This demo heavy presentation was shared at Toronto's Global Azure Bootcamp highlighting the best practices and capabilities in Power BI around both consumption and data source planning/connectivity.

1. #AZUREBOOTCAMP
Analyzing & Visualizing
Cloud Data With Power BI
Presented By : Richard Harbridge (@Rharbridge)

2. RICHARD
HARBRIDGE
My twitter handle is @RHarbridge, blog is http://RHarbridge.com, and I work at
SPEAKER | AUTHOR | SUPER FRIENDLY

3. As an example we help organizations plan, and deploy Power BI at an enterprise
level. Helping build a data driven culture and maximize the value of power BI.
BI CENTER OF
EXCELLENCE… Gather Key Requirements
Identify Power Users
Self-Service Training
Share “Best Practices”
Share Samples & Standards
Track Progress
Share Usage Insights
Track Requests & Authorization
Improve Visibility Of Data
Reduce Redundancy
Better Navigation

4. RICHARD
HARBRIDGE
My twitter handle is @RHarbridge, blog is http://RHarbridge.com, and I work at
SPEAKER | AUTHOR | SUPER FRIENDLY

5. Power BI connects to data sources and provides consumption options for users.
THE BIG
PICTURE…
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consume
Consumption
by end users

6. We will discuss key consumption capabilities, how they are often used, and best
practices around them. We will then discuss how to work with cloud data sources.
TODAY’S
FOCUS…
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consumption
by end users

7. 1. Power BI Consumption Planning
WHAT WE WILL TALK ABOUT TODAY…
2. Power BI Data Source Planning
3. Next Steps

8. Power BI connects to data sources and provides many powerful
consumption options for users.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consume
Consumption
by end users

9. There are multiple approaches to consuming data via Power BI.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
Power BI portal
(reports, Q&A,
quick insights)
Mobile apps
Embedded in apps
using APIs
Ad-hoc analysis
with Analyze in
Excel
Data alerts
Export static views
to PowerPoint or
print
Email subscriptions

10. There are multiple approaches to consuming data via Power BI.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
Power BI portal
(reports, Q&A,
quick insights)
Mobile apps
Embedded in apps
using APIs
Ad-hoc analysis
with Analyze in
Excel
Data alerts
Export static views
to PowerPoint or
print
Email subscriptions

11. Within the Power BI service between reports, dashboards, Insights, Q&A and
more there is a tremendous amount of capability available today.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

12. There are multiple approaches to consuming data via Power BI.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
Power BI portal
(reports, Q&A,
quick insights)
Mobile apps
Embedded in apps
using APIs
Ad-hoc analysis
with Analyze in
Excel
Data alerts
Export static views
to PowerPoint or
print
Email subscriptions

13. Embedding options are provided by Microsoft in many of their technologies
today. Power BI is enabled in Teams to showcase key reports.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

14. It is also available within SharePoint modern sites.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

15. Don’t forget that you can also publish Power BI reports and embed them on
public sites. Check out this one: http://www.pbiusergroup.com/home
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

16. ExtendIntegrate
Access REST/JSON Services
APIs for Power BI, including
publishing content
Integrate tiles and reports
into applications
Push datasets to Power BI
Content Packs enable
instant insights over
application data.
Custom visualizations
enable data experience
tailored to each use case
https://visuals.powerbi.com
Embed
Embed Power BI into your
application
Embed Visual Analytics
powered by Power BI into
your apps
Embedding is one option, but there are other ways to consume Power BI like
the embed model.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

17. Embedding is one option, but there are other ways to consume Power BI like
the embed model.
Authentication
Use PowerBI.com
REST APIs
User licensing
Report authoring
Via PowerBI.com
Azure Active Directory
Via application, using
Power BI app tokens N/A
Users PowerBI.com
subscription
Consumption based, via Azure No
end-user license required No end-user license required
Power BI Desktop and
Power BI.com subscription
Power BI Desktop
Azure subscription
PowerBI.com subscription
and/or Power BI Desktop
Is the app exclusively used
by internal employees?
Do users need to
be authenticated?Yes Yes
No No
Use Power BI
publish to web
Use Power BI
Embedded
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

18. There are multiple approaches to consuming data via Power BI.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
Power BI portal
(reports, Q&A,
quick insights)
Mobile apps
Embedded in apps
using APIs
Ad-hoc analysis
with Analyze in
Excel
Data alerts
Export static views
to PowerPoint or
print
Email subscriptions

19. Get notified right when data changes. Integrate with Microsoft Flow.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

20. There are multiple approaches to consuming data via Power BI.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…
Power BI portal
(reports, Q&A,
quick insights)
Mobile apps
Embedded in apps
using APIs
Ad-hoc analysis
with Analyze in
Excel
Data alerts
Export static views
to PowerPoint or
print
Email subscriptions

