1.
San Francisco Power BI User Group
Delivering Real-Time
Power BI Dashboards
Peter Myers
1 June, 2017

2.
Presenter introduction
Peter Myers
 Independent BI Expert, Bitwise Solutions
 BBus, SQL Server MCSE, Data Platform MVP (since 2007)
 Experienced in designing, developing and maintaining
Microsoft database and application solutions (since 1997)
 Focuses on consulting, education and mentoring
 Based in Melbourne, Australia
peter.myers@bitwisesolutions.com.au
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjsmyers

3.
Presentation outline
Power BI overview
Real-time for business analysts
Real-time for developers
Real-time for IT pros
Summary

4.
Power BI overview
 A new generation of BI
 Introducing Microsoft Power BI
 Power BI overview

5.
Everyone
3rd wave
End user BI
A new generation of BI
Today, BI extends to everyone
Analyst to end user
2nd wave
Self-service BI
IT to end user
1st wave
Technical BI

6.
A new generation of BI
Turning data into business insights is challenging
Common BI challenges include…
Multiple data sources Data residing in SaaS solutions, and other external
locations, is difficult to access and refresh securely
End-to-end view Data often resides in disparate locations, making it difficult
to see a complete picture of your business
Right data for the right
users at the right time
Different roles have different needs, and business users
need the latest operational data

7.
Introducing Microsoft Power BI
Experience your data. Any data, any way, anywhere.
Power BI is a cloud-based business analytics service*
Power BI

8.
Power BI overview
Power BI REST APIPower BI Desktop
Prepare Explore ShareReport
SaaS solutions
E.g. Marketo, Salesforce, GitHub,
Google analytics
On-premises data
E.g. Analysis Services
Organizational content packs
Corporate data sources, or external
data services
Azure services
E.g. Azure SQL, Stream Analytics
Excel files
Workbook data and data models
Power BI Desktop files
Related data from files, databases,
Azure, and other sources
Data refresh
Visualizations
Live dashboards
Content packs Sharing & collaborationNatural language query
Reports
Datasets01001
10101

9.
Power BI dashboards
Adding dashboard tiles
Upload dataset to create “drillthrough” tile
Pin report visual
Pin live report page
Pin Q&A response
Quick Insights
Pin Excel chart or range
Pin SSRS visual
Add widget (text, video, image, web)
Add streaming tile
Add iPhone image
Pin from other dashboard

10.
Power BI dashboards
Adding dashboard tiles
Upload dataset to create “drillthrough” tile
Pin report visual
Pin live report page
Pin Q&A response
Quick Insights
Pin Excel chart or range
Pin SSRS visual
Add widget (text, video, image, web)
Add streaming tile
Add iPhone image
Pin from other dashboard
Tiles
Report
Cloud Model
Live
Connection
SSRS
Q&A and
Quick Insight
Excel
Charts and
Visuals
Ranges
Widget
Text
Video and
Images
Web
Streaming

11.
Power BI datasets
Real-time updates
Power BI can deliver real-time dashboards
Dashboard tiles reflect up-to-date values when
based on certain types of dataset
Three types:
 Push datasets (store data)
 Streaming datasets (display latest data)
 PubNub streaming datasets (display PubNub data streams)

12.
Power BI dashboards
Adding dashboard tiles
Upload dataset to create “drillthrough” tile
Pin report visual
Pin live report page
Pin Q&A response
Quick Insights
Pin Excel chart or range
Pin SSRS visual
Add widget (text, video, image, web)
Add streaming tile
Add iPhone image
Pin from other dashboard
Tiles
Report
Cloud Model
Live
Connection
SSRS
Q&A and
Quick Insight
Excel
Charts and
Visuals
Ranges
Widget
Text
Video and
Images
Web
Streaming

13.
Power BI data presentation
Dashboards vs. Reports
Dashboards
 Intended for monitoring
 “Single pane of glass”
 Tiles can come from many datasets
 No filtering
 Can embed dashboards or tiles
 Tiles automatically update when dataset is
refreshed
 Tiles can show real-time data
 Can navigate to source (report, question,
etc.) or a custom URL
 Can share to internal and external users
Reports
 Intended for interaction/exploration
 One more pages
 Visuals come from one dataset
 Interactive filtering and sorting
 Can embed
 Requires manual refresh, or will update
when interacting

14.
Real-time for business analysts
 Streaming datasets

15.
Streaming datasets
Pinning real-time data
Streaming datasets are designed
to display the latest data
A pure streaming dataset
 Stores data temporarily (1 hour)
 Does not require authentication
Can be configured to store
historic data
 In which case, they behave like push datasets

16.
Real-time dashboards with
streaming datasets
01

17.
Real-time for developers
 Extending Power BI
 Power BI REST API

18.
Extending Power BI
Two opportunities exist for developers to integrate,
embed and extend the Power BI experience
 Power BI REST API
 Custom visuals

19.
Power BI REST API
Use the Power BI REST API to:
 Push data directly from apps into a Power BI dataset
 Embed reports into apps
 Embed dashboard or tiles into apps

