How Emulus Consulting Modernized Data Integration with Pulse Convert: SSIS to Microsoft Fabric Migration
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Emulus Consulting, a premier market research, data engineering, and business intelligence firm, partnered with Office Solution AI Labs to modernize its enterprise data integration architecture. Leveraging Pulse Convert — the enterprise ETL migration and lakehouse accelerator — Emulus migrated over 1,100 SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages (.dtsx), control flows, and complex data flows to Microsoft Fabric. The modernization achieved 80% automated conversion accuracy, reduced total migration effort by approximately 70%, and established modern, scalable, cloud-native data pipelines on Microsoft Fabric in 16 weeks with zero business disruption.
Case study at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Client | Emulus Consulting, a Gurugram-based consultancy specializing in market research, data engineering & business intelligence |
| Website | https://www.emulus.co/ |
| Industry | Market Research, Data Engineering & Business Intelligence |
| Migration Type | SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) to Microsoft Fabric |
| Solution | Pulse Convert by Office Solution AI Labs |
| Objects Migrated | 1,100+ SSIS packages (.dtsx), control flows, data flow tasks, script tasks, parameters, configurations, and SQL agent jobs |
| Project Timeline | 16 weeks from discovery to production validation and handover |
| Automated Accuracy | 80% initial automated conversion pass (within proven 70–90% benchmark) |
| Effort Reduction | Approximately 70% reduction compared to pure manual rebuild |
| Target Architecture | Microsoft Fabric Data Factory pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, PySpark Notebooks, Fabric Lakehouse (Delta Parquet), and OneLake |
| Validation | Row-level data parity testing, schema reconciliation, execution telemetry comparison, and parallel run validation |
How we measure accuracy: The percentage of SSIS DTSX XML package definitions, control flow tasks, data flow transformations, pipeline expressions, variables, and connection managers converted automatically into functional Microsoft Fabric pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, or Notebooks that pass validation without manual rework.
Executive Summary
Emulus Consulting successfully migrated its SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) ETL estate to Microsoft Fabric using Pulse Convert, the AI-powered migration accelerator from Office Solution AI Labs.
The project achieved 80% automated conversion accuracy, reduced overall migration effort by approximately 70%, and delivered scalable, cloud-native data pipelines on Microsoft Fabric. The engagement was completed in 16 weeks while preserving critical transformation logic and improving operational efficiency.
The Challenge: Overcoming Legacy ETL Limitations and Infrastructure Overhead
Emulus Consulting had long relied on SSIS for data integration, ETL processes, and data preparation supporting market research and client analytics projects. As the firm accelerated its Microsoft Fabric strategy, several challenges became prominent:
High maintenance overhead of on-premises or hybrid SSIS infrastructure
Maintaining dedicated SQL Server Integration Services catalogs (SSISDB), execution worker servers, and hybrid runtime agents generated substantial hardware costs, operating system patching overhead, and complex administrative maintenance.
Limited scalability and elasticity compared to cloud-native platforms
Rigid on-premises compute constraints resulted in severe bottlenecks during monthly and quarterly batch windows. Heavy data integration jobs competed for shared server resources, delaying business-critical deliverables.
Growing complexity of packages with nested control flows, data flows, and custom scripts
Decades of iterative development created deeply nested package architectures featuring complex precedence constraints, loop containers, script tasks (C# / VB.NET), and bespoke SQL queries that were difficult to maintain and audit.
Difficulty integrating SSIS outputs seamlessly with Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, and modern analytics
Legacy SSIS pipelines deposited data into fragmented staging tables and flat files, preventing direct access to Fabric OneLake open Delta Lake tables, Direct Lake Power BI semantic models, and Microsoft Copilot AI capabilities.
Desire to reduce infrastructure costs and move toward a fully managed, governed data platform
The leadership team sought to decommission high-cost physical servers and proprietary database licenses in favor of a unified, SaaS-based data lakehouse operating under Microsoft Fabric's consolidated capacity model.
Need for better monitoring, lineage, and CI/CD capabilities
Traditional SSIS logging lacked end-to-end lineage visualization, automated Git integration, and unified alerting across distributed pipelines, making rapid troubleshooting and agile CI/CD deployment difficult.
The Solution: Pulse Convert
Emulus partnered with Office Solution AI Labs and leveraged Pulse Convert to accelerate the SSIS to Microsoft Fabric migration.
Pulse Convert incorporates specialized parsers and semantic mapping engines engineered specifically for SSIS package XML (.dtsx), control flow graphs, data flow pipelines, and project parameters:
- Automated discovery and complexity assessment of SSIS packages, control flows, and data flows: Auditing SSISDB catalogs, scanning package XML trees, mapping upstream and downstream dependencies, and scoring packages by script, transformation, and container complexity.
