BI-NSIGHT – Power BI (Mobile App Update, Waffle Chart Visual, Alpine Metrics Content Pack, KPI Indicator Visual Explained) – SQL Server 2016 (Hear from the Engineers, Virtual Lab, KPI Data Refresh) – Excel 2016 (New Functions, Power Query Update)
There has been a lot happening in the BI space over the past week. Loads of things to read about and review and see how this can be integrated and used.
So without any further delay let’s get into the details.
Power BI – Mobile App Update
They have made some great improvements to the Mobile App, currently only for Windows 10 and iPhone. I have no doubt that the Android version will be updating soon enough.
What this update allows you to do is to open up the reports from the dashboard view. I do think that this is something that has been lacking. As often you want more details or to understand why the value is up or down. And by having this capability it means that now the information is literally at your fingertips.
You can find out the details here: Power BI Mobile Apps – Open your reports on your phone
Power BI – Waffle Chart
I honestly just am amazed at how they keep on creating ever better and more intuitive visuals. I personally have never used the Pie Chart, because it does not give the end user the right information. Now there is another option to use the Waffle chart, which can give you some context to show the comparison.
You can find out all the details here: Visual Awesomeness Unlocked – Waffle Chart
Power BI – Alpine Metrics Content Pack
Yet another great content pack if you are a customer of Alpine Metrics. And it does appear that they are using Cortana Analytics to enrich their data and get their predictions as close as possible. Which is really amazing to see?
To be honest who would not want to get a prediction on their information that they can use to possibly increase their sales.
You can find more information here: Predict Sales With Alpine Metrics Data and Power BI
Power BI – KPI Indicator Visual Explained
It is great to see that the creating of this amazing KPI Indicator has created a blog post to explain exactly how to use all the features and configurations that are part of his awesome visual.
To be honest I did quickly look at in the past, and I did not spend enough time looking at all the configurations and thought that there was quite a lot going on, and not a lot of information around who exactly to get the configuration you desire.
Now with the blog post from Fredrik below, you can understand how to configure it to get your required outcome.
You can read up about Fredrik’s blog post here: KPI Indicator custom visual for Power BI explained
SQL Server 2016 – Hear from the Engineers
What this event is, is where you can now hear from the engineers at Microsoft and see what and how they have achieved the great improvements and new additions in SQL Server 2016.
There is not a lot of details but it does look like we can get some great insights in the Hybrid BI area.
You can find out all the information and register with the blog post below.
Your invitation to be among the first to hear from SQL Server 2016 engineers
SQL Server 2016 – Virtual Labs
It is great to see that there is now a virtual lab that you can use and test using SQL Server 2016 SSRS for Mobile. This gives you a quick and easy way to test and see how you can leverage SQL Server 2016 to create amazing mobile reports.
I do think that this is a great start to learning and getting your hands into the technology. As well as not having to install or configure anything.
You can find out about how to use the Virtual Labs here: Try SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services with new TechNet Virtual Labs
SQL Server 2016- KPI Data Refresh
This is a great blog post from Patrick where he explains very easily how to enable your KPI to be refreshed on a schedule.
You can find the details here: Refreshing KPI Data in SSRS 2016
Excel 2016 – New Functions
It is great to see that they are expanding Excel with new functions, which makes it even easier to get the data in a format that you require to gain the best insights.
I do think that the Concatenate, TextJoin, IFS and Switch functions will make it a lot easier. And I have no doubt that going forward there will be more functions coming from the Office Excel team.
You can find the details here: 6 new Excel functions that simplify your formula editing experience
Excel – Power Query Update
It is great to see that Power Query for Excel is getting an update. I do feel that a lot of the effort and time for Power Query has gone into the Power BI Desktop version.
You can download it from here: Microsoft Power Query for Excel