I recently had the opportunity to review a pre-published copy of the “Instant” series book “Creating Data Models with PowerPivot How-to” by Leo Taehyung Lee, published by Packt Publishing.
This is a short, concise book; only 46 pages long. Quite honestly, if I had picked up this book for myself, I wouldn’t have gotten much out of it. But, I’m an IT Professional with a few year’s worth of experience with PowerPivot and I need to go beyond the basics. Last week, I taught a PowerPivot/Excel 2010 class to a group of financial business users that covered getting started, the basics and some intermediate use scenarios; and I will recommend this book to every student in that class. It’s a perfect fit.
Readers who are using Excel 2010 will find this a good fit for them. The book was written using examples in Excel 2010 and then mentions that PowerPivot is also available for Excel 2013 but doesn’t explain the differences, which are many (a newer version of PowerPivot is part of the Professional Plus edition of Excel 2013). Excel 2013 ProPlus users may be able to apply a good portion of the material but will encounter features on different ribbons and menus and other subtle differences between the two products that are not noted in the book.
Just like the title states, “Creating Data Models with PowerPivot How-to” is a short, fast and focused guide that will get a new PowerPivot user started and using the Excel add-in to answer real business questions and to get good use of this product. It’s well-written guide, using clear and easy-to-understand language. The basics are covered sufficiently without getting into the weeds and exploring complex features. Topics are effectively illustrated and easy to find. If you’re a non-technical business user and need quick, simple guide to get you started, this book is a good place to begin.
More information s available from the publisher here.