Veteran Excel users might have used the Excel What-if feature that let you try several different sets of values in one or more formulas to explore various outcomes (scenarios). The August release of Power BI Desktop introduces a similar feature. You start by defining a What If parameter from the Modeling tab. Don't confuse the What If parameter with a query parameter which is used…
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I've never thought I'd see this one coming but today I got a marketing email from Pyramid Analytics (previously an ardent Microsoft partner) citing a head-to-head comparison with Power BI. Et tu, Brute? "Let’s start with a clear pricing model – one that doesn’t require an online calculator to figure out annual costs. Let’s add in fundamental capabilities and features like dashboarding, KPI’s, dicing, time…
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Related to the previous blog, let's show how to create a detail report in Power BI that mimics an Excel PivotTable report in a flattened layout. Consider the report below. To create it, use the Matrix visual and add the necessary fields to the Rows bucket and measures to the Values bucket. By default and similar to Excel, Matrix would use a Stepped layout so…
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Nobody likes watching a report spinny. Interactive detail reports that perform well from an Analysis Services semantic layer have been the bane of my BI career. A "detail report" is a report that requests data at a lower level, e.g. policy in the insurance business, customer in Sales, etc. A detail report typically has many dimension attributes, eustomer Name, Account Number, Product Name, Product Number,…
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Got awarded for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) - Data Platform again. This will make my 14th consecutive year to be recognized by Microsoft for my expertise and contributions to the community! Apparently, it became difficult (or not cost effective) to count years, so the ring is for 2017-2018 but the tower doesn't lie.
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I often ask prospects if they've done any estimates of the value that the envisioned BI solution would bring to them. The Microsoft Solution Framework actually recommends partners do this during the planning phase. Alas, the answer is almost always negative. Then I ask what criteria would be used to evaluate if my price (I give fixed value-based prices as I don't sell time) would…
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Scenario: Consider a SQL Server configured for AlwaysOn Availability Groups where a set of databases can fail over to another node. You have SSIS jobs and you created them on both nodes. However, you need to check if the current node on which the job is running is the primary node. If you don't do this, the job fails because the database isn't accessible. Solution:…
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After Tableau and SiSense, Keeping 'em Honest continues with Qlik. Now, after they sold the company and took a hit in the latest Gartner's quadrant, I didn't expect much of a completion from Qlik but every now and then I run into a customer considering Qlik and willing to share Qlik's feedback on how Qlik outshines Power BI in every possible way (can't share these…
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What Does Power BI Premium Mean for You? As I mentioned in my Spring newsletter "15 Reasons Why Microsoft is Leading the BI Space", Microsoft BI is enjoying resurgent interest from customers and industry observers, and Power BI gets lots of attention. I'm sure that you've also heard the announcements about Power BI Premium – a new dedicated licensing model for Power BI. In fact,…
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SQL Server 2017 introduces the ability to scale out SSIS. The primary scenario is to enable customers to scale out their SSIS execution at the package level. Imagine a retail business that has about 300 packages to run at the end of the day to push transactional data/finance data from multiple stores to the centralized data warehouse for reporting. All the 300 packages need to…
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