Atlanta Microsoft BI Group Meeting on June 5th (How to Fix an Inherited Power BI Report)

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Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, June 5th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Kristyna Hughes (Senior data & analytics consultant at 3Cloud will join us remotely and share best practices for dissecting a complicated and broken Power BI report and a checklist of how to fix it. Improving will sponsor the meeting. Your humble correspondent will demonstrate how Power BI can integrate better with SharePoint and OneDrive. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

WE NOW MEET BOTH IN-PERSON AND ONLINE. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE AND BECAUSE AN EMPTY AUDIENCE IS DISCOURAGING TO SPEAKERS AND SPONSORS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE HERE.

PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING AND PLAN TO EAT

Presentation: How to Fix an Inherited Power BI Report

Date: June 5th

Time: 18:30 – 20:30 ET

Place: Onsite and online

Level: Intermediate

Food: Food and drinks will be available for this meeting

Agenda:

18:15-18:30 Registration and networking

18:30-19:00 Organizer and sponsor time (events, Power BI latest, sponsor marketing)

19:00-20:15 Main presentation

20:15-20:30 Q&A

 ONSITE (RECOMMENDED)

Improving Office

11675 Rainwater Dr

Suite #100

Alpharetta, GA 30009

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

Overview: A common request in the realm of reporting is “hey, we have this report that a previous VIP used, but the report is really slow and the new VIP would like to revamp the report to answer their questions”. Great, you think, I can knock this out no problem! Then, you open the report. Fifty tables, over a hundred measures, and six calculated tables later you start to panic.

This session will go into best practices for dissecting a complicated report and a checklist for quick wins. No need to panic, this session will help build a toolbelt to tackle any reconstruction project. 

Speaker: Kristyna Hughes is a senior data & analytics consultant at 3Cloud. Her experience includes implementing and managing enterprise-level Power BI instance, training teams on reporting best practices, and building templates for scalable analytics. Passionate about participating and growing the data community, she enjoys co-writing on Data on Wheels (dataonwheels.com) and has recently co-founded Data on Rails (dataonrailsblog.com). She also is on the board of directors for PASS MN and is a co-organizer for Lexington Data Technology Group.

Sponsor: Improving

Sponsor: TBD

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on May 1st (Getting started with Power BI Deployment Pipelines)

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Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, May 1st, at 6:30 PM ET.  Akshata Revankar (Data Engineer, Specialist at McKinsey & Company) will show you how to leverage Power BI deployment pipelines to promote content changes between environments, such as DEV and PROD. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

WE NOW MEET BOTH IN-PERSON AND ONLINE. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE AND BECAUSE AN EMPTY AUDIENCE IS DISCOURAGING TO SPEAKERS AND SPONSORS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE HERE.

PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING AND PLAN TO EAT

Presentation: Getting started with Power BI Deployment Pipelines
Date: May 1st
Time: 18:30 – 20:30 ET
Place: Onsite and online
Level: Intermediate
Food: Food and drinks will be available for this meeting

Agenda:
18:15-18:30 Registration and networking
18:30-19:00 Organizer and sponsor time (events, Power BI latest, sponsor marketing)
19:00-20:15 Main presentation
20:15-20:30 Q&A

ONSITE (RECOMMENDED)
Improving Office
11675 Rainwater Dr.
Suite #100
Alpharetta, GA 30009

ONLINE
Click here to join the meeting

Overview: If you are wondering, “Is CI/CD possible in Power BI?” , the answer is YES! and this can be achieved with “Deployment Pipelines”. With Deployment Pipelines, it’s now possible to move content smoothly from Development/Test to QA to Production, helping enterprise BI teams bring application lifecycle management to their power BI environments.
· Understand deployment pipelines
· Create a deployment pipeline
· Deploy content with rules
· Comparing Content
· Move content from one stage to next.

Speaker: Akshata Revankar (Data Engineer, Specialist at McKinsey & Company) has 16+ Years of experience in data engineering and data reporting space. Have worked with Oracle database, SQL Server, SSIS, Informatica Power Center, Hadoop systems, Qlik and Power BI. Enjoy being in the data space and learning new things.

