Tooling Overview Author: Simon Nuss Date: May 2017

POWER BI TOOLS ABOUT THE AUTHOR 8 years business intelligence experience: 5 years specializing in back office workflow automation, specifically: payroll, period-end accounting, banking reconciliation & operational reporting. 3 yea rs at Deloitte Canada, currently as a Senior in the Advanced Analytics department of Strategic Analytics and Modelling (“SAM”) group. My primary role is that of a business intelligence specialist focusing on data modelling utilizing the latest offerings from the Microsoft business intelligence stack. I’m always eager to share my knowledge and help out where I can. If you have any questions relating to this material then please don’t hesitate to contact me at simon.nuss@gmail.com PBI RGB: 243, 201, 16

IN THE NEWS…. Change in Power BI Pricing (Power BI Premium) Active in 7 days! “Existing users of the free service who have been active within the past year can take advantage of the free 12-month extended trial of Power BI Pro”. FAQ Pricing Calculator Power BI Report Server (Preview) An extension to SSRS. Rapid release cycle. GA release “late in the second quarter of 2017”, i.e. next month. Azure SSAS (Preview) 1400 compatibility level.

POWER BI TOOLS AGENDA SQL Server Management Studio (“SSMS”) The World Wide Importers dataset DAX Patterns DAX Formatter VertiPaq Analyzer Power Pivot Utilities DAX Studio Profiler PowerShell (“PoSH”) Visual Studio SQL Server Data Tools (“SSDT”) Expectation is intermediate to advanced It will become progressively more difficult Will probably run out of time. Will be quick. 5 minutes per tool Questions are welcome at any time Logic behind the order of tools Get sense of crowd: Power BI Power Query Power Pivot SQL Server Azure SSAS Tabular SSAS Multidimensional

POWER BI TOOLS SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO (“SSMS”) Tool: SQL Server Management Studio Description: SSMS is a free tool for monitoring any SQL infrastructure. Use cases: Query, monitor and manage SSAS instances. Querying PBI Desktop via a linked server (slow, not recommended). Notes: It is now a standalone install. More information: The basics Download: Home site Stores SQL and Data Models Explain SSAS, i.e. Power BI data models can be loaded into SQL Server Query using DAX in latest version Questions Segue into WWI

POWER BI TOOLS WORLD WIDE IMPORTERS Tool: WideWorldImportersDW Description: WideWorldImportersDW is the new sample data warehouse for SQL Server. It illustrates how the rich SQL Server feature set can be used in a realistic database based on a fictitious company called World Wide Importers. Use cases: Demonstrating Analysis Services as the Toronto Power BI Meetup group. Learning! Notes: I strongly suggest everyone install SQL Server Developers edition and then WideWorldImportersDW. It can be setup on Azure for free. It takes about 30 minutes to setup in Azure. More information: Documentation URL: Home site What is a data warehouse Show some tables in SSMS Load WWI star schema from Azure SQL into Power BI Review it Questions Segue into measures

POWER BI TOOLS DAX PATTERNS Tool: DAX Patterns Description: DAX Patterns is a free online library of best practice DAX measures. It is curated by the greats, Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari. Use cases: Finding inspiration to expand basic measures. Troubleshooting. Learning. DAX best practice. Notes: This is a great learning resource for DAX beginners with less than 2 years experience. If you find these expressions to complicated then I strongly suggest buying one of The Italians’ books. More information: The Definitive Guide to DAX URL: http://www.daxpatterns.com/ Create a measure, use SUMX( fct, DIVIDE( [qty] * [price], 1000 ) ) Scroll to time intelligence table, pick a measure and create an unformatted version of it, e.g. YTD/MOM. Definitive Guide to DAX Questions Segue into DAX Formatter

POWER BI TOOLS DAX FORMATTER Tool: DAX Formatter Description: DAX Formatter is a tool that transforms raw DAX formulas into clean and readable code. Use cases: Cleaning confusing/complicated models. Cleaning DAX expressions prior to posting them on forums. Notes: This is probably the most useful tool out there – add it to your browsers favorites! DAX Formatter is built into many other tools. Does not support M. URL: http://www.daxformatter.com/ Simple tool It is leverage in other tools Stick to the output as best you can

POWER BI TOOLS VERTIPAQ ANALYZER Tool: VertiPaq Analyzer Description: Analyses table and column size information to help optimize a data model for Power Pivot, Power BI, or Analysis Services Tabular. Use cases: Analyzing slow data models. Optimization. Notes: Kasper de Jonge’s SSAS memory tool. In my experience it is a bit buggy. I needed to make some alterations to make it work. More information: Instructions Download: VertiPaq Analyzer Run against WWI PBI model Review Questions

