Month: December 2019

Power BIte: Power Platform dataflows

On By Matthew RocheIn Dataflows, Power BI, Power BItes, Power Query, Video7 Comments

Important: This post was written and published in 2019, and the content below may no longer represent the current capabilities of Power BI. Please consider this post to be an historical record and not a technical resource. All content on this site is the personal output of the author and not an official resource from Microsoft.

INTERIOR: pan over cubicles of happy, productive office workers

CLOSE-UP: office worker at desk

NARRATOR: Is that Susie I see, giving Power Platform dataflows a try?

SUSIE: That’s right! With dataflows I can have all of the data I need, right where I need it!!

NARRATOR: Dataflows. They’re not just for Power BI anymore.

OK, you may not remember that orange juice ad campaign from the late 1970s and early 80s[1], but I’ve had it stuck in my head since I started working on this post and video. I couldn’t figure out how to work it into the video itself, so here it is in written form.

Anyway, with that awkward moment behind us, you probably want to watch the video. Here is it:

As the video discusses, Power Apps now have a dataflows capability that is a natural complement to Power BI dataflows. Power Platform dataflows have been generally available since November 2019, and have been in preview since summer.

Power Platform dataflows use Power Query Online – and the same set of connectors, gateways, and transformation capabilities as Power BI dataflows. But there are a few key differences that are worth emphasizing.

Power Platform dataflows can load data into the Common Data Service, either into the standard Common Data Model entities used by Dynamics 365 apps, or into custom entities used by custom Power Apps. This is important – this makes dataflows more like a traditional ETL tool like SSIS data flows in that at the end of the dataflow creation process you can map the columns in your queries to the columns in these existing tables[2].

Power Platform dataflows can load data into ADLSg2 for analytical scenarios, but Power Apps doesn’t have the same concept of “built-in storage” that Power BI does. That means if you want to use Power Platform dataflows to create CDM folders, you must configure your Power Apps environment to use an ADLSg2 resource in your Azure subscription.

The “link to data lake” feature in Power Apps feels to me like a better integration experience than what’s currently available in Power BI. In Power Apps you define the link at the environment level, not the tenant level – this provides more flexibility, and enables non-tenant admins[3] to configure and use the data lake integration.

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The first time you create a Power Platform dataflow and select the “analytical entities” option, you’ll be prompted – and required – to link the Power Apps environment to an Azure Data Lake Storage resource. You’ll need to have an Azure subscription to use, but the process itself if pretty straightforward.

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I can’t wait to hear what you think of this new capability. Please let me know in the comments or via Twitter.

See you in the new year!

[1] I just realized that this was 40 years ago. Were you even born yet?

[2] CDS entities aren’t tables by the strictest definition, but it’s close enough for our purposes today.

[3] I honestly don’t know enough about Power Apps security to go into too much depth on this point, but I am not a Power Apps admin and I was able to create a trial environment and link it to my own ADLSg2 resource in my own Azure subscription without affecting other users.

New resource: Generating CDM folders from Azure Databricks

On By Matthew RocheIn Azure, Dataflows, Power BI1 Comment

Important: This post was written and published in 2019, and the content below may no longer represent the current capabilities of Power BI. Please consider this post to be an historical record and not a technical resource. All content on this site is the personal output of the author and not an official resource from Microsoft.

Most of my blog posts that discuss the integration of Azure data services and Power BI dataflows via Common Data Model folders[1][2][3] include links to a tutorial and sample originally published in late 2018 by the Azure team. This has long been the best resource to explain in depth how CDM folders fit in with the bigger picture of Azure data.

Now there’s something better.

Microsoft Solutions Architect Ted Malone has used the Azure sample as a starting point for a GitHub project of his own, and has extended this sample project to start making it suitable for more scenarios.

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The thing that has me the most excited (beyond having Ted contributing to a GitHub repo, and having code that works with large datasets) is the plan to integrate with Apache Atlas for lineage and metadata. That’s the good stuff right there.

If you’re following my blog for more than just Power BI and recipes, this is a resources you need in your toolkit. Check it out, and be sure to let Ted know if it solves your problems.

[1] Power BIte: Creating dataflows by attaching external CDM folders

[2] Quick Tip: Working with dataflow-created CDM folders in ADLSg2

[3] Dataflows, CDM folders and the Common Data Model

Video: A most delicious analogy

On By Matthew RocheIn Cooking and Baking, Metaphors, Patterns, Power BI, Recipe, Video5 Comments

Every time I cook or bake something, I think about how the tasks and patterns present in making food have strong and significant parallels with building BI[1] solutions. At some point in the future I’m likely to write a “data mis en place” blog post, but for today I decided to take a more visual approach, starting with one of my favorite holiday recipes[2].