Sponsor: TBD

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on April 3rd (Power BI Dashboard in an Hour)

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Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, April 3rd, at 6:30 PM ET.  Your humble correspondent will revisit Power BI important fundamentals in a demo-packed session. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR IN-PERSON MEETING LOCATION HAS CHANGED! WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://BIT.LY/ATLANTABIRECS. PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING.

Presentation: Power BI Dashboard in an Hour (DIAH)

Date: April 3rd

Time: 18:30 – 20:30 ET

Place: Onsite and online

Level: Beginner

Food: Food and drinks will be available for this meeting

Agenda:

18:15-18:30 Registration and networking

18:30-19:00 Organizer and sponsor time (events, Power BI latest, sponsor marketing)

19:00-20:15 Main presentation

20:15-20:30 Q&A

 

ONSITE (RECOMMENDED)

Improving Office

11675 Rainwater Dr.

Suite #100

Alpharetta, GA 30009

 

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

Overview: Dashboard in an Hour (DIAH)

Targeting novice Power BI users, this hands-on, no-slide session covers important Power BI fundamentals and best practices. If you’re already a Power BI user, you’ll probably learn a new trick or two. And if you like a challenge, bring your laptop and try to keep up through the steps to create a Power BI dashboard!

Join us and learn how to:

  • Design your BI model
  • Acquire and transform data
  • Turning data into valuable and interactive insights
  • Sharing your visualizations with others

Speaker: Teo Lachev is a consultant, author, and mentor, with a focus on Microsoft BI. Through his Atlanta-based company Prologika he designs and implements innovative solutions that bring tremendous value to his clients. Teo has authored and co-authored several books, and he has been leading the Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence group since he founded it in 2010. Microsoft has recognized Teo’s contributions to the community by awarding him the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Data Platform status for 15 years. Microsoft selected Teo as one of only 30 FastTrack Solution Architects for Power BI worldwide.

Sponsor: Improving

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on March 6th (The Semantic Lakehouse: Power BI and Databricks)

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Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, March 6th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Leo Furlong (Senior Solutions Architect at Databricks) will share their point of view on why “the best data warehouse is a lakehouse.” For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR IN-PERSON MEETING LOCATION HAS CHANGED! WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://BIT.LY/ATLANTABIRECS. PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING.

Presentation: The Semantic Lakehouse: Power BI and Databricks

Date: March 6th

Time: 18:30 – 20:30 ET

Place: Onsite and online

Level: Intermediate

Food: Food and drinks will be available for this meeting

 

Agenda:

18:15-18:30 Registration and networking

18:30-19:00 Organizer and sponsor time (events, Power BI latest, sponsor marketing)

19:00-20:15 Main presentation

20:15-20:30 Q&A

 

ONSITE (RECOMMENDED)

Improving Office

11675 Rainwater Dr.

Suite #100

Alpharetta, GA 30009

 

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

Overview: The team from Databricks will come and share their point of view on why “the best data warehouse is a lakehouse.” We’ll go over lakehouse 101, when you might (or might not!) need a lakehouse, some best practices for operating a BI solution with Databricks, and walk through a demo highlighting how PowerBI’s and Databricks’ SQL capabilities complement each other.

Speaker: Leo Furlong, Senior Solutions Architect at Databricks Leo is a seasoned data and analytics professional with 15 years of consulting experience building Data Warehousing and BI solutions using SQL Server, Power BI, and Azure technologies prior to joining Databricks in 2021. As an Atlanta native, Leo is a Georgia Tech and Georgia State grad and lives in the Smyrna/Vinings area with his 4 kids and 4 dogs.

Sponsor: Databricks

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Presenting at SQL Saturday Atlanta 2023

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I’m presenting at SQL Saturday Atlanta 2023 – BI & Data Analytics Edition on February 25th at 9 AM (the very first slot in the very first room for very first early birds). I’ll do a Power BI Dashboard in an Hour this time to revisit the basics. I hope to see some of you there.

Targeting novice Power BI users, this hands-on, no-slide session covers important Power BI fundamentals and best practices. If you’re already a Power BI user, you’ll probably learn a new trick or two. And if you like a challenge, bring your laptop and try to keep up through the steps to create a Power BI dashboard! Join us and learn how to:

•    Design your BI model

•    Acquire and transform data

•    Turning data into valuable and interactive insights

•    Sharing your visualizations with others

Download the session files from here.

Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on February 6th (Lakehouse in an Hour)

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Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, February 6th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Patrick LeBlanc (Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and Guy in a Cube) will show you how to implement a lakehouse with Delta lake, Azure Data Factory, and Synapse. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

WE ARE RESUMING IN-PERSON MEETINGS AT THE MICROSOFT OFFICE IN ALPHARETTA. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE. PLEASE NOTE THAT GUESTS ENTERING MICROSOFT BUILDINGS IN THE U.S. MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF VACCINATION OR SELF-ATTEST WITH HEALTHCHECK (HTTPS://AKA.MS/HEALTHCHECK). ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://BIT.LY/ATLANTABIRECS. PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING.

Presentation: Lakehouse in an Hour

Date: February 6th

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET

Place: Onsite and online

 ONSITE

Microsoft Office (Alpharetta)

8000 Avalon Boulevard Suite 900

Alpharetta, GA 30009

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

Overview: Join us for an action-packed demo-fueled session where we actually build a lake house from source to report in less than an hour. We will walk you through getting your data from your source system, building out your data lake using Delta, transforming your data with Data Flows, serving it with Serverless SQL Pool and in the end connecting it to Power BI! After this session you will be able to start using all of these technologies and make your Analytical environment a success!

Speaker: Patrick LeBlanc is a currently a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and a contributing partner to Guy in a Cube. Along with his 15+ years’ experience in IT he holds a Masters of Science degree from Louisiana State University. He is the author and co-author of five SQL Server books. Prior to joining Microsoft he was awarded Microsoft MVP award for his contributions to the community. Patrick is a regular speaker at many SQL Server Conferences and Community events.

Sponsor: The Community (thank you for your donations!)

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on January 9th (Integrating Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI)

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The Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group is resuming in-person meetings! Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, January 9th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Elayne Jones (Data Engineer at 3Cloud) will show you how to integrate Synapse with Power BI. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

WE ARE RESUMING IN-PERSON MEETINGS AT THE MICROSOFT OFFICE IN ALPHARETTA. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE. PLEASE NOTE THAT GUESTS ENTERING MICROSOFT BUILDINGS IN THE U.S. MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF VACCINATION OR SELF-ATTEST WITH HEALTHCHECK (HTTPS://AKA.MS/HEALTHCHECK). ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://BIT.LY/ATLANTABIRECS. PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING.

Presentation: Integrating Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI

Date: January 9th

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET

Place: Onsite and online

 

ONSITE

Microsoft Office (Alpharetta)

8000 Avalon Boulevard Suite 900

Alpharetta, GA 30009

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

 

Overview: Combining the forces of Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft Power BI allows you to weave together the full lifecycle of data ingestion, transformation, and visualization. Synapse encompasses the traditional processes of data warehousing, cleansing, and visualizing all within Synapse Studio, fostering unity among teams and driving efficiency across organizations.

Speaker: Elayne Jones is a Data Engineer at 3Cloud. She specializes in data visualization and data modeling using Power BI. She has expertise developing Power Apps and creating Power Platform solutions that drive efficiency within organizations. Elayne is also experienced querying data using the DAX and SQL languages. Elayne has delivered numerous BI trainings and written blog posts on various BI and reporting topics.

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on December 5th (Automate and Improve Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting)

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The Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group is resuming in-person meetings! Please join us for the next meeting on Monday, December 5th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Your humble correspondent will show you how to implement a custom solution for automating planning, budgeting, and forecasting based on a real-life project. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

WE ARE RESUMING IN-PERSON MEETINGS STARTING DECEMBER 5, 2022, AT THE MICROSOFT OFFICE IN ALPHARETTA. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND THE EVENT IN PERSON FOR BEST EXPERIENCE. PLEASE NOTE THAT GUESTS ENTERING MICROSOFT BUILDINGS IN THE U.S. MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF VACCINATION OR SELF-ATTEST WITH HEALTHCHECK (HTTPS://AKA.MS/HEALTHCHECK). ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN JOIN OUR MEETINGS ONLINE VIA MS TEAMS. WHEN POSSIBLE, WE WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS AND MAKE RECORDINGS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://BIT.LY/ATLANTABIRECS. PLEASE RSVP ONLY IF COMING TO OUR IN-PERSON MEETING.

