Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on January 29th

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MS BI fans, join us for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on January 29th at 6:30 PM. Julie Smith will hack sweet reports in Power BI. Innovative Architects will sponsor the meeting. And your humble correspondent will show you two new cool Power BI features: integration with PowerApps and Q&A in Power BI Desktop. For more details, visit our group page.

Presentation:H*ckin Sweet Reports with Power BI
Level: Intermediate
Date:January 29, 2018
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)
115 Perimeter Center Place
Atlanta, GA 30346
Overview:Power BI is constantly evolving; this session is an overview of the current elements of Power BI and ways to implement them, based on experience in the field using it. Topics include the Power BI Service, Power BI Desktop, Power BI Embedded, Pricing models and some details of Power BI Premium. Sample data set used in this presentation is from @Dog_Rates on Twitter.
Speaker:Julie Smith has spent close to 20 years moving data using varied tools such as MS Access, MySQL, and SQL Server versions 2000 and on. She is a Business Intelligence Consultant at Innovative Architects, where she has been implementing Power BI v2 and Azure solutions for the last couple of years.
Sponsor:Since 2005, Innovative Architects has been serving industries to help solve business and technology challenges. We provide business consulting, development and implementation services for Microsoft platforms which include BizTalk, SharePoint, .NET, Business Intelligence, Mobile Apps and much more.
Prototypes with Pizza“Power BI Writeback and Desktop Q&A” by Teo Lachev

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Atlanta MS BI Group Meeting on September 25th

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MS BI fans, join me for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on September 25th at 6:30 PM. Carlos Rodriquez and Daniel Granadillo from Brightstar will share their experience with Power BI and QlikView. Accelebrate will sponsor the meeting. And your humble correspondent will show you two new cool Power BI features: drillthrough to page and explain increase/decrease.

Presentation:Did Qlik run out of BI Power?
Level: Intermediate
Date:September 25, 2017
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)

115 Perimeter Center Place

Atlanta, GA 30346

Overview:Haters are gonna hate. Lovers are gonna love. What about you? Come decide by yourself whether you are a Qlik or a PBI guy/gal. This presentation is intended for anyone who wants to see these two BI tools in action. Carlos and Daniel will show the differences and similarities between QlikView and Power BI. They will perform side-by-side the following:

  • Extract and transform data
  • Create a data model (so to allow cross filtering)
  • Compare features side by side, including hiding/displaying visuals, creating linked objects, role-playing dimensions, what-if scenarios
  • Create a nice dashboard (which tool can actually do it?)
Speaker:Carlos Rodrigues has more than 18 years’ experience as an IT professional and has successfully proven that he is especially adept at translating complex business needs into flawlessly Business Intelligence solutions. In his current role, Director- IT with Brightstar Device Protection, he holds the responsibility of defining the strategic roadmap and overseeing the implementation of the company’s Business Intelligence. He is a recent Georgia Tech MBA graduate (go Jackets 🐝). He enjoys traveling to different places around the world, appreciating the local culture, savoring local culinary styles and mainly, taking thousands of photos using his Nikon gear.

Daniel Granadillo is a Business Intelligence Architect / Developer with more than 10 years of experience around Data Warehouse and Analytics projects. Advocate of the Microsoft BI stack and discovered love at first sight with SSIS. You can find me enjoying the outdoors when not embraced with SQL Server

Sponsor:Accelebrate is an IT training firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA that provides on-site and online training on a wide variety of technologies for clients in North America, Europe, and worldwide. Accelebrate is a Prime Sponsor of the Atlanta Microsoft BI and Power BI Group.
Prototype with Pizza“Power BI Page Drillthrough and Explain Increase/Decrease” by Teo Lachev

Power BI vs Qlik Presentation

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Mark your calendar for the next meeting of our Atlanta MS and Power BI Group on September 25th when we will compare Power BI and Qlik.

Presentation:

Did Qlik run out of BI Power?

Level: Intermediate
Date:September 25, 2017
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)

115 Perimeter Center Place

Atlanta, GA 30346

Overview:Haters are gonna hate. Lovers are gonna love. What about you? Come decide by yourself whether you are a Qlik or a PBI guy/gal. This presentation is intended for anyone who wants to see these two BI tools in action. Carlos and Daniel will show the differences and similarities between QlikView and Power BI. They will perform side-by-side the following:

  • Extract and transform data
  • Create a data model (so to allow cross filtering)
  • Compare features side by side, including hiding/displaying visuals, creating linked objects, role-playing dimensions, what-if scenarios
  • Create a nice dashboard (which tool can actually do it?)
Speaker:Carlos Rodrigues has more than 18 years’ experience as an IT professional and has successfully proven that he is especially adept at translating complex business needs into flawlessly Business Intelligence solutions. In his current role, Director- IT with Brightstar Device Protection, he holds the responsibility of defining the strategic roadmap and overseeing the implementation of the company’s Business Intelligence. He is a recent Georgia Tech MBA graduate (go Jackets 🐝). He enjoys traveling to different places around the world, appreciating the local culture, savoring local culinary styles and mainly, taking thousands of photos using his Nikon gear.

