Power BI Premium is Dead – Ep. 353
Main Topic
News & Announcements
Main Discussion
The episode unpacks the “Power BI Premium is dead” headline and what it really means in the era of Fabric capacities. Rather than panic, the discussion focuses on how licensing and capacity strategy are changing—and what teams should do to stay ahead of cost and governance surprises.
Key points:
- “Premium” as a brand is shifting, but the underlying needs remain: predictable performance, controlled sharing, and enterprise governance.
- Capacity planning becomes more nuanced when BI workloads sit alongside broader Fabric workloads—watch for noisy-neighbor scenarios.
- Don’t treat licensing as an afterthought: align features, scale, and cost to your actual usage patterns.
- Migration conversations should include content strategy (what to keep, refactor, or retire), not just SKU changes.
- Communicate the change internally—stakeholders will hear the headline; you need to explain the reality.
Looking Forward
If you’re on Premium today, the next move is to inventory your largest workspaces/models and tie them to capacity consumption. That gives you a fact-based plan for what to migrate, what to optimize, and what to retire.
Episode Transcript
0:32 good morning and welcome back to the explicit messes podcast with Tommy Seth and Mike hello everyone and good morning good morning gentlemen and a happy Tuesday to you good morning back at another week again again let’s do it so so any other announcements or things that have popped out here recently that anyone wants to talk about any other news articles I’m just quickly perusing the Microsoft blog and the fabric blog see there anything out there that’s really
1:02 there anything out there that’s really good what are we talking about today Mike well we should probably do before we do the news let’s do our main topic good call Tommy keeping with the format that we agreed to an article came out on LinkedIn recently a gentleman by the name of Thomas has presented just a really interesting conversation around goodbye powerbi premium capacity so we’re going to talk about is powerbi premium Dead is it going away what does this
1:32 Dead is it going away what does this look like and and what does this mean for your organization as we move forward with things so that’s going to be our main topic before we get into our main topic looking for some news articles anything worth noting or of talking talking about anybody find anything that was interesting I saw that there was timle showing up for Alm toolkit I think we might have talked about that previously did you have a chance to test that out at at all negative h that’s a good that’s a win there I like that one I will I will
2:03 win there I like that one I will I will say this I’m very com I like using tabular editor this is maybe a Beat from the street a little bit more than maybe potentially news but the Dax query R viiew has been announced in both the power. com service and in powerbi desktop so there is some really interesting commands when you go into the Dax query view where you’re able to script out all the measures in this table all the measures in the model or only this one measure and recently I had built a RBI
2:35 measure and recently I had built a RBI data model A semantic model in the service not using the default but making my own and building the entire model in the service didn’t realize you can’t download that model from the service after you’ve built it so if you build something in the service it stays there it doesn’t it doesn’t let you download a a PB file of just the model which makes sense there’s no there’s no PBX file that I came from so that being said I had a a whole bunch of measures that were stuck in a model that had a direct
3:06 were stuck in a model that had a direct link I was doing powerb embedding and I couldn’t do that with powerb embedding so I need to get all my measures out and try to figure out how to rebuild them so I was able to recreate the model use import mode on tables in desktop and I could script out all the measures to find them copy the code out of the service put it in desktop and rerun or create all the measures again saved me a ton of time and errors and headache and wow it was amazing so I was
3:36 headache and wow it was amazing so I was thoroughly impressed I know this is like the idea of like T editor 3 like it can just do this stuff naturally but to have this built into the tool already in integrated I want to go start up another third- party tool I really like the experience it’s not available for the default semantic model yet I believe because you the de view yeah I think you’re right I agree like the the scripting view even though I just did a training on tablet editor 3 and we went through it like the use cases for using
4:06 through it like the use cases for using the scripting yep but that being said Mike to your point using a desktop because you can save those queries is integral you can’t do that in the web yet yes but just to be able to go through that real like quickly like I I don’t want to spin up an instance or in the sense application it sounds like first world third world problems so to speak just like I can’t open up tablet editor I don’t want to waste 30 seconds but there’s something to be said like I want to test something out I want to take a quick look I what if your organization
4:36 look I what if your organization doesn’t allow third party tools or you’re not going to pay for tap editor I you’re not going to pay for tap editor there there is yes Tommy you’re mean there there is yes Tommy you’re right but not everyone’s going to be able to have an Enterprise version of tab editor and connect to things in the service or on local or what so there’s going to be some limitations there for some organizations and this is just a really good alternative and this is one of these features that I’m like wow this is extremely helpful saved me a ton of time and I was dreading rebuilding this model cuz I like G I’ve got like 10 measures I got to rebuild like eh it’s about working smarter and
5:07 like eh it’s about working smarter and faster than than anything else and that’s it’s those death by a th000 cuts that make things annoying and so this making this is feeling like it’s making it easier I I will say too around the the same scope I’ve been using more and more or with some of the projects the default semantic model and building off of that it’s still a little difficult because again you don’t have all the features available yeah to see the changes immediately in the report so I have two
5:37 immediately in the report so I have two windows open and one’s the semantic model building the one’s the reports oh got a relationship or want that measure yeah I still wish there’s a save button in the web there’s just something in me because auto save yes but just to like quickly do the refresh no refresh that’s needed yeah the changes I it’s still a wow moment the fact that it’s an immediate update any report that’s connected to it I would agree with that and I think that’s a really good
6:08 that’s a really good point and I I think the I think it’s going to get better it sounds like it’s going to get improve or smooth over time so yeah like the feature very happy for Dax review lots of good things coming out there so I just want just want to point that out as a news article there but I don’t really see any other big articles I will say this it feels like right before we go to a conference though the announcements on the blog posts go a little go a little thin they go a little slow down there’s not as many like announcements about features and things because I
6:38 about features and things because I think honestly I think they’re really holding back some features and going to announce a lot of things at conferences and I I get I get it I understand they want to create some hype people are showing up they’re going to spend the effort to record people demoing these new features why not make it a big splash so I understand so we’re probably not going to get a lot of news here in the near the near term any other items haven’t have you announced when their next big conference is that’s coming up isn’t it in Europe yes it is in Europe it’s at the end of the month this month oh fabric
