Home/ Services/ Power BI & Microsoft Fabric
SERVICE · 03 / BI PLATFORM

Power BI on top.
Fabric underneath.
One semantic truth.

A unified analytics platform that combines Power BI's visualization with Microsoft Fabric's lakehouse, semantic model, and data engineering layers — built so finance, ops, and analysts work from the same numbers.

Stack POWER BI FABRIC ONELAKE DAX / DAX STUDIO POWER QUERY
SEMANTIC MODEL · ONE TRUTH
DIRECT LAKE // LIVE
RLS · SENSITIVITY LABELS
WORKSPACE · DATAMARTS
REVENUE · BY UNIT
REPORT · LATENCY
3.2s
P95 · DIRECT LAKE
SOURCE · MIX
14 sources ERP · CRM
LAKE · SAAS
REFRESH // LIVE
WHY NOW · 01

Three definitions of "revenue" is two too many.

Most Power BI estates start as a couple of helpful reports and grow into a quiet sprawl. Different teams pull from different sources, write similar measures slightly differently, and arrive at meetings with conflicting numbers. Fabric is the chance to fix the foundation without re-platforming.

"

Sprawl, not strategy

Dozens of workspaces, hundreds of reports, and no shared semantic layer. Sales pulls CRM exports, finance keeps weekly extracts, ops connects directly to production.

"

Slow refreshes, slower decisions

Gateway-bound imports and overnight batches mean the dashboard people open at 9am is already a day behind the question being asked.

"

Fabric, but unfinished

OneLake is on. A lakehouse exists. Nobody is sure which workspace owns the gold layer, what Direct Lake actually buys you, or how to govern it.

CAPABILITIES · 02

What we actually build.

Eight focused capabilities, picked off the shelf to match where you are. We don't sell the whole catalog — we sequence it.

/01 — DESIGN

Semantic model design

Star schemas, governed measures, conformed dimensions. The DAX layer everyone else builds on top of.

/02 — LAKEHOUSE

OneLake & lakehouse architecture

Bronze · Silver · Gold layers in OneLake, governed shortcuts, sensible workspace boundaries.

/03 — DIRECT LAKE

Direct Lake & Direct Query

Sub-second reports against multi-billion-row models — without copying data into the semantic layer.

/04 — DATAFLOWS

Dataflows Gen2 & pipelines

Power Query at scale, orchestrated with Fabric pipelines and notebooks where SQL or Spark earns its place.

/05 — REPORTS

Report & dashboard design

Layout, accessibility, and DAX patterns that make the report feel as considered as the model behind it.

/06 — GOVERNANCE

RLS, OLS & sensitivity labels

Row-level security, object-level security, and Microsoft Purview labels wired into the semantic model.

/07 — COPILOT

Copilot & embedded analytics

Copilot in Power BI, custom Q&A linguistic schemas, and embedded reports inside the apps your team already uses.

/08 — DEVOPS

Deployment pipelines & CI/CD

Source-controlled models with Tabular Editor, Git integration, and deployment pipelines from dev to prod.

ARCHITECTURE · 03

One stack.
Five layers.

How the pieces fit on a typical Arkimetrix engagement. We don't insist on every layer — we recommend the smallest stack that answers the questions you actually ask.

/01SOURCES
DYNAMICS 365 SAP SQL SERVER SALESFORCE FILES / APIs
/02INGESTION
DATAFLOWS GEN2 PIPELINES EVENTSTREAM SHORTCUTS
/03ONELAKE · LAKEHOUSE
BRONZE SILVER GOLD DELTA PARQUET
/04SEMANTIC MODEL
DIRECT LAKE DAX MEASURES RLS / OLS PERSPECTIVES
/05POWER BI CONSUMPTION
REPORTS APPS EMBEDDED COPILOT EXCEL
PROCESS · 04

How we engage.

Five phases, each with a single deliverable a stakeholder can sign off. No 80-page strategy decks.