Daniel Granadillo is a Business Intelligence Architect / Developer with more than 10 years of experience around Data Warehouse and Analytics projects. Advocate of the Microsoft BI stack and discovered love at first sight with SSIS. You can find me enjoying the outdoors when not embraced with SQL Server

Sponsor:Accelebrate is an IT training firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA that provides on-site and online training on a wide variety of technologies for clients in North America, Europe, and worldwide. Accelebrate is a Prime Sponsor of the Atlanta Microsoft BI and Power BI Group.

“Understanding Power BI Premium” Events

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I’ll present “Understanding Power BI Premium” at three public events in June.

  • June 8th, Carolinas Power BI Group in Greensville, SC at 6 PM
  • June 24th, SQL Saturday Chattanooga, TN at 1:15 PM
  • June 26th, Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group, Atlanta, GA at 6:30 PM

My calendar has the details.

Microsoft Power BI has enjoyed a lot of attention and success since it became generally available in July 2015.  But its licensing model and cloud-hosted limitations barred wide adoption, especially with larger organizations. The recently introduced Power BI Premium will change all of this. Join this session to learn how Power BI Premium will allow your organization to achieve:
• Flexibility to license by capacity
• Greater scale and performance
• Extending on-premises reporting with Power BI Report Server
• Embedded analytics

Atlanta MS BI Group Meeting on May 22th

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MS BI fans, join me for the next must-attend Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on May 22th at 6:30 PM. My esteemed friend, Stacey Jones from Microsoft will explain the predictive analytics capability of Cortana Analytics Suite. He’ll demo a predictive analytics solution that was developed in a single day! It leverages Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data Factory, HDInsight, Spark, Power BI, and Intelligent Apps to deliver a solution that predicts the likelihood of flight delays for a customer. I will do a quick demo of the latest Power BI cool features. Our premium sponsor, TEKSystems, will sponsor the meeting.

Presentation:Cortana Intelligence Suite End-to-End
Level: Intermediate
Date:May 22nd, 2017
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)
115 Perimeter Center Place
Atlanta, GA 30346
Overview:
 		The Cortana Intelligence Suite provides tools to cover all types of business intelligence needs, from compelling dashboards to cutting edge predictive analytics! In this session we will look at a predictive analytics solution that was developed in a single day. It leverages Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data Factory, HDInsight, Spark, Power BI, and Intelligent Apps to deliver a solution that predicts the likelihood of flight delays for a customer.
Speaker:Stacey Jones has enjoyed his 27 year specializing in Business Intelligence and all things data. He currently serves as the Data Solutions Architect for Microsoft at the Atlanta Microsoft Technology Center (MTC).
Sponsor:People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, a leading provider of IT staffing, IT talent management and IT services, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 client sites across North America, Europe and Asia. Our deep insights into the IT labor market enable us to help clients achieve their business goals—while optimizing their IT workforce strategies.

Atlanta MS BI Group Meeting on April 24th

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MS BI fans, join me for the next must-attend Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on April 24th at 6:30 PM. Mike Bruce and Alex Higgins from Acuity Brands will share how they use Power BI to improve their development process. Acuity Brands will sponsor the event. And I’ll demo the new Quick Measures Power BI measure.

Presentation:Using Power BI to Track Software Development Performance
Level: Intermediate
Date:April 24, 2017
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)

115 Perimeter Center Place

Atlanta, GA 30346

Overview:By using Power BI, Acuity Brands can monitor development teams’ progress with rich, interactive dashboards. Data from Visual Studio Team Services ODATA feeds and APIs as well as pulling data from DocumentDB, teams can drill into their development performance and see where they may be having development performance. Data is accessed via embedded Power BI reports running on dedicated hardware throughout development team spaces as well as accessible via the web using SSO!
Speaker:Mike Bruce has been developing software for the past 22 years focusing on Microsoft products. He is currently runs the DevOps and QA team for Platform Architecture at Acuity Brands.

Alex Higgins recently joined Acuity Brands via the Leadership Program. He has lead the effort to build custom visuals in PowerBI as well as creating embedded reports.

Sponsor:Acuity Brands is the North American market leader and one of the world’s leading providers of lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications. We provide customer-driven smart and simple lighting solutions that offer quality lighting and value-added benefits by empowering world-class talent to create and leverage our industry-leading portfolio of products, technology, and services; drive world-class cost efficiency; and leverage a culture of continuous improvement.

Atlanta MS BI Group Meeting on March 27th

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MS BI fans, join me for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, March 27th at 6:30 PM. Dave Tangren and Nelson Davis from Slalom will compare Power BI to Tableau. Slalom will sponsor the event. I’ll show the latest of the Power BI Matrix visual. It will be a great meeting!

