Podcasts about power bi desktop

Mike & Tommy explore agentic skill and report design, diving into the "Five Minutes to Wow" framework and whether AI agents accelerate great design or amplify bad habits. They confront questions about who owns design decisions when the AI makes the call, how to balance speed with craftsmanship, and what guardrails prevent self-service clutter—ultimately wrapping up with practical takeaways for anyone opening Power BI Desktop tomorrow.https://data-goblins.com/power-bi/five-minutes-to-wowhttps://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Power-BI-May-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5182174https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/New-Power-Query-experience-in-Power-BI-Desktop-Preview/ba-p/5181129Get in touch:Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitipsSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVvSubscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tipsFollow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 320 recorded on March 3rd, 2026, where John and Jason break down the Power BI February 2026 Feature Summary — including new DAX functions, improvements to Copilot prompts and Power BI apps, multiple-value clipboard support for slicers, and updates to visuals and error diagnostics in Power BI Desktop. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

Mike & Tommy dive into semantic modeling on the web, exploring whether this new feature signals the decline of Power BI Desktop and discussing the implications for data culture. Tune in for practical insights on version history and governance strategies for organizations.https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/deep-dive-into-editing-semantic-models-in-the-power-bi-service-now-generally-available/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/service-semantic-model-version-historyGet in touch:Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitipsSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVvSubscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tipsFollow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy run through a GREAT question by one of our listeners on what to do with Power BI & Fabric development.In the Pre-Fabric era, as far as I know the most optimal architecture for dataset & report development was the following: 1, Collect data sources into Dataflows 2, Create shared datasets which load data from the Dataflows 3, Create reports built upon the shared datasets.In the Fabric era, how does the optimal architecture look like for dataset & report development? Is the Pre-Fabric architecture described above still the most optimal? If not, what's your idea on it? Power BI Desktop will remain the primary tool for dataset development or Power BI Service will take its place?Get in touch:Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitipsSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVvSubscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tipsFollow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 288 recorded on March 19th, 2025 where John & Jason talk the Microsoft Fabric February 2025 Feature Summary, specifically the Power BI section, including a new baseline version of Power BI Desktop, Copilot changes for Power BI, a trick to get conditional formatting for Visual Calcs working, and performance improvements for Direct Lake mode. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

This is episode 286 recorded on March 12th, 2025 where John & Jason talk the Microsoft Fabric January 2025 Feature Summary, specifically the Power BI section, including Storytelling updates for the PowerPoint Add-in, Semantic Model version history,  TMDL view in Power BI Desktop, and more.

Im aktuellen Power BI Quarterly sprechen Gabi und Artur viel über kürzlich stattgefundene und kommende Events, aber natürlich auch über die Features und Updates für Power BI und Microsoft Fabric der letzten Monate. Während Artur sich über vorhandene und angekündigte Updates bei Dataflows freut und die in den letzten Monaten dank DAX Query View, Developer Mode und Direct Lake Bearbeitung in Power BI Desktop stark verbesserte Entwickler-Experience lobt, gibt Gabi einen Einblick in die Gesamtstrategie mit DevOps, Copilot, Integrationen mit anderen Anbietern und Security-Funktionen. Besonders erwähnenswerte Updates waren: • der Dark Mode in Power BI • DAX Query View als Editor • Direct Lake Modelle in Power BI Desktop • Developer Mode • Semantic Link Labs • Git-Integration: bald auch für Dataflows Gen2 • Integrationen mit SAP, Databricks und Snowflake • Copyjob in Fabric, Fast Copy und Incremental Refresh • Copilot Updates • Die Entwicklung der Monitoring-Funktionen mit FUAM und einem Ausblick auf die nächsten Monate Zukünftige Events wurden auch erwähnt: • Data Platform Conference Switzerland in Zurüch am 25.10.2014 mit Vorträgen von Gabi und Artur • datamonster.io SQL-Konferenz in Hanau, diesmal wieder im Februar: 24-16.02.2025 • Level Up your Power BI am 12.-14.03.2025 in Köln • Fabcon Europe am 15.-18.09.2025 in Wien

