So after my last blog post the Data Insights Summit came to a close with a whole host of new features and future things to look forward to. As well as then Microsoft already releasing what they had promised in the typical Power BI fast paced manner. So here are this week’s updates in the world of Business Intelligence

Power BI – Embedded Preview

I literally saw this just before I was about to publish by blog post.

And what you can see from above is that they now are providing the ability to enable application developers to add interactive Power BI reports into their own applications.

I think that this is a great option to have if you already have existing Power BI reports or data sets. It means that you can leverage this into your own application. Which makes it another option on how to integrate Power BI.

You can find out the details here: What is Microsoft Power BI Embedded

Power BI – Data Insights Summit

No doubt one of the highlights of the Data Insights Summit was Nate Silver delivering a great overview around the future of the so called “Big Data”. I have not had time to watch the video yet, but I do plan to very soon.

The second day I found was more around how the new features which were explained in my previous post can be used and integrated into Power BI and leveraged by both the users and customers.

It is great to see that you did have the ability to stream some of the sessions live, which is great for people who could not make it to the actual summit. As well as them providing the ability to watch them later (which I plan on doing)

You can find all the sessions to watch on demand here: Microsoft Data Insights Summit

And if you want to read about the second day of the Data Insights Summit you can read it here: Microsoft Data Insights Summit Livestream: day two

Power BI – Monthly Desktop Update

After the past week’s excitement around Power BI, it was great to see that it did not stop them from releasing the Power BI Desktop update.

It is good to see that they made some improvements in the Report View area with regards to the ability of where to publish your Power BI report, as well as respecting the model settings from SSAS MD.

They are always improving the data modeling experience and it is great to see the focus on direct query with regards to changing the data type of a column in your Power BI Desktop. As well as referential integrity on relationships. And finally the ability to direct query for Oracle and Teradata (Interesting to see how Microsoft have leveraged the offer to Oracle customers!)

And finally they had quite a few data connectivity improvements, most noticeably the R Scripts connector.

You can read up all about the updates here: Power BI Desktop March update feature summary

Power BI – Analyze Power BI in Excel

As it was announced last week I will not go overly into too much detail, but more along how important I think that this update is.

What this means and it is what I have been alluding to and waiting for in anticipation is that we are now starting to see in my opinion SSAS Tabular as a Software as a Service offering. Yes, this is just the start of it, but I have no doubt in my mind that soon you will be able to have SSAS Tabular as you do with the Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Data Warehouse.

By enabling the people to connect directly to your SSAS Tabular Model via Excel you are connecting to your SSAS Tabular Cloud database.

I also think that as they have mentioned before there are so many people who use Excel and will want to continue using Excel that this gives them the ability to continue using their favorite tool.

I also think that is really great because you can have one source of the truth, which you can then leverage for Power BI and for the Excel Users. Which can also mean that it gives the user the ability to look at a Power BI report and then do their own custom drill down to understand what the Power BI report is saying.

You can find all the details here: Analyze in Excel

Power BI – Publisher for Excel Generally Available

Even though this was released a while ago, it is great to see that it is now Generally Available.

So now you can quickly and easily take your work that you have done in Excel and Pin it directly to your Power BI Dashboard.

Here are the details: Announcing General Availability of Power BI publisher for Excel

Power BI – KPI App for Apple Watch

It is great to see that they have created an app for the Apple watch so that for the people who want to have the KPIs always on hand, it is almost literally on their hand.

You can find out the details here: Always have your KPIs on hand with the Power BI for Apple Watch

Power BI – R in Power BI Webinar

This is just a quick note if you are interested in how you can leverage R in Power BI then there is a demo session happening on 14 April 2016

You can find all the details here: [Webinar] – The Power Of R In Power BI

Power BI – Content Pack Intelliboard

In this content pack from Intelliboard it gives you access to Moodle learning management system.

Which will enable the people to understand how to track and analyze their learning performance.

If you are an Intelliboard customer then you can find the details here: Explore your IntelliBoard data with Power BI

Power BI – Ziosk Content Pack

This is another great content pack from Ziosk which provide an unique dining experience. By using the Ziosk Survey Analytics the restaurants that use Ziosk tablets can gain valuable insight into the survey data. And I am sure that they will also be able to understand who ordered what, when and at what times. Which can provide some amazing insights.

You can find out all about Ziosk Content Pack here: Analyze your Ziosk® data with Power BI

Azure Data Catalog – Generally Available

It is great to see that the Azure Data Catalog is now Generally available. I have no doubt that this can be a key driver in enabling users to find the data that they need quickly and easily without having to send an email or go and ask someone.

It is great to see that they have added additional features and functionality, which will only be improved over time.

You can read up about it here: Announcing the General Availability of Azure Data Catalog