Level: Beginners Today I explain when it is important to create a lookup table and when it is fine to use native columns in a data table. I have rated this topic as a beginner topic as it is a fundamental skill to learn on your journey to become a […]
Level: Beginners If you want to learn new skills using a new tool, then you simply must practice. One great way to practice is to weave the new tool into you daily problem solving. If you have something meaningful to do with the new tool, then you are much more […]
Level: Beginners I got this dreaded Dropbox email recently as shown below. I needed to clear out some of the files I have loaded in Dropbox so I didn’t have to upgrade my account. It occurred to me that I could make this process a lot easier by using Power […]
Level: Beginners I was chatting to Avi Singh the other day and we were comparing notes about the live Power Pivot training classes we both offer in Australia (me) and the USA (Avi). One thing we both have in common is that the Microsoft Excel Power Pivot Add-In CRASHES a lot during training! […]
Level: Beginners One of the great challenges Microsoft has faced with its “new” suite of Self Service BI tools (particularly Power Pivot) is that most people that could benefit from the holy trinity (Power Pivot, Power Query and Power BI) don’t even know these tools exist, let alone how the tools […]
Level: Beginners Edit: Sep 2019 I really love Power BI, and I have learnt so much over the last 12 months that sometimes it is easy to forget the challenges I had in getting started. Today I am sharing my top 10 tips on how to get started with Power […]
Level: Beginners Today Microsoft announced a great new feature that allows you to direct connect FROM Excel TO Power BI and not the other way around. This simple change really streamlines the integration experience between Excel and the Power BI Service, and makes Power BI even more like you own […]
This article is retired, but kept for posterity. The current version of this article can be found here. Level: Beginners I have learnt a lot about sharing Power BI content over the last year since Power BI hit the main stream. A lot of my learning has come from trial […]
Level: Beginners Microsoft recently announced a new conditional column feature in Power Query (Power BI Desktop version) that warrants a blog post. This feature makes the process of creating banded columns much easier for the average user. I blogged about banded columns using DAX here, and now there is this […]
Level: Beginners Edit: Sep 2019 What is Power BI? Microsoft Power BI Expert, Matt Allington, explains This ‘What is Power BI’ post is the third in my “what is” series having previously blogged about “What is Power Pivot” and “What is Power Query”. This topic is the hardest of the […]
Microsoft announced another awesome Power BI feature recently. This Power BI Analyze in Excel feature was requested by Avi Singh from PowerPivotPro.com and was heavily supported as a requirement by the community. You can read more about how you can influence future releases at the bottom of this post. But […]
Level: Beginners Edit: Sep 2019 I am still astounded by the number of people I meet that have never heard of Power Query and Power Pivot. The good news is there are lots of people out there in for a pleasant surprise. I think Power BI will solve the “lack […]
Level: Beginners All of the learning examples in my books Supercharge Power BI and Supercharge Excel are built on an Adventure Works database that has a single data table. But Power Pivot is a very capable tool for building reports that combine multiple data tables. Although it is very capable, […]
DAX Studio is a fabulous free tool that allows you to directly query your Power Pivot/Power BI data models. It is not immediately obvious (particularly to beginners) exactly how using DAX Studio can add value. This blog post today is a simple reference to help anyone that uses Power Pivot get […]
Level: Beginners In this post today I am providing a small extract from one of the chapters in my book Learn to Write DAX. It has been just over 2 months since the global release of the book. As at this time of writing, I have 6 customer reviews on […]
Level: Beginners It is now possible to share your (public) reports from PowerBI.com with anyone over the internet for free (currently a free preview), without the need to manage licencing, logins etc (see demo below). Microsoft has been promising this feature for a couple of months now and the speed […]
Level: Beginners I was helping a user at http://powerpivotforum.com.au with a question about collections reporting and thought it would make a good blog post. There are a few interesting concepts involved which I will explain as I go along. The scenario is as follows. We have 2 tables – one […]
Level: Beginners I have had some really good positive feedback from a couple of early readers of my new book “Learn to Write DAX”. “I purchased your eBook last Saturday and I want to let you know that I have learned more in the last 96 hours than I have […]
Level: Beginners No software company can build every single feature that everyone wants to see all at once. Ultimately there has to be some prioritisation, and along with the prioritisation comes compromises and ultimately disappointments for some (many?). Back in July 2015, Microsoft started a chain of actions and announcements […]
Level: Beginners Recently I was working for a client that required the matching of a list of data sent from a customer against some internal business data. This type of data matching is actually an audit process that I would have historically done with MS Access, but it occurred to me […]