7:10 end of the month this month oh fabric conference is the 25th to 28th of September so like in two weeks radio silence on the blogs exact exactly we’re getting really close I wonder if we if we will even get a desktop release before then I don’t know if that if that release Cadence will we’ll push out a new desktop cuz that would be a dead giveaway if you’re going to get desktop with before that anyways all right well that being said let’s jump over to our main
7:40 said let’s jump over to our main topic today and I I’ll be honest I picked this topic Tommy did you have something else to say I’m sorry just a quick beat on the street very very lighthearted so and I’m intrigued if your tools have changed so been doing a lot of training and I’m also passing on a lot of it train the trainer with some of my clients and they’re like so what are some of those tools that you’re using that we’ve noticed while you’re doing the training and it just went through like my Essential toolkit for
8:11 through like my Essential toolkit for any training that I do so and I want to just see what you guys use when you guys do support or even just any screen sharing because what I do now is if I don’t have these tools I feel like I am lost like I have no map no phone with me okay in the 3r it power toys and snagg it these are essential to any training that I’m doing zoomit is the one where I can zoom in draw a square or live Zoom
8:43 can zoom in draw a square or live Zoom where I’m actually at yep power toys it’s not necessarily meant for training or for screen sharing but it has like a p ton of Microsoft little tid like kind p ton of Microsoft little tid like hacks you could do it’s a Microsoft of hacks you could do it’s a Microsoft tool yes one of the things yeah one of the things is if I click it will actually show like a red square or red circle where I clicked interesting so what I was telling my what I was telling the Train the trainer in this meeting is like listen people don’t know where like how the intimate UI or the
9:14 where like how the intimate UI or the different uis when you do dashboard in a day you’re basically showing three applications you’re showing power query you’re showing powerbi desktop and you’re showing the whole Canvas OR and the formatting pane th those are three different user interfaces so they don’t know where you’re clicking so I don’t know do you guys use anything else I’ve heard of there’s a few others out there for like window sharing but those are essential to what I do the only thing I would add in
9:44 do the only thing I would add in there would be teams teams is like so I don’t while you use snag it I don’t snag pitchers using snagit I actually just use I use a combination of zoomit and the windows shift S command or so that’s just grabbing a screen share or an image there and I also find that I use inside the zoomit features I use control one and control2 a lot so
10:14 control one and control2 a lot so control one allows you to zoom in on the screen and then you can draw on it and then control 2 doesn’t zoom in the screen but allows you to draw on it so I’ll use the combination of those two things back and forth maybe it because I do a lot of presentations and things online line the only thing I would maybe also add to this would be is
10:32 would maybe also add to this would be is I have a I have a 1080p single-sized monitor that is only for my presentation so if you have computers that have really wide screens or extra like desktops that have I have one screen that’s a 49 in really Ultra wide screen great good for working on not good for presenting on because the screen gets too big it’s really small and I like to share the entire screen because I’m zooming in and zooming out and I can’t share a window or a web browser page because those don’t affect the zoom in zoom out features so I’ll
11:03 the zoom in zoom out features so I’ll find a lot of times I’ll do those kind find a lot of times I’ll do those things I’ll I’ll use those of things I’ll I’ll use those tools anything else set that you do from presentation Zoom it I’d snip it as put instead of snag it the the only other the only other thing I would say is depending on the format I usually have like Lucid shark just spun up on the side oh good point I will say that is conceptual right so it’s like I always I’m always like okay here here
11:34 always I’m always like okay here here are the are the boxes here’s how this goes and and it it it is I think underutilized just in conversations in general like I pull it up in teams in meetings all the time because you’re you’re what people forget especially in the data worlds I think are we’re so used to the world we live in and when you start talking about related Concepts if people are not as familiar familiar they’ll lose your
12:07 familiar familiar they’ll lose your first or second count like connection and then they’re lost for the rest of the meeting right so having having the visual even when I’m in other people’s meetings I’m like hang on hang on because I’ll start do like doodling in Lucid on the side just so to make sure I’m following their their train of thought and it it always has enhanced the conversation always because I can go back and and that’s what like note note taking too but like when when you’re
12:37 taking too but like when when you’re presenting it’s the Lucid chart thing to communicate ideas that’s a good I don’t use Lucid chart Lucid chart is also a good version there’s also draw. io which is looks very similar to Lucid chart but I actually use use to yeah I use I use Miro Miro is the one that I like to use and what I have done that makes it very efficient for me is in mirro you can make templates the same thing I think you can do in like Lucid charts charts draw. io but I make a template page of all the commonly used elements and Graphics so I can literally just go into
13:07 Graphics so I can literally just go into the application and quickly drag oh here’s a fabric icon oh here’s a report icon here’s a semantic model icon and I can quickly make the architectures that I’m talking about within a couple minutes so I’ve gotten really good at perfecting drawing things in real time especially when people ask questions around architectures yeah that that’s an underutilized part because I’m a huge diagram. guy yeah you can put the icons in there’s the quick shortcuts like s’s for square yep I feel like R would be
13:37 for square yep I feel like R would be forting but it’s not anyways but the having that as part of the tool Bel but also the conceptual side what is that the conceptual diagram we had a episode on that yes this is underutilized I feel like I I want to see that more in my meetings yeah to that end I will also say these tools the reason I I use these tools other than Microsoft VIs I like Vio is a program out there that is there for visualization stuff yeah they just haven’t kept up with like modern ways of building visual things and it feels like
14:09 building visual things and it feels like Miro and draw draw. io feel a lot more like figma or modern drawing tools and I’ve even seen people do like fullon figma diagrams of explaining architecture diagrams as well I started by building a an adobe XD architectural diagrams and I had hundreds of squares of architectures and designs and things all in that program and then I started M migrating them out to Meo and figma because I like those programs better but anyways the idea though is
14:39 better but anyways the idea though is you can build these really beautiful looking reports or architect these architectures fairly quickly now with tools and PowerPoint and and Vio haven’t kept up they just they’re just not there that’s why I choose these these other tools instead what would be your recommendation and because I remember when you were on the Adobe XD train train and then I was like I’ll do that too but just was not my cup of tea just because it’s more of that photoshop kind because it’s more of that photoshop more designer thing compared to of more designer thing compared to draw. io is I don’t want to say it’s more
15:10 draw. io is I don’t want to say it’s more stagnated but it’s just very much it’s much quicker to spin something up I think so if you’re GNA get if you’re to get someone who’s like I’ve never really done that before whether it’s in a meeting or just building conceptual diagrams in a tool like this because I think that’s hard for people if you haven’t if you’re not familiar with that is it just a just start doing it or what would be your like your ramp up your learn how to learn those tools yeah I think a lot of those tools particularly draw. io it’s it’s a lot about being comfortable with being
