Podcasts about power bi

Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz, co-founder and CEO of Green Eagle Solutions, returns to discuss automating 70 GW of renewable assets and why operators are self-operating their fleets. Reach out to sales@greeneaglesolutions.com to learn more! Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy’s brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow Allen Hall: Alejandro, welcome back to the program.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Thank you so much, Allen. It’s a pleasure to be here.  Allen Hall: Well, so last time we talked, you had so much happening at Green Eagle, and it is, uh, amazing to watch the progress there. You’ve been around for quite a while now. You started, what, in 2011 working on SCADA systems. Uh, uh, there’s been a lot of evolution since then. Walk me through, like, the process where you thought, “Hey, there’s a business here.”  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Of course. Uh, we actually started officially back in 2012. It’s been a, quite a, of a long journey to, to get here. Uh, yeah, we started, uh, back, back then. We say it’s a whole new world, right? If we look backwards, like, almost 15 years. Makes me, makes me feel, like, extremely [00:01:00] old. Uh, but ne- nevertheless, um, yeah, back then we were trying to, to cover, like, a lot of issues that were based on OEM SCADAs, which by the way, we still are dealing with. But, but that, that was starting point. It was, um- It was, uh, based on understanding that the, the renewable energy industry is so complex. Every wind farm, every solar plant has different issues, different systems. Even, even the same models from the same manufacturer sometimes have complete different systems, which complicates everything. So it was very exciting to, to start our careers in a, in an industry where nothing is standard and where everyone is looking for something that is standard. So that’s, that’s where we fit in. Um, yeah, and in these years, we, we started basically creating the f- the foundations, uh, uh, on top of, uh, SCADA systems. [00:02:00] But as soon as we had that, those foundations, we realized that this sector is not gonna evolve, uh, it’s gonna cope up with the complexity, uh, of the technical complexity, market volatility, regulatory compliance. That’s not gonna be solved by just having more SCADAs. So we created a layer of automation in place, which is basically what we’ve been, um, evolving in the last 10 years now, um, with the, with the mindset and with the goal that every wind turbine should be running autonomously without having to have people behind it, uh, supervising and taking control of it. Allen Hall: Yeah, and that’s a great founding idea, but that has grown from an idea to you’re automating, what, 40 gigawatts of renewable assets right now?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Oh, we’re actually now connected to over 70 gigawatts.  Allen Hall: That’s amazing. Alejandro, that’s incredible.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: And all of them are different.  Allen Hall: Sure. So that, that’s a combination– 70 gigawatts is a combination of wind and solar and anything else? Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Yes. [00:03:00] Well, actually, one of the, one of the main, um, needs that we try to cover from day one is to be able to connect to all, um, asset classes. So we understand that, um, the challenge of operating a large portfolio for our customers, um, can only be solved if we have the ability to connect to all type of asset classes. So we can have to connect to wind turbines, inverters, trackers, substations, um, energy meters, you name it. You– we have to connect to every single asset class, um, because what’s important is how you manage that data on top of that and how you react on the anomalies.  Allen Hall: Right. Because I think a lot of operators are now considering taking your model, the Green Eagle model of s-self-operating, but they need that help, they need that insight into the operation of a solar farm or a wind farm or, or any of those assets, renewable assets, ensure those inverter-driven assets. You’re, you’re seeing– I, I think we’re seeing the same thing, which is a lot of operators decide to [00:04:00] leave full service agreements globally, and what do you think is driving that now? Uh, is it a financial decision? Is it a performance decision, or is it both?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: I think there are many factors, but I think the main driver is the financial aspects of it. I think when you, when you delegate the operations to a third-party, uh, entity They are gonna optimize their services to whatever service level agreement or availability they are committed to. And for that reason, you’re never gonna get– effectively, you’re never gonna get the extra mile. You’re never gonna get any extra from there. Um, and that’s okay when the market is– has great conditions and everything w- is going well. But we are seeing how in the last years we have, uh, a lot of market volatility, negative pricing. Everything is becoming more and more complex, so many projects are actually under stake financially. And I think that’s, um, that’s pressuring everyone to look for opportunities to squeeze their assets a little bit more or a little bit better, I would say.[00:05:00] Um, and part of that is to take operations in-house so you at least you have the opportunity to, to do, um, a better job, uh, let’s say.  Allen Hall: Yeah, and part of what we’re seeing is, at least in the United States and, and globally now, I think it’s, there’s more action globally than there has been on mergers and acquisitions. So an operator that has historically had a particular OEM in wind, you know, say it’s Vestas or Siemens or GE, whoever, Nordex, it could be any of them. Uh, when they acquire another competitor or another farm, they’re bringing in a f- a wind turbine they probably don’t know much about. And, and that’s a huge problem. And, and there’s not a lot of resources for them to grab hold of. Uh, that’s one of the marketplaces you’re trying to fill right now, right?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Of course. Uh, as I mentioned before, if something describes our sector is that nothing is standard, despite everyone is seeking standardization of everything, right? Uh, but nothing is standard for, [00:06:00] for– and that, that’s the reality. So the first thing when, when you have a portfolio and you are incorporating new assets into it, you need, um, a solution that is able to connect to all type of assets, right? Um, w-we call our solution a three-in-one solution because first of all, it acts as a second level SCADA, so you can connect everything there, uh, everything there, and you have access to all the data across all your assets. Then we have the SCADA automation layer, and then we have the data analysis layer on top of that. Okay. But let’s focus on the operations, which was, uh, your question, right? So you have a new bunch of assets. Sometimes you don’t have any documentation whatsoever, but these are Gamesas, Nordex, a bunch of them from different years. Um, the first thing that we provide is a second level SCADA, so you can connect to all of those. But We have, uh, something that we believe is very unique. So what we provide to our [00:07:00] customers is ability to automate all these assets autonomously. And what that gives you, it’s, um, set of data that can be analyzed, and we can learn from what’s working, what’s not working, beyond what the manufacturer’s gonna tell you to do, right? So we have thousands of General Electric turbines connected to our software, for instance. Um, we know what works, what doesn’t works, uh, what are the faults that can be resetted remotely, what are the ones that are not, what is the success ratio of those resets, ’cause that’s a metric that nobody else has unless you have automation in place. Uh, but we can actually understand, is it working? Is it not working? Is it creating fatigue for no reason to these turbines? So what– we have all this, this, uh, un- this knowledge and this, um, knowhow, uh, for all these models. Um- I believe one of the main, um, value that we provide to our customers is, is not only the, the solution itself, but it’s also the [00:08:00] ability to be somehow prescriptive. It’s, it’s not that we’re gonna know more about how to operate the assets than our customers, but, uh, we have a sense of what’s the benchmark, right? So I, I– And that benchmark is very, very useful for them as well.  Allen Hall: So th- that’s part of getting to scale, and 70 gigawatts is a, a lot of scale, where you have seen a number of turbines in different places operating in different environments and performing at different levels. That’s unique, right? That gives you insight into really what’s happening to a turbine or a solar asset globally and also locally. For a lot of operators that just happen to acquire or, or, or take on a- an older wind farm, uh, they tend to get stuck, right? They, they, they, they don’t tend to be able to, to find their way through those little nuances. That’s a huge financial impact to them eventually, right?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: It is. And I, and I believe that for many years this was something that in a way got, um– [00:09:00] didn’t get a lot of visibility. I think people were not fully aware of how much revenue, how much production they were losing just because they were not operating their assets at the best capacity. Um, now we have the data to prove what, what better can look like. W- uh, we have data to prove that if you follow the OEM’s, uh, protocols, you may be creating fatigue for no reason. Um, and there are improv- there are ways to improve that thing. So I think it’s, um– We are, we are opening the door for a new, complete new way to operate your, your portfolio and get more benefit from it. Allen Hall: I think that’s a very interesting aspect of the sort of the structural aspects of how a, a wind turbine performs, and a lot of that is driven by software. And you, you realize if you’re paying close attention to the OEMs that some of the software updates are not necessarily performance enhancements. They’re more of protecting the turbine because they realize they may have a problem. So it may be a slight derate, it may be a, a different sort of power curve that happens. [00:10:00] But a lot of operators don’t really sense that that is happening up close because they’re not into the details of that. That’s where Green Eagle separates itself. You are into all those details. And do you have a lot of operators just reach out for help immediately saying, “Hey, I have this Siemens Gamesa or Gamesa wind farm,” think about an older wind farm, a Gamesa wind farm Help. Just please help. Uh, whatever you can do, just show us you can do it. Do you, do you start to run a little test campaign on that site, or do you, or do you go pull back from the 70 gigawatts and 15 years of history to, to show this is what you can do with that particular asset to, to get them involved in a thinking about the problem a little bit differently? Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Well, I wish, I wish it was that way. Um, but what, what– It, it was that transparent, but what happens is that we’re working with the largest, uh, some of the largest utilities and IPPs in the world. So what happens is that they, they will never come to us saying, [00:11:00] “We don’t know how to operate this turbine,” or, “We don’t have enough information.” Um, the way they ask for it is like, “Are you compatible with this?” And, “Do you know… Do you have some protocols? Do you know the standard protocols to run these turbines?” Um, and that’s the way we, we start the conversation, and then they, uh, they, they get confident that we can actually help them with that. We only know about how, how much or how little they know about a specific model once we start working with them. And it’s not all or nothing. I- Ev-Even the largest manufacturer, e-even the largest utilities, their portfolio is constantly evolving. They’re incorporating new sites almost every month. So there’s always one site that they don’t, they don’t have expertise in the, in the house, so it’s, it’s normal. Like, basically not many people have expertise in some of the models from old Nordex or Gamesas or you name it. It, it’s impossible basically to have to understand all models in the world. So I think we [00:12:00] have the, the data, the benchmarks, and experience, and on top of that, the of course, the, the tools, so you can actually operate better those, those assets.  Allen Hall: So the name of your system is called ARSOS, A-R-S-O-S, and for anybody listening to this podcast, you can just Google it, and it’s gonna take you to Green Eagle. What is that product? How would, how would you define or describe that product?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Well, ARSOS is a suite. Um, what– The way I like to think about it is a, is a three-in-one solution, right? So it’s first of all, it acts, it, it, it fits in between the SCADA world and the REMs, uh, the REMs, uh, solutions. Okay? And they’re complete different worlds even though you see dashboards and they look the same thing. But SCADAs must be, um, must be able to be installed on premises. They require OT enterprise cybersecurity level. They can be, they should be installed on air-gapped infrastructure, so no access to internet whatsoever. [00:13:00]Um, and that they tend to be extremely complex to configure and, and, uh, adapt to every, uh, every different site. So that’s one world. Um, on the other hand, we have the, the REM solutions that are like more like a SaaS platform, like a Power- it could be Power BI, it could be like the, the normal use cases that you need it. You need something, some tools to create the reports at the end of the month to understand the performance of your assets, right? So you have these two, two worlds. So what we are proposing here is a solution that has been built for the past 15 years, but it fits right in the middle. So it covers Almost everything that you need from a SCADA and second level SCADA solution. It puts automation in place, and then it also gives you all the data so you can consume it in the best way, uh, possible, which by the way, now with, uh, artificial intelligence, it’s incredible what you can do with it. So this is basically what we have built, um, right [00:14:00] now. And the main differentiation here is that since we are in the middle, we are trying to solve all this complexity from a SCADA world with a product that is already pre-configured. So you can basically connect to your sites in a completely easy way, um, doing clicks and not a lot of complexity because it’s already pre-made for your needs. Um, because of that, the time to market is extremely much, uh, faster compared to a SCADA solution, so you can have a solution in thing, in hours and not in months. It’s, it’s not a project anymore, right? Which is, which it sounds like normal when you, when you talk about applications, it sounds like a normal thing to do, that you have a, a system running in hours or minutes. But when you’re talking about SCADAs, that’s like sci- uh, sci-fiction, right? Um, that’s what we’re bringing to, into, onto the table. It’s, it’s, uh, something that you can connect to all your assets in a seamless way, painless, and, uh, and, uh, off the [00:15:00] shelf.  Allen Hall: Well, that’s a very interesting way of framing, uh, the product because, uh, you do see both ends of the spectrum here, where y- there’s a number of companies that are offering a c- completely SaaS product, which is a very pretty dashboard, and it still relies on a human to watch this dashboard and, and to make sense of it, and it provides some insight. And then you get to the other side, which is almost a completely mechanical system, where it’s just SCADA data and, and you’re just picking up data for datas, uh, to have, basically. So you, you f- you sort of find that middle ground. The, the, the amount of software and technology that it’s in that space, though, must be huge, and what is the effect of AI bring to you? Does that help you more with just on the, on the, on the model side or just the, the statistical analysis of all the data that you have access to now?