A case on how Qlik Sense to Power BI migration helped a healthcare provider reduce costs, gain the best visual representation, and achieve user-friendly reporting for clinical and administrative teams.
The Client
The client is a well-established medical institute with more than 6 decades of clinical expertise. This hospital is one of the first modern healthcare providers in the UAE, created to meet the community’s urgent need for quality medical services. Over the years, it has become a trusted name in the region, deemed the best for women’s and children’s care. The hospital also holds several international accreditations, reflecting its commitment to safe, reliable, and compassionate healthcare. Today, it serves thousands of patients annually while focusing on community health and wellbeing.
Challenges Faced by the Client
The client had been using Qlik Sense as their Business Intelligence (BI) tool for several years. While it supported their reporting needs to an extent, it gradually became less practical as their healthcare operations scaled. The client wanted a solution that handles complex data and aligns with their newly planned Microsoft Fabric transition.
Some of the key challenges were:
- High Cost of Ownership: Licensing Qlik Sense was expensive in the long run, especially compared with modern alternatives available within the Microsoft environment.
- Limited Integration with Other Tools: Since most of the client’s apps were already running on Microsoft technologies, Qlik Sense remained isolated and required additional effort for integration.
- Complex Reporting Maintenance: Qlik Sense required additional scripts and manual steps to build and maintain reports. As the number of reports increased, managing these became more time-consuming and resource-heavy.
Solutions
The Qlik Sense to Power BI migration was carried out step by step, with each stage focused on making sure the reports worked correctly in the latter and were easy for the client to use:
- Studying the Existing Setup: In the assessment phase, Qlik Sense was carefully analyzed. This included identifying which tables were used, the stored procedures that handled data, and the logic applied in each report. This step made it clear what needed to be rebuilt in Power BI.
- Planning and Prioritizing Reports: After listing all reports, they were grouped by departments and workflows. This helped decide which reports to migrate first, so that the most critical business areas could start benefiting early.
- Handling Query Logic: In Qlik Sense, developers had to write specific queries, which were stored in special QED files (QlikView Extension Data). These files made data load faster, yet turned the system more complex to manage. The same queries were restructured in Power BI with simpler, direct loading, reducing dependency on such extensions.
- Rebuilding ETL Logic: ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) logic refers to the way raw data is cleaned and prepared for use in reports. The client’s Qlik Sense ETL logic was carefully reviewed and then reimplemented in Power BI so that the same rules and calculations continued to apply.
- Redesigning Data Models: Qlik Sense used an Associative Data Model where all tables were linked freely. This oftentimes caused performance issues and mismatches. In Power BI, the data was reorganized into the Star Schema or Snowflake Schema models, each table connects in a clear hierarchy, making relationships easier to understand.
- Rebuilding Reports and Visualizations: Once the data foundation was ready, reports were recreated in Microsoft Power BI. Interactive features such as drill-throughs, navigation buttons, and custom visuals were added to improve usability.
- Smooth Adoption and Handover: Final reports were published with automated refresh schedules, detailed documentation, and user training, while their legacy Qlik Sense platform was gradually phased out after validation.
Solutions Benefits
With this migration approach, the client moved smoothly to Power BI and was able to see both technical improvements and business benefits:
- Standardized ETL Logic Across Reports: All transformation logics were rebuilt in Power BI using DAX and ETL design, giving consistency in how all the data is processed.
- Improved Accuracy of Reports: Power BI’s ability to manage Active and Inactive relationships avoided the mismatched data issues seen in Qlik Sense, giving users more confidence in the insights they rely on.
- Intuitive User Interface (UI): The reports’ look and feel were themed according to the client’s branding guidelines, making them functional with their corporate identity.
Future-ready with Microsoft Fabric: Since the client’s broader environment was already moving into Fabric, the client did not need to spend on separate licenses for Power BI, as the reporting layer became part of their integrated Microsoft Fabric ecosystem.
Conclusion
The migration from Qlik Sense to Power BI gave the client a more efficient and scalable reporting system. By carefully analyzing their data models, redesigning reports, and applying best practices in access control and automation, the new setup delivered both technical accuracy and business value. The client now benefits from easier report access, and better alignment with their enterprise tools, ensuring long-term efficiency and flexibility in decision-making. UB Technology Innovations, Inc. enables healthcare leaders to migrate from legacy tools to Power BI, ensuring flexible reporting, accurate insights, and a scalable analytics environment, supporting technical and business growth.
About Us
UB Technology Innovations, Inc. (UBTI) is a leading global technology solution provider with over 3 decades of experience across all industries, specializing in Capital Markets, Logistics, and Healthcare. We are the preferred Microsoft Solutions Partner backed by a world-class team of Microsoft Certified experts with rich experience in Azure Cloud Platform and Data Analytics.