Mike & Tommy make a Draft for the major January 2025 Power BI Desktop updates. https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-january-2025-feature-summary/#post-28821-_Toc919367718 Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page. Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/ Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎ Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/ Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/ Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mit „Expertise Unlocked", der neuen Serie im Performance Manager Podcast, möchte ich Orientierung geben. Ich mache unser Wissen und unsere Praxiserfahrung bei ATVISIO für Sie zugänglich. Ab sofort spreche ich regelmäßig mit unseren BI-Consultants über Themen, die Sie gerade bewegen. Sie erleben Klartext statt Buzzwords – damit Sie fundiert entscheiden können, welche BI-Innovationen Ihr Unternehmen wirklich voranbringen.  Diese Woche im Fokus: Power BI - Desktop Developer Mode  Erfahren Sie, wie der Desktop Developer Mode Ihre Arbeitsabläufe vereinfachen und die Zusammenarbeit verbessern kann. Diese Inhalte erwarten Sie:  Welche Vorteile bietet der Power BI-Desktop Developer Mode?  Wie können mehrere Anwender gleichzeitig an einem Power BI-Bericht arbeiten?  Was ist bei der Nutzung des Power BI-Desktop Developer Mode zu beachten?  Welche Fehler sollten vermieden werden?  Vertiefen Sie Ihr Wissen in unserer Schulung: https://www.atvisio.de/produkte/microsoft-power-bi/  

With .pbir and git intergration, along with DAX queries and modeling abilities in Desktop, when does Power BI Desktop get away from a normal pro user and into Dev hands? What do or should pros use?Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page. Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/ Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎ Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/ Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/ Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Viel DAX, Git und Python... und vor allem: Dark Mode in Power BI Desktop - jede Menge News, die Artur und Gabi besprechen! Im aktuellen Power BI Quarterly sprechen Gabi und Artur viel über kürzlich stattgefundene und kommende Events, aber natürlich auch über die Features und Updates für Power BI und Microsoft Fabric der letzten Monate. Während Artur sich über vorhandene und angekündigte Updates bei Dataflows freut und die in den letzten Monaten dank DAX Query View, Developer Mode und Direct Lake Bearbeitung in Power BI Desktop stark verbesserte Entwickler-Experience lobt, gibt Gabi einen Einblick in die Gesamtstrategie mit DevOps, Copilot, Integrationen mit anderen Anbietern und Security-Funktionen. Besonders erwähnenswerte Updates waren: der Dark Mode in Power BI DAX Query View als Editor Direct Lake Modelle in Power BI Desktop Developer Mode Semantic Link Labs Git-Integration: bald auch für Dataflows Gen2 Integrationen mit SAP, Databricks und Snowflake Copyjob in Fabric, Fast Copy und Incremental Refresh Copilot Updates Die Entwicklung der Monitoring-Funktionen mit FUAM und einem Ausblick auf die nächsten Monate Gabi Münster begann 2005 mit SQL Server-Technologien zu arbeiten. Nach einigen kurzen Ausflügen in die Entwicklung von Webanwendungen und einer langen und inspirierenden Zeit als BI-Beraterin und Datenarchitektin bei der oh22data AG (einschließlich der Erfahrung als Data Platform MVP), kam sie im März 2022 kam sie Senior Program Manager im Fabric CAT-Team zu Microsoft. Sie spricht auf regionalen Anwendertreffen sowie nationalen und internationalen Konferenzen. Seit 2016 unterstützt sie außerdem als Co-Leiterin die regionale SQL PASS Gruppe. Neben BI-Themen liegen ihr auch Diversity-Themen sehr am Herzen.

