Power BI Weekly Newsletter Issue #228

powered by endjin

Welcome to the 228th edition of Power BI Weekly! Last week there was an announcement we're very excited by here at endjin, which is the introduction of Semantic link in Microsoft Fabric: Bridging BI and Data Science. This tool allows you to navigate and query your Power BI datasets via a Python package that supports both the Pandas and Spark APIs, so you can work with your Power BI tables & measures just as you would any other dataframe. It also introduces a new %%dax magic command and intelligent code auto-completion within the notebook experience. But there's so much more - you should definitely have a read through that article. And stay tuned for upcoming blogs from ourselves on the topic!

Sticking to the Fabric theme - those using the tool will be glad to hear that they're following in the footsteps of Power BI in that they are releasing a regular Fabric Roadmap, to give end-users visibility into features that are planned and their estimated release date. This has been a hugely valuable practice that the Power Platform teams have followed, so I'm very happy that the Fabric team has decided to follow suit. This has also made me realize that I failed to share the Power BI 2023 release wave 2 plan when it was shared recently (I think it got less attention given all things Fabric at the moment). Anyway, there are some notable features listed on there. The ability to Author calculation groups in Power BI Desktop is supposedly due to be released in Public Preview this month (this feature was also originally listed on the Power BI 2023 Wave 1 Release Plan but has since sneakily been ported over to the Wave 2 plan). Arguably the most game-changing feature that is now formally planned is the notion of Visual calculations, which will "allow users to build new calculations from any visual inside Power BI using an Excel grid-like interface", which you may be aware is a feature that stemmed from an idea posted on the Ideas site by Marco Russo a few years ago which received plenty of backing from the community. There are a handful of other planned features, including a few report-authoring improvements in the Power BI Service - you should definitely check it out.

Oh - and just an FYI - "Dark Mode" is finally coming to Power BI Desktop!! (I thought it warranted its own paragraph.) No specific indication on "when", just "soon".

It's already been quite a long editorial, but the final thing I wanted to mention is PowerQuery How - a site created about half a year ago by Rick de Groot (of BI Gorilla) to serve as an improved version of the Microsoft Power Query M reference. Those familiar with the "official" Power Query docs will probably be aware that it's not quite as useful as it could be. PowerQuery How adds features on top of the core docs such as improved function explanations and categorization, improved code formatting, practical code examples, and related articles and links. Rick is actively maintaining this resource and encourages community contributions for further improvement. So, if you've delved deep into any specific Power Query functions and have something insightful to add (that may not be obvious from the existing docs), then please go ahead and contribute!

If you have any content you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, please tweet @PowerBIWeekly or ping an email to PowerBIWeekly@endjin.com.

Interested in Azure? Sign up to our sibling newsletter Azure Weekly to receive all the week's Azure news.

@edfreeman_ | @endjin
powerbiweekly.info | endjin.com

Data Prep

Covering: Power Query (M), Dataflows, Data connectors, AI Insights

On the Marquee Insights blog, Treb Gatte (@tgatte) explains How to data mine a SharePoint List with Power BI
Rick de Groot (@Rickmaurinus) describes 3 Ways to Select List Items by Position in Power Query, shows how to Remove List Items by Positions in Power Query, describes Creating Multiple Running Totals (in Bulk) in Power Query and walks through Understanding Records in Power Query M
On the Select Distinct blog, David Laws (@SelectDistLtd) explains how to Connect BambooHR to Power BI: Streamlining HR Analytics
On the Learning Science YouTube channel, Learning Science talks about 3 Most Useful Power Query Tricks for Power BI and Excel

Data Modeling

Covering: DAX (Measures & Calculated Tables/Columns), Relationships, Analysis Services, Composite models

On the Power BI blog, Kay Unkroth (@MSPowerBI) walks through Troubleshooting automatic aggregations to optimize DirectQuery performance
Ed Hansberry (@ehansalytics) writes about Always Use Explicit Measures - Wait, What Is An Explicit Measure?
On the Select Distinct blog, Simon Harrison (@SelectDistLtd) covers UNION in DAX
Chandeep Chhabra (@chandeep2786) describes how to Boost your productivity now with these 3 DAX shortcuts
On the Purple Frog Systems blog, Joe Billingham (@PurpleFrogSys) blogs about Power BI Table Totals Not Adding Up? Here’s Why
Mark Walter (@markwaltercpa) describes Learning Evaluation Context 101
Miguel Félix covers Cálculos visuais [Portuguese]