POWER BI TOOLS POWER PIVOT UTILITIES Tool: Power Pivot Utilities Description: Power Pivot Utilities in an Excel add-in (based on a collection of VBA macros) that helps documenting PowerPivot models and facilitates the creation of pivot tables connected to the data model. Use cases: Documenting a model by outputting the following reports: relationships, measures, calculated columns, and unused columns. It includes (shortcuts to) the following tools: VertiPaq Analyzer, DAX Formatter, and DAX Studio. Notes: This is purely for the Excel data model. It will not connect to Power BI. In my experience it can be buggy at times. Download: Home site Quick tangent from Power BI Load WWI star schema into Power Pivot Demonstration functionality of Power Pivot Utils Segue into DAX Studio Ask who knows you can import Power Pivot into PBI Consume Azure SQL into Power Pivot Import into PBI

POWER BI TOOLS DAX STUDIO Tool: DAX Studio Description: DAX Studio is a tool designed purely for the development and execution of DAX expressions. Use cases: DAX expression performance tuning using timing and query plans. DAX expression formatting via DAX Formatter. Exporting PBI tables to CSV. Notes: It can connect to and query Power Pivot, Power BI & SSAS data models. Although the last release had dramatic improvements, it is still prone to crashing occasionally. Does not support M. More information: Reading DAX Query Plans Download: Home site Back to Power BI Connect DAX Studio to PBI Can be buggy Demo timing of the SUMX measure. Troubleshoot and fix, i.e. move the / 1000 outside the SUMX. Demo an extraction to CSV, e.g. EVALUATE ADDCOLUMNS(SUMMARIZE( FILTER( fct, RELATED( dim ) = “foo” ), fct[colA], fct[ColB]), “Foo Sales Results”, [Sales] )

POWER BI TOOLS SQL PROFILER Tool: SQL Profiler Description: SQL Profiler is a graphical user interface to SQL Trace for monitoring an instance of the Database Engine or Analysis Services. SQL Profiler is now deprecated starting with SQL Server 2017; use Extended Events instead. Use cases: Real-time analysis of who is using Analysis Services, their queries, and execution times. Monitoring the deployment of reports. Looking “under the hood” of Power BI auto-generated DAX queries. Capturing M query folding sent to the Database Engine or Analysis Services. Notes: It is installed as a part of SQL Server. In order to connect to Power BI, use DAX Studio to determine the name and port. More Information: SQL Profiler Overview Direct Query vs Import Direct Query SQL queries can be captured M query folding can be captured Load Profiler: demo M unpivot capture WWI DW. Execute in SSMS as evidence

POWER BI TOOLS POWERSHELL Tool: PowerShell (“PoSH”) Description: PowerShell is a powerful command line scripting language built on top of the .NET Framework. Use cases: Real-time streaming by pushing into the PBI REST API. Execute and save DAX expressions, e.g. save a PBI table straight to CSV. Administrative functions. Notes: PowerShell is, most likely, already installed on your computer. Streaming via Azure Stream Analytics. Streaming via PowerShell. In my experience, streaming in PBI is a bit buggy, e.g. chart issues, report refresh issues. More information: PowerShell Basics Download: PowerShell v5.1 Demo CSV export script Script can be scheduled PoSH getting pushed out to other tech, e.g. Azure & Linux

POWER BI TOOLS VISUAL STUDIO SQL SERVER DATA TOOLS Tool: SQL Server Data Tools in Visual Studio 2015/2017 Description: SQL Server Data Tools (“SSDT “) is an add in for Visual Studio which enables development of the following projects: SQL Server Integration Services (“SSIS”). SQL Server Reporting Services (“SSRS”). SQL Server Analysis Services (“SSAS”). Use cases: Top-down and bi-modal BI. Centralizing/consolidating reporting. Large and complex Power BI models. Notes: There are several versions available: Visual Studio 2015 SSDT: a lightweight edition designed just for data work, e.g. Tabular development. VS2015 will not support compatibility level 1400, i.e. the newest version of Analysis Services. Visual Studio 2017 Community/Professional/Enterprise: Pick the one where the license suites your organization. Note, SSDT is currently in three separate extensions; see this link for details. Visual Studio 2017 for Mac: This edition does not currently support SSDT. More information: Analysis Services team blog Download: Currently, my suggestion is to download the more stable version: Visual Studio 2015 SSDT. Time check Enterprise reporting, top-down vs bottom-up vs bi-modal BI SSAS is more powerful and feature rich than Power BI (but without the viz): Partitioning Row-level security Folders Language support Demo creation and deployment to Azure Load up PBI and Direct Query against instance

QUESTIONS? Any tools missed? Deck is available Contact me any time for questions