All about Power BI, Modelling, DAX and Microsoft BI
Microsoft has posted a BI VPC that is full loaded with all of the BI components on their download site. There are two links and a couple of files that you will need to download to extract the VPC. The total download is a little over 4GB and the extracted VHD is around 15GB. According to the readme file the OS is setup to expire on 3/5/2009. Here is what is included on the... Read more
If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet there is some free training available online (videos and downloadable slides). In order to download the workbooks you might be prompted to install the latest version of the .NET Framework (3.5). If I recall correctly, this install required a reboot on my laptop. Here is what is available in regards to training and I add the duration of the videos so you can plan... Read more
check the Channel9 Wiki:SQLServer for a serie of intresting BI screencast. “The screencasts are part of developer training workshop built on SQL Server 2005 that has been delivered around the globe by Microsoft and Microsoft Partners. This training event takes the student through the Microsoft BI Platform giving a BI Developer the introduction and basic comfort needed to tackle a BI project using Microsoft technology. Although these screencast were built on SQL Server 2005 these... Read more
I found a great new tool, although it exists since 2005, for scripting Reporting Services. Reporting Services Scripter is a .NET Windows Forms application that enables scripting and transfer of all Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services catalog items to aid in transferring them from one server to another. It can also be used to easily move items on mass from one Reporting Services folder to another on the same server. Depending on the scripting options... Read more
One of the new features within SQL Server 2008 is the Change Data Capture (CDC). CDC is designed to capture insert, update and delete activity on a SQL table and place the information into a separate relational table. It uses an asynchronous capture mechanism that reads the transaction logs and populates the CDC table with the row’s data which change. The CDC table mirrors the column structure of the tracked table, together with metadata regarding... Read more
I hear this question a lot: how can i restrict my data in my report to a specific users, there are a couple of ways to approach this: You can send the current user running the report to the Query/Stored procedure as parameter. Go to the datasource and add a parameter, e.g. @UserID with as value User!UserID. Now the current user is available to the database. If you want to get the login that is... Read more
2008 could well be the year where data quality will be the next big thing. As more and more companies use data for all sorts of applications, it will be more and more important to make sure this data is of good quality. Data Quality expert Larry English has claimed data quality is the second biggest threat to human kind, after global warming. Even with this bold statement he makes some good arguments, like: “Poor... Read more
I read this great article from Mike Schiff about the BI Predictions for 2008. In a nutschell these items will be leading in 2008:– Industry Consolidation Will Continue– BI Deployment Will Become Easier– The Open Source Market Will Grow– Data Mining Usage Will Grow Read more at: Major Data Warehousing Events of 2007 and Predictions for 2008 In another article on the same site a lookback on the turbulent BI year 2007... Read more