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Category: Power BI

Real-Time Change Detection via Cumulative Sums

Published 2021-10-22 by Kevin Feasel

Nithin Sankar tracks deviations with cumulative sums:

With the advent of Internet of Things (IOT) and the proliferation of connected devices, comes the challenge of monitoring parts for maintenance before they break down. A common approach revolves around getting data from connected devices and performing a statistical test to determine the likelihood of the device failing. While this common approach is robust, it typically involves a significant time investment in exploratory data analysis, feature engineering, training, and testing to build a predictive model. It, therefore, often lacks the agility required to keep up with the monitoring demands of increasingly time-sensitive initiatives. 

In this context, the question becomes: how can we ensure a similar degree of rigor, but also improve the timeliness and responsiveness of being able to perform predictive maintenance? 

Click through for the process, as well as an example using Azure Stream Analytics and Power BI.

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TMSavePoint::GetProxyImpl Error with Power BI Premium Per User

Published 2021-10-20 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers diagnoses an error:

I have been doing a lot of work recently using Power BI Premium Per User and recently I got the following error below when trying to update my fact table in Power Query.

“An unexpected error occurred (file ‘tmsavepoint.cpp’, line 1503, function ‘TMSavePoint::GetProxyImpl’)”

Read on to understand what this error means and how you can fix it. Do be sure to look out for the very important warning about 2/3 of the way in.

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Upcoming Power BI Improvements

Published 2021-10-19 by Kevin Feasel

Matt Allington looks at what’s soon-to-be-new in Power BI:

You may already be aware (but then again, maybe not) that Microsoft shares its plans for upcoming new features for the Power Platform every 6 months, and Power BI forms a subset of that plan. The next plan is called Power Platform Release Plan 2021 Wave 2. It takes a lot of planning to continuously improve software, keeping the current state working while adding new features. Part of this planning process is that Microsoft shares the big picture of what is coming.

I was reviewing the next release plan this week and wanted to share a couple of things that are coming that look exciting to me (as a user/developer of Power BI Reports). The 5 new features I love, and want to call out are listed below (all are pro features except the last one):

Click through for the list.

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Getting Power BI Dataset Information without Takeover

Published 2021-10-19 by Kevin Feasel

Marc Lelijveld just wants to peek at some Power BI Dataset details:

We have all been in a situation where you want to get more insights in the specific settings for a published dataset. But when this dataset is owned and published by someone else, you have to take-over the dataset first to get all the details available. In this blog, I will elaborate on what is available to you in the service and share some code snippets that help you to explore other dataset settings like refresh schedules and configured parameter values.

Read on to see what kinds of details Marc means, as well as a way to do it without taking ownership of the Dataset.

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Organizing a Power BI Workspace: The Checklist

Published 2021-10-15 by Kevin Feasel

Melissa Coates has a plan:

How to organize workspaces in Power BI is one of those topics that comes up a lot. On one hand, it’s really easy to quickly create a workspace and keep moving. At the same time, it’s also really useful to have a strategy for how you scope your workspaces so they don’t get out of hand over time.

In this post & video we’re going to cover 4 sets of criteria to consider when planning for workspaces in the Power BI Service.

Click through for the video, as well as a post with the details.

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Star Schemas versus Header-Detail Tables in Power BI

Published 2021-10-12 by Kevin Feasel

Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari lay out another proof that the star schema is the right schema for Power BI:

We already shown in a previous article (Power BI – Star schema or single table – SQLBI) how the star schema proves to be the best option when compared with a single table model. Single-table models are the evil: do not be tempted by them, choose a star schema.

In this article, I want to show you an example in the opposite direction. A single table model denormalizes everything in one table, and we already learned that it is bad. But what if we keep a more normalized structure, as it often happens in header/detail models (like orders and order lines)? Is a header/detail model better than a star schema? The quick answer is: “No. Nope. No way. Not at all. Are you kidding me? No.”. Nonetheless, this might be just our personal opinion. The goal of the article is to provide you with some numbers and considerations to prove the previous statement.

Read on and you make the call.

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Power BI Storage Modes and Aggregations

Published 2021-10-11 by Kevin Feasel

Phil Seamark dives into storage modes in Power BI:

How to choose the correct storage mode for Power BI Tables.

This article aims to help explain the different storage modes available when designing an aggregation strategy for a Power BI Report. What each storage mode is and when you would use it. Picking the correct storage mode for each table in your model can significantly affect overall performance.

Click through for the tl;dr version, but stay for the whole thing.

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Using the Power BI REST API for DAX Queries

Published 2021-10-08 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers writes some Powershell:

In this blog post I am going to show you how to use PowerShell to run a DAX query from my dataset, and then store the results in a CSV file.

I will also include the PowerShell code!

I really liked the awesome blog post by Kay on the Power BI Team which you can find here: Announcing the public preview of Power BI REST API support for DAX Queries

Read on to see what prep work you need to do, as well as the scripts needed to pull this off.

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