15:42 about being comfortable with being able to find what you need quickly for me has been if you’re going to learning the tools pretty straightforward I think a lot of these diagramming tools is as long as you can make a square and draw a line between the two squares in an easy way it’s a good tool like V viio will do that like that’s what a lot of what you’re talking about block diagrams okay here’s the data here’s the source what are we going to do to it are there other steps that we’re missing and then let’s talk about those considerations so that’s a lot of the conversation is just you need a couple blocks on the on the
16:12 you need a couple blocks on the on the screen to show flow of data and I’d also argue Seth you did a lot of this in ssis but it’s like the control flow is and like the data flow of ssis I think there’s like a control flow where you can wire things together it’s like that idea of like let’s talk about the flow of the data what is it going to go through the different blocks is that right I yeah but that’s horrible you talk about pain painful tools reason we don’t use it anymore exactly right but it it’s the con the concept is there you’re stying to show that control flow of the data yeah and
16:43 that control flow of the data yeah and and ultimately what I love it is the the best tools for me are the ones that allow you to easily and quickly grab shapes you’re like almost it’s almost autoc completing some of the connections and things for you now and and then you can go into like the easier like how does it copy and paste images how does it like how can I snag something from a word doc and easily paste it in like like the cross transfer of like how I want to build the many different
17:14 I want to build the many different things I’m trying to to share with people so from conceptual all the way down to a an extremely detailed architecture right can it serve all those purposes and as long like I think the tools that can Traverse that are are the strongest but in general like it this this conversation was just more of the whiteboarding experience like how fast how fast can I share a quick thought with you or we can be on the same page as far as like the the
17:45 the same page as far as like the the conversation itself one other tool that I’ll throw out there as well that’s very easy to learn has a lot of good diagrams on there but it feels too clunky to do things with is azure diagram. com Tommy you’ve seen this one I think you showed me a link and you maybe made some diagrams in there it’s a really good tool it has very beautiful Integrations with things but it doesn’t do the interesting thing like it doesn’t let me copy easily copy like again this is the thing with the Microsoft products I can’t use the ALT key grab an object
18:16 I can’t use the ALT key grab an object and immediately make a copy of it it’s stuff like that there needs to be it’s it’s not you can tell it’s been designed by engineers and not by designers yeah because designers would have made it a bit easier for you to create objects and things so that’s that’s part of my it’s a good program I just don’t love it it’s just not really there’s missing some features features there anyways good tools there as well I like that that’s a good a good little tip and trick there so zoomit power toys Miro
18:46 Miro draw. io draw. io and those pretty if you’re just starting off great list so yeah it’s a pretty good list excellent with that let’s jump into our our main article for today I’ll be honest this is the article that I picked here and I’m going through a lot of transitions or communicating this with a lot of clients right now and I thought this would be a a very relevant topic we are very fastly approaching the ability for people to not even buy powerbi premium or aure a SKS or em SKS a lot of the old
19:18 SKS or em SKS a lot of the old premium capacities that we were TR traditionally buying are getting deprecated they’re getting removed you’re not going to be able to buy them anymore so an article from Thomas today was talking about okay good buy powerbi premium capacity hello fabric capacity we’re now we’re now killing out the the powerbi side and we’re getting only fabric capacities I think moving forward here initial thoughts initial reactions Tommy said you have any reactions to this article do you see are you are you planning for this are there things in your organization that you’re looking at
19:48 your organization that you’re looking at actively to say hey we have to think about a transition plan into fabric are you are you thinking through those things yes all right good let’s move on well thanks guys yeah so topic number two two no I think two big things that stuck out for me on this that as I was going through and thinking about it and also again a lot of conversations with my with my own clients is there’s a big difference between spinning something up
20:18 difference between spinning something up completely new and the a migration from powerbi premium because this is talking about you cannot purchase a new powerbi premium capacity correct which is very different than most of my clients who already have a powerbi premium capacity I’ve been in organizations where it was three quarters away until they were going to migrate to a new CRM system because of process change technology change cost change subscriptions all things so just because
20:50 subscriptions all things so just because powerb premium is not available this at least the article is talking very much to people who don’t have premium at all where they’re they don’t have any licensing maybe they have Pro or premium per user but they’re
21:04 have Pro or premium per user but they’re not even in the premium capacity realm so obviously their only choice is fabric it makes it obviously easier to get fabric the second point on there is just because you purchase Fabric and if you’re an organization going we should we were going to get premium now we can’t does not mean that you’re also taking all of your current data processes and all of your current data systems and integration and moving them to fabric you just happen to have the fabric fabric capacity so those are really the two big
21:34 capacity so those are really the two big things that stuck out to me like right off the bat one just because it’s new you can’t purchase premium does not mean that organizations today have to change and then and then two doesn’t mean that you’re moving all of your current processes and systems over no you will be you will be but you can’t so I I can renew my pre capacity so you’re I don’t think I can’t purch the
22:04 you’re I don’t think I can’t purch the new one you can’t renew that’s the point so that’s the point no you can’t if I already have premium there’s have a premium license when when that current contract is up I can’t renew my PE SK ah right right so so if that’s what you’re suggesting that’s not accurate they want to get rid of the pecq mhm pecq mhm you have to migrate to the fcq you can renew up to a certain point so there’s
22:34 renew up to a certain point so there’s there’s a there’s a point in time I think it was I want to say I don’t know I’m trying to put my finger on the real article from Microsoft fabric blog because there was a fabric blog post that said hey by the way this is one of our older episodes too but by the way you’re not going to be able to to purchase a premium premium skew as of like right I thought it was like June or July of this year so right now you can’t even purch July July yeah so you can’t purchase new premium powerbi P1 SKS anymore if you already had one you can maintain it but it was a very tight
23:05 maintain it but it was a very tight timeline from right okay you now can’t purchase any new ones if you have one you’re able to reup it up until a certain point and I thought it was like up until 2025 that’s what I thought too and then you could at least renew until that point but then after that moment you’re not allowed to renew anymore and then you’re you’re going to have to migrate at some point if you have a premium capacity you can renew I think I believe I remember the 2025 and it doesn’t automatically roll over into an
