Once again this past week Microsoft as released even more products. So let’s get started.

Azure Analytics Services

On 29 April at the annual Microsoft Build conference they announced new services on the Azure platform. I really think that Microsoft is doing a great job of having an entire cloud platform available for customers.

Due to the digital age and a lot of data is coming from mobile devices, which in turn are using digital services, I can see looking forward that as Microsoft says in their video, there will be a major requirement going forward for businesses to be able to use digital platforms in order to gain insights into their data.

With the Azure Analytics Services, this enables businesses to easily use products, without having to actually build the infrastructure and knowledge on the platform.

I am going to highlight the two new services which relate to BI. The Azure SQL Data Warehouse and the Azure Data Lake.

Azure SQL Data Warehouse

I really think that this is a smart move from Microsoft. It is something that we have been looking for and asking for from Microsoft. From the video (Build 2015: Azure SQL Data Warehouse) it appears to me that not only will it be a data warehouse, but also enable you to move data in and out of the data warehouse using SSIS.

I do hope that my assumption is correct, as this would be a great feature to have SSIS on a cloud platform. And this has the potential to create a whole host of new possibilities.

Along with this, it also appears from what I read that they are using the APS (Microsoft Analytics Platform System) as a basis for the Azure SQL Data Warehouse. If this is indeed true, I think that this could be a game changer. Due to the fact that we already know how easily it is to scale out with the APS. Which gives amazing performance.

Another great advantage is it looks like you can use the Azure SQL Data Warehouse as a source in Power BI. Which then enables all the features of Power BI. This combination I think would make a great competitor to other BI cloud products on the market.

Also as per the video, they have made it really easy to change the scale of computing that you require. It is really easy to complete and it can be changed in seconds!

Credit: Microsoft

Azure Data Lake

This is another clever move, allowing businesses to store all their data in a Data Lake. Which then gives the business the flexibility to then use this with the various Azure Services.

Here is a link to the video (Build 2015: Data Lake)

What I think will be great is that you can then take data from your data lake, either put this into Azure SQL Data Warehouse, or then use a Machine Learning API to run over your data. After you have got the required results, you could then put this into your Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and put Power BI on top of this to visualize your results and see based on your specific Machine Learning API, what affect it could potentially have!

You also have the potential to use existing Machine Learning API developed by other people, which means that you do not have to spend countless hours trying to get the correct Machine Learning algorithm!

Here is an overview of the Azure Analytics Services from Microsoft

Credit: Microsoft

Here is the blog post from Microsoft: Microsoft Announces Azure SQL Database elastic database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake

Power BI Dynamics AX Connector

Just a quick note that I received an email that the Power BI guys have started planning for the integration of Dynamics AX as a connector in Power BI.

I am sure that this is welcoming news for Microsoft Dynamics AX customers

Power BI Dynamics AX – Planned

Automatic Refreshing of Excel Workbooks in Power BI

Just a quick review of my blog post this week, which was really well received.

It just explains how using a Power Query and Power Pivot, in which you use to get data into Excel Workbook, you can then have a mechanism how to get your Power BI report updated automatically.

This means that you can have your data on premise which you can then ensure gets into Power BI and then can have the potential for real-time updates.

AUTOMATING REFRESHING OF POWER BI REPORTS AND DASHBOARDS WITH EXCEL WORKBOOKS AND POWER UPDATE

Excel 2016 Updates

Just another quick note if you want to read up about the updates for Excel 2016, head over to Chris Webb’s blog post which has all the relevant information.

Chris Webb – What’s New In The Excel 2016 Preview For BI?

That is it for this week, another busy week and a lot going on!