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Category: Power BI

Generating Fixed-Width Files With Power Query

Published 2016-03-22 by Kevin Feasel

Chris Webb shows how to generate fixed-width files using Power Query inside Excel:

While it’s fairly common to need to load fixed-width files using Power Query or Power Query (and there’s a nice walkthrough of how to do this here), occasionally you might want to use Power Query and Excel to create a fixed-width output for another system, or maybe to create some test data. You might not want to do it often but I can imagine that when/if Power Query is integrated into SSIS this will be a slightly less obscure requirement; at the very least, this post should show you how to use a couple of M functions that are under-documented.

I don’t see this being a particularly common request, but I guess I can see some scenario in which we’re loading data into a legacy system.

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Power BI Auto-Installation

Published 2016-03-18 by Kevin Feasel

Simon Sabin uses Powershell to install Power BI:

Having recently been having rebuilding my machine I finally decided to automate the process of installing the software I need.

This was a life saver as I was reinstalling a few times to try and figure out why I wasn’t getting sound on my external monitor. So I was gradually uninstalling everything until I found out that it was Hyper-v that was causing the problem.

The outcome meant I was installing PowerBI lots and had to automate it.

This looks like the first step toward a Chocolatey script.

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Nested Display Folders

Published 2016-03-18 by Kevin Feasel

Koen Verbeeck shows how to use nested display folders in Analysis Services and get Power BI to use them as well:

On the same day, I also found out it’s possible to nest display folders in SSAS. Which was even better, because I have a project with dozens of measures and this functionality really makes the difference. All you have to do is putting backslashes to indicate where a new child folder begins

This makes intuitive sense, so good on Microsoft for supporting this.

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Power Pivot Or Power Query?

Published 2016-03-17 by Kevin Feasel

Avi Singh explains when to use Power Query versus Power Pivot:

On Power BI Desktop, you don’t even have a choice – the only route to connect to data is via the “Get Data/Power Query” interface. Which is A-Okay with me. Even with Excel, I now connect to ANY data using Power Query.

Use Power Query to fill all your Get Data needs

Yes, ANY data. Even if I could connect using Power Pivot to those data sources and did not need any transformation  – I still always use Power Query.

Power Query to get data, Power Pivot to model data.  Avi then gives a few examples of scenarios, explaining where each fits in.

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Data Modeling In Power BI

Published 2016-03-14 by Kevin Feasel

Ginger Grant discusses creating models in Power BI:

When comparing the features of the Online Client with the Desktop version of Power BI, there is one very obvious difference, there is no way to create a data model in Power BI online. It is not possible to create a data model using the online client. The online client is designed to connect to an existing online source such as Sales Force or Azure DB. If you are using an existing model, there is no need to create one. When using the enterprise gateway, which uses an on-premises database such as a SQL Server, SSAS or Hana, the data model is contained within the database exposed via the enterprise gateway, so again no reason exists to create a data model. Report creation can occur either using the online client or desktop as there is compelling technical reason that I am aware of which would determine where the report is created.

Cf. an earlier post on Power Pivot and Power BI modeling.

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Asking Questions With Power BI

Published 2016-03-14 by Kevin Feasel

Reza Rad shows us how to interrogate Power BI:

When you published your Power BI file into the Power BI desktop, usually you create a dashboard for it. For Power Q&A to work (the version of Power Q&A at the time of writing this post) you should create a dashboard for your report. After creating the dashboard you will see the question bar of Q&A on the top of your dashboard.

My preferred technique is good developer, bad developer.

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Custom Power BI Visuals

Published 2016-03-10 by Kevin Feasel

Reza Rad shows us how to create a custom visualization in Power BI:

This is one of the coolest custom visuals I’ve seen so far. The reason is that this custom visual has a customization in it! with this visualization you can define regions in any picture or images, and map data points to the image in your Power BI report. The image can be everything; human body, airplane seat layout, shop floor layout or football field. You choose the image you want, then you define regions. Let’s have a closer look at this visual.

It’s amazing how easy Power BI makes that.  Almost easy enough for me to do it…

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Movie Analysis Using Power BI

Published 2016-02-26 by Kevin Feasel

Dan English compares Marvel versus DC movies using Power BI:

This is an interactive report comparing the results of Marvel versus DC movie information with regards to the number of movies, adjusted worldwide gross box office earnings, and includes IMDb ratings. You can get a feel for the shift from the 1960’s through the 1990’s as DC dominated the market and then Marvel stepped in and has dominated the box office since.

This is a fun data set and dashboard.

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Power BI Roundup

Published 2016-02-23 by Kevin Feasel

Jorge Segarra has a roundup of this month’s T-SQL Tuesday:

This month I challenged the blogging community to share their own creations in Power BI. We got a ton of great entries this month, thank you everyone who participated! My overarching goal for this month’s topic was to get folks who may not normally play in the BI space to use this fantastic solution and maybe get some ideas flowing on how they may be able to apply it in their everyday work.

The part I like most about T-SQL Tuesday is that it introduces you to a whole new set of bloggers and a whole new set of perspectives on any particular topic.

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Power Pivot And Power BI Data Modeling

Published 2016-02-22 by Kevin Feasel

Avi Singh has a post on data modeling in Power Pivot and Power BI:

It was Greg, who suggested that we form a book reading club. Our first book was one I had heard about, but never read – The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling By Ralph Kimball. As a business analyst, I had leaned heavily on Excel, along with a mishmash of other technologies. Data warehouse and data modeling didn’t seem like topics that would be relevant to me; more for an IT/BI team perhaps. But I figured, it couldn’t hurt to learn something new.

Our book club meetings looked more as if, class was in session. We brought in our questions, and Greg patiently answered them, helping us realize the importance of the topics, and trade-offs involved in various choices. As things go, our reading club was disbanded before we were even halfway through the book. But the knowledge that I had gained, helped me grow by leaps and bounds in my Power Pivot and Power BI journey.

Kimball-style fact-dimensional modeling remains a brilliant solution.

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