Report Authoring and Interactivity

Covering: Layout and formatting, Visualizations, Interactivity, Themes, Mobile reports, Dashboards

Fowmy Abdulmuttalib (@ExcelFort) describes Effective Growth Visualization: Basic Bar Chart to Dot Plot in Power BI using Native Visual
Max Wikström (@maxwiks) shares Power BI native line charts examples
Chandeep Chhabra (@chandeep2786) describes Page Navigation Tricks in Power BI
Kim Leblanc covers Nouveau visuel carte Power BI: Décuplez les personnalisations [French]

Deployment, Security and Operations

Covering: Workspaces and Apps, Template Apps, Deployment Pipelines, Gateways, Security, Sharing, Licences, Admin operations, Developer Tooling

On the Fabric blog, Markus Cozowicz announces Semantic link in Microsoft Fabric: Bridging BI and Data Science
Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes about What Does It Mean To Refresh A Direct Lake Power BI Dataset In Fabric?
Reid Havens (@HavensBI) walks through Introducing Power BI Explorer (with Mathias Thierbach & Daniel Otykier)
Kasper de Jonge (@kjonge) presents Everything Power BI Embedded with Ted Pattison
On the phData blog, Dave Ovitt (@phdatainc) explains How and Why to Share Power BI Datasets
Scott Murray (@mssqltips) covers Power BI Workspace Permissions and Roles
Ignacio Barrau (@ignacho_07) covers Origen web para evitar gateway PowerBi y Azure Functions [Spanish]
Darren Gosbell (@darrengosbell) covers Diagnosing Performance of Paginated Reports in Power BI

General

Covering: Cross-topic announcements & feature summaries, Whitepapers, Community events, Learning Resources & Certifications, Podcasts, Sample reports, End-to-end walkthroughs

On the Power BI blog, Saveen Reddy (@MSPowerBI) announces Exclusive Dashboard in a Day for Women, led by Women
Kurt Buhler (@kurtbuhler) discusses Does it feel like too much? How to approach "what's new" in Power BI and Fabric
Avi Singh (@powerbipro) talks about What is Power BI? And Why You Need to Learn Power BI in 2023
Sam McKay (@_EnterpriseDNA) writes about Fast Power BI Development Tips & Tricks

Useful Links

Power BI Maturity Scorecard - 97% of the Fortune 500 are using Power BI. Only 20% of analytics deliver business value. How do you score?
Azure Weekly - Interested in Azure? Sign up to our sister newsletter Azure Weekly to receive all the week's Azure news
M language reference - Official Power Query M Reference
PowerQuery How - Alternative M Language Reference created by Rick de Groot, including improved function explanations, code formatting, practical examples and further reading
DAX Studio - Useful open source tool for executing and analyzing DAX queries, founded by Darren Gosbell
DAX Guide - Your go-to reference on the DAX language, created by the SQLBI team
Power BI Visuals Reference - An exhaustive list (as of Sep. 2018) of all Power BI native & custom visuals, placed into separate categories, again created by the SQLBI team
Report Theme Generator - A handy report theme generator created by the Power BI Tips and Tricks team
Power BI Theme templates - Detailed Power BI Theme templates for all the native visuals, created by David Eldersveld
Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star - Free, detailed eBook to get up and running with Power BI, written by Reza Rad
Power BI Architecture diagram - An informative Power BI Architecture diagram, created by Dustin Ryan
Power BI Whitepapers - A list of official Power BI whitepapers, covering Security, Premium deployment, Advanced Analytics and more

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Power BI Weekly #228 - 10th October 2023

Power BI Weekly Newsletter Issue #228

Data Prep

Data Modeling

Report Authoring and Interactivity

Deployment, Security and Operations

General

Useful Links

Older messages

Power BI Weekly #227 - 3rd October 2023

☁️ Azure Weekly #438 - 1st October 2023

Power BI Weekly #226 - 26th September 2023

☁️ Azure Weekly #436 - 17th September 2023

Power BI Weekly #224 - 12th September 2023

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