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Let me make a, um, clarification. Because since, uh, we are, we are providing automation [00:16:00] in a world that is mission critical, right? So there’s no, a lot of, there’s no room for creativity or probabilistic approach. It all has to be the deterministic, right? Uh, so when we talk about automation, we’ve always been focused on deterministic automation, so rule-based, uh, automation, and that’s what we have implemented on top of the level of the SCADAs, right? So that’s, that’s the part where you know how to deal with an asset. You have the protocols. You want to understand how they work, but you want to have certainty of what happens if the turbine is on fault and the fault is related to the gearbox temperature and so on. So you wanna make sure that there’s a reset automatically executed only if the temperature of the gearbox is under X threshold. So this very deterministic approach. Uh, but we have, uh, something, um, very unique when we go on the, on the other side, when we go on the side of the REMs. Because we not only have the data of, of the assets, we [00:17:00] not only have statuses, performance, availability, uh, production. We also have the data of how these assets, assets have been operated, right? So we know how much fatigue they have received, how they’ve been operated, um, have they received curtailments or not? How many curtailments? What were the reasons? So we can actually have a 360, uh, degree of all the data, including all the control, not only how they’re performing, but also how we are operating those assets. And we believe that this is very unique because only if you have all these 360 data, then you can actually enhance what you have on top of that. And that is where AI come, comes in, right? So AI, AI is great in, um, helping our customers in doing root cause analysis, um, dealing with anomalies are not well, um, uh, procedure. Uh, there’s no course of action that is clear, that you don’t know. It’s, they’re not like too [00:18:00] frequent to, to have one. Uh, mixing different type of data. Like I mentioned before, you have, uh, market data, you have curtailments, you have, uh, commands to stop or start a turbine. You have a lot of information there, and you can put all together. Uh, also along with the CMMS information. Um- Lastly, they get– they can pull that together to do whatever they need, right? Uh, they can build with AI. You, you can now do your own dashboards. You can create your own APMs if you wanted to. Um, and I like to think about it, like, with these new tools that you can create disposable dashboards. And, uh, the concept is that it doesn’t matter how many different dashboards you have in an APM, but tomorrow you have a, a specific case. And I think it’s amazing that now with AI and the right, uh, data structure, you can now create a dashboard, and maybe it’s just for one use case, you know? And you just build it today, look at the data. You have [00:19:00] a, um, a case study, and that’s it. May– you never use it that again. The trick for being able to, to, to create this ecosystem where you analyze the data in a completely different way is that we have been working on how to structure the data so the AI is gonna be able to understand the data itself. So once that, that layer is structured in the right way, then you can actually create your own APMs or your own dashboards as you need to.  Allen Hall: That’s fascinating. So instead of just thinking of a turbine or a, a solar field as a asset where you’re trying to maximize performance necessarily, you’re looking at it from the marketplace, the, the, uh, the shutdowns, all the, the things that are contr- overriding the performance and trying to optimize performance in this market environment, which may be very turbulent, and I think for a lot of wind operators is very turbulent, uh, at, at the minute just [00:20:00] because of the nature of the electricity grid. So you’re, you’re then thinking about Having an AI tool to help you do investigative work on the particulars, not just the global data set of how this turbine globally operates, but the specifics, that’s fascinating because that allows you then to treat each turbine as its own separate power plant, in a sense, but also to, to think about lifetime issues and how to maintain that piece of equipment in a much more efficient way. That’s remarkable.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: And you have the– With AI, you also have the capabilities to automate all these type of analysis. So once you have a specific, uh, case to be analyzed, then you can automate that case to be analyzed in a daily basis, in a weekly basis. But that’s, uh, that, that’s, uh, that’s, uh, the world that we are moving to. Allen Hall: So a lot of what’s happening at Green Eagle at the moment is being automated and, and making it easy for, for customers to get [00:21:00]onboarded to the RSO system. What does that look like today? Uh, how do, how do I get onboarded? I have an asset of I got 1,000 turbines and a couple of solar fields. What does it look like to get me started in the RSO system with Green Eagle? Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Well, if you’re using our cloud, it’s, it’s gonna be a process of If you have a, a portfolio of 500 gigawatts, you can connect to our, to our cloud in a matter of like one month to two months So that’s something that you can do by yourself. So, um, you can create the assets, you can create the connectivity. The connectivity is done through IP filtering or VPN tunnels. All that is from the, from the dashboards, from, from the cloud. Um, then you can, based on the model directory, you can choose which is the, the assets that you want to connect to and through what channels, whether you have Modbus, OPC, and so on. Um, but that’s a- as complex as, as it gets. Really? It’s n- it’s not easy either, because [00:22:00] you need to understand what is a Modbus, what is a OPC, but that’s what it is. It, it’s not a matter of, like, installing something on site and doing tons of, uh, complex, uh, um, configurations. You don’t need, uh, SCADA engineers to be, like, building these dashboards tailor-made for your sites and, and all that is, is something from the past in o- in our opinion. Allen Hall: So you’re not on the telephone, or you’re not on a, a online chat with the Green Eagle team, because it’s, it’s, it’s– you’ve, you’ve done enough capacity now that you’ve automated this.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: You don’t have to.  Allen Hall: That’s amazing, because I think that’s the first worry for any operator that is gonna make that leap saying, “Hey, I need a little bit of help with this wind farm or this solar site,” is that, “Oh, I gotta be on the phone. I gotta– There’s a lot of im- of onboarding that has to happen,” and you’ve eliminated that.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Well, first, w- I, I totally understand this hesitation. Um, many of our customers are living in, in the, in the SCADA world, right? Uh, and which w- it was probably once a pain [00:23:00] to be configured to begin with, and I think half the sector is traumatized by these processes. So I, I tot- I totally understand that that pain is, is still there, right? I understand that. But what we’re trying to do is to, to move forward and say like, “Yeah, that, that’s gone. That was the past. Now we have a different way to do it.” And if you have, uh, either new assets that you need to connect or you even consider, like, moving to something more modern, something with more capabilities, something that comes with automation in place, uh, well, we have a solution that is painless. Allen Hall: Can I discuss, or can we go back and forth about the, the use of inverter-based resources, the solar and the wind sites, in terms of the, the move from grid following to grid forming and stabilizing the grid? I think there’s gonna be a lot of changes in the way that we operate these assets over the next year. Mostly, uh, I see action in the United States from the Iberian blackout about a year ago. They’re changing the thought process of how they want to run the grid so that the wind [00:24:00] and solar can keep the grid operating. Is– Are you involved in, are you involved in that aspect of how you operate those assets and how those inverters perform and, and configuring them to, to do more of the, of the grid forming and keeping the grid stable? Alejandro Cabrera Muños: I believe, to be honest, this is more related to power plant controllers and hybrid plants. So we have, we have made several projects with, um- With a mix, uh, of, uh, wind, solar, um, and storage. And wh- but what we’re doing here, uh, to be completely honest, we are not involved in the power plant controllers. Uh, we believe that that’s an electrical device and has, uh, uh, particularities that are out of us- our scope. But what we do is to, again, we connect to all asset classes, right? So we also w- connect to the PPCs, and we can monitor the PPC, the performance of the PPC, and we integrate that into everything else, right? So [00:25:00] that’s, for us, that’s another asset that we are connecting to, and that it make– it completes the view of, um, of sites that are now, like, almost like mini portfolios at, at the same place, right? ‘Cause you have, uh, different technologies, service stations. You have so many things that you need to orchestrate as well. So we’re, we’re w- moving into, into that area as well, uh, f- with the same concepts.  Allen Hall: B- so in a, in a sense, you’re able to monitor the health or status of the grid. Because you’re connected to so many of these assets, you have a pretty good understanding of how the grid is doing at any particular moment then. Alejandro Cabrera Muños: That’s right, yeah, especially in, in Spain, of course, ’cause we’re connected to, um, over 25 gigawatts at the, uh, at, in Spain, so.  Allen Hall: Alejandro, that’s amazing.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Over 25 gigawatts at the, uh, at, in Spain. So, so that’s s- it’s almost a third of the, of the installed capacity in Spain.  Allen Hall: Is there a movement in Spain to, to use technology like yours [00:26:00] to better monitor, regulate, control the, uh, wind and solar assets so- such that they stay engaged when, when the, the grid starts to, to vary a little bit? Has anybody asked you to, to be involved with that? Because it seems like you’re the right– you’re in the right place at the right time.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: The challenge of all these grid codes, uh, in, in most of cases is just that There are tons of curtailments that are coming from many different reasons, technical restrictions, market, uh, dispatch, um, other type of compliance. Um, the, the first challenge is to just execute on them, right? So they’re coming, you need to apply on the, on the sites. Um, that was the first, the first phase. But now that we have so many gigawatts connected, and that we’re also participating in balance mechanis- balance mechanisms and ancillary services, what we are seeing is that depending on how your assets perform and how quickly they are in regulating, um, you are gonna [00:27:00] have penalties or more, uh, profitability in the participation of the markets. So that’s, that’s extremely important as well ’cause it’s, it’s quite difficult to, to measure. But we have all the– Since everything is automated, you can always track, and you can statistically understand which of the sites are performing better or worse, in what cases, and therefore you have opportunities to improve the regulation and get more revenue from it. Allen Hall: Okay. So Green Eagle then is, because of the scale that it has at the minute, can look at the grid and is involved in, in the, the grid requirements, so to speak, of, of, uh, curtailments and what assets are operating when, and also the voltage control aspects and frequency control, which is the other part of it. You, because you’re, because you have so many assets in Spain and globally, you, it’s amazing the number of assets you have. You, you then can actually, one, see health of the grid, two, [00:28:00] provide insights to operators on what that looks like. I mean, real time you could, you can do that. And then are, are, are the regulators then coming to, to you asking advice on how these assets should perform? Because it does seem like you would be a tremendous resource on how the grid is actually doing on a larger scale from a renewables standpoint.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Yeah. Well, fortunately, the, the regulator has its own also, uh, system, so it’s, uh, redundant, right? So as far as we, we are working to, to have, uh, the best system in the world, but, but it will be a lot of, uh, responsibility for us to just have the whole grid depending on us. That would be a lot of weight. Uh, but in a, in a way, in, in a, in a way, it already depends on us, uh, effectively. So, so the pressure is, is there. We have, we have talked to them, um, since we have so many customers, um, in the, in the– at this level, uh, we have to be very quick in implementing new grid codes and new [00:29:00] regulatory, uh, compliance issues and, and so on. So that’s, that’s, um… It’s a challenge, but at the same time, it’s, it’s very exciting that we are always ahead in, in this regard.  Allen Hall: Right. If, if I was an operator and I had Green Eagle as one of my, uh, helpers in a sense, uh, assistants in a sense, that helps with the, the grid code i-in terms of, one, understanding it, and two, being able to implement the changes that are coming down all the time. You have a resource there that understands it from a larger perspective because you see it from multiple operators in multiple places trying to do the same thing. That’s a huge advantage instead of you trying to na-navigate or try to understand all those grid code changes and why they’re happening and what it means to you and how do you operate your assets. So you can provide a little bit of guidance there for the operators.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Of, of course. Um, uh, the main, the main value proposition that we can have here for anyone that wants to participate or be part of the Spanish market is that we already have all this figured out. So if you wanna start from the scratch [00:30:00] with, uh, with a SCADA, industrial SCADA, well, let’s, let’s go with, let’s go with that. You’re gonna be probably traumatized in the future, right? Uh, but with us you have an off-the-shelf product that is already compliance. It, uh, h- we have already set, uh, the system certified by the TSO in Spain. So we have already gone through this process so many times, and it’s off the shelf, so you don’t have to worry about any of this. And on top of that, you have the Peace of mind that if tomorrow there’s gonna be a, a, a new change in the, in the, in a new grid code, well, which most likely is gonna happen, um, soon, uh, we have to, we have to do it. Because we have already, uh, a lot of customers that, that, that need it. So for us, it’s actually also, uh, strategic to, to be ahead and be fast in implementing these grid codes. Allen Hall: That’s amazing. That’s such a huge resource for Spain and the rest of the world. Yeah, that’s amazing. Well, I, I know people who are listening to this podcast right now are thinking, “Okay, I haven’t heard of Green [00:31:00]Eagle, but now I’m interested, and I need to f- find out more.” How do they contact you? Where do they go first? What’s the best first step?  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Well, they can connect, uh, directly to me through LinkedIn, or they can just write to sales@greeneaglesolutions.com.  Allen Hall: Great, yeah, and Alejandro’s available on LinkedIn, so you can f- find him there. And we’ll put his contact information in the show notes to, so you have quick access. Alejandro, you gotta come back more often because the, the things that you’re doing with Green Eagle are amazing, and, uh, the, the scale is incredible. Congratulations on that. Uh, and, and I, I, I need you to come back and tell us what the next generation looks like because I know when you guys get ahold of AI and start thinking through some of these real challenging problems, Green Eagle will have solutions. So you’re welcome back anytime.  Alejandro Cabrera Muños: Super exciting to come back, uh, when you invite me. Thank you so [00:32:00] much.

