Competing workbook copies
Downloaded, renamed and emailed files can create different reported totals. Shared datasets, ownership, refresh rules and adoption help establish trusted definitions.
Spreadsheet modernization services
Excel to Microsoft Fabric Migration Services
Turn business-critical spreadsheets into governed, automated enterprise analytics.
Excel is often where an important business process begins—and where it becomes difficult to scale. Teams combine system exports, maintain local workbooks, rely on formulas only a few people understand and distribute different versions of the same report.
Office Solution AI Labs helps organizations assess and modernize spreadsheet-driven analytics on Microsoft Fabric. Work can include workbook discovery, formula and workflow assessment, OneLake ingestion, transformation redesign, semantic modeling, Power BI reporting, access controls, validation and user enablement.
Modernize the data foundation behind your spreadsheets. Keep the business workflows that still make sense.
What Is Excel to Microsoft Fabric Migration?
It is the assessment of spreadsheet-based data, calculations, reporting and manual workflows, followed by redesigning appropriate components on Fabric. The scope may include Excel workbooks and CSVs; tables, named ranges, formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA, external links, manual-entry workflows, OneLake, Lakehouse, Warehouse, Power BI and governance.
Not every workbook should become a database table or report. The first step is to distinguish authoritative data and repeatable business logic from presentation, exploration and personal productivity features.
Why Spreadsheet-Driven Analytics Becomes Difficult to Govern
Hidden business logic
Formulas, named ranges, hidden sheets and external links may encode important rules. Catalogue and assign ownership before deciding where each rule belongs.
Manual refresh and distribution
Manual exports, pasting and pivot refreshes are vulnerable to missed steps. Automation also needs credentials, retries, monitoring and operational ownership.
Worksheet layouts are not data models
Sheets can mix records, subtotals, labels, formatting and adjustments. Identify entities, keys, grain, types and exceptions instead of loading every cell.
File permissions are not a full data-security design
Centralized data requires deliberate permissions across Fabric workspaces, items, OneLake and Power BI semantic models.
Desktop-dependent macros
VBA can depend on user interfaces, workbook events, local paths or other desktop applications. Those behaviors usually require redesign, not a direct language translation.
What Should Move from Excel—and What Should Stay?
Consider repeatability, number of users, sensitivity, business criticality, refresh frequency, data volume, calculation complexity, audit requirements and write-back needs.
| Excel component | Potential target | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring operational extracts | OneLake Lakehouse or Warehouse staging | Centralize and automate where appropriate. |
| Repeated Power Query preparation | Dataflow Gen2, pipeline or notebook | Rebuild reusable transformations and validate behavior. |
| Shared business calculations | DAX measures, SQL or governed transformation logic | Centralize definitions and test calculation semantics. |
| Enterprise pivot-table reporting | Power BI semantic model and report | Rebuild interactions, measures and user experience. |
| One-off analysis | Excel connected to governed Fabric data | Retain Excel where useful. |
| Budget or forecast input | Controlled Excel template, Power Apps or planning application | Choose based on write-back, audit and workflow needs. |
| VBA import routine | Data Factory pipeline, Dataflow Gen2 or Power Automate | Replace data movement; assess UI behavior separately. |
| Personal productivity workbook | Excel | Do not migrate without a business case. |
Excel-to-Fabric Architecture: From Workbooks to Governed Data Products
A practical design separates source files, ingestion, standardized data, business calculations and reporting. Bronze, Silver and Gold layers can be useful where they fit the organization's architecture and operating model.
Architecture 1
Source and file management
Inventory SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams-connected libraries, network shares, secure transfer locations and application exports. Record owner, format, path, frequency, retention, sensitivity and expected schema.
Architecture 2
Ingestion into Fabric
Select supported Dataflow Gen2, Data Factory, OneLake landing-zone or notebook patterns based on file location, format, authentication and processing needs. Validate the exact connector scenario.
Architecture 3
Bronze: preserve source evidence
Where appropriate, retain original files and ingestion metadata such as source path, modified time, ingestion timestamp, batch identifier and schema version.
Architecture 4
Silver: standardize and validate
Normalize column names and data types, handle schema changes, validate keys and required fields, quarantine rejected rows and preserve adjustments explicitly.
Architecture 5
Gold: model business concepts
Create curated facts, dimensions and reference data with explicit grain, keys, shared definitions and quality rules.
