Preface
Microsoft Power BI is a leading business intelligence and analytics platform that supports both self-service data visualization and exploration as well as enterprise BI deployments. Power BI consists of cloud services, mobile applications, a data modeling and report authoring application, and other utilities, including the On-premises data gateway. Additionally, organizations can deploy Power BI reports on-premise via the Power BI Report Server and scale their deployments with Power BI Premium capacity and Analysis Services.
This book provides an end-to-end analysis of Power BI tools and features, from planning a Power BI project to distributing Power BI apps to large groups of users. You'll be familiarized with all the fundamental concepts and see how Power BI datasets, reports, and dashboards can be designed to deliver insights and rich, interactive experiences. You'll also become knowledgeable about management and administration topics such as the allocation of Power BI Premium capacities, Azure Active Directory security groups, conditional access policies, and staged deployments of Power BI content. This book will encourage you to take advantage of these powerful features and follow thoughtful, consistent practices in deploying Power BI for your organization.
Who this book is for
This book is intended for business intelligence professionals responsible for either the development of Power BI solutions or the management and administration of a Power BI deployment. BI developers can use this as a reference guide to features and techniques to enhance their solutions. Likewise, BI managers interested in a broad conceptual understanding, as well as processes and practices to inform their delivery of Power BI, will find this a useful resource. Experience of creating content on Power BI Desktop and sharing content on the Power BI service will be helpful.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Planning Power BI Projects, discusses alternative deployment modes for Power BI, team and project roles, and licensing. Additionally, an example project template and its corresponding planning and dataset design processes are described.
Chapter 2, Connecting to Sources and Transforming Data with M, depicts the data access layer supporting a Power BI dataset, including data sources and fact and dimension table queries. Concepts of the Power Query M language, such as query folding and parameters, are explained and examples of custom M queries involving conditional and dynamic logic are given.
Chapter 3, Designing Import and DirectQuery Data Models, reviews the components of the data model layer and design techniques in support of usability, performance, and other objectives. These topics include relationship cross-filtering, custom sort orders, hierarchies, and metadata.
Chapter 4, Developing DAX Measures and Security Roles, covers the implementation of analysis expressions reflecting business definitions and common analysis requirements. Primary DAX functions, concepts, and use cases such as date intelligence, row-level security roles, and performance testing are examined.
Chapter 5, Creating and Formatting Power BI Reports, describes a report planning process, data visualization practices, and report design fundamentals, including visual selection and filter scopes. Top report development features, such as slicer visuals, tool tips, and conditional formatting are also reviewed.
Chapter 6, Applying Custom Visuals, Animation, and Analytics, examines powerful interactive and analytical features, including drillthrough report pages, bookmarks, the Analytics pane, ArcGIS Maps, and the waterfall charts. Additionally, examples of custom visuals, such as the Power KPI, and the capabilities of animation to support data storytelling are provided.
Chapter 7, Designing Power BI Dashboards and Architectures, provides guidance on visual selection, layout, and supporting tiles to drive effective dashboards. Alternative multi-dashboard architectures, such as an organizational dashboard architecture, are reviewed, is the configuration of dashboard tiles and mobile optimized dashboards.
Chapter 8, Managing Application Workspaces and Content, features the role and administration of app workspaces in the context of Power BI solutions and staged deployments. Additionally, the Power BI REST API, content management features, and practices are reviewed, including field descriptions and version history.
Chapter 9, Managing the On-Premises Data Gateway, covers top gateway planning considerations, including alternative gateway architectures, workloads, and hardware requirements. Gateway administration processes and tools are described, such as the manage gateways portal, gateway log files, and PowerShell Gateway commands.
Chapter 10, Deploying the Power BI Report Server, contrasts the Power BI Report Server with the Power BI cloud service and provides guidance on deployment topics such as licensing, reference topology, configuration, administration, and upgrade cycles.
Chapter 11, Creating Power BI Apps and Content Distribution, walks through the process of publishing and updating apps for groups of users. Additionally, other common distribution methods are covered, such as the sharing of reports and dashboards, email subscriptions, data-alert-driven emails, and embedding Power BI content in SharePoint Online.
Chapter 12, Administering Power BI for an Organization, highlights data governance for self-service and corporate BI, Azure Active Directory features such as Conditional Access Policies, and the Power BI admin portal. Details are provided about configuring Power BI service tenant settings, managing Power BI Premium capacities, and the tools available to monitor Power BI activities.
Chapter 13, Scaling with Premium and Analysis Services, reviews the capabilities of Power BI Premium and alternative methods for allocating premium capacity. Additionally, Power BI datasets are contrasted with Analysis Services models, Azure Analysis Services is contrasted with SQL Server Analysis Services, and the migration of a Power BI dataset to an Analysis Services model is described.
To get the most out of this book
A Power BI Pro license and access to the Power BI service is necessary to follow many of the topics and examples in this book. The assignment of the Power BI Service Administrator role within the Office 365 admin center, as well as administrative access to an On-premises data gateway, would also be helpful for the second half of this book. It's assumed that readers are familiar with the main user interfaces of Power BI Desktop and have some background in business intelligence or information technology.
The primary data source for the examples in this book was the AdventureWorks data warehouse sample database for SQL Server 2016 CTP3. A SQL Server 2017 Developer Edition database engine instance was used to host the sample database. For the import mode dataset, an Excel workbook stored the sales plan data. For the DirectQuery dataset, the sales plan data was stored in the sample SQL Server database.
Note
The AdventureWorksDW2016CTP3 sample database can be downloaded from the following URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49502. Editions of SQL Server 2017 are available for download from the following URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads.
The Power BI Desktop files and specific queries and scripts utilized in the book are included in the code bundle. However, the source data and database are not included in the code bundle. Additionally, the database used by the book contains objects not included in the downloadable sample database, such as SQL views for each fact and dimension table. Therefore, even with access to a SQL Server 2017 database engine instance and the sample AdventureWorks data warehouse database, the examples in the book cannot be completely reproduced.
Download the example code files
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Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "Mount the downloaded WebStorm-10*.dmg disk image file as another disk in your system."
A block of code is set as follows:
SELECT P.ProductKey as 'Product Key' , P.ProductAlternateKey as 'Product Alternate Key' , P.EnglishProductName AS 'Product Name' , ISNULL(S.EnglishProductSubcategoryName, 'Undefined') 'Product Subcategory'
When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
Internet Sales Amount (Import) =
SUMX('Internet Sales','Internet Sales'[Order Quantity]*'Internet
Sales'[Unit Price])
Internet Sales Amount (DirectQuery) =
SUM('Internet Sales'[Sales Amount])Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Select System info from the Administration panel."
Note
Warnings or important notes appear like this.
Note
Tips and tricks appear like this.
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