23:35 doesn’t automatically roll over into an FCU I’m gonna go try and find I’m G to find the the article yeah from microsof we should I I read it I I read it in such a way that if you were going to renew you you would have had to have done it in the time frame yes of of the July first thing right like or in your next so I’m past that already I can’t I don’t I didn’t I read like I couldn’t renew right so if my license ends at the end of the year I my impression was I’m
24:06 year I my impression was I’m migrating to the fcq because I can’t I can’t re I can’t reup again but I I could be wrong like let’s let’s let’s find it while we go anyway I think to to answer your question Mike am I thinking about it yeah absolutely because well before I tell you my point I think Tommy you you n nail in and dialing the right as far as like that migration point and that’s why the dates are going to be important here because there is going to be a cut off where you do have to purchase the fsq
24:37 where you do have to purchase the fsq you have to reassign the capacities right right in in your environment so you don’t have any downtime right so understanding when your P pcq renewal or end period is is going to be important for organizations where I’m pre-thinking about this is I would and I would imagine it’s the same in in the vast majority of ORS the costs are going to shift from one business
25:07 are going to shift from one business area to another which is more of an interesting conversation especially that as as you’re coming into the next budget cycle or or where you’re talking about next year so definitely a call out related to the the it’s going to be in the technology sectors right it’s going to be the teams that are that own in manage Azure and they they should definitely be aware that this is going to come their way and and that it’s going to be part of their budget instead
25:37 going to be part of their budget instead of out of office land as the famous Lee Corso from college football used to say not so fast because think about this just because you have the fabric skew doesn’t mean you’re opening up the playground to everybody right because I could absolutely do fabric now the way I’m doing powerbi premium and what by so so I could absolutely use fabric the fabric capacity with just my semantic models I don’t have to migrate everything from
26:07 don’t have to migrate everything from Azure and a since I could keep the cost where it is so if I have a fabric capacity I could literally change nothing to my current processes keep everything in Azure or keep everything where already is and use the fabric capacity like I’m using a premium capacity with I’m using this for semantic model refreshes and I’m using this for people to get access to the reports I don’t necessarily have to I’m not saying this is the right idea but I don’t have to immediately use a lake
26:37 don’t have to immediately use a lake house immediately use jupyter notebooks immediately put data integration data engineering into Fab are you jumping into a different topic or are you talking about my cost thing thing yeah nothing there’s nothing to do with it it has nothing to do with it why because you are typically purchasing a pcq through the Microsoft 365 portal and or reseller where gets where this gets sticky correct I okay I yeah because the
27:08 sticky correct I okay I yeah because the people the people that are managing the subscriptions or licenses for the organization are a lot of times using resellers right correct yes because they don’t manage that because licensing is such a fun topic but it what I’m all I’m suggesting is who pays for it and where we manage it is now in two different place it’s in a different place completely you’re moving it into the Technology Center it’s going to show
27:38 the Technology Center it’s going to show up in a different budget line item because I can’t purchase this in the Office 365 admin Center correct you’re now purchasing it from Azure directly which leads into one of my my favorite points about the whole thing is I’m glad I’m happy because I if you’ve if if you’ve had experience with a skes right or any of the licensing that you could manage in in Azure oh my gosh it’s 10 times better the ability for us to
28:08 10 times better the ability for us to spool up oh go from A3 to an A4 to an A5 like with clicks of a button just like we do with every other CL cloud service amazing biggest gripe in the past why can’t I do that with a PQ right like like now you can and that’s one of the best best things about this from my perspective just from a manageability standpoint because the people that are managing these environments and monitoring and administrating them right like you can
28:39 administrating them right like you can you you now have ownership instead of the the this really in quotes fun experience that it has been where if you need to go from a P1 to a P2 or you needed another P1 right like there’s right there was no option you had to go down this route like let me contact you down this route like let me contact different part of the org or my know different part of the org or my reseller and then I have to get this spooled up and yada yada I got thinking about that there’s a you’re right there’s a ton of implications there too
29:10 there’s a ton of implications there too on who’s owning that and in and in terms of monitoring that cost yeah especially if you have big p SK envirment right it’s like hey guys what are we doing C right like we’re pushing this part of the budget into this other area like Finance needs to know that Andor so does the does the organization so that to your point Tommy depending on how large things are you might you’ll have to re reassign a bunch of capacities
29:41 reassign a bunch of capacities yeah does this affect I don’t remember that article and Mike if you if you do find it was there anything else on the premium per user on there or is that also going away as the dinosaur at this point so my understanding is premium per user is not fabric brick so premium per user is a collection of settings or things that are powerbi premium related but that are not directly linked to fabric so this will be interesting so this
30:12 so this will be interesting so this is why I think this LinkedIn post is very important here right you need to understand the differen which is between powerbi premium per user and fabric now so previously it was like okay do I need a premium capacity is it based on a user licensing model or is it based on a capacity purchasing dedicated Hardware model right and that’s what that was the A and the P skes are doing now with fabric because all the other SKS and it really it makes a lot of sense to me because the licensing is much clearer now it was very confusing to like which
30:43 now it was very confusing to like which license should I use should I use the Azure one should I use the the Microsoft 365 license to to be able to embed things for my customers or Ed internally like what is there is so much confusion there that Microsoft has finally ironed all that out and now it’s just every you can embed wherever you want you want to embed internally it’s an fcq you want to embed externally it’s an fcq it’s the same thing which makes a ton of sense and it’s there’s no restrictions there so I think from that perspective they’ve simplified the licensing thing now but now going
31:15 licensing thing now but now going back to premium per user and fabric now there’s a difference between those two SKS and I one of the things I kept thinking in my mind I’ve actually had people ask me is do you think there’s going to be a fabric per user capacity being purchased and I don’t see it happening I don’t I don’t think the price point of a fabric skew is so
31:35 the price point of a fabric skew is so reasonable and it goes down so small that you don’t really need I don’t think you want a premium a fabric per user capacity you go down you can go down to an F2 and then if you add Reserve pricing to it it’s 150 bucks a month you don’t need many users at $20 a user to cover the cost of that skew to be able just to play with what what what things are happening inside fabric so I’m I’m really to the point where I’m like okay yes you’re very limited you can really scale down things