Architecture 6
Semantic model and reporting
Build Power BI semantic models, measures and reports. Evaluate Import, DirectQuery or Direct Lake based on workload, supported features, security and measured behavior.
Architecture 7
Excel as a connected productivity tool
Retain spreadsheet analysis, planning and user workflows where they add value, using governed data sources and controlled write-back where needed.
Microsoft Fabric Components for Excel Modernization
Dataflow Gen2 and Power Query
Power Query-based import and shaping can fit suitable workbook ingestion scenarios. Connector support, credentials, file format, destination and refresh behavior must be checked for the exact case.
Fabric pipelines
Orchestrate file discovery, copy, transformation and downstream activities with defined dependencies, retries, schedules, monitoring and failure ownership.
OneLake and Lakehouse
Use file-oriented landing and Delta table patterns where they fit data engineering, Spark processing and flexible storage requirements.
Fabric Warehouse
Consider a relational, SQL-centric analytical store when structured tables and SQL serving fit the target model and supported features.
Power BI semantic models and Direct Lake
Direct Lake is optimized for Delta tables in OneLake, but response times depend on model design, capacity, query patterns, data layout and supported features.
Identity and governance
Design Microsoft Entra access, workspace and item permissions, OneLake security, semantic-model security, ownership, retention and lineage together.
Excel Formula and Business Logic Modernization
Translate a formula only after understanding its meaning. Data types, blanks, errors, date behavior, calculation order, external references and report filter context can change the result.
| Excel pattern | Potential target | Validate |
|---|---|---|
| VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH | SQL join, semantic-model relationship, DAX or Power Query merge | Check lookup uniqueness, matching mode, missing keys, ordering and duplicate behavior. |
| SUMIFS and COUNTIFS | DAX measure, SQL aggregation or Power Query | Choose based on whether results must respond to report filter context. |
| IF, nested IF and IFS | Power Query conditional, SQL CASE, DAX or Python | Document precedence, overlapping conditions, boundary values and null behavior. |
| Date and time calculations | Calendar dimension, SQL, DAX or transformation logic | Define time zone, fiscal calendar, daylight-saving, end-of-month and invalid-date handling. |
| Pivot tables and calculated fields | Power BI semantic model and report | Recreate grain, relationships, measures, filters, subtotals and drill paths. |
| Volatile or context-dependent formulas | Requirement-specific design | Review NOW, TODAY, RAND, OFFSET, INDIRECT and external references for recalculation and workbook-context assumptions. |
DAX measures respond to report filter context; fixed SQL aggregations do not behave identically in every report interaction. Choose the calculation layer based on the business requirement, then test representative values and edge cases.
VBA Macro Modernization: Replace the Right Behavior
VBA does not run natively as a Fabric pipeline or notebook language. Assess each macro's purpose and dependencies; data processing may move to Fabric, while interface behavior, workbook events and approvals may belong in other tools or remain in Excel.
Import files and append rows
Data Factory pipeline or Dataflow Gen2
Clean and reshape tables
Power Query, SQL or PySpark
Schedule data refresh
Fabric pipeline and schedule
Send notifications or approvals
Power Automate or an approved notification service
Update workbook formatting
Office Scripts or retained Excel
Respond to cell changes or user forms
Office Scripts, Power Apps, application logic or retained Excel
Automate Outlook or desktop applications
Power Automate or a supported API integration
Iterative data calculations
Set-based SQL, DAX or vectorized Spark/Python
For example, a monthly file-consolidation macro may become a process that discovers eligible files, validates the workbook contract, normalizes columns, appends valid records, logs exceptions, reconciles duplicates and notifies an owner. This is a business-process redesign, not a line-by-line VBA translation.
Data Modeling: Convert Worksheet Layouts into Business Entities
Identify the grain
Define what one row represents—such as an invoice line, daily product total, employee-month or forecast scenario—before building relationships or aggregations.
Separate facts and dimensions
Model transactional facts alongside governed product, customer, date, geography and other reference dimensions where suitable.
Preserve manual adjustments
Represent overrides with business key, original and adjusted values, reason, requester, approver, effective date and audit history.
Data Quality, Reconciliation and Calculation Parity
A migration is not complete because the new report looks similar to the workbook. Agree validation rules, tolerances and owners; exact parity is a test outcome, not an assumption.
File
Expected file, format, worksheet/table, required columns, schema version, duplicate file, encryption status and source metadata.
