1. Tooling Overview
Author: Simon Nuss
Date: May 2017

2. 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
PBI RGB: 243, 201, 16

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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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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:
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

8. 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:
Simple tool
It is leverage in other tools
Stick to the output as best you can

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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] )

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

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