Mike & Tommy dive into Claude Design meets Power BI Embedded, exploring whether AI-generated UX is a shortcut or a quality risk, how semantic models stay the source of truth when LLMs scaffold embedded apps, and what guardrails belong on every AI-assisted analytics project.https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerBI/comments/1sy5kue/claude_design_meets_power_bi_embedded/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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Vom Monatsbericht zur Echtzeitsteuerung – das klingt einfach, stellt Unternehmen in der Praxis aber vor erhebliche Herausforderungen. Daten in Echtzeit erfassen, aufbereiten und für Entscheidungen nutzbar machen erfordert mehr als Technologie: Es braucht neue Organisationsstrukturen, integrierte BI-Plattformen und eine veränderte Unternehmenskultur. Die neue Ausgabe 3/2026 der Fachzeitschrift Controlling zeigt: Von der Reporting Factory über Matrixproduktionssysteme bis zu Digitalen Zwillingen – Echtzeitsteuerung ist ein Gesamtpaket aus Technologie, Organisation und Kultur. Im Performance Manager Podcast spricht Peter Bluhm mit Prof. Dr. Burkhard Pedell, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Controlling an der Universität Stuttgart und Mitherausgeber der Fachzeitschrift Controlling: Warum reichen Technologie und Organisation allein nicht aus – und welche drei Hebel müssen gemeinsam angepackt werden? Wie verkürzt eine zentrale Reporting Factory die Analyselatenz – und welche Rolle spielen Power BI und Robotic Process Automation dabei konkret?  Wie verändern Digitale Zwillinge das Controlling grundlegend – und welche Kompetenzen müssen Controller jetzt aufbauen? 