32:06 limited you can really scale down things but the value of all the services that you can get from fabric is way be way above $150 a month for what you get with those lower end skills granted you’re not going to be doing it on Big Data you have to be very smart about how you’re using your capacity you could quickly run out of it but it it does all the things you want to do or try it’s a very good deal I think sorry what was your question Tommy I ran on a tangent there I think a little bit too much I think that’s perfect but one quick thing on the support for the premium capacity I think
32:38 support for the premium capacity I think I know we’re looking on Google I don’t think we read all the article so this is actually a tidbit from thas Anderson’s post if you’re an existing premium customer you have a few options you can choose to do nothing as support for existing subscriptions continues until January 2026 or 2028 depending on agreements so they’re still going to actually have support for premium at least for the next year and a half at minimum support but again you can’t purchase it
33:08 but again you can’t purchase it new correct no purchasing purchasing is done basically at this point purchasing is done purchasing new purchasing is done yes and they have to give you a long Runway until right you get out of the the old the old world of thinking or the old stuff you were doing I get that so I don’t know if you guys had a direction to go but one of the I think the points I feel like where we’re going is very much on whether or not you’re forced to go to fabric there are a lot of considerations
33:40 fabric there are a lot of considerations here Mike I know this was your article so I don’t know if you had one of the roads but to me it sounds like we’re going into what do we need to prepare for and what are the biggest things not just from a licensing point of view but from a shift in the organization I think we talked about obviously where the cost is coming from but there’s a ton of other considerations so Mike I can let you drive with this or we can go down that route well again my main thoughts were I like I like the idea of what they were talking about here so one is understanding the differen in licenses
34:10 understanding the differen in licenses you’re going to be able to purchase in the future right so I think it was just me being able to talk through like okay what’s the difference between premium PR user and fabric because I think that’s going to be now the main distinction right I have a prbi pro license I have a premium per user license and I have a fabric license that makes things much simpler to think about because now we’re there’s a lot less SKS to be talking about in the conversation so one that simplifies it for US contractors or people helping make decisions the main difference I think we see here is can I make lakehouses and
34:40 see here is can I make lakehouses and all the data engineering and data science things that fabric offers us in that regard that’s the big difference between a premium per user and the fabric experience but now it feels like there’s actually a three levels three tiers tiers of software that you can Buy in the in the fabricc realm but my my next thought was I want to think about okay how do how do you evaluate your current utilization which skew should you buy is there a pattern that you see
35:10 you buy is there a pattern that you see on how you should absorb or start buying Fabric and seeing what you can do with it and so I think there’s there’s also some conversation here as well as you’re thinking about the migration of going from your other premiums into fabric depending on what you’re buying there’s actually you get more features and I’m not sure every organization is ready to absorb those new features if you’re on anything less than a P1 you you don’t you you don’t have fabric items you can’t if you’re on an Azure AQ you don’t get fabric so if you’re build if you’re
35:41 get fabric so if you’re build if you’re doing something in AES or you’re building things inside premium capacities testing things out you don’t have a lake house so so for some of those organizations that have opted for buying smaller premium skews today currently I think you need a conversation with your groups who are using anything in premium like what are you doing with it are you able to transition into Fabric and do we understand by going into Fabric and moving into fabric you’re going to get all these extra items yeah and that’s going to chip away at more of your compute and usage so if
36:12 at more of your compute and usage so if you if you choose to use fabric what what patterns should you rebuild one of the patterns that I see right now and I’m not sure if they he’s talked about this in the article he’s talking about utilization patterns he’s talking about usage types I think users are going to really enjoy the notebook experience I’ve been teaching a lot of people around notebooks how well how good they are how you can write SQL or spark SQL inside them and I’m finding they’re pretty they’re pretty seamless to use with all the other things that are in Fabric and
36:43 the other things that are in Fabric and I’m trying to push people away from using data flows now data flows is quite behind it doesn’t have the features that all the other items have inside fabric so if you are using data flows in your organization I do think you need to have a conversation around that and say can we review those pipelines and can we migrate them into a notebook type experience that will save you more compute usage so I I know you’re a big proponent of this and you dive right into it all the time which hey which hey cool but but what I do want to do is
37:15 cool but but what I do want to do is back up a a second because if we’re talking about powerbi premium you’re talking about powerbi capacities and users right correct and and what I do want to push in here is is two things one is the first is just because you’re moving into an fcq or fabric as this environment doesn’t mean that you have to enable it for your organization you can keep the the fabric features hidden for the most part and and maybe
37:45 hidden for the most part and and maybe that’s a good approach if you’re just a powerbi shop initially to to understand what what the capacity is doing in terms of your peace Cube should be the same should be the same I’m saying you’re you’re transitioning from one license to another what what do I need to be aware of in that that transition you want stable to stable is what I’m corre yes if I don’t have
38:15 what I’m corre yes if I don’t have stable to stable right and I’m not using fabric features right now to to automatically pull over and go into an fcq and now have to potentially contend with with all of the other stuff that you’re talking about that is that is above and beyond what my current capacity is planned to do I if if I have a PE capacity that I know is operating at an at a a level sure of here are my Peaks and
38:46 level sure of here are my Peaks and valleys here’s what I can expect I’m at a certain threshold right especially if I’m pushing the bounds of my current capacity I don’t want to move into an like the fcq and then all of the sudden nothing works anymore oh because all of the sudden because what you’re doing is what I’m getting at is the additional workloads that you can start doing in fabric by moving or creating more of your data processing and things into this ecosystem I’m not suggesting it’s a bad
39:16 ecosystem I’m not suggesting it’s a bad thing I’m just saying that is wildly different than what was what was what you were using that pcq for and and I think potential right and because I’m not saying like like organizations could be using fabric features Etc but if they’re not that’s what I’m driving at you’re not instantly in a powerbi only implementation where I’m not using fabric going to a fabric skew and then opening the doors on notebooks and stuff and I I want to
39:46 notebooks and stuff and I I want to hammer on that as well because there’s a huge part where if you actually the first step in any of this should be your examination of your current capacity on what you’re using and what I’ve seen most organ ganizations they don’t have a lot of extra budget in their capacity to use for other things like wow we’re only using 40% of our capacity we have the 60% we could just play around with usually it’s these semantic models or these workspaces that they’re constantly trying to drive down the amount of resources that’s going down so and if