This is episode 277 recorded on May 10th, 2024 where John & Jason talk the news in the Power BI space including Power Query support in paginated reports, Copilot Pane in Power BI Desktop & Copilot being available by default soon, and the announcement of support for reports in SharePoint & OneDrive with live connected semantic models.

This is episode 276 recorded on April 22nd, 2024 where John & Jason talk the Power BI April 2024 Feature Summary including the announcements made at FabCon in Vegas, Enhanced Q&A, Storytelling in PowerPoint, and Copilot in Power BI Desktop.

This is episode 271 recorded on December 15rd, 2023 where John & Jason talk about the Power BI December 2023 Feature Summary including a Community update, On-object Interaction updates, Extended customization for data labels, and the OneLake datahub in Power BI Desktop.

In this first of two Microsoft Build specials, the trio talk about the data related news from Microsoft Build. Covered are features like Microsoft Fabric, Copilot in Power BI, the OneLake, and the git integration with Power BI Desktop! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first of two Microsoft Build specials, the trio talk about the data related news from Microsoft Build. Covered are features like Microsoft Fabric, Copilot in Power BI, the OneLake, and the git integration with Power BI Desktop! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming off the winds of an earlier episode, just how important is it for any report author to not just get familiar with searching in Power BI Desktop, but integrating it within their normal development workflow? There is both searching the formatting pane, and for objects in the model. Is searching always worth it, or should we figure out where the heck the objects are in the first place? Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page. Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/ Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎ Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/ Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/ Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Microsoft has released a bombshell to the entire Office 365 ecosystem: Power BI Desktop is included with the Office Installer. What implications and effects will this have on data, development, and trust? What does this mean from a governance and adoption perspective? Will this lead towards more self-service, and do we as the developers need to pivot on how we deploy and share data? Link to release: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave1/power-bi/power-bi-office-installer Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page. Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/ Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎ Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/ Follow Seth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-bauer/ Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 232 recorded July 18th, 2022 where John & Jason talk about the Microsoft Power Platform: 2022 release wave 2 plan and go over the items specific to Power BI including Query Scale-out, Dataset authoring in the Power BI Service, and Power Query Diagram view in Power BI Desktop. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

Power BI è una famiglia di strumenti di business intelligence di Microsoft. Permette a partire dai dati aziendali di generare report e quindi informazioni a supporto delle decisioni.Attraverso Power BI è possibile:-l'elaborazione dei dati e la costruzione dei report-l'analisi e la condivisione delle informazioni tra gli utentiSi definisce famiglia di strumenti perché gli elementi che compongono Power BI sono molteplici. I principali sono:Power BI Desktop, un applicazione desktop che si scarica gratuitamente sul pc, ed è lo strumento principale per l'elaborazione dei dati e la costruzione dei report.Power BI service, l'ambiente cloud dove vengono pubblicati, analizzati e condivisi i report (creati con Power BI Desktop). Si accede attraverso un account Microsoft.Power BI mobile, i report possono essere analizzati anche attraverso l'app direttamente da dispositivi mobili: smartphone e tablet.