Rows and data model
Source/target counts, business-key duplicates, required nulls, invalid values, referential integrity and rejected-row reasons.
Calculations
Formula dependencies, representative outputs, blanks, zeros, errors, rounding, date boundaries, pivots, DAX filter context and manual adjustments.
Reports and access
KPI totals, slicers, drill paths, exports, user roles, refresh freshness, performance and business-owner sign-off.
Security, Privacy and Governance
- Classify files containing personal, payroll, financial, customer, health, regulated or commercially sensitive information before transferring them.
- Use Microsoft Entra groups, Fabric workspace and item permissions, OneLake data access, Warehouse permissions and Power BI semantic-model security as appropriate.
- Power BI RLS restricts semantic-model data for users with Viewer access; it does not constrain workspace Admin, Member or Contributor roles in the same way.
- Avoid hard-coded workbook credentials, use approved secret management, restrict gateways and network access, and apply least privilege.
- Document data owners, source files, refresh frequency, transformations, quality rules, sensitivity, downstream reports, support and retention.
Performance and Scalability Considerations
Excel worksheets are limited to 1,048,576 rows per sheet, but row count alone does not determine whether Fabric is appropriate. Measure workbook size and formula complexity, file arrival frequency, data growth, refresh duration, report concurrency, pipeline execution, capacity, storage and gateway throughput.
Ingestion design
Prefer stable Excel tables or named ranges, process changed files where practical, track batch IDs and file fingerprints, separate raw and curated outputs, and design retry and idempotency behavior.
Semantic model performance
Use an appropriate model, reduce unnecessary columns, review relationships and measures, benchmark Import, DirectQuery or Direct Lake for representative workloads, and monitor capacity. Do not promise fixed response times without measurement.
Excel vs. Microsoft Fabric: A Practical Comparison
Excel and Fabric are complementary: Fabric can provide a governed data foundation while Excel remains a connected productivity and analysis tool.
| Dimension | Excel-centered process | Fabric-centered analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Primary role | Spreadsheet analysis and user productivity | Governed data engineering, warehousing, analytics and BI |
| Data storage | Workbook files and linked sources | OneLake, Lakehouse and Warehouse |
| Shared definitions | Often duplicated across files | Reusable transformations and semantic models |
| Automation | Formulas, macros and manual refresh | Dataflows, pipelines, notebooks and scheduled operations |
| Reporting | Worksheets, pivot tables and charts | Power BI reports and semantic models |
| Access control | File and folder permissions | Workspace, item, OneLake and semantic-model security |
| Best fit | Personal analysis, planning and lightweight models | Shared, repeatable, governed enterprise analytics |
Five-Phase Excel-to-Fabric Migration Methodology
Phase 1 — Workbook discovery and rationalization
Activities: Locate workbooks and identify owners; record formats, size, sheets, tables and refresh patterns; inventory formulas, external links, Power Query, Power Pivot and VBA; classify sensitivity and criticality; map dependencies and manual approvals; prioritize by value, risk and complexity.
Potential deliverables: Workbook inventory and catalogue; ownership and dependency map; formula and macro inventory; sensitivity register; duplicate/retirement candidates; migration-wave priorities.
Phase 2 — Business logic and target architecture
Activities: Identify authoritative datasets and measures; map workbook structures to tables; select Lakehouse, Warehouse or semantic model targets; choose ingestion and refresh patterns; assign formulas to Power Query, SQL, DAX or Python; decide whether VBA moves to pipelines, Power Automate, Office Scripts, application logic or remains in Excel; define security and acceptance criteria.
Potential deliverables: Target architecture; data model and table mapping; formula and VBA decisions; ingestion/orchestration design; security and governance model; test plan and acceptance criteria.
Phase 3 — Data ingestion and logic modernization
Activities: Configure source connections and gateways where required; build file discovery and ingestion; preserve raw evidence; normalize worksheets and tables; redesign formulas and data models; rebuild approved VBA workflows; create semantic measures; implement logging, retry and exception handling; establish source control and deployment.
Potential deliverables: Lakehouse/Warehouse structures; Dataflow Gen2 and pipeline assets; SQL/Python transformations; Power BI semantic models; rebuilt workflow automations; technical documentation and test evidence.
