Posts

Showing posts from August, 2018

Business Analytics and Visualization

Image
It has been a while since I posted a blog article.  Things have been busy and unfortunately my blog has suffered.  Not only have I been busy working in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform arena, but I have also been teaching at a local university.  This past semester I taught Business Analytics and Visualization.  It was a fun course to teach and I was able to introduce business students to the power of analytics using both Power BI and Tableau.  The text for the course was Introduction to Business Analytics, 1 st Edition by Vernon Richardson & Marci Watson.  The text did a great job of covering the types of analytics and the mindset and approach you should follow as a business analyst.  I recently used some of this material in a presentation at an FPnA conference, and it was well received, so I thought I would put the thoughts together here for everyone to read. In today's data-driven world, the ability to transform raw data into meanin...

An easy way to create backgrounds for Power BI

Image
Trying to make your Power BI reports look nice can sometimes be a struggle.  Do you put a box around a visual?  What about shading in the background?  Maybe you want a header or some lines to break up the page.  Well you can certainly create boxes, lines and shading all within Power BI, but they become objects that people might click on and they are hard to line up and keep from moving, so there must be a better way. One feature in Power BI is the support for background images. When I first saw this option, I thought it was more for putting a watermark behind the report. However once I did some research and played with it, I discovered that I could really use it to create a great page layout. Now first thing to keep in mind, I am an accountant and not a graphic designer, so I need an easy way to create.the.backgrounds. That is where another Power product comes in. No not PowerApps, but PowerPoint. Wait, PowerPoint is for creating slide shows, not gra...

USERELATIONSHIP in DAX

Image
A common problem many users face it the fact that there are multiple date fields in their tables, and when they want to use a date dimension, Power BI only allows for on active relationship between the two tables. For example, I have a dimension table from my leasing software that included information on each lease including the commencement date of the lease and the expiration date of the lease.   In Power BI when I use a separate date dimension (which I always recommend for many different reasons), I can only link the dimension table to date table with one active relationship.    See screen shot below. Since most of my visualizations will be based on the Commencement Date, I will make that the active relationship.   However, I would like to create a visualization showing my leases by expiration date.   In order to do this, I have a couple options. 1.        I could create a second date dimension table in my...

Join Your Power BI Peers at the 2018 Power BI World Tour

Image
The Power BI World Tour is back for 2018! I am excited to be participating again this year. Join your local SMEs, MVPs, and peers at these value packed two-day events in eight cities between August and November. Registration is open – secure your seat today! Whether you are local to the area, traveling from near or faraway, the Power BI World Tour will provide exclusive learning and networking opportunities. Don't miss the opportunity to get involved in one or more of these amazing event locations: Melbourne | Sydney | Charlotte | Copenhagen | Seattle | Dubai | Montreal | Dallas Boost your expertise and company operations for years to come. Each location will feature a General Session presentation by Microsoft and 24+ breakout sessions across 3 learning tracks designed for the Power BI Analyst, Developer/IT Administrator, and New Professional. One attendee last year raved, “the different speakers provided great and varied content. [I] loved the di...