We'll tell you what's new, again. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. That's right. Simplified. Faster. More under the more menu. Less colour. Save your Teams Events as templates and get a glimpse of the new Events app. Take a look at the Planner Agent from Copilot, now GA. This and more... 0:00 Introduction 2:39 Microsoft 365 Copilot: Planner agent general availability - MC1323264 8:08 Power BI integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot - MC1323266 13:17 Save your event as template to reuse event configurations - MC1324279 17:59 PowerPoint Live adds the ability to reload updated presentations during meetings - MC1324281 20:48 Microsoft 365 Copilot app: Simplified, chat-centered experience - MC1325422 28:06 (Updated) New entry points for "Create pages with AI in SharePoint" - MC1324284

Mike & Tommy tackle Microsoft Fabric hints to work faster, exploring whether teams are wasting time due to self-inflicted bad workflows, poor reuse, and confusing busy work with shipping value. They break down which repeatable tasks should be standardized first, when "just build it" becomes technical debt, and what practical Fabric habits listeners can adopt this week to stop the waste and start delivering faster.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Heads up — this is Part 2 of Jamie's conversation with Jaclyn Taylor If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, go back and start there. It sets up everything we unpack today. Most healthcare teams are working hard. They're just not working together. And the patient is the one absorbing the cost. In this second half of the conversation, Jamie and Jaclyn move from the why into the how. What does it actually look like when a provider stops responding to today's schedule and starts managing an entire patient panel? How do you turn a community health worker, a pharmacist, a PT, and a social worker into one coordinated team instead of four parallel ones? And what's the difference between data that produces reports and data that produces decisions? You'll hear: Why "frequent touches" only work when they're connected — and how fragmented touches still land patients back in the hospital The quarterback model — what it actually means for a provider to own a patient's trajectory, not just their visit The shift from seeing patients to managing a population — and why most providers were never taught how Why we don't have a resource problem in healthcare — we have an orchestration opportunity How to use technology and data without drowning in either What "showing up" really means inside a system that isn't perfect yet This is the episode for anyone trying to lead change from inside a system that's still catching up. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org

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/

Stehst du auch manchmal vor deinem Data Stack und denkst: Warum ist dieser Bums eigentlich so teuer und kompliziert? Fünf Tools fürs Laden, drei fürs Transformieren, noch eins zum Speichern und eins zum Visualisieren – schon hast du einen Tool-Zoo, der mehr kostet als er bringt. Muss das sein? Eher nicht! Wir räumen heute richtig auf. Der wunderbare Fabian Werkmeister ist zurück. Er hat auf seiner Weltreise mit dem Rucksack gelernt: Was unnötig wiegt, fliegt raus. Genau diese Machete packen wir jetzt im Datendschungel aus und sezieren den „Lean Data Stack“. Wir klären knallhart, wie du mit einer Prise Open Source, einem Mono-Repo und der KI Claude deine Datenplattform radikal verschlankst. Das Ergebnis? Fortune-500-Ergebnisse für unter 100 Euro im Monat, komplett ohne fette Software-Lizenzen. Butter bei die Fische: Wir besprechen auch, für wen das klappt (hallo, KMU!) und wo der Spaß bei großen Tankern aufhört. Hör auf, wochenlang auf IT-Tickets zu warten. Am Ende des Tages macht der Mensch den Unterschied – oder eben die KI, die endlich die Grenzen zwischen Business und Tech aufbricht. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Profile: ▬▬▬▬Zum LinkedIn-Profil von Fabian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabian-werkmeister/Zum LinkedIn-Profil von Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-krug/Christians Wonderlink: https://wonderl.ink/@christiankrugUnf*ck Your Data auf Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unfck-your-data▬▬▬▬▬▬ Buchempfehlung: ▬▬▬▬Buchempfehlung von Fabian: Die Seele will frei sein - Michael SingerAlle Empfehlungen in Melenas Bücherladen: https://gunzenhausen.buchhandlung.de/unfuckyourdata▬▬▬▬▬▬ Hier findest Du Unf*ck Your Data: ▬▬▬▬Zum Podcast auf Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ow7ySMbgnir27etMYkpxT?si=dc0fd2b3c6454bfaZum Podcast auf iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/unf-ck-your-data/id1673832019Zum Podcast auf Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/FnT5kRSjf2k54iib6Zum Podcast auf Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@unfckyourdata▬▬▬▬▬▬ Merch: ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬https://unfckyourdata-shop.de/▬▬▬▬▬▬ Kontakt: ▬▬▬▬E-Mail: christian@uyd-podcast.com▬▬▬▬▬▬ Timestamps: ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬00:00 Intro: Der bunte Tool-Zoo und was Data Engineering mit Backpacking zu tun hat. 04:15 Ballast im Data Stack: Warum zu viele Tools dich langsam und arm machen. 08:37 Religion BI-Tool: Über Power BI, Tableau und den gefährlichen Vendor-Lock-in. 10:02 Die Lösung: Ein Mono-Repo, Open Source und Claude als absoluter Gamechanger. 13:07 Business vs. Devs: Wie KI den Ticket-Wahnsinn von Wochen auf wenige Minuten reduziert. 23:45 Reality Check: Warum der Lean Data Stack perfekt für den Mittelstand ist und Siemens damit baden geht. 28:23 Butter bei die Fische: Fortune-500-Ergebnisse für lausige 100 Euro im Monat. 36:31 Wer baut uns das? Die neue Macht des Datenanalysten ohne fette IT-Abteilung. 42:07 Keine Angst vor Code: Wie KI komplexe Datenstrukturen für das Business in Klartext übersetzt. 50:01 Outro: Kulinarik in Japan, Drum & Bass Beats und philosophischer Lesestoff.

