When Do You Actually Need Dev, Test & Prod in Power BI?
Good to be back after a short break. This is a topic I’ve personally been wanting to explore, understanding why and when we actually need different environments in Power BI. If you’re currently questioning whether it’s time to move toward Dev, Test, and Prod, this one’s for you. Let’s break it down. Imagine you’re cooking for yourself at home. You experiment freely, adjust as you go, and if the dish isn’t perfect, it’s not a big deal. Now imagine you’re cooking for a wedding with 300 guests. You don’t experiment during service. You test recipes beforehand, prepare in stages, and control every step before it reaches the table. Power BI environments work the same way. When your BI setup is small and lightly used, working directly in a single production workspace feels efficient. Changes are quick, feedback is immediate, and even if something breaks, the impact is limited. But Power BI rarely stays small. As more developers get involved, semantic models are reused a...