40:18 resources that’s going down so and if you’re just going to move to let’s say let’s say you’re moving to the exact similar capacity sure fabric yep and now you’re going to open up the playground of all the the The Lakehouse slide and the swing of Jupiter notebooks when you were already dealing with constraints before you’re you’re you’re asking for I think a unstable roll out to me I think there’s a most organizations would want to have a conservative way of looking at this either they’re doing a lower fabric sco
40:48 either they’re doing a lower fabric sco off the bat or you’re doing what’s our long-term plan we’re going to have a pilot stage of any extra products but most organizations are going want to go I want to go from P to F with the same products I have and I want to just make sure that I have the capacity there okay so let me let me pause you right there there’s a number of features that I think here I think we’re talking about the right the same things I want to be very clear about an admin feature that lets you do that exactly right so one thing we’re talking about is we’re
41:18 thing we’re talking about is we’re saying a pre a p skew doesn’t have the same features as an fcq and my understanding is everything you need to do in a p skew is the same as what you can do in an fq there’s no different feature toggles between the two now however to your point Seth earlier was like look if I have a p skew and I’m utilizing certain amount of capacity or whatever whatever today just because I turn on fabric I don’t necessarily want my team to say immediately start building lake houses
41:48 immediately start building lake houses pipelines and all these other things inside fabric so there needs to be if that’s not part of your environment current envir you’re all all I’m pushing here is yep you don’t you don’t have you’re not moving into an environment where you’re automatically forced where this is all just going to be live and and you have to figure out how that’s going to impact Your Capacity agree and there’s a
42:08 Your Capacity agree and there’s a setting inside the admin portal that I think does this and toggles the ability for you to create so you can’t turn off the UI of the fabric things it’s going to it’s just going to be inside power. com no matter what you’ll see them there so there to me there’s already if you haven’t already educated or they haven’t been able to educate your team there is a acknowledgement of hey you’re going to see changes in the power. com experience we’re going to transition from P to an fcq but we’re going to limit the ability of users to create any
42:38 limit the ability of users to create any fabric items by using the in the Microsoft fabric area users can create fabric items if you make a security group so again one thing to be clear here if you’re if you’re an organization that needs to control who’s creating fabric things especially on these lower end SKS because those I’m not worried about an f64 and higher because I’m assuming you’ve already figured this out right because an f64 and higher matches a P1 the same performance they have the same aspects so from that lens
43:08 have the same aspects so from that lens I think it’s the same there’s no issue there when you’re playing on anything less than an f64 F16 F32 F2 any of those you you potentially have been using a skew from Azure that doesn’t have the ability to create fabric items and so it’s to me it’s more of a this is this is an edge case this is a smaller window of of customers but I know there are some out there that are doing it you need to be mindful of this can your users create fabric items I’d recommend create a security group make sure you
43:40 create a security group make sure you put in the people you want to either test or build things with fabric into that security group and then open up that fabric items just for that security group and also I would recommend just for me this is how I’m planning it right now you don’t need to have one massive skew for your entire organization now you can now carve up that skew into smaller units for what different teams may want to use and I think this is a bit of a contention here for some organizations especially as we think about let’s imagine you’re a
44:11 about let’s imagine you’re a bigger organization you have six departments and each department needs some level of fabric whatever that may be you could buy a one really large fabric skew an f256 or you could carve that out into three separate SKS or four separate SKS or you could you could cut the bigger skew into smaller SKS that way you provide isolation from each of the teams the cost is still the same but now you have isolation of compute between the different teams so if someone’s being a Noisy Neighbor and they’re doing
44:41 being a Noisy Neighbor and they’re doing a lot of abusive things in the service they’re not going to impact other teams on the same skew but there are there are feature differences between those SKS though what do you mean aren’t there’s no no difference go ahead certain capabilities on the lower SKS that are not or is that just like co-pilot and it’s co-pilot is like the only thing that’s really different there there was some workspace scoped security permissions that were maybe not going to be but it looks like they’ve been they’ve been fixed I’m not there’s a
45:12 they’ve been fixed I’m not there’s a couple feature differences but co-pilot be one of them right co-pilot doesn’t work on anything below an f64 but other than that I think almost all other features are there and there’s there’s all the other feature capabilities for fabric they’re all they exist in all environments I’m trying to think of the the list of things that are different between an f64 and higher versus the f-64 and lower items yeah I think Michael for fortman
45:43 items yeah I think Michael for fortman is is giving us some conf confirmation in the chat it’s an f64 and higher where in AI skills again all the AI things seem to be f64 and higher even though I was able to create one with my non f64 but that’s Microsoft I’m fine never never right don’t turn it off from me don’t turn it off please let me propose the scenario for you because a as you guys are the conversation’s going I’m I’m considering this and we’ve talking a lot about the licensing technology but my my reactions
46:15 licensing technology but my my reactions are are lighting up in my head in there’s a lot of planning and there’s a lot of people in process need to go into this in terms of how you’re going to roll this out whether or not this is dude I’m not if I’m opening up the playground who am I gon to open this up to the whole organization to have the lout yeah okay but this is where yeah this is where I’m throwing the line down okay because think think about think about the large the vast majority of
46:45 about the large the vast majority of audience that is always asking questions about premium just the pcq right sure yeah you’re talking about a platform shift in licens what I’m trying to draw in here is this nice calm Zone okay where I’m a powerbi shop all you need to do is go into the admin settings understand what fabric features you can control and turn off
47:15 features you can control and turn off because they’re not part of your platform exactly move over there’s a grace period in here probably as well right move from the psew to the F skew you can see that the capacity works as expected all the usage metrics are there stabilize then if you choose to open it up do all the stuff you guys are talking about but before that there’s a calm here and no it doesn’t require a like a
47:47 here and no it doesn’t require a like a billion people it’s some conversations with how budgets are cycling and I can literally do this crap myself in a half a day regardless of the size of your Capac like how big you are all you’re doing is you’re moving your capacity from one to the other that’s a workspace thing it is not it is not this massive ordeal Tommy and that’s what I’m just there’s a calm here the initial yes I agree with you with the initial side do that as long as we’re on that track going from to FC pretty seamless should