Power BI är ett verktygen för att organisera din data. Det är en molnbaserad applikation som som du kan använda för att utforska data, dela insikter med andra och skapa anpassade bilder/grafer/diagram som är interaktiva och engagerande. Gustav Segerberg hjälper oss att förstå verktygen och pratar om hur data kan hjälpa oss till kloka beslut. Om avsnittet: Målgrupp: ekonomiavdelning, ledning, it, ledare, projektledare, kommun, region, försäljning Lär dig: Datadrivna beslut, microsoft verktyg, interaktivitet Power BI är utvecklat av Microsoft. Produkten släpptes först som Microsoft PowerPivot 2010 som ett tillägg för Excel. 2013 blev det Power BI Desktop som en fristående skrivbordsapplikation som senare döptes om till Power BI Service. Numera Power BI inom plattformen “Power Platform” Verktyget är särskilt användbart för dem som vill få affärsinsikter och skapa datadrivna beslut för att tex spåra och mäta framgång. Användare kan skapa interaktiva rapporter på vilken enhet som helst med en webbläsare eller skrivbordsapplikation/app. Det gör det lättare att dela sin analys med andra i organisationen. Några funktioner inkluderar: Visualisering: tillhandahåller diagram, grafer, kartor, mätare och annan grafikDashboards: fokuserar på att visualisera nyckeltalPivottabeller: genererar interaktiva tabeller från rådataFrågeredigerare: tillåter användare att skriva SQL-frågor Gustav Segerberg, Jonas Jaani (22:49) Länkar / mer information: Create a data-driven culture with business intelligence for all What is Power BI? Exempel på dashboard gjord i Power BI Alla avsnitt av digitaliseringens podcast Effekten: https://www.effekten.se/avsnitt Vi finns där du hittar dina övriga poddar: https://www.effekten.se/prenumerera/ Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/effekten-digitalisering-kunskap/id1171229363 Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWZmZWt0ZW4uc2UvZmVlZC9wb2RjYXN0Lw== Acast: https://www.acast.com/effekten Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Z49zvPOisoSwhwojtUoCm https://open.spotify.com/show/5Z49zvPOisoSwhwojtUoCm

Power Apps and other low code/no code platforms are often seen as a quick and easy solution to allow users to solve their own problems.  But is it that simple?What is the place for Power Apps, and if you decide to start a Power Apps project, how should you go about it?This week, we discuss how to approach a Power Apps project, why you should take it seriously, and why you need to think about data structures. Our main takeways this week are that Power Apps are software projects, and should be managed accordingly.  That you need think about the data, how it's stored, and how it's secured.  And you need to be mindful of what the platform does - and perhaps more importantly, what the platform doesn't do.Chris can be found here: http://www.cpegroup.co.uk You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

Documentation is often neglected in many IT projects.  This week, we talk about why it is so important, and the risks involved if you don't do it.Some of the most fundamental things you need to document are:Passwords - and do it securely in a password vaultData dictionary so everyone knows how measures and KPIs are definedConfiguration - so there is a clear understanding of where everything livesReasons behind decisions - because there might be a good reason for not doing something in the obvious wayHow you do it is up to you and your use case - it's important that it shouldn't become too onerous, and Agile is no excuse for not doing it - if all your developers leave with all your service account passwords in their heads, you're sunk.And documentation can be as simple as a OneNote notebook and comments in code, or something more complex such as a set of Confluence pages.But however you do it, make sure you ACTUALLY DO IT!!You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

Possibly a sensitive subject this week - low code development.To start with some context, we love low code development and are working on low code development projects, mainly through Power Apps. We also see the marketing of low code applications and want to put forward our experience that low code is still a software development project with all of the challenges and intricacies that come along with that.In this episode we discuss approaches to low code development and ask any involved in a low code project not to forget the disciplines of working on a software development project.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we talk about Power BI in the context of the wider Power Platform, by which we mean Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dataverse -  the oft forgotten data store underlying so many elements of the Power Platform ecosystem.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we discuss the current state of management reporting and how it has moved on over the past decade or so.The world has moved on from flat, static reports in SQL Reporting Services and self-service reporting is becoming easier, but what about the perception of self service?  We often see that senior executives see self service as difficult and time-consuming, which with modern tools such as Power BI or Tableau, it needn't be.The breadth of what is required has grown too - from financials to sales and inventory and broader information from social media and other external data sources.Finally the questions being asked of the data have become more mature - moving from simply what happened to why it happened and what will happen.As a result, management reporting is turning into more of an application that a traditional report - from a read only report, we are writing back narratives and context.  This comes with its own data management challenges and businesses need to start asking how long that keeps having business value.For more information on snapshots in Power BI, take a look at this.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

