It appears that we are now getting back into the swing of things, and this means more updates and additions to the Business Intelligence World.

Power BI – Email Subscriptions

This was a feature that I know I have personally been waiting for as well as a lot of other people.

And yes this is very basic at the moment but you have to start from somewhere. And with this initial public preview you have the option to subscribe to a report page, which will be emailed to you Once a day when there is a change.

The great thing is that they are already letting me know that in a future release I will be able to subscribe other people also. And I have no doubt as the year progresses there will be additional updates.

You can read the blog post details here: Introducing email subscriptions in Power BI: stay informed when it matters

Power BI – New APIs for Custom Visuals

As you can see above there are 2 new Custom Visuals in the Gallery.

For me personally this is great, whilst I do not develop custom visuals, what this update does mean that there will be even more amazing and imaginative custom visuals in the near future.

I would love to see what other people have actually developed internally for their own datasets, so if anyone is willing even to share a picture of the Custom Visual please let me know.

For those who do develop Custom Visuals here is the blog: New APIs available for custom visuals developers

Power BI – Accounts Receivable Solution Template for SAP

As with the other solution templates, the people from Simplement have created a solution template for Accounts Receivable for SAP.

You can find the details here: Announcing the Accounts Receivable Solution Template for SAP

Power BI – Help Improve Direct Query

Below is a survey from the Microsoft Power BI Team with regards to people who use Direct Query.

Survey Link: Direct Query Survey

Blog Link: Help Improve DirectQuery!

SQLBI – Vertipaq Analyzer 1.7

I have to say that the new additions in the Vertipaq analyser are really awesome.

I like that you now have the ability to analyze your Power BI Files and see what is taking up all the space.

As well as the capability to extract all your DAX Measures. Which when working on a larger project and having to document all the measures this can be quite a cumbersome task. And along with this you can easily format the DAX expressions you the DAX formatter which I think is worth it.

You can watch the video with a great explanation of the updates here: VertiPaq Analyzer 1.7

SQL Server – Power BI Reports in Technical Preview

I know that for On-Premise customers this is something that they have been waiting for. Now you can download and install the technical preview with a lightweight installer that will take minutes to install and get you going.

What really is interesting is that you only need SQL Server 2008 or later database engine. And then SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 SP1 CU4 or later. So that means you do not need SQL Server 2016 to run this in Premise.

As well as there is a technical preview for Power BI Desktop.

And finally they have also added more functionality into the On-Premise version which is to connect live to Analysis Services Tabular and Multidimensional.

You can find the details on their blog here: Power BI reports in SQL Server Reporting Services: January 2017 Technical Preview now available

SQL Server – Getting Started with Technical Preview of Power BI Reports

As with the above link, there is already a blog post explaining how to install and configure your Reporting Services to test Power BI On-Premise.

I read through this blog post and I have to say that it is really quick and simple to get this up and running. Compared to how installations were in the past, this is like a breath of fresh air.

You can find the blog post details here: Getting started with the Technical Preview of Power BI reports in SQL Server Reporting Services