48:19 going from to FC pretty seamless should agree you can do that go on vacation to Hawaii for a week thing and nothing’s gonna break I agree with you however how ever you’re going to eventually have the conversation where your goal is for most organizations I imagine you’re not just getting the fabric because you have to and then you don’t want to touch any of those other features eventually again I could not agree with you if I could agree with you 110% I would agree with you 100 10% on that stable to stable we’re not
48:50 on that stable to stable we’re not opening up anything else I I just want to reiterate how much I agree with you on that and we’re on the same page but that’s step one right like that’s that’s just the beginning of one of one one could be could be step one one could what what what I what I am also picking up from you Tommy is a shared excitement and I have it as well of the potential now that you have to use the fabric
49:20 use the fabric ecosystem to enhance what you’ve been building probably internally right and that is absolutely something to be excited about and why fabric is so awesome right but and that’s where I do agree you have to start like that is a different plan that is a hey we’re going to start to chew up some of this capacity that’s to do these other things right and that’s an intentional shift after I already know yep things are
49:50 after I already know yep things are things look the same we’re good to go I’m now going to start planning or transitioning some things or building that new things into fabric what is that doing to my capacity because those are intentional decisions you need to track in order to understand what it is you need to budget for or transition cost from one area to another or potentially what’s going to happen a lot here is you have a ton of hidden costs going on in your organization that now you’re going to part start paying paying for in your in Your Capacity so this is a great
50:22 in Your Capacity so this is a great great segue by the way because that’s the scenario that I have for you guys as we’re having this conversation is after even of a step one of one there’s now the initial conversation so let me propose this scenario for you I don’t want to do that yet I don’t do that yet we’re still talking about this top you’re trying to transition to a new topic I don’t want to go there yet just hang on to your thought I want to add a couple of thoughts here to what Seth cool I think there’s some friction areas that I want everyone to pay attention here so this article highlighted for me like I’m thinking through if I’m an organization and I’m trying to transition from a p or a skew into a
50:55 transition from a p or a skew into a fabric skew what areas should I be considerate Seth I think you are hit the nail on the head I think there’s definitely a clear conversation we need to have with the team I think your center of excellence if you have one you should definitely start if you don’t have one you should start thinking about seriously getting one because this is a an activity that I think the the center of excellence should be participating in it should be we should be thinking about where are we at and where do we want to get to I totally agree with the whole let’s keep it a smooth easy transition let’s not make any bumps in the road
51:27 let’s not make any bumps in the road so definitely paying for that but you are there’s two points of friction that I see coming up if you have current capacities that you’re going to want to transition from a psew to an fq you could have hundreds maybe thousands of workspaces on a premium skew and you’re going to need to transition them to the F skew so is there an automated way to do that I I believe there are a series of API calls I think you can do this there’s things you can automate with that but there will be a need for you to
51:58 that but there will be a need for you to if your organization is established and you have a lot of workspaces the workspace is tied to the license so you’re going to have to go through all those licenses and transition it is what it is I think that’s a conversation you need to have you need to plan for it that’s something you want to at least discuss which you can which you can now easily see in that admin view of workspaces right like you can see what what capacities are being used on each workspace so as you flip them over shouldn’t be a problem at all and it’s the same thing as to like you can you can flip out any of the
52:29 can you can flip out any of the capacities on a workspace with no impact to the objects within the workspace right like it’s just what is what is the horsepower behind this thing it’s not
52:38 horsepower behind this thing it’s not going to rebuild everything regenerate all the guids or anything like that it’s just swapping things on the back end agree on that so it’s a very seamless experience and that’s why I was pushing at Tommy saying like I could do this in a half a day like well it’s seemless the point like unless you unless you automate like so literally there’s there’s phys you the only way that I’m aware of doing this is either writing some fancy code either a Powershell or in a notebook to select a workspace and then transition an API call to say transition this
53:09 an API call to say transition this workspace to a different capacity which can be done I think there’s going to be more examples of this coming out soon if nothing else I will put out a notebook that’s going to transition between SKS if I want but if you have thousands of workspaces yes the admin portal will tell you on this capacity here’s all the works spaces my workspaces and others right there’s a lot of them that are doing this if I can go to the workspace I can transition right so you you can’t in today currently in the admin portal I can’t say migrate this workspace to a
53:40 say migrate this workspace to a different capacity in the admin workspace it I think it needs to be developed Microsoft you need to build that feature in there because that would be great because I should be able to pick all of my pre P skes right all the workspaces on a p skew I should be able to say select these 10 workspaces or even the my workspaces that have been added to premium because you can do that as well and transition them to a new capacity so that should be a thing and then my other part is when you move
54:11 and then my other part is when you move into fabric we are now transitioning away from what we’ve been doing in powerbi premium which has been if you run a data flow gen one a data flow gen one I think saves its files to a storage account and I I’m not sure if this is still going to be supported but the the storage capacity of those data flows are saved into a storage account that storage account is then managed by Microsoft and you don’t pay for that storage because it’s part of the power. com purchasing service that
54:41 the power. com purchasing service that you’re using if you trans over to fabric now and start using data flows gen two again you’re this is a migration thing you don’t have to do this you can still stay with the data flows gen one but as you use lake houses and data flows Gen 2 you have the ability of making your own storage account and the oneel experience which is I would argue extremely valuable very helpful but you now start paying for storage so that’s another big transition moment here that I think I want people to have conversations about
55:11 want people to have conversations about around that does this make sense for our organization are we willing to turn this on and are we storing a ton of data or we will be storing a ton of data in the lake housee that will be a cost that will be directly impacting your bottom line so it’s it’s not a I was a P skew and now I’m moving to f64 if you turn on the right settings yes the cost could be identical but if you don’t and you’re not mindful of it you could be adding cost of storage costs in there as well I just want people to be aware of that feature that it’s existing like just know about it yeah Mike you’ve just
55:42 just know about it yeah Mike you’ve just given me two future Topics by the way well again I’m I’m trying to unpack what this means for me in my organization and other organizations as well as I’m unpacking these things I’m like I’m just trying to look for like where are the bumps the road potentially going to appear from so that’s all I’m trying to point out here I I love the feature I love that we’re going with this I think it’s the right move for everyone I’m just trying to make sure that there are ample conversations around this one and the last note I want to point out here is Tommy you made a