Welcome back to the Clearly Podcast, Season 2.In this episode we discuss what we have learnt from starting the podcast and talk about the topics we want to cover.In season 2, we will be spreading our wings into some of the broader areas of the Azure data platform, the impact of low-code and no-code platforms on software development, and what machine learning to mean to your business.We will be welcoming some new guests, and hopefully hearing from some old friends too.From Monday, September 6, we will be back to publishing every Monday for the next few months.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

In this episode, Alexander and Simon talk about DataOps, the April update of Power BI Desktop (and especially Charticulator and the Power Automate visual), Microsoft buying Nuance, news in InTune, some new Microsoft hardware and Microsoft Defender for unmanaged devices! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we discuss our experiences of helping customers to migrate from Excel to Power BI.We talk frequently about how much Excel we see being used for data storage, manipulation and visualization when we start working with new clients. Furthermore, we talk extensively about the risks of proliferation of those spreadsheets, especially when they're replicated and changed by multiple users within the organization.So how do you move your users from Excel to Power BI? It's not as simple as merely moving the spreadsheets into Power BI models, the trick is stopping users dependency on Excel as a business tool, moving them to use structured business systems linked to Power BI where they can get a universally understood source of the truth.When doing this it's essential to understand your users motivations and dependancies on Excel so you can provide better solutions to their reporting and data needs. We work with the contention that most users don't want to be Excel formula experts so they're more satisfied when you give them better alternatives.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we take a look at Power BI Report Server - the on-premise way to deploy Power BI reports.We consider when to use it and when not to, the limitations, and the costs.In general though, the default position should probably be to use the cloud service as Report Server will always lag behind in terms of features, and comes with bigger cost overheads since it needs to be deployed on an infrastructure that has to be purchased and maintained.The main (only?) compelling reason to use it it likely to be regulatory: that you are processing data that cannot for regulatory (or contractual) reasons be hosted in the cloud.  That is not to imply that the cloud is any less secure - indeed it is probably more secure than on-premise infrastructure - but regulation frequently lags behind technology.For more information, read this detailed comparison of features and an introduction to the pre-requisites (including licensing).You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

OK, it isn't quite yet - we still have to wait until April 2 for the GA release, but we do have a release date and price.Premium per user offers many of the premium features, licensed on a user by user basis.The main features it opens up are:Paginated reports (so we can now more easily centralise all business reporting)Increased refresh rate (so we can have nearer real time data)Pipelines (to centralise the data structures)AI/ML features.The key features excluded areEmbeddingPBI Report ServerThe detailed announcement can be found here and the details of what it can and can't do can be found in the FAQ.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

