Migrating a Global Photonics Manufacturer Off SAP BusinessObjects and onto a Governed Power BI Platform That Manufacturing Teams Actually Use

Stabilization and knowledge transfer: taking over a live SAP BO reporting backlog in six weeks without dropping delivery

The first decision was to preserve continuity before attempting change. The California-based Excelitas BI team held years of institutional knowledge about SAP BO report logic, data sources, and stakeholder expectations.

Ideas2IT embedded an Engagement Manager, Data Architect, and SAP Analytics Consultants onsite from week one, running joint sprint cycles with the outgoing team.

The handover protocol was structured and explicit: backlog prioritized, stakeholder relationships mapped, release schedules documented, SLAs captured. By the end of the stabilization phase, Ideas2IT owned the full reporting backlog and was delivering against it on sprint cadence. The incoming team had integrated with business partners across procurement, sales, and finance before the transformation phase started.

This Phase Produced

• SAP BO report inventory (Classified by complexity, usage frequency, and business domain)
• Backlog prioritization framework (By business impact across Procurement, Sales, Finance)
• Knowledge transfer plan (From Excelitas California BI team to Ideas2IT)
• Stakeholder integration map (Key contacts across business units documented)
• Sprint team formation (Roles defined: EM, DA, SAP AC, BI engineers, QA)
• Release schedule and SLA documentation (Active backlog with delivery commitments)

Semantic layer migration: SAP BO Universes rebuilt as certified Power BI datasets with governed access and DAX measures

The semantic layer was the architectural starting point, not the reports. Before a single dashboard migrated, the team inventoried every SAP BO Universe (UNV/UNX), BODS pipeline, and data source, then analyzed usage frequency and business criticality to identify which report logic could be consolidated rather than copied.

Simple and medium reports were converted using DAX measures written to be reusable across business units. Complex reports with multi-Universe or nested logic were refactored into composite models. Row-level security and role-based access controls were implemented across the Power BI platform, with Active Directory as the identity layer.

The MRO Spend Analytics cube was built on SAP BW, giving the procurement team a dedicated model for indirect purchasing that the old Universes had never provided in structured form.

This Phase Produced

• Power BI semantic layer (Dimensional models with conformed dimensions, certified for reuse)
• DAX measure library (Standardized, reusable measures across Procurement and Sales)
• SAP BO Universe migration (UNV/UNX Universes rebuilt as Power BI datasets)
• MRO Spend Analytics cube (SAP BW-based model for indirect purchasing)
• Row-level security (RLS) framework (Role-based access with Active Directory integration)
• Report consolidation (Overlapping SAP BO reports unified into standardized dashboards)
• QA playbook (Iterative testing cycles and UAT framework for report validation)

Data warehouse modernization: replacing SAP BODS with a scalable pipeline across Dynamics, QAD, and SAP source systems

The data warehouse work ran alongside the BI migration rather than after it. SAP BODS, the legacy ETL layer, was decommissioned and replaced with a unified pipeline designed to ingest from Dynamics, QAD, Salesforce flat files, Anaplan flat files, OneStream, and SAP source systems into a single architecture.

Manual processes that had required the existing team to hand-carry data were eliminated by design. The SAP BW modernization followed an install-and-analysis, extract, land, transform, test, and production stabilization sequence, with Power BI sitting above it as the reporting layer.

The platform that went live connected previously siloed data sources under a governed access and refresh model, with Active Directory controlling who could see what across every business unit.

This Phase Produced

• Unified data pipeline (Replacing SAP BODS across Dynamics, QAD, SAP, and non-SAP sources)
• SAP BW modernization (Full install, ETL rebuild, and production stabilization)
• Manual process elimination (Flat-file ingestion automated for Salesforce and Anaplan)
• Power BI scheduled refresh layer (Automated data refresh via Active Directory-governed datasets)
• Architecture documentation (For ongoing maintenance, governance, and future extension)
• Production stabilization runbook (Validated cutover with UAT sign-off)

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