manage your Power BI content.
You can manage the lifecycle of Power BI content by using different approaches. These approaches vary in their complexity and robustness, depending on the components and processes you use.
Typically, different approaches range from simple to advanced.
For each stage of the content lifecycle, the following diagram depicts some examples of components you might use for simpler or more advanced lifecycle management approaches.
The diagram depicts the following components for each stage in the content lifecycle. The components are examples. The first example is how you might achieve a simple lifecycle management approach; the second example is how you might achieve an advanced lifecycle management approach.
Item | Description |
---|---|
You can plan and design content by using Microsoft Teams to collaborate in teams, or by using Azure DevOps to collaborate in projects. | |
You can develop content and manage changes by using OneDrive for Business (also known as OneDrive for work or school) to conduct file version control, or by using Azure Repos in Azure DevOps for metadata source control. | |
You can validate content by using Power BI to conduct manual testing, or Azure Test Plans in Azure DevOps to conduct automated testing. | |
You can deploy content by using Power BI deployment pipelines, or by using Azure Pipelines in Azure DevOps to orchestrate CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment). | |
You can support and monitor content by using the default Power BI monitoring reports, like those found in the admin monitoring workspace, or by creating your own customized monitoring report with Azure Log Analytics integration. | |
You can retire and archive content by using OneDrive for Business (also known as OneDrive for work or school) to archive and store files, or by using Azure Repos in Azure DevOps to archive metadata. |
Choosing how you approach content lifecycle management depends on your needs and other factors. Here are some key factors to consider as you go through the content in this series.
Important
There are many other valid approaches to manage the lifecycle of your Power BI content. Select and plan an approach that best fits your content ownership and content delivery scope strategies, and which helps you meet your needs and achieve your BI objectives.
In the next article in this series, learn how to plan and design content as part of managing the content lifecycle.
Events
Mar 31, 11 PM - Apr 2, 11 PM
The ultimate Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SQL, and AI community-led event. March 31 to April 2, 2025.
Register todayTraining
Module
Design a Power BI application lifecycle management strategy - Training
The use of OneDrive, Git repositories, and Power BI deployment pipelines allows us to follow application lifecycle management techniques. This reduces administrative overhead and provides continuity in the development process.
Certification
Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate - Certifications
Demonstrate methods and best practices that align with business and technical requirements for modeling, visualizing, and analyzing data with Microsoft Power BI.