We all have different communities we rely on. When working in technology those communities can become essential to our development and understanding of what we do. Whether that's getting help from a forum or meeting fellow like-minded professionals to share experiences and help each other when facing a specific challenge, communities are an important part of our daily lives.In this podcast, we talk about community. It's a slight diversion from our normal subject matter, although focussed on our Power BI communities with 2 community leads in Glen Accardo (Houston, Texas Power BI Community Lead) and Tom Gough (West Midlands, UK Power BI Community Lead). We also have the pleasure of being joined by Jena Coffie who has worked establishing, growing and maintaining numerous communities. Of particular interest is Jena's thoughts and advice on how companies can setup communities for their own products and services and how the voices of those communities can guide product development.This is a really interesting discussion on how community has effected our professional lives and we hope you enjoy it.Our guests can be found on Linkedin as follows:Jena Coffie https://www.linkedin.com/in/jena-coffie-47663428/Glen Accardo https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenaccardo/ You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we talk about Application Lifecycle Management.It is important to remember that BI projects, like all software projects, should be considered in a cycle, rather than a linear process.  That is to say that the deployed report (or application) should provide a base for iteration.Most organisations are good at managing the environments to promote code from development to release, but all too often this becomes the end of the chain.  We now have deployment pipelines that give something of a DevOps deployment experience.  Source control is the big problem with Power BI because PBIX files are databases and therefore stateful and resistant to source control.  The template file can be source controlled, but as a binary does not make it easy to use source control tools, such as branching and merging.Application Lifecycle Management is also applicable to the wider Power Platform, although since the codebase is essentially stateless, source control concepts are a lot easier.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we talk about colour.  Colour is generally a central element of branding, but we must also think about accessibility and the emotional response colour generates.  Red is frequently associated with stop or bad, whereas green with good or go.  Similarly, we may say we feel blue when we're a bit down.  At the same time, we need ensure our choice of colours are accessible to people with colour blindness, and not relying entirely on colour to tell your data story.If you want to select an exact colour from an image, and get the RGB code, you can use a colour picker, such as this one.  You can use a theme generator to create a selection of complementary colours, and put these colours into a theme file.  If you don't want to create the JSON file from scratch (and let's face it, who does?),  you can use this handy tool from PowerBI.tips.  Coloring for Colorblindness gives a reasonably simple  introduction to creating accessible colour schemes.Finally, make sure the colour is included in the non-function testing - including testing the colours on different screens.  If you're not yet doing non-functional tests, you should be.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we talk to special guest, Reza Rad, about governance.  If you have read any of the previous podcast descriptions, you will probably be familiar with Reza's work.  If you're not aware of Reza yet, you should fix that as he is one of the leading experts in the world in Power BI.Today, we cover all aspects of data and BI governance, from data sources through to outputs via training and encouraging a data culture.One of the key aspects of governance is getting the overall architecture right.  If at all possible, this should be in place from day one.  Often, though, with the increase in "citizen developer" tools we can end up in something similar to the old "Excel hell" and a lack of a single source of truth.The more code that can be re-used, such as creating shared datasets, the easier your task will be.  We will talk a little more about this in a future episode on Application Lifecycle Management and how it applies (and doesn't apply) to BI projects.Beyond the technological measures, we also need to think about the cultural and "soft" elements of making the architecture stick.  Key to this is creating suitably tailored training to the different audiences in an organisation, and providing the appropriate documentation.One of the critical challenges thrown up by modern BI tools is an increased expectation that everything can be done quickly - bypassing the normal controls.  At the same time, you don't want to just kill everybody's enthusiasm.In the wider Azure context, tools such as Data Loss Prevention policies and Azure Information Protection can help, but be wary of being too reliant on technology over policy and organisational culture. Finally, the Centre of Excellence tool kit can provide a valuable accelerator to governance on the Power Platform more generally.Reza's website Radacad is a treasure trove of information across all things Power BI, and also the place to go to download Power BI Helper.  Reza can also be found on Twitter and LinkedIn In addition, Tabular Editor and DAX Studio are fantastic tools to help manage development.The Power BI Summit takes place on line this April and tickets are available now.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

The capabilities of business intelligence tools have changed over the past 15 years. In the past a specialist or IT function would build and deliver reports. Modern tools such as Power BI now have the capability for users to create and edit their own reports and we see many users taking advantage of that development and devolving report creation across the organisation.While this is an important development, self service BI needs to be planned and part of your reporting strategy. In this episode we talk through all aspects of self service BI from the basics of how we define it all the way through to self service strategies, tips for being successful and some experiences of what to avoid.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://www.clearlysolutions.net/

This week we discuss an often neglected part of many BI implementations: testing.  It isn't glamorous, it isn't the headline-grabbing side of a project, but it is vital.  After all, what use is a report if it doesn't show the right information.We talk about different approaches to testing, from structured tests following a script to unstructured exploratory testing.  We discuss why both are important elements of a rounded test plan, and why it should never simply be left to the developers to test their own reports.  And to be clear - we are not suggesting development teams would cynically pass on reports they know to be broken, but rather that when you have been working on piece of code for weeks, it's hard to see where errors might be creeping in.Finally, we talk about non-functional testing.  This is probably the most neglected part of an already neglected process.  It is vital that a report performs well, has readable fonts and suitable colours.  If any of these aren't the case, the report consumers will quickly be turned off and revert to other ways of reporting data.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

