ALM Toolkit for Power BI: Schema Comparison and Deployment

ALM Toolkit enables schema comparison and deployment between Power BI datasets, essential for managing model changes across environments.

Core Features

capabilities:
  - Compare schemas between datasets
  - Identify differences in tables, measures, relationships
  - Selective deployment of changes
  - Support for XMLA endpoints
  - Works with local and cloud models

Common Scenarios

use_cases:
  promote_changes:
    description: Move changes from dev to prod
    source: Development dataset
    target: Production dataset

  compare_versions:
    description: Identify what changed
    source: Previous version (backup)
    target: Current version

  sync_environments:
    description: Keep environments aligned
    source: Production
    target: Test (to reset)

Using ALM Toolkit

Command Line Deployment

# Compare and deploy
ALMToolkit.exe `
    -Source "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/DevWorkspace" `
    -SourceDB "SalesModel" `
    -Target "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/ProdWorkspace" `
    -TargetDB "SalesModel" `
    -Update

# Generate comparison report
ALMToolkit.exe `
    -Source "Model_v1.bim" `
    -Target "Model_v2.bim" `
    -Report "comparison.json"

Selective Deployment

deployment_options:
  skip_objects:
    - Perspectives
    - Roles (keep target security)
    - Data sources (different per environment)

  include_objects:
    - Tables
    - Measures
    - Relationships
    - Calculation groups

Integration with DevOps

# azure-pipelines.yml
steps:
  - task: PowerShell@2
    displayName: 'Compare and Deploy'
    inputs:
      script: |
        ALMToolkit.exe `
          -Source "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/model.bim" `
          -Target "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/$(Environment)Workspace" `
          -TargetDB "$(DatasetName)" `
          -Update `
          -LogFile "$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/deployment.log"

Best Practices

workflow:
  - Always compare before deploying
  - Review changes with stakeholders
  - Keep backups of target state
  - Test in non-production first

governance:
  - Document deployment decisions
  - Track schema versions
  - Audit all deployments
  - Maintain rollback procedures

Conclusion

ALM Toolkit is essential for Power BI DevOps:

• Visual schema comparison
• Controlled deployments
• Integration with CI/CD
• Environment management

Resources

• ALM Toolkit on GitHub
• Documentation