/01 · DAYS 1–3

Discovery

Tenant audit, workspace map, and a shortlist of the reports actually used.

/02 · WEEK 1–2

Blueprint

Target architecture, model design, governance pattern. One readable diagram.

/03 · WEEK 3–6

Build

Lakehouse, semantic model, three foundational reports — sliced by adoption risk.

/04 · WEEK 6–8

Migrate

Retire the duplicates. Remap legacy reports onto the governed model.

/05 · ONGOING

Enable

Train your analysts on the model. Document the patterns. Hand the keys back.

OUTCOMES · 05

What you can expect to change.

Outcomes worth aiming for — what we've seen consistently after a focused Power BI & Fabric engagement. Numbers will vary by tenant; we'll baseline yours during discovery.

One semantic truth

A single governed model. The same "revenue" measure across finance, ops, and product reports.

MODEL
Faster reports, fresher data

Direct Lake against OneLake means sub-second response on multi-billion-row tables — without scheduled refresh windows.

PERFORMANCE
Governed self-service

Analysts compose new reports against approved models, with RLS and sensitivity labels applied by default.

GOVERNANCE
Lower total cost

Right-sized Fabric capacity replaces a sprawl of Pro licenses, gateways, and ad-hoc Azure resources.

COST
An estate you can hand off

Source-controlled models, deployment pipelines, and a documentation pattern your team can extend.

CONTINUITY
STARTER ENGAGEMENT

Power BI & Fabric Foundations.

A four-to-six-week engagement that lands a governed semantic model, one production report, and a Fabric architecture you can build the rest of the year on.

Tenant auditWorkspaces, capacity, sprawl map
Target architectureOneLake + Direct Lake blueprint
Semantic modelStar schema · governed DAX
Reference reportOne end-to-end production report
Enablement2 sessions · pattern docs

Engagements scoped per tenant. Fixed-price options available for foundations work; T&M for build-out.

Scope this for us → Other services
FAQ · 06

Common questions.

The questions we get most often during scoping calls. If yours isn't here, write to info@arkimetrix.com.

Do we need to migrate to Fabric to work with Arkimetrix?

No. We work across the full licensing spectrum — Power BI Pro, Premium Per User (PPU), standalone Power BI Premium capacity tenants, and Fabric-enabled tenants. If you're on Pro or PPU today, we'll help you get the most out of what you already pay for before recommending an upgrade. If you're on Premium, we'll help you decide whether and when turning on the Fabric tenant setting makes sense — and what to do first when you do.

How is Direct Lake different from Import or Direct Query?

Direct Lake reads Delta Parquet files directly from OneLake into the Power BI semantic model — no scheduled import, no query pass-through to a source database. The result is import-mode performance with live data freshness, on multi-billion-row tables. Trade-offs apply (calculated columns, cross-source models), and we'll walk you through them in discovery.

What about our existing Power BI reports?

Most are worth keeping. We catalogue what's actually used, retire the duplicates, and remap the survivors onto a governed semantic model. The user-facing experience usually improves; the back-end becomes maintainable.

Can you work alongside our internal BI team?

Yes — most of our engagements are co-builds. We bring patterns, conventions, and a senior pair-programmer for your analysts. By the end of the engagement, your team owns the model and the documentation.

Where are you based?

Toronto, Canada and Pune, India. One team, two time zones. Most clients see this as a feature, not a bug — coverage runs nearly around the clock.

NEXT STEP

Ready to make
Power BI stick?

A 30-minute scoping call. We'll look at your tenant, your top three reports, and the question your CFO keeps asking. We'll tell you whether we're a fit — and what we'd do first.

info@arkimetrix.com → Schedule a 30-min intro
Practice leadPower BI & Microsoft Fabric
Typical engagement4 — 6 weeks · foundations
CoveragePro · PPU · Premium · Fabric
What you keepModels · pipelines · docs