In this episode we discuss project management for business intelligence. The complexity of BI projects has increased  significantly in the past 10 years so a structured approach to implementation is required. The historical approach to business systems implementations has been to use the standard reports that come with the application and amend at the end of the project. The complexity of BI means those days are long behind us.We discuss how a program management approach is required to modern implementions where BI is a separate project in of itself that can be implemented alongside a business system. We also discuss approaches to BI project management and how to make your implementation successful for the long term.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

As we seem to mention this on almost every episode, we decided to devote an entire podcast to it - pre-aggregation.To start off with, a matter of terminology.  The official terminology is "aggregation".  In the title we talk about pre-aggregation - this is a matter of clarity since every aggregate function (sum, average etc) carries out an aggregation.  What is officially called aggregation is a technique that aggregates the data in-memory during the loading process and link these aggregations to your measure definitions.The documentation describes the basics of how to build aggregations, but as ever, Reza Rad has a fantastic tutorial on how to do this.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

In this episode we offer practical advice to anyone thinking of starting a career as a Power BI consultant. We talk about:What a Power BI consultant doesIf an average day in the life of a Power BI consultant exists, what it looks likeWhat experience and skills are useful to build onSkills v character and what we value the mostQualificationsWhat we look for when hiring consultantsCV/ResumesInterview preparationHow to approach the market and the companies you may like to work forHow to work with recruitersIn this episode we're joined by Jon Styles who leads specialist Microsoft recruitment agency Northcote Dynamics. Jon can be found at:www.northcote-dynamics.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-styles-91858b35/You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/If you have any specific questions about any aspect of our podcast please send an email to podcast@clearlysolutions.net.

This week, we are mostly being rude about pie charts.  To be clear – we like pies, just not pie charts.  At the heart of the issue, is that bar charts give a better view of overall magnitude as well as the relationships between categories.We then move on to 3D charts – which are not in the standard visualisation set in Power BI – which always end up much harder to use than their 2D counterparts.  Be careful of overcrowding the page.  This not only looks cluttered and confusing but also creates a performance issue.  Multiple pages with drillthroughs can create a much clearer story with the data.Think about how you are going to maintain the report into the future.  Around 6 visuals on a page would be a good rule of thumb.Be careful of custom visuals since they don't work with Power BI Report Server (ie hosting on premises).When it comes to maps, think about how you can use the data to make real-world decisions.  Shailan's fly tipping report can be found here.  ArcGIS is generally the better mapping tool in Power BI, but one to use mainly if you really need mapping and can make use of its additional layers of data.The Decomposition Tree is a great way of managing the interactive exploration of data that our older listeners may remember from such tools as Pro-clarity and Performance Point Services.For the developers amongst us, you can create your own custom visuals which may allow you to work with libraries like D3JS.  Once again, do you really need to do it?You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

This week we venture into the world of hairdressing - and the 2 programming languages at the core of Power BI.In a nutshell, M is the language used for importing data into Power BI and DAX the language used to manipulate data inside the Power BI data model.Reza Rad  deals with the differences in his blog post M or DAX? That is the question.Chris Webb posts a huge amount of really good material on his blog at Cross Join.DAX Patterns is one of the richest resources for writing DAX measures, by the authors of The Definitive Guide to DAX (also on Amazon US).Once you are starting to get beyond the basics in either language, the external tools such as DAX Studio and Visual Studio Code offer much better development environments for developing your code.The full documentation on DAX can be found here and the documentation for M is here.Check out Luke McAdam's Instagram and Soundcloud for more of his music.If you are only here for the haircare products, you can also order DAX Short and Neat online.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