Mike & Tommy dive into whether agentic tooling should be driving your Knowledge Center, exploring if docs, support, and governance content can—or should—be fully automated by AI, and what that means for the future relevance of your CoE.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Help us become the #1 Data Podcast by leaving a rating & review! We are 67 reviews away! The odds are stacked against you for remote data jobs. I show you how to flip them in your favor.

Send us Fan MailLeadership in healthcare simulation doesn't always come with a title or a roadmap. One day you're an educator or clinician, and the next day you're responsible for staffing, budgets, accreditation prep, outcomes, and the long list of “Can you also…?” requests that land on a simulation program. We sit down with two leaders who have lived that reality and built thriving programs anyway: Dawn Swiderski, Associate Vice President of Simulation Services at the Carolina Simulation Center at Atrium Health (now Advocate Health), and Cheryl Camacho, Director of Simulation and Outreach at Nationwide Children's Hospital.We dig into the shift from the SSH Directors Section to the Simulation Program Leadership Section and why that change is more than a rebrand. It's a move toward inclusion for people leading without the “director” label, whether you're new to simulation, stepping into management unexpectedly, or guiding a program through influence instead of authority. Dawn and Cheryl share how they listen to member feedback and turn it into practical support that actually matches what leaders need in the moment.You'll also get a clear tour of what's available through SimConnect: quarterly webinars, section meetings, and the highly popular couch conversations where members bring burning questions like simulation ROI, accreditation, costing models, policies, staffing allocation, and how to prove value with metrics and KPIs (including examples like Power BI). We talk about the underused SimConnect library filled with templates, forms, job descriptions, and recorded sessions that help you move faster, especially if you're tired of reinventing the wheel.If you lead any part of clinical simulation education, patient safety simulation, or simulation operations, this one is built for you. Subscribe, share it with a simulation colleague, and leave a review with the leadership topic you want tackled next.Innovative SimSolutions.Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.

Most marketing teams hand sales a stack of brochures and never hear back. In this episode of Content to Close, Nat Norris, VP of Marketing and Customer Success at Model 1 Commercial Vehicles, breaks down how his team gets out of the trophy case of unused white papers and into the rooms where deals are won and lost. Nat walks through how he embeds marketers inside the company's three sales segments (public, commercial, and retail), why he forces his team into weekly quote review and deal loss meetings, and the data hygiene work he had to do in Power BI before any of it could function. He also shares the FAB framework (Features, Advantages, Benefits) he carried over from his catalog days, with a simple rule: push the benefit, self-serve the feature. And he closes with the two governors he uses to decide when there's enough data to act: the 80/20 rule and the "front page of the newspaper" worst-case test. If you've ever wondered how to turn marketing collateral into something sales actually uses, this one's for you.About NatNat Norris is the VP of Marketing and Customer Success at Model 1 Commercial Vehicles, a nationwide commercial dealership selling work trucks, cargo vans, school buses, and shuttle buses. Based in Indianapolis, Nat has spent about 17 years in B2B marketing for equipment, with stops in e-commerce and large holding-company environments before landing at a single-family-owned business. His group leads marketing, customer experience, product information, customer care feedback, and inside sales lead qualification. Nat is a self-described data and dot-connecting nerd whose old product-management instincts shape how he thinks about content, storytelling, and what salespeople actually need in the field.Show Notes- Connect with Nat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natnorris/Text us what you think about this episode!

Mike & Tommy explore the importance of agentic skills for the Fabric developer, weighing whether Skills are a productivity breakthrough or another governance risk, and discussing how to build, version, and share Skills without sacrificing engineering discipline.https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/productivity/grill-me/SKILL.mdhttps://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Semantic-model-settings-pane-Preview/ba-p/5177694https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Execute-DAX-Queries-REST-API-Preview/ba-p/5177697Get 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 weigh in on whether bookmarks in Power BI are still worth the maintenance burden, exploring how field parameters, slicers, and modern features have changed the game, and when you should still reach for bookmarks versus simplifying your data model instead.https://tabulareditor.com/blog/ai-readiness-and-best-practices-for-semantic-models-a-comprehensive-guidehttps://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blogs/OneLake-catalog-is-now-natively-available-in-Foundry-Generally/ba-p/5178376Get 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 dive into Databricks Genie and the growing hype around data agents, exploring whether the real challenge is natural language chat or the semantic layer underneath—and what Power BI teams must fix before any AI agent can deliver trusted, governed answers at scale.https://www.advancinganalytics.co.uk/blog/genie-is-a-semantic-layer-problem-not-a-chat-problem-1https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blogs/OneLake-catalog-is-now-natively-available-in-Foundry-Generally/ba-p/5178376https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blogs/Direct-Lake-on-SQL-with-Fabric-Data-Warehouse/ba-p/5177641https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Updates-Blog/Modern-Visual-Tooltips-in-Power-BI-Generally-Available/ba-p/5173946Get 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/

Help us become the #1 Data Podcast by leaving a rating & review! We are 67 reviews away! I made a tool that turns your GitHub projects into a real portfolio. Here's what it looks like in action.BUILD YOUR OWN PORTFOLIO: https://dcj.app/mydatafolio-0QqsQr

This is episode 326, recorded on May 7th, 2026, where John and Jason break down the Power BI & Fabric April 2026 Feature Summaries — DAX user-defined functions are here in preview, Direct Lake is flexing new modeling muscles, the Dataflows Gen1 community drama has a plot twist, Fabric Data Warehouse finally gets true transactional DDL, and VS Code integration in Fabric notebooks keeps leveling up. It's the April feature summary double-header. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

