1. LSI Business Intelligence Initiative

2. PROJECT GOALS Streamline the reporting process Consolidate SQL Servers
Create self service data marts
Setup framework for creating new reports
Enable automated reports & dashboards; eliminate manual steps
Consolidate SQL Servers
Reduced license cost
Reduced Infrastructure maintenance
Determine and utilize the best tools for the job
SSRS
Excel
Power Bi

3. SELF SERVICE REPORTING!
PROJECT GOALS
SELF SERVICE REPORTING!

4. Reporting Mix Business Forms Audit Reports
Sales Order Acknowledgements
Purchase orders
Invoices
Audit Reports
Live, up to the minute data
Item setup / BOM validation
Kanban validation
Shop Load

5. Reporting Mix Historical Reports / Dimensional data Excel Dashboards
End of Day Data
Used for Analysis
History reports
Subscription Reports
Excel Dashboards
Linked to multiple sources
Manually entered into multiple linked spreadsheets
Most data already contained within AX, but not utilized

6. REPORTING CHALLENGES Majority of report requests sent to IT
Lack of understanding of the data
Reports used for data extraction into Excel
Excel reports / Dashboards linked to other manually updated excel reports
Lots of “Cut and Paste” data
Data silo proliferation
No Source of Truth

7. Decision of tools SSRS Excel Power Bi
Business forms and historical reports (AX Standard)
Detailed audit reports
Subscription reports
Excel
Historical reports / dimensional data requiring detailed analysis
Power Bi
Dimensional data requiring visualizations
Dashboards and “at a glance” reports

8. Power BI Simple to use Great Visuals Users can
Mash up data
Create their own reports
Do their own data analysis
Multiple ways to pull in and join data

9. POWER BI Circle of Implementation
Type
Definition
Tabular Live
Live connection in Power BI Desktop to SSAS Tabular model.
Tabular Import
SSAS Tabular model imported into Power BI Desktop Model.
MD Live
Live connection in Power BI Desktop to an SSAS Multi-Dimensional OLAP cube.
MD Import
SSAS Multi-Dimensional OLAP cube imported into Power BI Desktop Model.
Relational Live
Live connection in Power BI Desktop to Relational Database objects.
Relational Import
Relational Database objects imported into Power BI Desktop Model.
Tabular Live
Tabular Imported
MD Live
MD Import
Relational Live
Relational Imported

10. Tabular and MD Live Pros Cons IT governance of data
Handles large data sets (server dependent)
Limits data silos
Easy to use models
Cons
Lack of Tabular / DAX skill set
Users cannot create new measures
Users cannot mash up data or perform simple formatting
Initial POC tested differently than the implementation
Feature support changed

11. Tabular and MD Import Pros Cons Users can create new measures
Users can mash up data or perform simple formatting
Ready to go models
Can handle multiple data sets
Cons
Reduced IT governance of data
Lack of Tabular / DAX skill set
Data Limited to 1gb
Can increase data silos
Imports as one large table
Certain dimension sets cause too many cross joins and fails to import

12. Relational Live Pros Cons Handles large data sets (server dependent)
User can create models as required
Cons
Reduced IT governance of data
Can create data silos
Limited creation of new measures
Users can only mash up relational data
Models can get out of sync with the database

13. Relational Import Pros Cons Users can create new measures
Users can mash up data or perform simple formatting
Ready to go starter models with the use of Power BI Templates
Can handle multiple data sets
Most flexible for the power user
Cons
No IT governance of data
Data Limited to 1gb
Can increase data silos
Changes to underlying data can break Power BI model
User learning curve for DAX
File size can be large
Refresh time dependent on model

14. POWER BI Wild West – Data Silo Proliferation
Tabular Live
Tabular Imported
MDX Cubes Live
MDX Cube Import
Relational Live
Relational Imported

15. Power BI Desktop Features/Limitations Comparability Matrix
MD (Import)
MD (Live)
REL (Import)
REL (Live)
TAB (Import)
TAB (Live)
Measure Creation
Yes No
Limited DAX Compatibility
Under development
Large Datasets
Small Datasets
Maximum Dataset Size
1 GB
Server Resource Limits
IT Governance
Poor
Good
Data Governance
Data Silo Proliferation
Full MD Feature Support NA
Full Tabular Feature Support
Model Readability
Model Ease of Use
Model Maintenance
Multiple Data Sources
(data mashup)
Import Only
Import/
Live (Relational Databases Only)
(Multiple data sources can be used to create the server tabular model)

16. End Choice - Tabular Live
Will fit 80% of our self service reporting requirements
Models and permissions are better controlled by IT
Better control over Power BI Gateway
Consistent measures, naming conventions and documentation
One source of truth
New features currently being added for users to add measures

17. OUR GOAL Data Warehouse Tabular Models
Power User Measure Enhancements (available when Microsoft adds the planned feature)
AX Data