In this episode we discuss Row Level Security in Power BI. Data security is a subject discussed as part of every implementation and a critical consideration when implementing any IT system, not just Power BI.Key points from the discussion- What is Row Level Security within Power BI- Where to use Row Level Security and where not to use it- The administration of Row Level Security and why administration alone may be a reason not to use Row Level Security- Performance impacts of Row Level Security- Data classification for security- Other security considerations such as GDPR and how they may effect how you use Row Level SecurityYou can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

This week we look at big datasets.  And we should be clear, we are simply talking about large volumes - not "Big Data" as defined by volume, variety, and velocity.We discuss options such as using Analysis Services to offload the data processing workloads away from Power BI.  Premium per User is now in public preview, so this could offer a more cost effective long term solution for managing large datasets in Power BI.Direct Query does offer a last-resort solution but typically this is the least performant option, so should be used with caution since slow performance will put users off using the tool.We discuss monitoring performance, and managing a changing landscape.  A report with a low volume of data today could become a large dataset in time and need the approach changing.Finally, we come to data quality - and why it should get fixed at source not in the reporting tool.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

Branding is an important way of engaging with report users, and helping them to feel that the report is about their work.  In this episode, we look at how and why we should brand our reports.Microsoft has some very detailed documentation on how to create theme files here.For those less confident, Power BI Tips has create this handy theme generator.If you don't yet have a palette designed, you could use a tool such as this one.Finally, you could use a theme from the theme gallery as a starting point.For our younger listeners, here is the Wikipedia page on GeocitiesYou can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

This week, we discuss hybrid models.  In short, this involves combining data from direct query or live connection with data that has been imported into the model.There are several reasons why you might want to do this.  As we discussed last week, there are many times that you will need to use a direct query.  The problem is that not all sources (eg Excel) support direct query, meaning we need to import that data.  Equally, if you have a data source using SSAS you don't want to import that as it will flatten the structure.  Finally, we touch on using a hybrid model to provide a pre-aggregated version to access the speed of import and detail of direct query.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

This week, Andy discovers sound effects!We also talk about the relative merits of importing data into the Power BI data model vs querying the data source directly.Import is generally supported by all data sources.  Direct Query and Live Connection are more limited.  Generally speaking, databases are more likely to support Direct Query as well as import; file-based sources tend to only permit import.  A detailed breakdown of sources and supported connection methods can be found here.It is also worth looking carefully at the implications of using Direct Query before choosing it as method.Finally, remember if you are connecting to an Analysis Services model, you should use a live connection, otherwise the structure will be flattened and you will have to rebuild it in Power BI.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here.To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

Power BI Licensing may not be the most glamorous subject, but it is important to understand what options you have.This week we discuss the different tiers of Power BI pricing, and what you get for them.  Starting at the free tier, we cover what you can do without a financial investment, through to the Pro licence, aimed at business use, particularly in SMEs all the way up to Premium, offering an Enterprise reporting capability.We should note here, as it's not clear in the discussion, that even at the Premium tier, report creators will need Pro licences as well.An overview of pricing and features can be found on the Microsoft website.If you are looking at whether Premium will be cost effective for your organisation, Microsoft have produced this handy pricing calculator.Finally, Premium per User may offer a more cost effective way for SMEs to unlock premium features.You can download Power BI Desktop from here.If you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here. To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

In this first episode, we discuss the differences and similarities between Power BI and Excel.  When should you use Power BI?  When is Excel the best tool for the job? And when should you step away from both and look at an entirely different solution?We try to explode the common myth that Power BI is just "Excel on steroids", why you still need Excel, and how Power BI can make your life easier.You can download Power BI Desktop from hereIf you already use Power BI, or are considering it, we strongly recommend you join your local Power BI user group here. To find out more about our services and the help we can offer, contact us at one of the websites below:UK and Europe: https://www.clearlycloudy.co.uk/North America: https://clearlysolutions.net/

Alexander and Simon discuss the October Power BI Desktop update and touch on a few specific things, the newly released Windows 10 1909, the both of us speaking at Microsoft TechDays as well as some updates about Microsoft Ignite! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.