In this episode we dive into performance reviews.The ChallengeYou're a senior scheduler running three data center schedules for one client. Your manager calls a quarterly performance review. You're great in P6, you hit your reports, and you assume the conversation will write itself. It won't. In this episode, I play the manager and Greg Lawton plays the senior scheduler to show what most schedulers get wrong in that room and how to turn the review into your next promotion.Continue LearningCheck out our book The Critical Path Career: How to Advance in Construction Planning and SchedulingSubscribe to the Beyond Deadlines Email NewsletterSubscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Beyond Deadlines⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin Newsletter⁠⁠Check Out Our YouTube Channel⁠⁠.ConnectFollow ⁠⁠⁠Micah⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Greg⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Beyond Deadlines⁠⁠ on LinkedIn.Beyond DeadlineIt's time to raise your career to new heights with Beyond Deadlines, the ultimate destination for construction planners and schedulers. Our podcast is designed to be your go-to guide whether you're starting out in this dynamic field, transitioning from another sector, or you're a seasoned professional. Through our cutting-edge content, practical advice, and innovative tools, we help you succeed in today's fast-evolving construction planning and scheduling landscape without relying on expensive certifications and traditional educational paths. Join us on Beyond Deadlines, where we empower you to shape the future of construction planning and scheduling, making it more efficient, effective, and accessible than ever before.About MicahMicah, the CEO of Movar US is an Intel and Google alumnus, champions next-gen planning and scheduling at both tech giants. Co-founder of Google's Computer Vision in Construction Team, he's saved projects millions via tech advancements. He writes two construction planning and scheduling newsletters and mentors the next generation of construction planners. He holds a Master of Science in Project Management, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.About GregGreg, an Astrophysicist turned project guru, managed £100M+ defense programs at BAE Systems (UK) and advised on international strategy. Now CEO at ⁠⁠Nodes and Links⁠⁠, he's revolutionizing projects with pioneering AI Project Controls in Construction. Experience groundbreaking strategies with Greg's expertise.Topics We Coverchange management, communication, construction planning, construction, construction scheduling, creating teams, critical path method, cpm, culture, KPI, microsoft project, milestone tracking, oracle, p6, project planning, planning, planning engineer, pmp, portfolio management, predictability, presenting, primavera p6, project acceleration, project budgeting, project controls, project management, project planning, program management, resource allocation, risk management, schedule acceleration, scheduling, scope management, task sequencing, construction, construction reporting, prefabrication, preconstruction, modular construction, modularization, automation, Power BI, dashboard, metrics, process improvement, reporting, schedule consultancy, planning consultancy, material management

On this episode of The Association Podcast, we welcome Lacey Pope, MBA, CAE, Customer Success Manager at Web Scribble, to discuss her career journey in associations and her transition to the industry partner side. Lacey shares how she entered the association world through temp work, earned her CAE, and later drove process improvements at the Oncology Nursing Society that increased live support and boosted customer satisfaction by nearly 10%. She reflects on leading membership technology modernization at Shriners International—including AI translation tools, a new LMS, project management platform, and Power BI reporting—work that earned her recognition at the AWTC Awards. The conversation also explores hiring in the age of AI, daily AI use in customer success, and how associations can build stronger workforce development pipelines beyond a basic job board. 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 00:36 Rapid Fire Questions 02:17 Lacey Association Journey 03:26 Process Improvement Wins 04:55 Career Pivot and Web Scribble 07:22 Awards and Title Tradeoffs 09:32 Vendor Side and Member Value 12:05 Meet Mabel Topic Wheel 13:23 Hiring in the Age of AI 17:44 Daily AI and Policies 20:01 Using AI On The Side 20:51 Five-Year Career Pivot 22:17 Recruited To WebScribble 23:00 Industry Credibility Matters 24:58 Networking And Job Boards 27:02 Daily Wins And Parenting 28:21 AWTC Recognition And Belonging 30:52 Recognition And Community Growth 33:24 Customer Success Trends 34:51 Advice For Student Pipelines 36:42 What WebScribble Does 38:32 Final Thanks And Wrap

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM  This episode explores how Microsoft Planner is evolving into a practical, AI-assisted project management tool for modern teams. Cindy Lewis explains how Planner fits into daily work through Microsoft Teams, how AI agents support planning, reporting, and risk assessment, and why small usability improvements matter. The discussion also covers Copilot, Dataverse, Power BI, and the shift from automation to agent-style AI that actively helps manage work. 

Mike & Tommy dive into Building Agentic Tools for Microsoft Fabric With Alex Powers, exploring Microsoft's Alex Powers' new tool 'Taskflow Assistant' for Microsoft Fabric and how AI is transforming the way professionals work with Fabric workflows, discussing whether we're helping users master the platform or avoid learning it altogether.https://github.com/microsoft/fabric-task-flowshttps://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blogs/Discover-items-across-workspaces-with-the-OneLake-Catalog-Search/ba-p/5176768https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blogs/Pipelines-are-evolving-beyond-ETL/ba-p/5177527Get 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/

Help us become the #1 Data Podcast by leaving a rating & review! We are 67 reviews away! Skills aren't enough to land a data job. Here's what Graham was missing and how we fixed it live.

Treasury teams are being asked to move quickly to digitalize, with AI only adding to the pace as the number of tools, use cases and ideas keeps expanding. The challenge for many NeuGroup members is figuring out where to start and what will actually make a difference. In this episode, Dan Morrison, Global Treasury Digital and Performance Manager at SLB, formerly Schlumberger, joins NeuGroup's Justin Jones to discuss how treasury teams can make AI useful without getting overwhelmed. For Mr. Morrison, the future of treasury starts with consolidating information in tools like SAP Central Finance, a system that consolidates financial data from multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into a single platform. From there, the focus shifts to how the data is used.Across SLB, teams have built dashboards in Microsoft's Power BI, often referred to internally as PBIs, to visualize cash positions, exposures and other key metrics. Some are highly effective, but they are not always consistent across regions. Part of his role is identifying what works, standardizing it and scaling it, so treasury teams are working from the same data and definitions.As more processes become automated, Mr. Morrison emphasizes the need for clear ownership. That includes using frameworks like RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed) to define who owns data, who validates it and how issues are escalated. Structure becomes more important as AI is layered in. If the data is inconsistent or ownership is unclear, the tools will only amplify the problem.Listen to the full episode for Mr. Morrison's insights on how AI is reshaping treasury, where to focus now and how teams can keep pace.

Rob was supposed to be finishing his book. Last chapter. Two days past deadline. Freedom was right there. Instead, he hit pause and recorded this. Because something from a few weeks ago wouldn't leave him alone. A Microsoft exec had dropped "Microsoft IQ" into a conversation weeks ago. At the time, it didn't fully land. Not unusual. There's been a steady firehose of new terms, new features, new promises. Most of them sound important. Not all of them are. Then he got deep into the data chapter. The one where you have to stop talking about what AI could do and deal with what it takes to make it work in a real company. And that's where this thing stopped sounding like a label and started looking like a plan. AI looks great right up until you ask it to do something that depends on your business. Your definitions. Your documents. Your people. That's where things usually start to wobble. Not because the model isn't capable, but because it doesn't have the context to land the answer. What Microsoft is doing with IQ is trying to meet that problem head on. ·       Fabric IQ is the structured side. Semantic models doing what they've always done, but now under a lot more pressure. ·       Foundry IQ is all the documents and content you forgot you had. ·       Work IQ is the human layer. Who's involved. Who needs to know. What you meant when you said "that thing." And yeah… if you've been doing Power BI the right way, this is where it gets interesting. Because those semantic models everyone else treated like optional homework? That's now the thing everything else leans on. We're not saying this episode is the key to your AI implementation, but it will make it clear why some of this is working and some of it isn't.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2aPU-4PUXNk  Clarity, resilience, and a commitment to building the right systems can transform how an organization operates and grows. In this episode of Stories from the River, Charlie Malouf welcomes Lee Vang, Senior Business Intelligence Developer, to reflect on his journey at Broad River Retail and the pivotal role he played in rebuilding the company's business intelligence foundation. Joining during a time of significant transition, Lee shares how he stepped into a near non-existent BI environment and took on the challenge of creating the infrastructure needed to support leaders and Memory Makers with accurate, actionable data. Lee discusses the evolution of data-driven decision making across the organization, including the development of foundational tools like the HFC KPI and Truth Report, and the integration of modern platforms such as ThoughtSpot and Power BI. He highlights the importance of data integrity, system alignment, and making insights accessible across all levels of the business. Visit https://www.storiesfromtheriver.com for more episodes.    Broad River Retail brought this show to you. Visit https://BroadRiverRetail.com    Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broad-river-retail 