20.
Power BI REST API
Real-time delivery
Datasets can be created with defaultMode property
set to:
 Push
 Streaming
 PushStreaming
Dashboards will update in real-time as data is
pushed with the REST API

21.
Power BI REST API
Object model hierarchy
A Power BI tenant can
have multiple datasets,
which are each identified
by a GUID
A dataset can:
 Be owned by a user or a group
 Have multiple tables, which are
referenced by name
A table has multiple rows
Datasets
Tables
Power BI
workspace
Rows

22.
Power BI REST API
Authentication
An application must be registered in the Azure
Active Directory (AAD), and is required to establish
an identity for the application
 Applications are identified by their Client ID
 Permissions are delegated to the Power BI service
 REST API calls are made on behalf of an authenticated user by passing a token in
the “Authorization” header

23.
Power BI REST API
Authentication flow: Client application

24.
Power BI REST API
Authentication flow: Web application

25.
Power BI REST API
Common operations
Operation Method
List all datasets GET Returns a JSON list of all dataset objects that includes a name and dataset ID
Create a dataset POST Creates a new dataset with the schema definition that is in the JSON body,
and returns the dataset ID and the properties of the objects created
List all tables GET Returns a JSON list of tables for the specified dataset
Update an existing table schema PUT
Add rows to a table in a dataset POST
Clear the rows in a table DELETE
List all groups GET Returns a JSON list of all the groups of which the user is a member
List all dashboards GET (In preview)
List all tiles GET (In preview) Returns a JSON list of tiles for the specified dashboard.
Use this method to retrieve the embed URL.
List all reports GET (In preview) Use this method to retrieve the embed URL

26.
Power BI REST API
Example: List all datasets
Request
GET https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/datasets HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Bearer {AAD Token}
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Response
{
"datasets": [
{
"id": "2C0CCF12-A369-4985-A643-0995C249D5B9",
"name": "Music"
},
{
"id": "C446840B-94AD-4B23-8896-C276E69B8FAA",
"name": "SalesMarketing"
}
]
}

27.
Power BI REST API
Example: Add a row to a table in a dataset
Request
POST https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/datasets/2C0CCF12-A369-4985-A643-0995C249D5B9
/Tables/Product/Rows HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Bearer {AAD Token}
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
{
"rows":
[
{
"ProductID":1,
"Name":"Adjustable Race",
"Category":"Components",
"IsCompete":true,
"ManufacturedOn":"07/30/2014"
}
]
}

28.
Real-time dashboards with the
Power BI REST API
02

29.
Real-time for IT pros
 Integration with Azure services

30.
Integration with Azure services
Azure and Power BI have the built-in
connectivity and integration to bring
Business Intelligence efforts to life
Integration can be achieved without
the need to develop complex solutions:
 Direct connect:
 Azure SQL Database
 Azure SQL Data Warehouse
 Spark on Azure HDInsight
 Power BI Desktop
 Real-time dashboards with Azure Stream Analytics
HDInsight
Storage
Event
Hubs
Machine
Learning
SQL Server
Stream
Analytics
Power BI

31.
Integration with Azure services
Real-time dashboards with Azure Stream Analytics
Use Azure Stream Analytics to push live, streaming
data to Power BI
 Enables real-time dashboards at scale, over data from devices and applications
 Can stream millions of events per second
 Can perform aggregation over time windows
 Can integrate Azure Machine Learning predictions

32.
Power BI
Integration with Azure services
Real-time dashboards with Azure Stream Analytics
Azure Portal
Azure Ops Team
ML Studio
Data Professional
HDInsight
Azure Storage
Desktop Data
Azure Portal &
ML API service
Azure Ops Team
ML API service Application Developer
Mobile AppsWeb Apps Streaming
On-Prem Data
Business users easily
access results from
anywhere, on any
device

33.
Real-time dashboards with Azure
Stream Analytics
03

34.
Resources
Web
Power BI site
 http://powerbi.microsoft.com
Power BI documentation
 http://support.powerbi.com/
Power BI community
 http://community.powerbi.com/
Power BI blog
 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powerbi/

35.
Resources
Web
Power BI Developer Center
 https://powerbi.microsoft.com/developers
Power BI REST API Console
 http://docs.powerbi.apiary.io
 Test each of the REST API operations using the console interface
Azure and Power BI knowledge base
 https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/568614-azure-and-power-bi

36.
Resources
Web
Power BI Blog: Real-time in no time with Power BI
 https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/real-time-in-no-time-with-power-bi
Power BI: Real-time streaming in Power BI
 https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-service-real-time-
streaming/

37.
Resources
Training
Peter Myers provides training in SQL Server BI and Power BI
All training courses have been specifically designed to enable students to quickly
commence developing and maintaining state-of-the-art integrated Business
Intelligence (BI) solutions developed by using Microsoft products
Training courses can be delivered remotely, or in-person
SQL Server
EIM (2 days)
SQL Server
SSAS (3 days)
SQL Server
SSRS (3 days)
Power BI
and DAX (1-3 days)

38.
Questions?

39.
Thank you