Power BI, Self-service and Governed Data Solutions
Power BI is due to be released to the masses this week and I’m very excited to see this powerful…
Year: 2015
Power BI General Availability Announced: July 24, 2015
On Friday, James Phillips, Microsoft VP of Business Intelligence, announced the general availability of the new Power BI Business Analytics…
BI Industry, BI Projects, DataZen, SQL Server, SQL Server Pro Magazine, SQL Syndication, SQLServerPedia
Online Training event: Designing a Mobile Dashboard Solution with Microsoft DataZen
I’d like to make you aware of a three-hour training event that I will be presenting, hosted by SQL Server…
PASS Global Summit 2015 Early Registration
If you’re considering heading to Seattle to attend the PASS Global Summit on October 27-30, register before July 12 because…
Power BI Hands-On Workshop at PASS Global Summit
Please join me at the PASS Global Summit in Seattle for a half-day, 3-hour hands-on Power BI mini workshop. Bring…
Animated Graphics Depict The Fallen of World War II
In an amazing application of visualization techniques, this production is a depiction of the casualties and affects of war. Starting…
BI Industry, BI Projects, Excel BI, PowerPivot, Self-service BI, SQL Syndication, SQLServerPedia, SSAS Administration, Tabular Models
Maintaining Parallel Power Pivot and SSAS Tabular Models–Tales from the Trenches
This post is really a collection of field notes and some lessons learned from recent project experience. I’ve done plenty of SSAS Tabular projects over the past few years – usually starting with a Visual Studio project rather than Power Pivot. I’ve also done a bit of Power Pivot work for clients. These projects were either delivered to an analyst using Excel on their desktop or some business users through SharePoint. But, authoring in Excel Power Pivot and deploying to a server-hosted Tabular model has been mainly theoretical up to this point so I thought I’d share my experience.
Articles, BI Industry, DataZen, Microsoft BI Platform, SolidQ, SQL Server, SQL Syndication, SQLServerPedia
New Articles About Datazen, Microsoft’s Mobile Dashboard Platform
I’m pleased to share the first two articles in a series for SQL Server Pro Magazine. Here’s a short excerpt…
Articles, BI Industry, BI Projects, Business Analytics, DataZen, Microsoft BI Platform, Self-service BI, SolidQ, SQL Server, SQL Server Pro Magazine, SQL Syndication, SQLServerPedia
Microsoft DataZen Mobile Platform Available to SQL Server Enterprise Customers for Free
Last month Microsoft announced that they had acquired the DataZen mobile BI platform and were adding it to their enterprise BI product suite. This is very exciting news that rounds out the Microsoft BI capabilities of their entire product portfolio. What’s more, is that they plan to make if free for SQL Server Enterprise customers who have Software Assurance agreements.
Watch for a series of articles about getting started with DataZen in SQL Server Pro Magazine online.
I presented a session at the PASS Global Summit in 2013 showcasing DataZen called “New York, London, Paris Munich; Everybody’s Talking About Mobile BI”.
BI Industry, Excel BI, Microsoft BI Platform, PowerPivot, Self-service BI, SSRS Administration, SSRS Design
How to Get SSRS Reports in Excel Without Exporting from Reporting Services
I’ve recently seen a wave of questions from clients and peers about difficulties exporting reports to Excel lately. Every few weeks I get a call or question about this. This topic has been a recurring theme for a very long time and one that I have encountered many times over the past – oh, eleven years or more – using SSRS. Business users like Excel because it’s what they know and they can reformat and manipulate data in a workbook. People like Reporting Services because all the hard work of connecting to data sources, writing queries, totaling, grouping and formatting the results gets done once and then all they need to do is run the report. Users want the best of both worlds and they expect that when they export and report to Excel that they should have their cake and eat it. In other words; they should be able to get a report, with all the goodness of headers, scrolling regions, pagination, interactive sorting – you name it – to work exactly the same way in Excel.
Articles, BI Industry, BI Projects, SolidQ, SQL Server Pro Magazine, SSAS Administration, SSAS Design, Tabular Models
SSAS Tabular Modeling Article Series on SQL Server Pro Magazine
I’ve just finished a series of four articles for SQL Server Pro Magazine, along with sample projects and hands-on exercises. The series will take you through SSAS Tabular model design from start to finish, using the Adventure Works sample data in SQL Server 2012 or 2014. Here are links to all four articles followed by an excerpt from each.
Part 1 – Getting Started with SSAS Tabular
Part 2 – Easy DAX – Getting Started with Data Analysis Expressions
Part 3 – Tabular Model Administration
Part 4 – Deep Dive DAX – Solving Complex Business Problems with Data Analysis Expressions
Download the sample projects here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
DataZen Dashboards Update
I’ve spend a good three days on and off working with the new “Microsoft” DataZen dashboard tool and I think this is going to be significant addition to the enterprise BI offering. It’s not quick and easy to setup the server, configure data sources, data view queries and design dashboards but the end result is worth the investment. This is an impressive tool and users are going to love the dashboard experience.
Data Visualization, Microsoft BI Platform, Self-service BI, SQL Server Pro Magazine, SQL Syndication
Microsoft DataZen Mobile Platform Available to Enterprise Customers for Free
Last week Microsoft announced that they had acquired the DataZen mobile BI platform and were adding it to their enterprise BI product suite. This is very exciting news that rounds out the Microsoft BI capabilities of their entire product portfolio. What’s more, is that they plan to make if free for SQL Server Enterprise customers who have Software Assurance agreements.
I presented a session at the PASS Global Summit in 2013 showcasing DataZen called “New York, London, Paris Munich; Everybody’s Talking About Mobile BI”.
SolidQ, SQL Server, SQL Syndication, SQLServerPedia, SSAS Administration, SSAS Design, SSRS Administration, SSRS Design, Tabular Models
SQL Server 2014 Upgrade Sessions on the Microsoft Virtual Academy
It was a great honor to be asked to join my associates from SolidQ at the Microsoft Virtual Academy Studios…
Different Options to Use D&B Cleanse & Match
Dun and Bradstreet offers services to cleanse and validate business records from their comprehensive reference database. There are different ways to…