Why is this happening?
Monash University is executing a multi-year plan to improve our analytics capability and is moving to Microsoft Azure and its connected layer of tools, adopting Power BI as our enterprise reporting tool of choice. This environment, underpinned by a data architecture and data governance strategy, will protect individuals' personally identifiable information. It will also provide staff who are building dashboards or analysing data with easier access to information, supported by faster transformation and more consistent reporting.
Why is this important?
Building our enterprise reporting capability with Power BI will enable Monash University to leverage the data lake capability that has been implemented in recent years and provide decision-makers with improved information and insights. SAP Business Objects is a previous generation reporting tool with limited University technical support, and limited visualisation, distribution and collaboration features. This technical debt is putting the University at risk. Supporting multiple reporting platforms also splits resources and produces inconsistent reporting outcomes.
What will change?
- Power BI will become the enterprise reporting tool, and the SAP Business Objects (BO) platform will be decommissioned. Standard reports that are currently in SAP BO will be migrated to Power BI.
- Existing reports will be reviewed and consolidated.
- Insights will be gained more through data visualisation than through data export and analysis in spreadsheets.
- Power BI will provide greater flexibility with producing customised reports and collaboration/sharing.
- Monash staff will gain and uplift their Power BI skills.
How will this be managed?
The standard reports that are currently in SAP Business Objects will be migrated progressively to Power BI once their underlying datasets have been converted to a new format for use by Power BI. Reports will be sequenced based on a number of factors, including technical timeframes, business priority, and usage. Implementation will take place until June 2022.
Appropriate training will be decided and provided at the right points to support the transition.
What about my own custom reports?
If you currently have custom reports that you have developed yourself in SAP Business Objects (or had developed for you), they won’t be migrated by default to Power BI. The underlying datasets that these reports were created from will be the same as those that will be available in Power BI. This means that you will be able to replicate those custom reports in the new platform. If you would like to share any highly customised or complex reports with the project team for review and assessment, then please complete this form.
Who is involved?
The BI Team in the CIO Portfolio is managing the project with change management support, and the user group is partnering with the project team to plan and manage the transition, ensuring it meets business needs.
For more information, please contact Kieran Klease .