56:12 to point out here is Tommy you made a great point and Seth I think you I’m trying to join your two points here together in the same way we don’t want to give access to power. com without some level of initial training the same thing should be handled for fabric there should be some level of initial you have to understand what these things are we want you to be capable at a at a very basic level before you get in there so if nothing else attend a fabric in a day training attend for if you’re going from no powerbi to powerbi I would
56:42 going from no powerbi to powerbi I would recommend make sure you run people through a powerb a day before you get access to a license in powerbi. com you just need there’s just things people need to know and understand about the program so they don’t get confused or build things that are so bad that you’re like what are we what are we doing it’s just chaos so you do want some plan on how to roll these things out to other people as well anyways those are my last two points sorry Tommy go to your scenario no I think we’re we’re pretty close on time so I think like I said I that can be saved for a future topic because agree
57:13 saved for a future topic because agree and I’ll give just a little preview I think that that conversation is very much on the scenarios of rolling out fabric the right way to do it because yes we can do this one to one this is my closing thought but I think just doing that without a future conversation I think we’d all be on the same page here would be selling yourself short because there are you’re getting fabric maybe you’re just getting fabric because again premium capacity is not available okay well there’s probably a ton of
57:44 well there’s probably a ton of situations that you have your organization or or your team that fabric can very much solve for even if it is just the Gen 2 lak house pushing data there that alone or to your point Mike to notebooks from from data flows that alone can be worth the cost or is a cost of gold and I I’ve even seen that myself now yep so as you have this conversation on transitioning there’s also the Strategic side of this as well that I would be very much get look forward to
58:15 would be very much get look forward to hearing your thoughts on it in a future episode on the scenarios of how do we strategically roll it out what are the things that what are the scenarios that we’d be dealing with and yep and how do what are the pl we don’t want to implement technology looking for a problem right we we we we want to go into this thinking like we have we have existing problems and this fits the need as opposed to here’s a technology let’s go find a problem we can go fix with this technology that’s the wrong approach here I think yeah my final thoughts are start talking about this
58:46 thoughts are start talking about this now there’s there’s a lot of good documentation out there we’re trying to have the conversation now to get people thinking about this mentality now before it comes out and the change actually occurs start thinking about what your your smooth transition plan looks like don’t feel like you have to turn over to a new skew and turn on all the features day one I don’t think that’s the right approach I really like your your comment Seth I thought it was really good make the transition smooth just get just move over to the skew keep everything turned off initially just make sure that everything runs well in
59:16 make sure that everything runs well in the new environment and then after that start planning out what does the potential changes look like so I think billing changes are also a big discussion point discuss how your company wants to handle the changes in Billing from going from a Microsoft 365 purchasing agreement to a Azure purchasing agreement does that does that now shift who’s responsible is this now an IT budget thing or is this something that the business still needs to own so like thinking about that as well I think is also a really a very relevant Point here as well and then lastly talking about what is your
59:47 lastly talking about what is your potential storage cost impact right if you’re turning on things of fabric there is a potential for additional store costs and are you okay with that so those are the the main talking points that I’m thinking through as I’m look working a transition anything else stuff you would want to add for U th those those two points those two points resonate with a lot of my long-windedness that I could have had with mine my final points but the only the only touches I would say are you the only touches I would say are understand when your premium skew know understand when your premium skew is going to end that’s true right because that that gives you your your
60:17 because that that gives you your your back from their backwards point and when you’re doing that planning and then the secondary Point around additional costs right like when you start focusing on fabric as a solution there there could be some potential challenges around like hey are you utilizing processes that are inefficient but SharePoint and backends that you but SharePoint and backends that are already absorbed in the costs know are already absorbed in the costs of that license that all of the sudden
60:48 of that license that all of the sudden if you move into Azure are going to have like real monthly cost related to like storage to M’s point and there’s a bunch of stuff like that but the the pros there’s a lot of pros and cons right like all of a sudden that’s visible to a lot more people or in an area that can be leveraged again etc etc so I think that keep that as a secondary thing if that’s not part of what you’re PQ is is handling right now right if the if fabric is something you’re going to grow into make that a secondary thing
61:20 grow into make that a secondary thing after you just switch the license types I like that a lot all right well I really like that those comments this has been very good lots of good thoughts here we may revisit this topic again we had so much stuff to think about so maybe we’ll keep we’ll go into this one in the future episode but for now thank you very much for listening we really appreciate you all listeners getting in the chat helping us run out the features here this is something that I think people are excited about and just thinking about it figuring out what’s going on here so powerbi premium as we know it has is going by the wayside we’re we’re
61:51 going by the wayside we’re we’re moving to only a fabric capacity moving forward that does all the powerbi things and then some so we’re just thinking about how we turn those things on and off our organization I think is where we’re trying to go with this conversation so yeah RBI premium sayara we’re sending you off into the into the sunset riding off to the sunset now we’re on we’re on to fabric now bigger and better things that being said if you like this episode if this gave you some things to think about or some things you want to talk about with your organization please share with somebody else we we we have these conversations to to try and be very practical about
62:21 to to try and be very practical about what’s happening in the powerbi ecosystem and give you some real useful things in your day-to-day job so hopefully this is helping you out if nothing else share with somebody else if you found this you valuable as well Tommy where else can you find the podcast hey Mike premium might be going to a farm up State we’re not going anywhere you can find us on Apple Spotify wherever your podcast make sure to subscribe live rating you can help us out a ton you have a question an idea or a topic that you want us to talk about in a future episode head over to power bi. tip podcast podcast leave your name
62:52 bi. tip podcast podcast leave your name and a great question and finally join us live every Tuesday and Thursday thday a. m. Central and join the conversation all power. tips social media channels Telly that was super on point very funny good job all right thank you all and we’ll see you next time time [Music]
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