- Intelligent mapping of SSIS components to Fabric-native assets: Automatically routing lightweight ETL to Fabric Data Factory pipelines, high-volume visual transformations to Dataflows Gen2, and compute-intensive script tasks to Fabric PySpark Notebooks and Lakehouse structures.
- Extraction and translation of transformation logic, expressions, and variables: Ingesting SSIS Lookup, Derived Column, Conditional Split, and Merge Join components, converting underlying expression language into modern Power Query M or PySpark transformations.
- Identification of rationalization opportunities: Detecting inactive, duplicate, or superseded packages, enabling Emulus to eliminate redundant pipelines and prune technical debt before migration.
- Alignment with Microsoft Fabric best practices for performance, governance, and scalability: Structuring outputs into Delta Parquet tables within Fabric Lakehouses, establishing OneLake shortcuts, and integrating with Fabric Git CI/CD workspaces.
The platform delivered an initial conversion accuracy of 80%, allowing expert teams to focus on complex package refinement, performance optimization, and validation — consistent with the 70–90% accuracy range achieved across enterprise migrations.
Migration Approach & Timeline (16 Weeks)
The modernization was executed across four structured phases over a 16-week timeline, ensuring full governance, data integrity, and operational continuity:
| Phase | Duration | Key Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery & Assessment | Weeks 1–3 | Full inventory of SSIS packages, dependencies, complexity scoring, and rationalization. |
| Automated Conversion | Weeks 4–8 | Pulse Convert processing and mapping to Fabric Pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, and Notebooks. |
| Refinement & Optimization | Weeks 9–13 | Logic validation, performance tuning, error handling, and pipeline orchestration design. |
| Testing, Parallel Run & Handover | Weeks 14–16 | Output comparison, UAT, monitoring setup, training, and knowledge transfer. |
Discovery & Assessment
— Weeks 1–3Pulse Convert ingested Emulus's SSIS catalog, auditing 1,100+ packages and linked SQL Agent jobs. Dependency mapping revealed that over 25% of packages were legacy artifacts or redundant feeds, allowing Emulus to prune its integration estate before conversion.
Automated Conversion
— Weeks 4–8Pulse Convert extracted control flow graphs and data transformations, converting package logic into modular Fabric Data Factory pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, and PySpark Notebooks with automated Lakehouse target writing.
Refinement & Optimization
— Weeks 9–13Data engineers refactored custom C# Script Tasks into optimized PySpark logic, configured robust Fabric pipeline error handling, established master orchestrator pipelines, and optimized Delta Lake partition strategies.
Testing, Parallel Run & Handover
— Weeks 14–16Executed automated parallel batch runs, reconciling target Fabric Lakehouse tables against on-premises relational databases row-by-row. Configured Fabric Monitoring Hub alerting, trained operations teams, and completed cutover.
Key Results
The migration of Emulus Consulting's SSIS estate to Microsoft Fabric generated transformative, measurable business outcomes:
- 80% conversion accuracy on the automated pass: Over 880 packages, data flows, and control tasks converted automatically without manual code rewriting.
- Approximately 70% reduction in overall migration effort compared to pure manual rebuild: Completed in 16 weeks compared to an estimated 52+ weeks for a manual ground-up rewrite.
- Significant reduction in SSIS infrastructure and maintenance costs: Decommissioned legacy SQL Server ETL VMs and storage, yielding substantial recurring licensing and infrastructure savings.
- Scalable, cloud-native data pipelines on Microsoft Fabric: Dynamically elastically scales compute resources during high-volume batch cycles without resource contention.
- Improved monitoring, lineage, and operational visibility: Centralized pipeline telemetry within Fabric Monitoring Hub with end-to-end column-level lineage tracking.
- Seamless integration path to Power BI semantic models and OneLake: Consolidated analytical data directly into Delta Parquet tables, enabling ultra-fast Direct Lake mode queries.
- Stronger foundation for future AI and advanced analytics workloads: Positioned cleansed enterprise data assets for machine learning, predictive analytics, and Microsoft Copilot integrations.
Business Impact: Modernizing Enterprise Data Integration Across Sectors
By migrating from SSIS to Microsoft Fabric with Pulse Convert, Emulus Consulting modernized its data integration layer, lowered operational costs, and strengthened its ability to deliver Microsoft Fabric and Power BI solutions to clients across market research, FMCG, Pharma, and BFSI sectors.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Start with a risk-free Proof of Concept. We convert a representative sample of your SSIS packages (.dtsx), control flows, and data flows, validate data parity against your source systems, and demonstrate the exact automated accuracy before you commit.