Phase 4 — Reconciliation, UAT and adoption
Activities: Compare source and target records, calculations and pivot outputs; test user roles, refresh failures and recovery; benchmark representative workloads; run user acceptance sessions; train users on Fabric data and connected Excel workflows; obtain business-owner sign-off.
Potential deliverables: Data quality and reconciliation report; formula parity evidence; security results; performance benchmark; UAT sign-off; training materials; open-issue and remediation register.
Phase 5 — Production transition and optimization
Activities: Agree source freeze or change process; run final ingestion and reconciliation; redirect users to approved reports and datasets; activate schedules and alerts; monitor refresh and capacity; retain or retire workbooks under policy; review adoption, support issues and optimization opportunities.
Potential deliverables: Production Fabric environment; operational runbooks; support and ownership model; approved workbook retirement list; post-migration backlog; final acceptance record.
Industry Use Cases
Finance and accounting
Close workbooks, management accounts, expenses, budgets and variance reporting; preserve audit trails, adjustment approvals, currency precision and fiscal calendars.
Sales and revenue operations
Territory plans, pipeline exports, quotas, commission calculations and revenue reporting; define source authority and shared metrics.
Supply chain and procurement
Supplier scorecards, inventory, purchase orders, demand plans and logistics; validate units, identifiers, snapshots and late updates.
Human resources
Workforce planning, headcount, attrition and compensation analytics with appropriate sensitivity, access and retention controls.
Manufacturing
Production schedules, quality logs, downtime and yield calculations with validated definitions and event timing.
Healthcare and life sciences
Operational spreadsheets and reporting subject to privacy, retention, audit and access requirements.
Retail
Store performance, pricing, promotions, sales and inventory with reusable calendar, product and store dimensions.
Professional services
Utilization, project margin, time entry and resource planning with project-level access and financial approvals.
Cost, Licensing and Total Cost of Ownership
There is no universal cost or saving. Compare current Microsoft 365, Excel and Power BI licensing with Fabric capacity, OneLake storage, gateway support, automation licensing, migration, remediation, testing, training, parallel operation and ongoing platform support. Model options from improved Excel governance to a controlled hybrid or broader reporting modernization.
A right-sized hybrid solution may offer better value than migrating every workbook. Validate licensing and usage assumptions with the appropriate provider.
Common Excel-to-Fabric Migration Mistakes
- Migrating every workbook without assessing business value.
- Treating every worksheet as a clean relational table.
- Ignoring named ranges, hidden sheets, formulas and external links.
- Converting formulas by name without validating calculation semantics.
- Replacing every VBA macro with a Data Factory pipeline.
- Losing manual adjustments or ignoring user-interface behavior.
- Assuming SharePoint, OneDrive, network shares and legacy formats behave identically.
- Rebuilding pivot tables as static aggregates when users need interaction.
- Applying RLS without reviewing workspace roles and data access paths.
- Ignoring retention, refresh monitoring, retries, ownership and capacity.
- Promising exact parity or fixed performance without test evidence.
- Retiring Excel before users accept a supported replacement workflow.
How to Measure Success
Workbook estate
Workbooks discovered and classified; duplicates retired; owners assigned; formulas, macros and dependencies assessed.
Data engineering
Files processed, schema validation, pipeline reliability, recovery time, freshness, rejected rows and reconciliation status.
Business logic
Critical calculations documented, parity test coverage, KPI agreement and audited manual adjustments.
Analytics
Model and report adoption, shared definitions, representative performance and refresh completion.
Governance
Owners, sensitivity, access tests, retention, audit, lineage and support ownership.
Business outcomes
Measured manual effort, reporting cycle, reconciliation, errors, adoption and comparable platform TCO.
Attribute business improvement only when the baseline, measurement method and comparison period are documented.
Why Office Solution AI Labs?
An Excel-to-Fabric engagement can assess workbook estates, formulas, macros, schemas, OneLake ingestion, Data Factory and Dataflow Gen2 patterns, Power BI models, validation and user enablement. Scope and implementation depend on the workbook, source environment and approved target architecture.
What a representative proof of concept can examine
- Structured tables and multi-sheet workbooks.
- Cross-sheet formulas, lookups, SUMIFS and pivot tables.
- Power Query connections and Power Pivot models.
- VBA file import, external links and manual adjustments.
- Legacy formats, connector limitations and gateway strategy.
- Ingestion, schema handling, semantic modeling and formula redesign.
