Power BI – Exploring New Frontiers

Power BI – Exploring New Frontiers Introduction Getting Started Desktop Version Online Version Lets build a Visualization

Introduction What is Power BI? What it isn’t Where can it be used? Microsoft’s Interactive Data Visualization BI Tools What it isn’t It is not a true report tool Where can it be used? Standalone dashboard Attachment to 2016 Reporting Services

Getting Started Ways of accessing Power BI Desktop Version Local copy – totally free Requires a download Allows source control Others can make changes locally as well Can be published to the Online Version Online Version Requires a business domain email to access Data access requires potential set up

Desktop Version Requires a local download https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/desktop/ There are at a minimum, monthly updates Improvements have been fast and furious Download often

Desktop Version Download site states: Transform and clean data Getting your data ready to analyze can be time-consuming. We’re on a mission to make it much simpler. Try the data shaping and modeling capabilities of Power BI Desktop and take back hours in your busy day. Complete analytics life-cycle The Power BI Desktop is an elegant end-to-end solution for building analytics. The Desktop has all the capabilities to quickly connect, shape, visualize, and share data insights through Power BI. Design once, view anywhere We know you need to get data into the hands of decision makers when and where they need it. Power BI makes publishing and sharing your beautiful interactive reports easy.

Desktop Version A local copy is created The extension is .pbix Data can be encapsulated with the copy and “passed along” to others Storing the copy in a source control system allows the benefits of source control Currently, source control is not native to Power BI With a company email, you can create a Power BI “site” First person with company domain creates the site Site can be managed through Office 365 – add members Upgrade to Pro costs 9.95 per month once billing starts

Online Version If accessing local data Gateways Unless a Gateway is established, data must be uploaded to the site This can be time consuming This is what nixed our first attempt to work with Power BI Gateways Acts as a bridge, providing quick and secure data transfer between the Power BI service and on-premises data sources that support refreshes Only available with Power BI Pro (9.95 per month) Personal gateway - https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-personal-gateway/ Enterprise gateway - https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-gateway-enterprise/ Allows deployment and management of central gateways to serve large groups of users

Lets build a Visualization Load Power BI Desktop Left Navigation Visualization tab Data tab Data Source tab Right Navigation Visualizations / Filters Fields

First Step – Data Source Large variety of data sources Excel SQL Server Analysis Services CSV Web OData Feed Blank Query More …. Mix and match data sources Set relationships between sources

Next Step – Model Data Rename columns for friendlier presentation Define how the data will look when displayed Data type Format Define data categorization Define how / if to aggregate Add Columns and Measures Columns usually are not numeric Measures are numeric and have context DAX is the language used for these additions

Finally - Visualization We can select the type of visualization we want We can define the visualization with the right nav Select columns to be displayed Define axis, legend, values, color saturation and so much more Define filters to be applied Using color brush we can define even more We can select columns and measures with fields from the right nav

Custom Visualizations Microsoft is allowing the community to expand the visualizations available : https://app.powerbi.com/visuals/ Some of these are available for download and import These are not supported by the Microsoft Power BI Team Each time you enter a solution using them they need to be enabled Each new use requires an import into the current solution SandDance Demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Jx6SSYyDo Quick look

Bibliography Desktop version Personal gateway Enterprise gateway https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/desktop/ Personal gateway https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-personal-gateway/ Enterprise gateway https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-gateway-enterprise/ Custom Visualizations https://app.powerbi.com/visuals/ SandDance Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Jx6SSYyDo Info: https://www.sanddance.ms/

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