Paul Turley's SQL Server BI Blog

This post and the video walk-through demonstrates how the order of steps added to a query can make a big performance difference and drastically effect the number of steps generated by the designer.

Activity monitoring and troubleshooting with the new logging API is focused entirely on Power BI tenant events like dashboard, interactive and paginated reports views, deployments, errors and data refresh events. This should be easier than before, enabling admins to be more proactive by track usage patterns. In a short series of blog posts, I’ll demonstrate how to build a complete activity logging and reporting solution for your entire Power BI tenant.

As I read the many posts from those in the community who I follow, I am reminded that the community…

As I continue to explore and develop best practices for managing serious business-scale Power BI solutions, I’m having conversations with recognized community leaders. Last month I chatted with Ásgeir Gunnarsson on the SQL Train ride from Portland to PASS Summit in Seattle. Ásgeir is a data platform MVP and seasoned Business Intelligence expert from Reykjavik, Iceland who works as Chief Consultant for Datheos, a Microsoft-focused BI and Analytics consultancy in Copenhagen. He leads the Icelandic Power BI User Group and PASS Chapter.

Team file sharing and version control may be managed through Power BI workspace integration with OneDrive and SharePoint team sites. In this post, I will show you how to get started and setup a new project.

This is a series of posts and exercises from a recent full-day workshop called Next Level Power BI. Check back for additional lessons and freely post your questions and feedback in the comments section after this post.

Power Query is a modern data acquisition and transformation technology and it is the “Get Data” component of Power BI and many other Microsoft tools. The query script language of Power Query is known as “M” or the Microsoft Data Mashup language. The menu options and selections in the Power Query Editor interface build this “M” script for you but to use Power Query at an expert level, you must understand fundamental concepts of the language. The post will step you through some essential mechanics of the language to build the necessary fundamental skills.

Enabling the modern data analyst by becoming shopkeepers rather than gatekeepers of information

I really appreciated the opportunity to sit down and talk with one of my heros in the industry. Donald Farmer has been recognized leader in the Business Intelligence and Analytics industry for the past two decades and his thought leadership is even more relevant today. He played a key role in shaping the Microsoft BI toolset as a Principal Program Manager from 2001 when the products we use today were in their infancy.

Power BI table and matrix visuals can render SVG object elements in a column or measure to display in-line web content. You can build dynamic content like KPI indicators, databars and sparklines by altering SVG element content using DAX expressions. In this post, I will show you how to create databars that show negative and positive values with different color fills based on category values. Of course, Power BI has built-in databars in the conditional formatting options for numeric columns but you cannot alter the color and other attributes dynamically – at least not yet. For the time being, this technique provides more flexibility than the built-in databar feature.

In this first post in a series called “Next Level Power BI”, I demonstrate how to create dynamic databars using a Scalable Vector Graphic. A dynamic SVG databar, icon, sparkline or practically any imaginable graphic can be produced with calculated column or measure.

Is the 2010, first edition of my SQL Server Reporting Services Recipe Book so snooze-worthy that it is now being…

These are copies of my presentation decks from the sessions today at the Power Platform World Tour event in Vancouver,…

The purpose of this article is to outline a set of guidelines and recommended practices for managing Microsoft Power BI projects. This guide is primarily focused on the work performed by the IT-managed BI Solution Developers for formally-managed BI projects.

Again, this guide is primarily focused on the work performed by the IT-managed BI Solution Developers for formally-managed BI projects. Topics included in this guide:

• Solution Architecture
• Managing Power BI Desktop Files
• Datasets and Reports
• Version Control & Lifecycle Management
• Workspace and App Management
• Data Model and Power Query Design Guidelines
• Dimensional Design
• Query Optimization
• Managing Dataset Size with Parameters
• Implicit and Explicit Measures
• If Users Need Excel, Give them Excel
• Certified & Shared Datasets
• Enterprise Scale Options

I was just working on a client project where we have several complex measures that reference other measures. Sometimes it…

Power BI licensing options are a mystery to many. It’s not that it is complicated; in fact, on the contrary,…

I am happy to join several world-class speakers on July 23 & 24 for the Power Platform Virtual Conference. I will be speaking about how to create “no-code” Power BI custom visuals along with Mike Carlo from PowerBI.tips.