- Security, reconciliation, refresh monitoring and recovery.
- User acceptance and the appropriate Excel coexistence plan.
Start Your Excel-to-Microsoft-Fabric Migration Assessment
Prepare an approximate workbook count, file formats and storage locations; data volume and refresh frequency; formulas, VBA, Power Query and Power Pivot usage; external links and manual approvals; sensitivity and downstream reports; user groups; Fabric readiness; coexistence needs; priorities and desired outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Excel to Microsoft Fabric migration?
It is the process of assessing spreadsheet-based data, formulas, reporting and manual workflows, then moving appropriate data and repeatable logic into Fabric Lakehouse, Warehouse, Data Factory and Power BI. Excel can remain available as a connected productivity tool.
Why migrate Excel files to Microsoft Fabric?
Organizations migrate when critical reporting depends on duplicated workbooks, manual refreshes, inconsistent formulas, weak ownership or growing data volumes. Fabric can provide governed ingestion, shared data models, scheduled transformations and enterprise reporting.
Does Excel need to be completely replaced?
No. Excel remains useful for ad hoc analysis, planning, scenario work and familiar user workflows. The objective is to centralize trusted data and reusable business logic while retaining Excel where it adds value.
Can Microsoft Fabric ingest Excel workbooks directly?
Yes. Microsoft documents an Excel connector for Dataflow Gen2 using Power Query. The documented capability is Import. Connector prerequisites and limitations depend on workbook format and storage location.
Can Fabric read Excel files stored in SharePoint or OneDrive?
The exact method depends on the connector, location, authentication and tenant setup. Assess the supported SharePoint/OneDrive ingestion pattern and validate refresh behavior rather than assuming all file paths work identically.
Can Fabric ingest Excel files from a network share?
A gateway may be required. Microsoft recommends a fully qualified domain name path for network share connections in documented Power Query scenarios. Validate gateway configuration, credentials, file access and refresh behavior.
Can Dataflow Gen2 read legacy .xls and .xlsb files?
Microsoft documents that legacy workbook formats such as .xls and .xlsb require the Access Database Engine OLEDB provider. Because ACE cannot be installed in cloud service environments, a gateway with ACE is required for those scenarios.
Can Power Query Online read password-protected Excel files?
No. Microsoft documents that Power Query Online does not support password-protected Excel workbooks and cannot access encrypted Excel files. Such files need an approved remediation or alternative ingestion process.
Can Excel formulas be converted to DAX?
Some formulas can be redesigned as DAX measures or calculated columns. The right choice depends on whether the calculation is interactive, row-based, refresh-time or visual-specific. Validate filter context, blanks, errors and data types.
Can VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP become SQL joins?
Often, yes, when the lookup represents a relational relationship. But validate lookup uniqueness, exact versus approximate matching, missing keys, ordering and duplicate behavior before replacing the formula.
How are SUMIFS and COUNTIFS migrated?
They may become DAX measures using CALCULATE and filter expressions, SQL aggregations or Power Query transformations. Choose based on whether the result should respond dynamically to report filters or be persisted during data preparation.
Can Excel pivot tables be migrated to Power BI?
Their analytical logic can often be rebuilt using a Power BI semantic model, relationships and DAX measures. Recreate filters, grouping, subtotals, calculated fields and drill paths, then compare totals with the original workbook.
Can VBA macros be converted to Microsoft Fabric?
Some data-processing macros can be redesigned as Data Factory pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, SQL or PySpark notebooks. User-interface automation, workbook events, Outlook automation and approval workflows may need Office Scripts, Power Automate, Power Apps or application logic.
Does Fabric execute VBA?
No. VBA is an Office automation language and does not run as a native Fabric pipeline or notebook language. Its business behavior must be redesigned using supported services or retained in Excel.
Can Excel Power Query queries be reused in Fabric?
Power Query uses the M language across Microsoft products, but connectors, functions, credentials, privacy settings and execution environments can differ. Review and test each query in the target Dataflow Gen2 environment.
What happens to Power Pivot models?
Assess tables, relationships, calculated columns, measures and data sources. Rebuild the enterprise model as a governed Power BI semantic model or other suitable Fabric model. Validate DAX behavior and security.
Should Excel data go into a Lakehouse or Warehouse?
Use Lakehouse for file-oriented ingestion, Delta tables, Spark and data engineering. Use Warehouse for relational, SQL-centric analytical serving. Some architectures use both, with a curated Warehouse model serving reports.