This is episode 325, recorded April 17th, 2026, where John and Jason dig into the Real-Time Intelligence section of the Microsoft Fabric March 2026 Feature Summary covering topics such as Business Events, DeltaFlow for CDC, real-time processing with Spark notebooks, and some welcome quality-of-life updates across Event House and workspace monitoring. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2aPU-4PUXNk  Clarity, resilience, and a commitment to building the right systems can transform how an organization operates and grows. In this episode of Stories from the River, Charlie Malouf welcomes Lee Vang, Senior Business Intelligence Developer, to reflect on his journey at Broad River Retail and the pivotal role he played in rebuilding the company's business intelligence foundation. Joining during a time of significant transition, Lee shares how he stepped into a near non-existent BI environment and took on the challenge of creating the infrastructure needed to support leaders and Memory Makers with accurate, actionable data. Lee discusses the evolution of data-driven decision making across the organization, including the development of foundational tools like the HFC KPI and Truth Report, and the integration of modern platforms such as ThoughtSpot and Power BI. He highlights the importance of data integrity, system alignment, and making insights accessible across all levels of the business. Visit https://www.storiesfromtheriver.com for more episodes.    Broad River Retail brought this show to you. Visit https://BroadRiverRetail.com    Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broad-river-retail 

Mike and Tommy review the most underrated Fabric features based on buzz and client usageGet 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 week on Explicit Measures, we tackle a critical "last mile" problem in Business Intelligence: how do you add narrative context to Power BI reports when the storytellers aren't Power BI users? Our listener has built monthly snapshot reports delivered to multiple business units, but marketing leads need to annotate these reports with context before they reach their final audience. We explore the gap between data delivery and storytelling, challenge assumptions about tool selection, and discuss practical patterns for integrating qualitative commentary with quantitative metrics—without breaking your data governance or forcing non-technical users into unfamiliar platforms.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy tackle the overfed golden dataset problem—when a single "source of truth" becomes a 100-table, 400-measure monster that takes four minutes to open. They explore why teams fall into the trap of cramming everything into one model, how fear of discrepant numbers drives over-centralization, and what it takes to split a bloated semantic model without breaking executive trust or reverting to data chaos.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

In this episode we dive into the future of construction scheduling.The ChallengeI have been thinking a lot about where this profession is headed. Not in a panicked way. In a curious way. So I sat down with Greg Lawton on the Beyond Deadlines podcast and we tried to do something most people avoid: pick actual years for when the manual parts of scheduling stop being a human job. We worked backwards from a fully autonomous construction future to right now in 2026. What we landed on was less about robots and more about how the next four years quietly reshape what a senior scheduler actually does on a Monday morning.Continue LearningCheck out our book The Critical Path Career: How to Advance in Construction Planning and SchedulingSubscribe to the Beyond Deadlines Email NewsletterSubscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Beyond Deadlines⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin Newsletter⁠⁠Check Out Our YouTube Channel⁠⁠.ConnectFollow ⁠⁠⁠Micah⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Greg⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Beyond Deadlines⁠⁠ on LinkedIn.Beyond DeadlineIt's time to raise your career to new heights with Beyond Deadlines, the ultimate destination for construction planners and schedulers. Our podcast is designed to be your go-to guide whether you're starting out in this dynamic field, transitioning from another sector, or you're a seasoned professional. Through our cutting-edge content, practical advice, and innovative tools, we help you succeed in today's fast-evolving construction planning and scheduling landscape without relying on expensive certifications and traditional educational paths. Join us on Beyond Deadlines, where we empower you to shape the future of construction planning and scheduling, making it more efficient, effective, and accessible than ever before.About MicahMicah, the CEO of Movar US is an Intel and Google alumnus, champions next-gen planning and scheduling at both tech giants. Co-founder of Google's Computer Vision in Construction Team, he's saved projects millions via tech advancements. He writes two construction planning and scheduling newsletters and mentors the next generation of construction planners. He holds a Master of Science in Project Management, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.About GregGreg, an Astrophysicist turned project guru, managed £100M+ defense programs at BAE Systems (UK) and advised on international strategy. Now CEO at ⁠⁠Nodes and Links⁠⁠, he's revolutionizing projects with pioneering AI Project Controls in Construction. Experience groundbreaking strategies with Greg's expertise.Topics We Coverchange management, communication, construction planning, construction, construction scheduling, creating teams, critical path method, cpm, culture, KPI, microsoft project, milestone tracking, oracle, p6, project planning, planning, planning engineer, pmp, portfolio management, predictability, presenting, primavera p6, project acceleration, project budgeting, project controls, project management, project planning, program management, resource allocation, risk management, schedule acceleration, scheduling, scope management, task sequencing, construction, construction reporting, prefabrication, preconstruction, modular construction, modularization, automation, Power BI, dashboard, metrics, process improvement, reporting, schedule consultancy, planning consultancy, material management

Mike & Tommy weigh in on whether Databricks and Microsoft Fabric are converging into direct competitors, exploring how Databricks' push into BI with Genie and AI capabilities is closing the gap on Power BI's presentation layer. They question whether "end-to-end" platforms are the future or just feature bloat, discuss where semantic models should live in a modern data stack, and help teams decide when to bet on one platform versus embracing the dual-stack reality.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 324, recorded on April 17th, 2026, where John and Jason continue through the Microsoft Fabric March 2026 Feature Summary — the Data Science & AI rebrand with Fabric Data Agents reaching GA, AutoML going GA, multimodal support for AI functions, the Data Warehouse section covering Fabric Data Warehouse recovery, Activator support, T-SQL AI functions, ANY_VALUE aggregate, Custom SQL Pools, SQL audit logs GA, outbound access protection, and the big one — the Database Hub, Fabric's new unified control plane for databases across edge, on-prem, cloud and Fabric. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

Build a shared semantic foundation for your enterprise data in Microsoft Fabric IQ. Generate a full business ontology from an existing Power BI semantic model, map entities and relationships, and embed real-time operational signals alongside business rules that live inside the ontology with the data and its meaning. From there, trace cascading operational impacts across your business through the relationship graph, stand up Operations Agents in natural language with Teams-based actions, and connect the same ontology as a knowledge source in Copilot Studio or Azure AI Foundry.  Chafia Aouissi, Fabric IQ Principal PM Manager, shares how to model your business operations, embed intelligence in your data, and deploy agents that act on it.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Unify models & data with Fabric IQ 01:12 - Generate an ontology 02:27 - Bring in Power BI reports 03:08 - View across multiple data sources 04:23 - Define rules 05:18 - Built-in ontology graph 06:03 - Fabric IQ agents 08:24 - Fabric IQ as Knowledge Source 08:54 - Wrap up ► Link References Get started at https://aka.ms/FabricIQ ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics  

Mike & Tommy dive into improving AI skills for Fabric developers, exploring whether to start with prompt engineering or semantic modeling fundamentals, how to build real agents without organizational buy-in, and when AI tools actually add value beyond well-built reports. They tackle the tension between learning cutting-edge capabilities and mastering core BI craft, offering a practical 90-day roadmap for developers stuck in slow-adoption environments.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy dive into Joachim's repo-based golden semantic model architecture, exploring whether AI-assisted development is making the classic thin-report pattern obsolete and how upcoming MCP servers for report modeling might reshape architectural decisions. They weigh the trade-offs between file-based AI edits and application-layer safety, discuss when splitting reports makes sense, and tackle the question of whether Power BI developers are becoming software engineers by another name.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

“Le but, c'est d'être top of mind. Dès qu'un prospect rencontre une problématique, il pense à moi.”– JohannLe thème de ce nouvel épisode : utiliser LinkedIn pour attirer (et rassurer) des interlocuteurs très sollicités.✒️Cet épisode fait partie de la série thématique Travailler avec les grands groupes quand on est freelance.Johann est consultant en data visualisation, expert Power BI. Sa stratégie : publier deux à trois fois par semaine sur LinkedIn pour se rendre visible auprès de ses prospects – des responsables IT, financiers, ou DSI de grandes entreprises.Dans cette interview, il nous explique comment il structure sa prise de parole, pourquoi il publie autant, et comment ses posts, ses commentaires et ses recommandations clients créent un tout cohérent pour asseoir sa crédibilité.

