Nashville Power BI User Group March 2024 Meetup: Requirements Gathering 101

No analytics, BI, or reporting effort will succeed without a great foundation. If you, the report creator, do not know what success looks like in the eyes of your stakeholders and report consumers, your reporting project is destined to fail.

In this presentation, we will begin with the basics, understanding the "why" behind the report(s) you are creating, and then explore a method I call "design backward and build forward".

Together, we will explore the process and technique of what sets a great foundation for successful analytics. Join us on March 21 to discuss how to build a great foundation for your next reporting project.

Data Modeling for Business Intelligence

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven’t modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

Nashville Power BI User Group January 2024 Meetup: Intro to Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric is an all-in-one SaaS analytics solution combining elements from Power BI, Azure Synapse, and Azure Data Factory. In a unified platform, this combination allows users to build:

• Scalable data pipelines with native connections to ~200 data sources

• Machine Learning models

• Data Warehouses

• Data Lakehouses

• Real-time analytics solutions

• Power BI report and dashboards

During this talk, we'll introduce Fabric's features and capabilities. We'll also demo how to build a data pipeline, load data into Fabric's OneLake, model the data, and visualize the data with Power BI.

SQL Saturday Atlanta 2023 BI: Power BI & ALM: Or How to Do Version Control at Scale

If you have ever developed Power BI content with someone else or within a team, you know how difficult it can be to manage version control. Also, what if you need traceability and audit capability? This can be a crucial requirement for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

That said, not every team and not every Power BI solution requires the same level of rigor. In this meetup, we will explore the options for managing version conflict and being able to trace the changes you make to your Power BI content.

SQL Saturday Minnesota 2022: Data Modeling for Business Intelligence

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven’t modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

SQL Saturday Orlando 2022: Data Modeling for Business Intelligence

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven’t modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

Power BI & ALM: Or How to Do Version Control at Scale

If you have ever developed Power BI content with someone else or within a team, you know how difficult it can be to manage version control. Also, what if you need traceability and audit capability? This can be a crucial requirement for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

That said, not every team and not every Power BI solution requires the same level of rigor. In this meetup, we will explore the options for managing version conflict and being able to trace the changes you make to your Power BI content.

The Nashville Analytics Summit 2021 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — Virtual and In-Person

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven't modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

The Nashville Modern Excel & Power BI User Group — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — Virtual

In our BI journey, we all hit a plateau in our learning curve. One reason is that we haven't modeled our solution correctly. In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do. In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work how that impacts the way we build data models.

About: Michael McKinley is the founder of McKinley Consulting. Michael has managed data transformation projects for the last nine years. He is Microsoft Certified in Power BI and the Power Platform and has worked with major clients such as HCA, FedEx, and the United Methodist Church, among others.

SQL Saturday Atlanta BI 2020 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — Virtual

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven't modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

SQL Saturday Oregon 2020 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — Virtual

We all start using business intelligence tools by using a single dataset, like a flat file. Then, we hit a plateau in our learning curve, or we add a second flat file into our BI product, and we get incorrect results. One reason is that we haven't modeled our solution correctly.

In order to move to the next level of our journey along the BI learning curve, we need to understand how a tool like Power BI works. Only then will we understand why we design our data models the way we do.

In this session, we will review how tools like Power BI work under the covers and how that impacts the way we construct our data models. This is an introductory level course, so we will not get too technical, just enough to get us to the next level and moving back up that learning curve!

SQL Saturday El Salvador 2020 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — virtual

The tool that underpins Power BI and PowerPivot in Excel (and SSAS and AAS Tabular, for that matter) is the Vertipaq Engine. How it works and how we design our data models are intrinsic to one another; you cannot understand one without considering the other.

This will be an introductory session on the highest-level workings of the Vertipaq engine and how that knowledge informs the way we data model.

Also, check out the presentation for a more thorough accounting of data modeling, both transactional and dimensional data modeling.

SQL Saturday Salt Lake City 2020 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — virtual

Come learn about the basics of data modeling for your business intelligence and reporting needs. This course will cover several introductory modeling subjects, including:

Transactional vs. Analytical models

Kimball / Inman approaches

The process for designing your data model

Hierarchies / Parent-child relationships

SQL Saturday Chattanooga 2020 — Basic Data Modeling for BI Reporting — virtual

Come learn about the basics of data modeling for your business intelligence and reporting needs. This course will cover several introductory modeling subjects, including:

Transactional vs. Analytical models

Kimball / Inman approaches

The process for designing your data model

Hierarchies / Parent-child relationships

SQL Saturday Boston, BI Edition, 2020 — Basics Data Modeling for BI Reporting — Boston, MA, March 28, 2020

Come learn about the basics of data modeling for your business intelligence and reporting needs. This course will cover several introductory modeling subjects, including:

• Transactional vs. Analytical models

• Kimball / Inman approaches

• The process for designing your data model

• Hierarchies / Parent-child relationships