What is OneLake?
OneLake is Microsoft Fabric's unified logical data lake. Fabric experiences can use data stored in OneLake, and shortcuts can reference data in supported external storage locations without copying it.
What is Direct Lake?
Direct Lake is a Power BI semantic model storage mode optimized for Delta tables in OneLake. It can support large analytical models without importing a separate full copy of data, subject to capacity and feature considerations.
Does Direct Lake guarantee sub-second reports?
No. Performance depends on semantic model design, query complexity, capacity, data layout, concurrency and supported features. Benchmark representative reports and monitor capacity behavior.
Can Excel users continue to work with Fabric data?
Yes. Microsoft documents OneLake catalog integration in modern Excel for Windows, enabling users to discover and connect to Fabric Lakehouse and Warehouse data sources through the Get Data experience. Confirm client version and tenant availability.
How is data security handled after migration?
Use Microsoft Entra identities, workspace and item permissions, OneLake security, Warehouse permissions and Power BI semantic model security as appropriate. Test each user persona and data access path.
Does Power BI row-level security protect all workspace users?
No. Microsoft documents that RLS restricts semantic model data for users with Viewer permissions; it does not apply to workspace Admin, Member or Contributor roles in the same way. Design workspace access and semantic model security together.
How are manual adjustments preserved?
Represent adjustments as explicit, governed records with business keys, old/new values, reason, requester, approver, effective date and audit history. Do not hide adjustments inside transformation code.
How do you validate formula accuracy?
Compare formula outputs on representative records and edge cases. Test blanks, zeros, errors, rounding, date boundaries, duplicates, missing lookup values, pivot totals, DAX filter context and manually adjusted figures.
Can Fabric replace Excel financial models?
Some reporting and calculation layers can move to Fabric and Power BI. Complex planning, scenario input, iterative calculations and write-back may need a dedicated planning application, Power Apps or a hybrid Excel design. Assess financial controls before replacement.
Can Fabric automate monthly reporting?
Yes. Pipelines and Dataflow Gen2 can orchestrate ingestion and transformation, while Power BI can deliver governed reports. Distribution method, refresh schedule, subscriptions and recipient permissions must be designed.
How do you handle files with different worksheet layouts?
Create schema contracts and separate parsing rules by workbook family. Normalize each format into a common target structure, log unexpected columns and route invalid files for correction rather than silently dropping data.
What happens when a workbook changes its columns?
Use schema validation and versioning. Detect missing, renamed or new columns, stop or quarantine incompatible batches, notify the owner and update transformation logic through controlled release.
How long does Excel-to-Fabric migration take?
There is no universal duration. The number of workbooks, formula dependencies, VBA complexity, source locations, data volume, security requirements and business testing determine effort. A representative discovery and proof of concept provide a defensible estimate.
Will moving Excel to Fabric reduce costs?
It may reduce manual preparation and duplicated tooling for suitable workloads, but Fabric capacity, storage, Power BI, gateway, automation licensing, migration and support all contribute to TCO. Model actual consumption and current costs.
Can Fabric process more than Excel's worksheet row limit?
Fabric analytics storage and compute are designed for workloads beyond a single Excel worksheet's row limit. Actual scale depends on the selected Fabric item, capacity, architecture and workload; it is not literally unlimited.
What is the difference between Excel migration and Power BI migration?
Excel-to-Fabric migration can include data ingestion, workbook formulas, VBA, data models and reporting. Excel-to-Power BI migration often focuses more narrowly on rebuilding reports and calculations in Power BI. The scope should state whether the underlying data platform is also being modernized.
Can Excel workbooks be retained as the front end?
Yes, where appropriate. Connect users to governed Fabric datasets and maintain controlled input workflows. Do not use an uncontrolled workbook as the authoritative storage layer for shared enterprise facts.
What should an Excel-to-Fabric proof of concept include?
Choose representative workbooks with formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, VBA, external links, manual adjustments and sensitive data. Demonstrate ingestion, normalization, formula redesign, macro disposition, security, reconciliation, refresh and user acceptance.
What information is needed for an Excel migration assessment?
Provide workbook count, file formats, storage locations, size, formulas, VBA, Power Query/Power Pivot, refresh frequency, source systems, sensitive data, downstream reports, user groups, target Fabric capacity and business objectives.