This is episode 323, recorded on April 16th, 2026, where John and Jason dig into part one of the Microsoft Fabric March 2026 Feature Summary — including the GA of OneLake Catalog Govern for admins, the OneLake Catalog Search API as an MCP tool, workspace tags going GA, DLP policies extending to structured data in OneLake, branched workspace with Git integration and selective branching, the new connection reference variable type, Fabric CLI v1.5 with one-command deployments, the Fabric Remote MCP server, OneLake File Explorer reaching GA, and the preview of Fabric Runtime 2.0 with Spark 4 and Delta Lake 4. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

Tom Hinkle, senior leader in data and analytics at TIAA, has  built his career at the intersection of finance, technology, and strategy. He also has a budding YouTube channel (Tom's Data World, which includes instructional videos on Excel, SQL, and AI). He's worked extensively with Excel (is a Microsoft MVP) and SQL, as well as Tableau and Power BI, and has worked with major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and TIAA.  "Nobody really gets excited about spending money on data governance. They get excited about machine learning, about AI, about data storytelling — everybody wants seminars on that. But data governance? At the end of the day, you're coming up with something you thought was right anyway, and then you're asking someone to spend more money just to make sure it's right." Why data governance is the foundation of AI  Trust but verify challenges The two sides of data governance: master data management vs. data quality and controls How FP&A teams should think about their role as downstream consumers of data Why domain expertise is still non-negotiable in the age of vibe coding Tom's Minesweeper-in-Excel story, and what it taught him about prompting

Matt James, EVP, CFO & Chief Acquisition Officer at Oakbridge Insurance Roll-up platforms that skipped real integration are getting exposed when they go to market. Buyers want proof of organic growth, clean data, and a platform that actually functions as one. A lot of processes are breaking down because those proof points aren't there. Matt James co-founded Oakbridge Insurance in 2020 and has since closed 60+ acquisitions, integrating 100% from day of close. This conversation covers how he built that system, what went wrong with billion-dollar competitors, and what he would fix first if he walked into a revenue-aggregating roll-up right now.  What You'll Learn Why multiple arbitrage is gone, and what buyers are scrutinizing instead How Oakbridge evaluates cultural fit before any financial criteria What a failed billion-dollar roll-up sale process looks like from the inside Building integration continuity from LOI through 90 days post-close How distributed equity drives buy-in across an acquired organization  If you're evaluating targets and want to know if they're integration-ready pre-LOI, the Intelligence Hub can help you score cultural fit, data readiness, and technology maturity. Join the professional membership at  mascience.com/membership. ____________________ This episode is sponsored by DealRoom DealRoom's State of M&A Report gives you data to back up your M&A priorities. The State of M&A Report reveals the gap between what teams think matters and where the real bottlenecks are. Download it now to get expert insights: https://hubs.ly/Q03ZxRvD0 ____________________ Episode Chapters [00:03:00]  Introduction & Matt's Background [00:05:00] How Buyer Diligence Has Shifted [00:06:00] Organic vs. Inorganic Growth and Why It Matters [00:11:00] The Four-Criteria Deal Evaluation Framework [00:14:00] Validating Cultural Fit Before LOI [00:17:00] Deal Structure: Equity, Earnouts, and Alignment [00:20:00] What Billion-Dollar Platforms Got Wrong [00:26:00]Building the Integration System at Oakbridge [00:31:00] Bridging Diligence and Integration [00:38:00] Data Infrastructure: Databricks, Power BI, and Why It's Worth It [00:45:00] Building Proprietary Deal Flow [00:52:00] First Moves When Integration Is Broken  

Mike & Tommy recap their experiences at FabCon 2026, sharing key takeaways from sessions, conversations with the community, and highlights from the second day of the conference. They discuss standout moments, emerging trends in the Fabric ecosystem, and what these developments mean for practitioners working with Power BI and the broader Microsoft data platform.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 322, recorded on April 8th, 2026, where John and Jason dig into the keynote announcements from FabCon Atlanta — including SharePoint list mirroring into OneLake, Excel-to-Delta table shortcuts, major CI/CD improvements like selective branching and the Fabric CLI, the new Database Hub giving you a single pane of glass across your entire database estate, and a brand new Planning workload built right into Fabric. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show

We are covering ALL of Fabric Con 2026 and highlighting the updates.Context:FabCon and SQLCon 2026 AnnouncementMajor Fabric Updates - ALLOneLake UpdatesPower BI March 2026 Feature SummaryGet 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/

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I examine how Business Central is transforming ERP with strong financial returns and AI-driven capabilities. Highlights 00:10 — A new Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft, entitled "The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central," has revealed some remarkable findings regarding the financial impact this standout cloud ERP is having on customers. 00:36 — And here's what it found: 209% ROI over three years, an estimated $464,000 net present value, and potential payback in just six months. The researchers aggregated the findings from interviewees and created a fictitious composite organization to develop this model. 00:58 — In their modeling, the researchers found that by year three, the composite company was experiencing a 30% reduction in monthly close time and up to 50% time savings for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and billing. It reduced audit preparation time by up to 30%. 01:19 — Consolidating outdated ERP products and systems led to more than a 10% reduction in total cost of ownership and over $170,000 in present value savings from withdrawn systems and decreased maintenance. 01:37 — Microsoft links these impressive results to how Business Central represents an AI-ready ERP foundation, enabling organizations to leverage Copilot, Power BI, and intelligent agents while emphasizing clean data, integrated systems, and standardized processes. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Mike & Tommy dive into Power BI subscriptions as proactive workflow tools, exploring whether automated data nudges can outperform interactive dashboards for busy professionals. Using a real-world data quality monitoring example, they question when the best BI solution is the one users never open, examining the balance between "push" alerts and "pull" exploration, and how subscription-driven reports can save hours while maintaining data hygiene.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy dive into DAX complexity and Power Query ETL tips, tackling how to structure complex measures that balance readability and performance across nested time intelligence, dynamic filters, and multi-grain data. They explore advanced Power Query techniques for reducing refresh times in Fabric Dataflows Gen2 and SharePoint integrations, with practical advice on optimizing step folding and reusing logic across queries.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy tackle the messy reality of CI/CD for Power BI in the age of TMDL and PBIR, weighing whether Fabric Deployment Pipelines or Azure DevOps—or both—offer the right path forward. They explore why selective file commits feel impossible despite text-based artifacts, when each approach makes sense, and whether mixing deployment methods creates more problems than it solves. The conversation cuts through DevOps hype to reveal what actually works for BI teams navigating source control, pull requests, and environment promotion.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

In this week's episode, I talk with Melanie Tory, Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University, about how people actually use dashboards in the real world — and why that use often looks very different from what designers intend. Her research reveals that dashboards frequently serve as a starting point for accessing data rather than tools for answering questions directly, with many users simply exporting data to Excel to do their real analytical work. We also explore her work on AI-enabled healthcare systems designed to help clinicians monitor patient risk in intensive care units, including how to visualize uncertainty in ways that busy medical teams can process quickly. And we close with a look at her emerging research on how people are beginning to use generative AI tools for data visualization tasks. It's a thought-provoking conversation about the gap between the tools we build and the ways people actually work with data.Subscribe to the PolicyViz Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.Keywords: data visualization, dashboards, dashboard design, dashboard usability, data analysis workflows, Tableau dashboards, Power BI dashboards, human data interaction, Melanie Tory, data communication, dashboard research, analytics tools, business intelligence dashboards, data storytelling, data workflows, PolicyViz PodcastBecome a patron of the PolicyViz Podcast for as little as a buck a monthVisit Melanie's webpage at Northeastern UniversityFollow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, Twitter, Website, YouTubeEmail: jon@policyviz.com

Mike & Tommy tackle Git best practices for Power BI teams, exploring how to reduce diff noise from slicer selections and matrix expansions, whether renaming visual folders is brilliant or risky, and how small teams can maintain clean, readable source control without losing their minds. They weigh practical tactics like commit checklists, folder naming conventions, and the trade-offs between tracking every click versus only intentional changes.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 Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

This is episode 321 recorded on March 3rd, 2026, where John and Jason break down the Microsoft Fabric February 2026 Feature Summary — including expanded workspace identity limits, notebook and Dataflow Gen2 improvements, new Data Factory capabilities, and enhancements across Real-Time Intelligence and the Fabric VS Code tooling. For show notes please visit www.bifocal.show