21. E-mail subscriptions delivered after data refresh.
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

22. Power BI connects to data sources and provides many powerful
consumption options for users.
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consume
Consumption
by end users
CONSUMPTION
PLANNING…

23. 1. Power BI Consumption Planning
WHAT WE WILL TALK ABOUT TODAY…
2. Power BI Data Source Planning
3. Next Steps

24. 1. Power BI Consumption Planning
WHAT WE WILL TALK ABOUT TODAY…
2. Power BI Data Source Planning
3. Next Steps

25. Power BI connects to data sources and provides consumption options for users.
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consume
Consumption
by end users

26. There are many possible data sources for Power BI. Let’s focus on the Cloud sources
based on Azure. This is not a comprehensive list, but a good summary of key ones.
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
This is your curated and managed data layer.Azure SQL IaaS, Azure SQL
DW or Azure SQL Service
This is your semantic layer. Remove calculation development, model tasks away
from user responsibility, etc.Azure Analysis Services
This is for real-time reporting of streaming data (typically via IoT).Azure Event Hub & Stream
Analytics
This means R models can be automated and become part of the data production
process that is ultimately consumed by Power BI.
Azure Machine Learning &
Cortana Analytics
This can be especially helpful as a Analytics Sandbox where your users may not
know ahead of time the questions they would like to ask of the data.
Azure Data Lake & Azure
HDInsight
This can help users find quality data sources to use based on IT setting up the Azure
Data Catalog and users maintaining the metadata around tables and columns.
Azure Data Catalog

27. Simple
Moderate
Complex
Model size and
complexity
Active concurrent users
Data update frequency
Query latency
Number of queries
time
timetime
You need to decide how you want to model the data source for Power BI.
Consider these factors for deciding Cloud Model or External Model?
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…

28. You need to decide how you want to model the data source for Power BI.
Consider these factors for deciding Cloud Model or External Model?
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
Consider Import:
Consider Live connection to Azure Analytics Services
Consider DirectQuery

29. The import method can work well for small to medium data models with
moderate concurrent usage.
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
Consider Import:

30. This can be a great method and is often needed if scheduled refresh won’t
satisfy your needs and this scales for much larger model and user concurrency.
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
Consider Live
connection to AAS

31. Azure Analysis Services can be extremely helpful when you want to connect and
combine multiple data sources so users don’t have to access the data source.
AZURE ANALYSIS
SERVICES PLANNING…

32. Be REALLY careful here. This is the number one reason often Power BI is ‘slow’ for
real customers. This can be great, but has caveats! Use this only when needed.
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…
Consider
DirectQuery

33. Power BI connects to data sources and provides consumption options for users.
PBI Desktop
On-Premises Gateway
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Group
OneDrive
PBI Service
Datasets Reports Dashboards
Cloud data sources
Azure Analysis Services, SQL Azure, etc.
On-prem data sources
Analysis Services, SQL Server, etc.
Scheduled refresh/
Live connection/
DirectQuery
Consume
Consumption
by end users
DATA SOURCE
PLANNING…

34. 1. Power BI Consumption Planning
WHAT WE WILL TALK ABOUT TODAY…
2. Power BI Data Source Planning
3. Next Steps

35. 1. Power BI Consumption Planning
WHAT WE WILL TALK ABOUT TODAY…
2. Power BI Data Source Planning
3. Next Steps

36. From licensing, governance, security, distribution and deeper dives into
performance there is more that you should investigate and learn.
THERE IS
ALWAYS
MORE
PLANNING…
 Power BI fit and purpose planning (in your enterprise BI
technology landscape).
 SSRS and Power BI both focus on the delivery experience
for BI. It also impacts analyze and authoring (desktop, Excel,
etc.)
 External users and external sharing planning.
 Export planning.
 Content pack, solution templates, and organizational planning.
 On-premises data planning (gateway, etc.).
 Integration and embed planning.
 Mobility planning.
 IT Led: Seeded Dashboards, Workspaces, connections & content
planning.
 Security and distribution planning… etc. etc. etc.

37. There are a tremendous number of tutorials, community resources and examples
that you can use to learn by getting hands on.
SO GO
LEARN
MORE!
Getting started…
• Power BI for Office 365 - Overview and Learning
• Power BI - Getting Started Guide
• Power BI - Provisioning Guide
• Power BI Known Issues
Forums and blogs…
• Power Pivot Forum
• Power BI Forum
• Power Query Forum
• Q&A Forum
• Power BI Blog
Guided learning…

38. Thank You!
Organizers,SponsorsandYouformakingthispossible.
100+AwesomePresentationsAt.. Slideshare.Net/RHarbridge
300+PagesOfWhitepapersAt.. 2toLead.com/Whitepapers
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Office365Extranets.com Office365Resources.com
Message Me On LinkedIn or Email Richard@2toLead.com
SPEAKER | AUTHOR | SUPER FRIENDLY
Twitter: @RHarbridge. More to come on our blog at http://2toLead.com.