Check it out:

(Please forgive my clickbaitey title and thumbnail image. I was struggling to think of a meaningful title and image, and decided to have a little fun with this one.)

I won’t repeat all of the information from the video here, but I will share a view of what’s involved in making this self-service BI treat.

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When visualized like this, the parallels between data development and reuse are probably a bit more obvious. Please take a look at the video, and see what others jump out at you.

And please let me know what you think. Seriously.

[1] And other types of software, but mainly BI these days.

[2] I published this recipe almost exactly a year ago. The timing isn’t intentional, but it’s interesting to me to see this pattern emerging as well…

The Power BI Adoption Framework – it’s Power BI AF

On By Matthew RocheIn Data Culture, Data Governance, Patterns, Power BI6 Comments

You may have seen things that make you say “that’s Power BI AF” but none of them have come close to this. It’s literally the Power BI AF[1].

That’s right – this week Microsoft published the Power BI Adoption Framework on GitHub and YouTube. If you’re impatient, here’s the first video – you can jump right in. It serves as an introduction to the framework, its content, and its goals.

Without attempting to summarize the entire framework, this content provides a set of guidance, practices, and resources to help organizations build a data culture, establish a Power BI center of excellence, and manage Power BI at any scale.

Even though I blog a lot about Power BI dataflows, most of my job involves working with enterprise Power BI customers – global organizations with thousands of users across the business who are building, deploying, and consuming BI solutions built using Power BI.

Each of these large customers takes their own approach to adopting Power BI, at least when it comes to the details. But with very few exceptions[2], each successful customer will align with the patterns and practices presented in the Power BI Adoption Framework – and when I work with a customer that is struggling with their global Power BI rollout, their challenges are often rooted in a failure to adopt these practices.

There’s no single “right way” to be successful with Power BI, so don’t expect a silver bullet. Instead, the Power BI Adoption Framework presents a set of roles, responsibilities, and behaviors that have been developed after working with customers in real-world Power BI deployments.

If you look on GitHub today, you’ll find a set of PowerPoint decks broken down into five topics, plus a few templates.

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These slide decks are still a little rough. They were originally built for use by partners who could customize and deliver them as training content for their customers[3], rather than for direct use by the general public, and as of today they’re still a work in progress. But if you can get past the rough edges, there’s definitely gold to be found. This is the same content I used when I put together my “Is self-service business intelligence a two-edged sword?” presentation earlier this year, and for the most part I just tweaked the slide template and added a bunch of sword pictures.

And if the slides aren’t quite ready for you today, you can head over to the official Power BI YouTube channel where this growing playlist contains bite-size training content to supplement the slides. As of today there are two videos published – expect much more to come in the days and weeks ahead.

The real heroes of this story[4] are Manu Kanwarpal and Paul Henwood.  They’re both cloud solution architects working for Microsoft in the UK. They’ve put the Power BI AF together, delivered its content to partners around the world, and are now working to make it available to everyone.

What do you think?

To me, this is one of the biggest announcements of the year, but I really want to hear from you after you’ve checked out the Power BI AF. What questions are still unanswered? What does the AF not do today that you want or need it to do tomorrow?

Please let me know in the comments below – this is just a starting point, and there’s a lot that we can do with it from here…

[1] If you had any idea how long I’ve been waiting to make this joke…

[2] I can’t think of a single exception at the moment, but I’m sure there must be one or two. Maybe.

[3] Partners can still do this, of course.

[4] Other than you, of course. You’re always a hero too – never stop doing what you do.

Power BIte: Dataflows enhanced compute engine

On By Matthew RocheIn Dataflows, Power BI, Power BItes, Power Query, Video6 Comments

Important: This post was written and published in 2019, and the content below may no longer represent the current capabilities of Power BI. Please consider this post to be an historical record and not a technical resource. All content on this site is the personal output of the author and not an official resource from Microsoft.

The enhanced compute engine in Power BI dataflows has been in preview since June. It’s not really new, and I’ve posted about it before. But I still keep hearing questions about it, so I thought it might make sense to record a video[1].

This video.


I won’t go into too much more depth here – just watch the video, and if you want more details check out one of these existing posts:

Now to get back on schedule with that next video…

[1] Also, I’m behind on my video schedule – this was a motivating factor as well. November was an unexpectedly busy month[2], and between work, life, and not really having the video editing skills I need to keep to a schedule… Yeah.

[2] And I expected it to be very, very busy.