Implementing self-service BI
Reuben Pearse
Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Overview
• Introduction
• Changes in the Microsoft BI Landscape
• The Components of Power BI
• The Power BI workflow
• Power BI demonstrations
• Corporate BI
• Costs and Licencing
• What’s coming up? – technologies and features to watch out for
• Resources
• Contact Details
• Q&A
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Introduction
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Reuben Pearse
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Using SQL Server for 16 years
Software development
Full SDLC
.NET development
LAMP stack
BI and Reporting
Systems Consultant
Head of Systems Development at Ecorys
Why am I doing this talk?
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About Ecorys
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Leading public policy research organisation
Founded in 1981
Over 150 staff across five UK offices
Extensive track record of evaluations and technical
assistance and grant management for government,
NGOs, charities and voluntary sector clients.
• We’re are joint partners with the British Council as the
UK National Agency for Erasmus+
• Active CSR policy
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Introduction – Microsoft’s BI stack
• Cutting through the hype…
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Data Analyst jokes
'We're beginning to see some positive
patterns in the emerging data.'
Changes in the Microsoft
Business Intelligence Landscape
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Changes in the Microsoft BI Landscape (1)
• SQL Server Analysis (SSAS)
– Disk based storage
– Distinct steps of model development
– Usually under the control of IT department
Disadvantages
- “Back-and-forth” approach to make the model work
- Separation of duties (and people)
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Changes in the Microsoft BI Landscape (2)
• Semantic Modeling
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In memory processing
Real-time model changes
Uniform platform for all data analysis
Can be used by individual users in Excel
Sharepoint deployment
New “Tabular” model
Advantages
• Excel users can consume massive amount of data
• Excel users can create their own analytical models
• Empowerment for analytical users!
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BISM and Tabular Modeling (1)
Traditional BI approach
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BISM and Tabular Modeling (2)
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BISM and Tabular Modeling (3)
• BISM – Business Intelligence Semantic Model
• Attempts to serve users who are comfortable
with tabular structure and maintains
professional OLAP models for corporate BI
purposes
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“It’s
free,inspiring
but they
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ideas sell
your information”
The Components of Power BI
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Power BI components (1)
Component Name
Description
Power Query
An Excel add-in that enables searching for data, both
public sources and within an organization
Power Pivot
Originally an Excel add-in (but now incorporated into
Excel 2013) it enables modeling and data clean-up of
tables in preparation for creating data visualizations
Power View
A feature of Excel and an add-in to SharePoint for
creating data visualizations
Power Map
An Excel add-in that creates three-dimensional
visualizations of geographic data or timelines.
Q&A
An Office 365 feature that allows users to query a data set
using "natural language"
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Power BI components (2)
Component Name
Description
Power BI Sites
An Office 365 feature that provides a portal for sharing
workbooks and data sources
Data
Management
Gateway
An application installed on the customer's premises that
lets IT control data sources published on Power BI Sites,
as well as offering control over user access to data
Admin Center
An IT tool that registers on-premises data sources with an
online portal (via OData or SharePoint Online connection
string)
Mobile BI
Mobile device support on Windows 8, Windows RT and
iOS tablets for data visualizations using HTML 5 browser
technology
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Power Query
• Allows you to connect to a
variety of different data sources
(including Odata)
• Define repeatable steps for data
import and transformation
• Enables data to be imported into
Excel’s new data model
• Includes the “M” functional
language that can used to
program data manipulation steps
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Power Pivot
• Power Pivot was originally available as an add-on
for Excel 2010 as a self-contained unit consisting of
both a user-interface and a new database engine
that could process much larger volumes of data
• In Excel 2013 this is implemented slightly differently,
as now the new database engine is built directly into
Excel (rather than via an add-on), but Power Pivot
still exists as a user interface
• Complex calculations can be written in DAX, the
language of Power Pivot
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Power View
Power View has various implementations
• Power View sheets in Excel 2013
• Power View reports in SharePoint server
• Power View reports within Office365 (via Power BI)
The Excel 2013 and SharePoint implementations require SilverLight
installed on the machine used to view/create the reports
Although SilverLight is recommended, you can view Power View
served up via Power BI reports using a HTML5 compatible browser
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Power View
• Power View requirements
– View/Interact
• Excel 2013
• Office 365/Power BI via Browser (including mobile
devices)
– Silverlight or HTML5
• SharePoint + PowerPivot Gallery
• Mobile BI (Windows 8 App)
• PowerPoint 2013 (has to be published through
SharePoint)
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Power View
• Power View requirements
– Create/Edit
• Excel 2013
• SharePoint 2010/2013 + PowerPivot Gallery
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Power Map
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Power Map
• Power Map allows you to
overlay geographic data onto
3D maps
• Data overlayed on 3D maps
can be explored by zooming
in and “flying” across data
• Not to be confused with the
2D maps available in Power
View
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Power BI Workflow
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Power BI Workflow
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Power BI demonstrations
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Power Pivot/Power View – Demo 1
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Power Pivot/Power View – Demo 2
(Hierarchies)
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Sharing you PowerViews
• Send the XLSX file to someone who has Excel
2013
• Upload to a Power BI environment
• Upload to a SharePoint 2010/2013 environment
Power BI
SharePoint
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Demo 3 –How to upload a Power View
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Sharing a link to a Power View
• Use the “Share” options to invite other users to
see your report
• Enter email address details and send invite
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Demo 5 – Power View in HTML5
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Corporate BI
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Lame BI Jokes
• Q: What’s the angriest SQL function?
