PowerBI

Aveek Das
Managing the Data Gateway

Setting up Power BI Data Gateway

March 19, 2020 by

In this article, I’m going to explain what a Power BI Data Gateway is and how to set it up. I’ll also cover the underlying architecture that the gateway uses and how to manage on-premise data using the Data Gateway.

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Aveek Das
Conditional Formatting in Power BI Applied

Conditional formatting in Power BI

March 18, 2020 by

In this article, I’m going to explain what conditional formatting in Power BI is. Conditional formatting, as the name suggests, is a way of visualizing data that applies special format rules based on some pre-defined conditions on the values of a selected metric. It is mostly used when the data is presented in a tabular format; however, it can also be used in any charts such as bar charts, line charts, etc.

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Nisarg Upadhyay
Data loaded in the Power Query editor

How to access data from Azure Blob Storage using Power BI

March 17, 2020 by

In this article, I am going to explain how we can access the data from the Azure Blob Storage using Power BI. To do that, we are going to use the below tools:

  1. Azure BLOB Storage account: We have uploaded the source CSV file to it
  2. Power Query editor: To choose the data that we want to load in the Power BI report
  3. Power BI Desktop: To view the data imported from the CSV file
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Aveek Das
Changing the Data Type

How to sort months chronologically in Power BI

March 16, 2020 by

In this article, I’m going to demonstrate how to sort months chronologically in Power BI. Visualizing sales data in a time period is one of the most influential ways of reporting. Often, at times it is essential that you design charts that show the trend or growth of a metric over time. The time period can be anything for example days, weeks, months, or years. It basically gives you the idea of how the metric has increased or decreased over the specific period.

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Ben Richardson
Selecting the split column option

Getting started with Query Editor in Power BI Desktop

March 3, 2020 by

Power BI is a data analytics tool developed by Microsoft used to visualize data and find useful insights. In this article, you will see how to work with the Query Editor in Power BI desktop. Power BI comes in various versions, i.e., Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Power BI Mobile, and Power BI Developer. Power BI desktop is the free version, and the query editor is available in all three versions.

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Sifiso Ndlovu
Data imported using Custom SQL Statement.

Monitor batch statements of the Get Data feature in Power BI using SQL Server extended events

July 1, 2019 by

One shared characteristic among popular data visualization tools such as Power BI is the ease at which data can be extracted from a variety of disparate data sources, usually at a click of a button, as shown in Figure 1. Such convenience, though, tends to come at a cost as you often have little control over how background scripts used to extract data are generated. Yet, this should be of utmost concern for data architects and BI developers alike as rarely do you find auto-generated scripts that are efficient and optimal. In this article, join me as I put on my DBA hat and trace, monitor and review SQL batch statements that are auto-generated by the Get Data feature in Power BI using SQL Server Extended Events.

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Sifiso Ndlovu
Choose the Power BI Dashboard you want to add

Using Power BI Free License to Embed Power BI into Dynamics 365

May 24, 2019 by

Whilst Power BI continues to be the leading data visualisation tool in Gartner’s BI quadrant, Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement (formerly Dynamics CRM) remains one of popular business platforms for driving sales and facilitating customer communications. Thus, an integration of Power BI into Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement ensures that you get to explore your Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement data via a powerful and rich data visualisation tool. However, as indicated in Figure 1, Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement plans often come with a Power BI free license thereby limiting the type of Power BI features available to you. In this article, we look at how you can get the best out of your Power BI free license for the purposes of embedding Power BI artefacts into Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement. Going forward, any references to Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement plan in this article will be shortened to Dynamics 365.

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Rajendra Gupta
Selecting the Pie Charts Tree in thhe Power BI application marketplace

Power BI Desktop Pie Chart Tree

February 27, 2019 by

Power BI Desktop amplifies the value of data. We can connect to multiple data sources and visualize the data interactively. One of the best parts of Power BI Desktop is the custom visual feature. It allows developers to create custom visuals and users can then download these visuals from the marketplace and use it as per the data set requirements. We can prepare reports using Power BI Desktop and share the reports using the Power BI service.

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Rajendra Gupta

Power BI Desktop and Python; like Peanut Butter and Chocolate

February 13, 2019 by

Power BI Desktop helps to visualize complex data with the help of inbuilt and custom visualizations. It allows integrating data from the various data sources and preparing visualization from it.

Microsoft recently integrated the Python programming language in the Power BI. Python is a powerful object-oriented language and is used by the data analyst and scientist to analyze complex datasets. We can now use the Python as a preview feature in the Power BI August 2018 release onwards. We can now use Python scripts to generate custom visualization. The combination of these technologies is akin to 1 + 1 = 3 or like the famous ad for Reese’s Peanut butter cups, when chocolate was introduced to Peanut Butter 😉

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Rajendra Gupta

Power BI Desktop Q&A data interaction examples

January 3, 2019 by

The Q&A feature in Power BI desktop provides a way to move towards Artificial Intelligence. In my previous article, we learned about the prominent Q&A in Power BI Desktop feature. We can get the desired result from Power BI Desktop by asking a question in Natural language. It converts the result set in tabular, chart format based on the requirement. It also helps users to build the question with its intelligence. It is one of the most incredible features of Power BI.

Rajendra Gupta

Flow Map Chart in Power BI Desktop

December 19, 2018 by

In this article, we will explore the Flow Map chart in Power BI Desktop. Power BI is helpful to visualize the data through various form of the inbuilt and the custom charts. We have explored few such important charts in previous articles. Below is the list of articles for reference

Sifiso Ndlovu

How to Programmatically Pass Credentials in an Embedded Power BI Report

November 20, 2018 by

In the article, How to embed a Power BI Report Server report into an ASP.Net web application, we looked at available options for embedding a Power BI Report Server report into an ASP.NET web application. Since the publication of the article, I have received several questions relating to how one goes about programmatically passing credentials for report server connection within an embedded Power BI Report Server report. The simple answer to such questions is that it is currently not possible to implement user impersonation in an embedded Power BI Report Server. However, like in most scenarios, there are workarounds that one could temporarily employ – at least until Microsoft comes up with a permanent solution to what is becoming a top requested feature at ideas.powerbi.com.

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Istvan Martinka

CDS for apps in the [POWER WORLD]

November 19, 2018 by

Executive Summary

CDS for Apps VS Power Query – is there a difference? If so, what is that difference? Are they mutually exclusive or complement each other? Later I briefly outline Common Data Services for Analytics no, Power BI Datapools no again, actually Power BI Data Flows. It is difficult to keep up with the correct naming.

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