Posts filed under Topics & Discussion

(Livestream Replay) Implementing Proper Version Control in Power BI! - with Steve Campbell

In this session, we will explore different techniques for version control in Power BI. This is an important concept in software development, often overlooked by business users. We will explore options for different size models, thin report files and advantages of different techniques.

  • What is git, DevOps and version control?

  • Learn how multiple users can work on shared files

  • Learn how to safely edit files, see versions and changes or roll back changes if something goes wrong

  • Explore Microsoft recommendations, different options and their pros, cons and price

GUEST BIO (STEVE CAMPBELL) 📄

For my job, I lead the Power BI team for Cognizant MBG in the UK. Outside of this I love to blog on PowerBI.tips, present at conferences and webinars, and co-run the Brew City Power Platform user group. I love learning about data and sharing what I’ve learned. I also used to teach Power BI at the university in Milwaukee. I’m a Data Platform MVP and an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) – it’s a fantastic community and I recommend being a part of it!

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(Livestream Replay) Semantics of DAX Queries & Caveats to Composite Models - with Jeffrey Wang

The popularity of Power BI has increased dramatically in the past few years. I am seeing an increasing number of enterprise customers who built complex composite models combining import tables with DirectQuery tables. Many users have asked questions on how DAX queries and measures are translated into remote SQL/MDX/DAX queries. To the surprise of a lot of people who have a SQL background, the semantics of DAX queries is very different from that of SQL queries even though both are used to produce the right data for the same visualizations. I am going to explain why the semantics of DAX queries poses unique challenges to DAX engine and how the latter employs myriads of optimizations to deliver good query performance in common scenarios. I am also going to explain how the semantics of DAX queries complicates query generations for composite models, demonstrate some of the issues most frequently encountered by the composite model users, and describe design principles to avoid the pitfalls.

GUEST BIO 📄

Jeffrey joined Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services team in 2004 and contributed to the revolutionary transformation of Microsoft BI from multi-dimensional model and MDX language to tabular model and DAX language. He was one of the inventors of the DAX programming language in 2009 and have been driving the evolution of the DAX language ever since. Currently he is an engineering manager focusing on the development of DAX engine, query optimizer, DirectQuery, composite models, etc. Right now his team is putting the finishing touches on the GA of DirectQuery to PowerBI datasets.

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(Livestream Replay) Let's Talk About Data Culture - with Matthew Roche

Choosing the right data and BI tools is important, but it’s just part of the picture. To get the most from Power BI or any modern self-service BI tool you need more people working with more of the right data, more often. You need a data culture! Matthew Roche from the Power BI CAT team has spent the past three years working with enterprise organizations around the world, learning what works and what doesn’t work. Matthew will introduce the Power BI Adoption Roadmap, a new set of guidance from the Power BI team, and will discuss steps that any organization can take to become more data-driven.

GUEST BIO 📄

Matthew Roche is a Principal Program Manager in Microsoft’s Cloud + AI Group, where he focuses on business intelligence, enterprise information management, metadata, and data warehousing. \

Matthew is currently a member of the Power BI CAT team, where he was saddened to learn that there were not actually any cats. Previously he has worked on Azure Data Catalog, SQL Server Integration Services, Master Data Services, and Data Quality Services. Before joining Microsoft, he worked as an architect, consultant, and trainer focusing on ETL, data warehousing, and business intelligence.

When he’s not enabling the world to get more value from its data, Matthew enjoys kittens, baking, heavy metal, and competitive longsword combat.

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(Livestream Replay) Getting to know Power BI Template Apps (AppSource) - with Teddy Bercovitz

Getting started with Power BI can be as easy as installing a template app, we will review the (AppSource) marketplace what you can find the installation experience of template apps for end users. Power BI authors will find ways to leverage template apps as a proxy model to dataset, why you should always check out the marketplace before starting from scratch and how template apps can be a way to share a protected pbix with other users.

GUEST BIO 📄

Principal Program Manager, Power BI template apps & Power Apps solutions Teddy Bercovitz has held various engineering and product management roles for the past 15 years. Teddy is part of Power BI’s developer group focused on building extensibility stories with 3rd party marketplace offerings driving success to Microsoft's partners.

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Video Shown at End of Livestream