Presentation: Automate and Improve Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting

Date: December 5th

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET

Place: Onsite and online

 

ONSITE

Microsoft Office (Alpharetta)

8000 Avalon Boulevard Suite 900

Alpharetta, GA 30009

ONLINE

Click here to join the meeting

Overview: Business Performance Management (BPM) is a methodology to help the company predict its performance. An integral part of a BPM strategy is a process for Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting which is typically performed by the Finance department. When it comes to Finance, nothing is simple, and budgeting is no exception.  The temptation is to buy expensive prepackaged software but even that route would require a lot of customization and compromises.

Join this session to learn how to implement your own home-grown solution using Microsoft Analysis Services and Excel. I’ll share lessons learned from a real-life project.

Speaker: Teo Lachev is a consultant, author, and mentor, with a focus on Microsoft BI. Through his Atlanta-based company Prologika he designs and implements innovative solutions that bring tremendous value to his clients. Teo has authored and co-authored several books, and he has been leading the Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence group since he founded it in 2010. Microsoft has recognized Teo’s contributions to the community by awarding him the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Data Platform status for 15 years. Microsoft has selected Teo as one of only 30 FastTrack Solution Architects for Power BI worldwide.

Sponsor: Prologika (a Microsoft Gold Partner in Data Analytics and Data Platform and Power BI Red Carpet Partner) helps organizations of all sizes to make sense of data. Your BI project will be your best investment, we guarantee it! prologika.com

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on November 7th (Data Science for Power BI Developers)

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, November 7th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Sandeep Pawar will join us again to show us the Power BI data science features and how you can create ML models. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Data Science for Power BI Developers
Date:November 7th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:The use of Data Science tools and techniques has grown in the last few years and BI developers are collaborating closely with the Data Scientists. In this session, we will learn about some of the core concepts in data science, key terminologies and the overall process so that you as a BI developer can effectively collaborate with your Data Science team. You will learn about analogous features in Power BI, their pitfalls, the overall Machine Learning process and the questions you should be asking the next time you are consuming the ML model in Power BI.

 

This session won’t teach you how to create Machine Learning models, rather it will show you how you should consume the Machine Learning models as a BI developer to help your business users.

Speaker:Sandeep Pawar is a Sr. Power BI Architect at Hitachi Solutions America. He has extensive experience in creating data analytics and data science solutions. You can read more about him and his passion for data at www.pawarbi.com or follow him on twitter at @PawarBI.
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on October 3rd (Auto-provision embedded report delivery for your customers)

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, October 3rd, at 6:30 PM ET.  Tom Huguelet (Lucient) will present a real-world case study and the challenges involved in bringing a Power BI application from initial Excel-based POC to an ISV platform that auto-provisions for new clients, using Power BI Embedded Azure Premium Capacity.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Auto-provision embedded report delivery for your customers
Date:October 3rd
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:In this session we’ll look at a real-world case study and the challenges involved in bringing a Power BI application from initial Excel-based POC to an ISV platform that auto-provisions for new clients, using Power BI Embedded Azure Premium Capacity.

We will cover:

•            Initial Business Case and Project Team

•            Testing Embedded in a Sandbox Environment (Authentication)

•            Enabling User-Customized Experiences in Embedded

•            Using REST APIs for automatic Provisioning

•            Lessons learned and challenges encountered

Speaker:Tom Huguelet has been engaged in using Business Intelligence, and Dashboards & Analytics to enable Corporate Performance Management since 1999. While coming from a technological background, Tom has always focused on the people and process aspects of how Business Intelligence can create positive changes within an organization. In his role as a Practice Director, he leads and mentors technical teams as well as advises business stakeholders on how to build the cross-disciplinary teams necessary to be successful with Business Intelligence. Tom holds several Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Trainer, is a frequent speaker at industry events, has co-authored 3 books on SQL Server and Data Warehousing, and helped start a BI Roundtable group in Chicago.
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