Learn power BI a beginner’s guide to developing interactive business intelligence

Learn Power BI A beginner's guide to developing interactive business intelligence solutions using Microsoft Power BI Greg Deckler BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Learn Power BI Copyright © 2019 Packt Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information Commissioning Editor: Sunith Shetty Acquisition Editor: Reshma Raman Content Development Editor: Nathanya Dias Senior Editor: Ayaan Hoda Technical Editor: Manikandan Kurup Copy Editor: Safis Editing Project Coordinator: Kirti Pisat Proofreader: Safis Editing Indexer: Manju Arasan Production Designer: Nilesh Mohite First published: September 2019 Production reference: 1130919 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK ISBN 978-1-83864-448-2 www.packt.com Packt.com Subscribe to our online digital library for full access to over 7,000 books and videos, as well as industry leading tools to help you plan your personal development and advance your career For more information, please visit our website Why subscribe? Spend less time learning and more time coding with practical eBooks and Videos from over 4,000 industry professionals Improve your learning with Skill Plans built especially for you Get a free eBook or video every month Fully searchable for easy access to vital information Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.packt com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy Get in touch with us at customercare@packtpub.com for more details At www.packt.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters, and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks Contributors About the author Greg Deckler is Vice President of Cloud Services at Fusion Alliance and has been a technology systems consultant for over 25 years Internationally recognized as an expert in Power BI, Greg Deckler is a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform and an active member of the Power BI community, with over 100,000 messages read, more than 11,000 replies, over 2,200 answers, and more than 75 entries in the Quick Measures Gallery Greg founded the Columbus Azure ML and Power BI User Group (CAMLPUG) and presents at numerous conferences and events, including SQL Saturday, DogFood, and Dynamic Communities' User Group/Power Platform Summit I would like to thank the dynamic and vibrant Power BI community as a whole, and especially Charles Sterling, for their dedication and support Also, shout-outs to the following Power BI Community members: @ImkeF, @konstantinos, @parry2k, @Seth_C_Bauer, @Phil_Seamark, @GilbertQ, @Vvelarde, @MattAllington @marcorusso, and @Mike_Carlo About the reviewers Peter Ter Braake started working as a developer in 1996 after studying physics in Utrecht, the Netherlands Databases and business intelligence piqued his interest the most, leading to him specializing in SQL Server and its business intelligence components He worked with Power BI from the tool's very beginnings Peter started working as an independent contractor in 2008 This enables him to divide his time between teaching data-related classes, consulting with customers, and writing articles and books Vishwanath Muzumdar has 6 years' experience in information technology consulting, business analysis, business development, and business process management in the business intelligence space He is a Microsoft Power BI developer and creates powerful visual reports for his clients while implementing corporate Power BI solutions and user training He also has expertise in realizing client requirements across multiple domains, and proficiently planning and executing strategies for the same at both an individual and team level He aims to utilize his strong prioritization skills, analytical ability, and team management skills, coupled with his expertise in relation to Microsoft Power BI reporting tool, to enable a company to achieve its goals Packt is searching for authors like you If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.packtpub.c om and apply today We have worked with thousands of developers and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insight with the global tech community You can make a general application, apply for a specific hot topic that we are recruiting an author for, or submit your own idea Figure 26 – Adding a data source to the gateway Again, this page will vary, depending on the type of data source but, by default, the Data Source Type and some other information will already be filled in on the page Complete any other required information; in this case, provide a more descriptive Data Source Name than New data source, as well as your Windows username and Windows password When finished, click the Add button Standard Mode Only: After clicking the Add button, if the data source has been set up and tested successfully, you will be transported back to the Datasets settings page Expand the Gateway connection section and click the right arrow icon in the Actions area for the standard mode gateway, as shown in the following screenshot: Figure 27 – Mapping a data source Standard Mode Only: This time, you should have a green checkmark instead of a red x next to your first data source In addition, instead of an Add to gateway link, there should be a Maps to drop-down box Click the drop-down box and note that the name of your newly created gateway data source definition appears, which, in this case, is People and Tasks This is why it is important to provide good, descriptive names when defining data sources for a gateway! Standard Mode Only: Repeat step 5 and step 7 for the additional two data sources When you are finished, your standard mode gateway should show green text and a status of running In addition, your data sources should display green checkmarks and have Maps to drop-down boxes, as shown in the following screenshot: Figure 28 – Successfully added and mapped data sources Standard Mode Only: Map each of the data sources to their corresponding gateway data source definitions using the Maps to drop-down menu and then click the Apply button Note that, in the Data source credentials section, the yellow warning banner goes away and you are no longer required to enter your credentials This is because the credentials have been defined as part of the gateway data source definition Skip to step 11 10 Personal Mode Only: If you're using a gateway in personal mode, you must enter the authentication credentials that will be used to access the data in the Data source credentials section Any data source that has an X icon next to the Edit credentials link must have