Paul Turley's SQL Server BI Blog
sharing my experiences with the Microsoft data platform, Fabric, enterprise Power BI, SQL Server BI, Data Modeling, SSAS Design, SSRS, Dashboards & Visualization since 2009
Thank you to the Microsoft MVP Program for awarding me MVP for six years running! I love this program and…
The other day a secondary family member said “we’re still on Microsoft 2010”. Another said “My friend is using Windows 2003 and can’t open a document I sent”. They were apparently talking about versions of Office products.
I get so deeply engrained in the Microsoft Business Intelligence community culture that I have to remind myself that most people don’t spend all their time keeping up with these products that are constantly in motion. And these are just Office users! When I work with BI consulting clients and business folks in the industry, it’s apparent that most people really don’t understand where these products and services begin and end.
Mark Tabladillo has done the world a service by laying out exactly what Power BI is, the products that it includes, and how to license it and get started. This is a great resource on the Microsoft MVP Program Blog that breaks it all down and helps it all make sense. Thank you, Mark!
Here’s a sample
I just received some bad news and found out that a friend passed away today. Reed Jacobson was one of the early leaders in the Microsoft Business Intelligence community. Somewhere around 2004-2008 I worked with Reed at Hitachi Consulting in Seattle where we travelled, taught classes and worked on client projects together. He was one of the earliest adopters and gurus in the BI community working for a small start-up called OLAP Train who helped bring SSAS (aka “OLAP Services”) to the masses. He spoke at many conferences and taught a lot of classes.
Not only was he one of the smartest people I’ve known when it came to solving business problems with Analysis Service & MDX but he was a kind, friendly man who really enjoyed helping and connecting with people.
On Business Intelligence projects of all sizes, the composition of the team is a crucial element for success. What is the organization of a functional BI team? How do the individual roles and disciplines contribute to a successful outcome? How is team composition different for self-service and business-owned BI projects? The best answer for an organization will depend on several factors including corporate culture, communication and management styles…
Someone recently asked me through LinkedIn how much it would cost to implement a BI project with Microsoft tools. This…
This fact is probably not documented very well but this is an important factor in SSRS visual report design… The…
What I’m going to show you is not rocket science. This one gets filed under the category of “well, duh. …
A client came to me with a challenge this week that, although simple in concept, posed an interesting challenge that…
Power BI: a new suite of Business Intelligence tools Over the past few months, teams at Microsoft have made several…
I’m very excited to see my first feature article published in SQL Server Pro Magazine titled Custom Programming to Enhance…
I recently had the opportunity to review a pre-published copy of the “Instant” series book “Creating Data Models with PowerPivot…
It’s that time of year again… end of the school year, graduation, Fathers’ Day and of course; time to take…
A Getting-Started and Survival Guide for planning, designing and building Tabular Semantic Models with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services.…
As part of SQL Server Pro eLearning series, I’ll be presenting three 75 minute sessions on March 26th on using…
We can now use Visual Studio 2012 to create and edit SQL Server BI projects! Woo Hoo. In the past,…