• A: Crossjoin
• Q: What’s a dentist’s favourite MDX function?
• A: Extract
• Q: How did the BI developer send his backed-up
database to a colleague on the other side of London?
• A: In a .cab file
• Two SQL DBAs walk into a NoSQL bar
……but they had to leave because they couldn't find any
tables!
Power View in the Corporate environment
Software requirements:
– Windows Server 2012
– Microsoft SharePoint 2013
– Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Enterprise)
– Silverlight
Configuration notes
– Install Windows, add as domain controller role
– Install MSSQL then SharePoint 2013
– Configure PowerPivot Gallery
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Power View in the Corporate environment
SQL Server Requirements
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Demo 6 – Power Pivot Site
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Power BI – Costs & Licensing
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Corporate BI costs
SharePoint 2013
SharePoint 2013 Standard - £5,678 (approx.)
SharePoint 2013 Enterprise CAL - £80 each
SQL Server 2012
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise - 2 Core Processor
License - Unlimited Clients - £9,500
+ Windows Server 2012 and hosting
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Power BI costs
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Power BI costs
• Approx £36 a user a month
• To access Power BI sites you have
to first have a Office 365 ProPlus
solution (approx. £10 a user a
month)
• In addition you then need a “Power
BI for Office 365 with SharePoint
online (Plan2) with Yammer”
(approx. £26 a user a month)
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Microsoft BI – What’s next?
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Microsoft BI – What’s coming up?
• New chart types (Gauges, “Donut” chart,
Treemap)
• Partner Solution Packs
• Improving Q&A
• Drag and drop dashboards
• Improved Tablet and Phone support
(continuous improvement to the HTML5
experience)
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Microsoft BI – What’s coming up
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Resources
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Resources
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Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook by Paul te Braak
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Paul Turley’s SQL Server BI Blog
https://sqlserverbiblog.wordpress.com/
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SQL Down Under Podcast
http://www.sqldownunder.com/Podcasts
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Tutorial/Walkthroughs
Install Power View for multi-dimensional model
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/576383/Install-Power-View-for-multi-dimensional-model
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Resources
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Power Query for Power BI and Excel by Chris Webb
http://technitrain.com
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Other useful links
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Getting started with Power View Reports with SharePoint, Excel and
SQL Server
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3004/getting-started-with-power-viewreports-with-sharepoint-excel-and-sql-server/
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Introduction to maps and Power View
http://www.sqljason.com/2012/07/creating-maps-in-excel-2013-usingpower.html
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Power BI components
http://redmondmag.com/Articles/2014/02/10/Power-BI-for-Office365.aspx?Page=2
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What is BI Semantic model (BISM)
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/506032/WhatplusisplusBIplusSemanticpl
usmodelplus-BISM-plu
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Contact Details
Email: reuben.pearse@uk.ecorys.com
Twitter: @3dlegobricks
Website: http://www.pearse.co.uk/BI
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Summary - recap
• Changes in the Microsoft BI Landscape
• The Components of Power BI
• The Power BI workflow
• Power BI demonstrations
• Corporate BI
• Costs and Licencing
• What’s coming up? – technologies and features to watch out for
• Resources
• Contact Details
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Q&A
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Thank you for listening!
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