Blog – Page 9 – Prologika

Data Integration Options with Cloud Providers

March 9, 2022 / No Comments »

It's unlikely to envision a data analytics solution without having to ingest data from some cloud vendor. I previously ranted here about cloud prohibitors – cloud providers that negate the benefits of moving to the cloud by enforcing all sorts of hoops to get to your data. This blog summarizes a few data integration options with cloud vendors from best to worst. Direct access to the database – This is by far your best option. If the provider allows you to access the data by directly connecting to its native storage, you should take it even if it involves higher fees, such as upgrading to a "premium" tier (a travesty considering that you didn't have pay higher fees with their on-prem installations). There are no insurmountable engineering barriers for the vendor to provide direct access to the data in its native storage, but very few cloud vendors do it citing...
Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on March 7th

February 28, 2022 / No Comments »

Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, March 7th, at 6:30 PM ET. Elayne Jones (Consultant with BlueGranite) will cover the pros and cons of migrating semantic models from Azure Analysis Services to Power BI. For more details and sign up, visit our group page. Presentation: Migrating Azure Analysis Services Models to PBI Premium Date: March 7th Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET Place: Click here to join the meeting Overview: Migrating Azure Analysis Services models to Power BI Premium simplifies resource maintenance and drives efficient business intelligence environments. Here, Elayne Jones covers the benefits, drawbacks, prerequisites, and available deployment options. Speaker: Elayne Jones is a Staff Consultant at BlueGranite who brings experience with data analysis, visualization, and troubleshooting in the Transportation and Shipping industries. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University of North Georgia and brings her knowledge...
How Power BI Broke Amazon

February 20, 2022 / No Comments »

Amazon started in 1994 as an online marketplace for books. You'd think that after being in this business for almost 30 years, they've figured out the book ecommerce inside out. Unfortunately, rapid revisions (I revise annually my Power BI book) break their model. Every new revision wreaks havoc in the customer experience to purchase a book and punishes the publisher. Here is what I've learned after having my books sold on Amazon for many years. Amazon has a proprietary algorithm that decides what to show on the book detail page. My books are available in two formats: paperback and ebook (Kindle). When a customer lands on the book page, the natural expectation is that the Kindle tab would redirect to the ebook format and the Paperback tab would redirect to the paperback format of the same edition. Unfortunately, the publisher has no control over what the Paperback tab would eventually...
Power BI Dynamic M Query Parameters Reloaded

February 17, 2022 / No Comments »

In a previous blog from October 2020, I ranted about the narrow list of data sources supported by Power BI Dynamic M query parameters. The February 2022 update of Power BI Desktop expanded the feature reach to relational data sources, such as SQL Server (all flavors), Oracle, Teradata, and SAP. This warranted a second look to see where we're now and where we're going. Dynamic queries are now possible to popular relational data sources The extended support makes it possible to execute SQL queries or stored procedures by passing parameters based on the user selection. I attach a sample pbix file that demonstrates this scenario. It calls a stored procedure uspGetManagerEmployeesTL in the AdventureWorks2021 database. The stored procedure is a slightly enhanced version of the original uspGetManagerEmployees sp included with AdventureWorks because I wanted to experiment with different scenarios around data security. The idea is to execute the stored procedure...
Azure Data Engineer Badge Acquired

February 5, 2022 / No Comments »

Just passed the Microsoft DP-203 exam and added yet another badge to my certification portfolio. This certification is one of the requirements for partners to maintain Microsoft Gold Data Analytics Competency, so I'm glad to take this off my list.
Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on February 7th

January 26, 2022 / No Comments »

Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, February 7th, at 6:30 PM ET. Your humble correspondent will show you different techniques to implement scorecards with Power BI. For more details and sign up, visit our group page. Download the presentation assets here. Presentation: Implementing Scorecards Date: February 7th Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET Place: Click here to join the meeting Overview: Join this session to learn how to create scorecards measuring strategic objectives with Power BI. We'll start by introducing you to balanced scorecards and KPIs. Then, I'll compare different ways to assemble scorecards, including: · Conditional formatting · Analysis Services KPI · Power BI Goals Demos will make it all clear. As a bonus, you'll learn some black-belt modeling techniques, such as using Tabular Editor where Power BI Desktop falls short. Speaker: Teo Lachev is a consultant, author,...
DirectQuery Performance Progression

January 12, 2022 / No Comments »

So much data, so little budget! Caching data in Power BI gives you the best report performance, but budget constraints usually put downward pressure to stay within lower Power BI Premium premium plans. So, what to do? Split large models. Remember that Power BI Premium Gen2 grants each dataset a 25 GB memory quota. I'm actually a big proponent for consolidated organizational semantic models, but this is where best practices meet reality. Switch large tables to DirectQuery. When report performance sucks, follow this performance optimization progression: Add a columnstore index to the fact table – As VertiPaq, a columnstore index organizes data in columns so aggregate queries should see an immediate performance boost. Detail-level queries, e.g. sales by customer, not so much as they probably won't hit the index. Try hybrid tables when you can get away with a compromise where the latest data can be cached, but archive data...
Azure Learning Path

January 10, 2022 / No Comments »

I'm preparing for the new Azure Data Engineer exam, which is one of options to maintain a Gold Certification for Data Analytics for MS partners that has to be renewed annually. I'm really impressed by the Azure Learning Path self-paced environment that Microsoft put together. The training material is top-notch, and I actually learn some practical and useful stuff from the covered topics on ADLS, ADF, Synapse, etc. And you can even practice in an Azure sandbox environment that Microsoft sets up and tears down for you! It's clear that tremendous effort has gone into setting this online and free learning option. No excuse to not certify anymore … Check it out the online learning option for exam DP-203 at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-data-engineer/.
Applied Power BI Book (7th Edition)

January 2, 2022 / No Comments »

Happy New Year! I'm excited to announce the availability of the seventh edition of my Applied Microsoft Power BI book! When the first edition was published in January 2016, it was the first Power BI book at that time and it had less than 300 pages. Since then, I helped many companies adopt or transition to Power BI and taught hundreds of students. It's been a great experience to witness the momentum surrounding Power BI and how the tool has matured over time. As a result, the book also got thicker and doubled in size. However, I believe what's more important is that this book provides systematic, yet dependent, view by showing what Power BI can do for four types of users (business users, analysts, pros, and developers). For the first time, the book features a Kindle PDF (Amazon Print Replica) ebook version which replaces the Kindle native "reflow" format...
Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on January 3rd

December 27, 2021 / No Comments »

Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, January 3rd, at 6:30 PM ET. Paul Turley will show us how to integrate Power BI with paginated (SSRS) reports. And your humble correspondent will update you on the Power BI latest. For more details and sign up, visit our group page. Presentation: Power BI Paginated Reports: The New Old Operational Reporting Platform Date: January 3rd Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM ET Place: Click here to join the meeting Overview: Power BI Paginated Reports (aka SQL Server Reporting Services) was old but now it's new again. Available on-premises or in the Power BI service with flexible licensing, you have multiple options to implement operational reports. This session will briefly cover the differences between analytic and operational reports; and help you understand the advantages and trade-offs using Power BI Paginated Reports, Power BI Report...