credentials entered for it To do this, click the Edit credentials link next to a data source and sign in Repeat this for each data source and note that the X icon disappears once the data source has been correctly configured Once all of the data sources have been correctly configured, the yellow warning banner disappears Refer to the following screenshot: Figure 29 – Correctly configured credentials for a personal mode gateway 11 Now that the appropriate gateway and credentials have been configured, it is time to configure the refresh schedule Expand the Scheduled refresh section, as shown in the following screenshot: Figure 30 – Scheduled refresh 12 Toggle Keep your data up to date to On You can set the Refresh frequency to either Daily or Weekly, as well as set your Time zone If you're using a Daily refresh, click Add another time under the Time area, as shown in the following screenshot: Figure 31 – Adding a scheduled refresh time 13 Use the drop-down boxes to set the desired Time for the refresh Multiple times can be added to keep a dataset refreshed throughout the day by clicking the Add another time link Up to eight scheduled refreshes can be configured per day with Power BI Pro and up to 48 refreshes per day with Power BI Premium 14 When you're finished adding the specified refresh times, enter an email address to which notifications will be sent if there is a problem with the data refresh and then click the Apply button Summary This chapter was all about how to configure Power BI to keep datasets that are published to the Service up to date automatically We learned how to download, install, and configure the on-premises data gateway in both standard (enterprise) and personal modes We also learned how to manage gateways within the Service, as well as configure data sources for use in gateways Finally, we learned how to schedule the datasets for automatic refresh by the Service Congratulations! You have finished reading Learn Power BI In doing so, you have learned all of the basic skills that you will need when working with Power BI and opened the door to an entirely new and exciting world: the Power BI ecosystem! Questions As an activity, try to answer the following questions on your own: What is the purpose of the on-premises data gateway? In what two modes can the data gateway be installed? What must you do to ensure that the data gateway starts after rebooting the computer on which the gateway is installed? What feature allows for redundancy and load balancing when refreshing data? What two methods can be used to add a data source to a data gateway? How many times can a dataset be refreshed per day? Further reading Installing an on-premises data gateway: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-i ntegration/gateway/service-gateway-install What is an on-premises data gateway?: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-b i/service-gateway-onprem On-premises data gateway in-depth: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/s ervice-gateway-onprem-indepth On-premises data gateway architecture: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-in tegration/gateway/service-gateway-onprem-indepth Using personal gateways in Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi /service-gateway-personal-mode Troubleshooting gateways – Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-b i/service-gateway-onprem-tshoot Getting Started with data connectors: https://github.com/Microsoft/DataConnector s Data refresh in Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refresh-data Configuring a scheduled refresh: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/refre sh-scheduled-refresh Other Books You May Enjoy If you enjoyed this book, you may be interested in these other books by Packt: Mastering Microsoft Power BI Brett Powell ISBN: 978-1-78829-723-3 Build efficient data retrieval and transformation processes with the Power Query M Language Design scalable, user-friendly DirectQuery and Import Data Models Develop visually rich, immersive, and interactive reports and dashboards Maintain version control and stage deployments across development, test, and production environments Manage and monitor the Power BI Service and the On-premises data gateway Develop a fully on-premise solution with the Power BI Report Server Scale up a Power BI solution via Power BI Premium capacity and migration to Azure Analysis Services or SQL Server Analysis Services Microsoft Power BI Cookbook Brett Powell ISBN: 978-1-78829-014-2 Cleanse, stage, and integrate your data sources with Power BI Abstract data complexities and provide users with intuitive, self-service BI capabilities Build business logic and analysis into your solutions via the DAX programming language and dynamic, dashboard-ready calculations Take advantage of the analytics and predictive capabilities of Power BI Make your solutions more dynamic and user specific and/or defined including use cases of parameters, functions, and row level security Understand the differences and implications of DirectQuery, Live Connections, and Import-Mode Power BI datasets and how to deploy content to the Power BI Service and schedule refreshes Integrate other Microsoft data tools such as Excel and SQL Server Reporting Services into your Power BI solution Leave a review - let other readers know what you think Please share your thoughts on this book with others by leaving a review on the site that you bought it from If you purchased the book from Amazon, please leave us an honest review on this book's Amazon page This is vital so that other potential readers can see and use your unbiased opinion to make purchasing decisions, we can understand what our customers think about our products, and our authors can see your feedback on the title that they have worked with Packt to create It will only take a few minutes of your time, but is valuable to other potential customers, our authors, and Packt Thank you! ... AtScale cubes, SAP HANA and Business Warehouse servers, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse With respect to unstructured data analysis, technologies such as Apache Spark, Databricks, and Azure Data Lake Storage are used... Unstructured data also includes so-called NoSQL databases, which include data stores such as document databases, graph databases, and key-value stores These databases are specifically designed to store unstructured data... Downloading and installing a data gateway Running a data gateway Personal mode Standard mode Configuring a data gateway Service Settings Diagnostics Network Connectors Managing a data gateway Gateway cluster settings and administrators