Presentation:Comparing Power BI to Tableau
Level: Intermediate
Date:March 27, 2017
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:South Terraces Building (Auditorium Room)

115 Perimeter Center Place

Atlanta, GA 30346

Overview:Power BI is getting stronger all the time. So is its competition. Want to see how Power BI stacks up against Tableau? Come see our thought leaders from Slalom debate the points!
Speaker:Dave Tangren is a Practice Area Leader for Slalom in Atlanta. Dave brings thought leadership in visual analytics and business discovery to the market. With his deep background in Microsoft technologies, we can bet we know who Dave will be representing in this presentation.

Nelson Davis is passionate about data storytelling, Tableau evangelism, data for good and providing innovative solutions to drive business impact. Nelson helps lead Slalom’s data visualization team in Atlanta, and regularly presents at the Atlanta Tableau User’s Group. Former Tableau Zen Master, multiple time winner of Viz of the Day, and speaker at TCC13, DATA15 and DATA16.

Sponsor:Slalom is a purpose-driven consulting firm that helps companies solve business problems and build for the future. We’re a team of thinkers, makers, and doers that came from enterprises, consultancies, agencies, and startups—all attracted by the promise of loving work and life. Our teams are deeply connected and bring their shared experiences and insights across industries, disciplines, and markets to each and every engagement.
Prototypes with Pizza“The Matrix Reloaded” by Teo Lachev will demo the latest enhancements to the Power BI Matrix visual.

 


“Get the Most Out of Power BI” Seminar on May 3rd

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Patrick LeBlanc and I will deliver a free seminar “Get the Most Out of Power BI” on May 3rd, 8:30 AM to 12 PM, at the Microsoft Office in Alpharetta.

You won’t want to miss this educational and engaging event! Please register today as seating is limited at https://prologika.com/event/get-the-most-out-of-power-bi/.

Power BI is about empowering all types of users to get insights from data. It consists of the Power BI Service (powerbi.com), Power BI Desktop, Power BI Mobile, and Power BI Embedded, and it comes in two pricing options: Power BI Free and Power BI Pro. Power BI enjoys a tremendous momentum and industry observers has given it high scores. Packed with a dizzying variety of features, Power BI supports different solutions but it might be difficult to understand which features you need to reduce licensing cost.

Join Prologika and Microsoft for a 3-hour free seminar on Wednesday, May 3rd, 8:30 AM -12 PM ET, at the Microsoft Office in Alpharetta, when Teo Lachev (CEO of Prologika) and Patrick LeBlanc (Data Platform Solutions Architect at Microsoft) share practical knowledge and experience to help you get the most out of Power BI. If you’re planning Power BI rollout in your organization, this event is for you. Join Prologika and Microsoft for a 3-hour free seminar on Wednesday, May 3rd, 8:30 AM -12 PM ET, at the Microsoft Office in Alpharetta, when Teo Lachev (CEO of Prologika) and Patrick LeBlank (Data Platform Solutions Architect at Microsoft) share practical knowledge and experience to help you get the most out of Power BI. If you’re planning Power BI rollout in your organization, this event is for you.

Learn tips and tricks to stay within Power BI Free and reduce cost, including:

  • Simple sharing
  • Content service packs
  • Avoid gateways for refreshing imported data
  • Deploy Power BI reports on-premises
  • Share reports with external users

Power BI customer stories from the frontline

  • Learn how other customers use Power BI
  • Learn top customer issues when adopting Power BI that we have faced
  • Explore different problems and how we have fixed them

Ask questions and get them answered

“7 Ways to Integrate Excel with Power BI” Presentation on April 19th

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I’m presenting “7 Ways to Integrate Excel with Power BI” for the Atlanta Modern Excel Group on April 19th at the Microsoft office in Alpharetta. Prologika and Microsoft are sponsoring the event. Please RSVP here.

Power BI is gaining a momentum but Excel still rules the corporate world. Fortunately, Power BI and Excel are not exclusive choices. Join me to learn how you can preserve your Excel investment in Power BI.

I’ll start by explaining the value Power BI brings to different types of users. Then, I’ll discuss and demo seven options for integrating Excel with Power BI:

  • Import Excel files in Power BI Service
  • Build self-service data models from Excel data
  • Deploy Excel models to Power BI
  • Convert Excel models to Power BI
  • Connect to Excel reports
  • Analyze Power BI datasets in Excel
  • Add Excel reports to Power BI dashboards

Presenting at Birmingham SQL Saturday 2017

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I’m presenting “Embed Interactive Reports in Your Apps” at Birmingham SQL Saturday 2017, on March 18th at 1 PM. I’ll discuss different options to embed Power BI reports in internal and external apps.

You have the app. You have the data. What if your app could put the power of analytics everywhere decisions are made and allow your customers to gain insights? Modern apps with data visualizations built-in have the power to inform decisions in context—for any user and on any device. Join me to discover how you can embed data analytics in any app and on one device powered by Power BI Embedded in the cloud and Reporting Services on premises.

I’ll share my experience in helping customers embed Power BI reports. Learn how to:

  • Create compelling interactive reports
  • Embed easily for faster time to value
  • Deploy quickly and manage with ease