Primer on Power BI
Mark Tabladillo, PhD, MVP
Senior Data Scientist
Predictix / LogicBlox
June 3, 2015

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SQL Server MVP
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@MarkTabNet

The World of Data is Changing

Process
Efficiency
Cost
Reduction
Bringing Big Data
to ONE BILLION
people
Develop
New Business
Models

1 in 4 enterprise customers on Office 3651 Billion Office Users
Analyze Visualize Share Find
Q&A
MobileDiscover
Scalable | Manageable | Trusted
Self-service BI with the familiarity of Office and the power of the service

Distribution Options
Cloud
Hybrid
On-premise

MarkTab Analysis

Outline
◾What makes Power BI different from the Microsoft Office I have known for years?
◾What are the major Power BI features in Excel 2013 and 2010?
◾What are the major features for Power BI for Office 365?
◾How can our team license Power BI?

How is Power BI
Different

Major Power BI
Features in Excel
Excel 2010 and Excel 2013

Major Power BI Features in Excel
Power Query
Power Pivot
Power View
Power Map

Discover
Analyze
Visualize
Explore
Analyzing data with Excel

Connectors

Why Power Query?
Enables self-service data discovery, query, transformation and mashup experiences in Excel
Discovery and connectivity to a wide range of data sources, including publicly
available data of all sizes & shapes.
Highly interactive and intuitive experience for rapidly and iteratively building queries
over any data source, any size.
Consistency of experience, and parity of query capabilities over all data sources.
Joins across different data sources; ability to create custom views over data that can
then be shared with team/department.

Syntax for a Simple Query
SELECT Orders.OrderDate, Products.OrderID, Products.ProductSKU
FROM Products
INNER JOIN Orders ON Products.OrderID = Orders.OrderID
ORDER BY Products.ProductSKU
from p in Products
join o in Orders on p.OrderID equals o.OrderID
orderby p.ProductSKU
select new { o.OrderDate, p.OrderID, p.ProductSKU }
Products.Join(Orders, Products,
o => o.OrderID, p => p.OrderID,
(p, o) => new { o.OrderDate, p.OrderID, p.ProductSKU }
).OrderBy( p => p.ProductSKU )
let
Joined = Table.Join( Products, "OrderID", Orders, "OrderID" ),
Columns = Table.SelectColumns(Joined, {"OrderDate", "OrderID", "ProductSKU"}),
Sorted = Table.Sort( Columns, "ProductSKU" ),
in
Sorted

Query Folding
Power Query pushes work back to the source system whenever it can.
SELECT ProductKey, EnglishProductName as [Product]
FROM [dbo].[DimProduct]
WHERE [ProductKey] < 10

Analyzing data with Excel
Discover
Analyze
Visualize
Explore

BI Semantic Model

Analyzing data with Excel
Discover
Analyze
Visualize
Explore

Analyzing data with Excel
Discover
Analyze
Visualize
Explore

2
2
Power Map – Geospatial Capabilities
Pros
 Bubble Maps, Column Maps, Region Maps and HeatMaps
 Interactive and time-play axis
 Ability to create and share visual tours
 Ability to add multiple layers
 Storytelling tool, not just visualization
Cons
 Unable to filter data
 Unable to drill-down (though can switch between layers)
 Unable to customize or add custom shapes
 Unable to handle hierarchies

Power BI and Excel 2010
Software Solution
Power Pivot A version one of Power Pivot is available for Excel 2010. Microsoft’s website provides video, demos, and hands-on
labs to try out the software.
Opening up an Excel 2010 Power Pivot workbook in Excel 2013 requires an irreversible upgrade (meaning that
collaboration between Excel 2010 and Excel 2013 users is not possible – pick one version or the other). There are
some technical details involved in upgrading, which you can study by clicking this link.
Power Map Power Map is not available for Excel 2010.
Versions of Excel previous to 2002 had a native map feature. Though, advanced Excel users will know about
Microsoft MapPoint, which has gone through nineteen versions since its debut. Sadly, MapPoint is being
discontinued as of December 31, 2014. You might be able to obtain a copy now, or through some MSDN
subscriptions.
Power Query Power Query is available for Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus with Software Assurance. There are two
versions, one for 32-bit (x86) and one for 64-bit (x64).
Power View Power View is not available for Excel 2010.

Major Power BI
Features O365

A powerful new way to work with data
Self-service business intelligence with familiar Excel and the power of the cloud

Sample Architecture
SQL Server Warehouse
(Issues IS)
Active Directory
(People)
Azure Information
(Data Centers)
Power BI for Office 365
Corporate
Data Catalogue
Admin
Center
Manage Data
Portal
SPO team sites, BI
Sites, Q&A
Data Management Gateway
APS Warehouse
(Issues BI)

Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions
Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365

Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions
Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365

Power BI
for Office 365
Data Management Gateway
Installed on-premises
Workbook
Cloud
On Premise
Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365
Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions

Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365
Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions
Search for:
• Public Data
• Corporate Data
• Shared Queries

Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365
Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions

Share & collaborate with Power BI for Office 365
Shared Queries
Data Refresh
Data Search
Mobile Access
BI Sites
Natural Language
Questions

Sample Working Architecture
O365 Power BI
Corporate Data
Sources
IT Admin
Data Management
Gateway
Corporate
Data Catalog
Power BI
Admin Center
Data Management
Portal
SPO team sites,
BI Sites, Q&A
Cloud Data
Sources
Public
Data Catalog
Data Steward IW
(Author)
IW
(Consumer)
Manage Data
Publish raw
data sources
or expose
them as
OData feeds
Publish queries
Data Refresh
Data Refresh
Power Query
Power Pivot
Power View
Power Map
Publish reports &
create featured
questions, configure
scheduled refresh
Import data,
Publish queries
Excel,
Tablet/Mobile,
Browser –
Silverlight,
HTML5
Consume interactive
reports, ask questions
Configure
Import Data
Import Data
Import Data
Import Data
Public Cloud
Data Sources
Index

Licensing Power BI

MarkTab Recommendation
•Office 2010Possible
•Office 2013 x64Recommended

Free Microsoft Software
For Students https://www.dreamspark.com/
For Startups http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

Recommended Links
Free eBooks http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2014/07/07/largest-
collection-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-ever-including-windows-8-1-windows-8-
windows-7-office-2013-office-365-office-2010-sharepoint-2013-dynamics-crm-
powershell-exchange-server-lync-2013-system-center-azure-cloud-sql.aspx
Documentation http://msdn.Microsoft.com
Channel 9 Videos http://channel9.msdn.com/Search?term=power%20bi#ch9Search
PASS http://sqlpass.org
MarkTab Blog http://marktab.net

Connect with MarkTab
LinkedIn
Twitter @marktabnet

Appendix
Cool stuff

Books
Collie, R. (2012). DAX Formulas for PowerPivot: A Simple Guide to the Excel Revolution: Holy
Macro! Books.
de Jonge, K. (2014). Dashboarding and Reporting with Power Pivot and Excel: How to Design
and Create a Financial Dashboard with PowerPivot – End to End: Holy Macro! Books.
Ferrari, A., & Russo, M. (2013). Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot:
Microsoft Press.
Jelen, B., & Collie, R. (2014). PowerPivot Alchemy: Patterns and Techniques for Excel: Holy
Macro! Books.
Larson, B., Davis, M., English, D., & Purington, P. (2012). Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power
View: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media.
Webb, C. (2014). Power Query for Power BI and Excel: Apress.