Why Power BI is the right tool for you

Editor's Notes

1. Purpose of this presentation: Describe the capabilities and value of Power BI for the IT Professional Target audience: Business Intelligence IT Professionals
2. Key message: There are common challenges that IT professionals are faced with when implementing a new BI solution Talking points: Management of BI systems Variety of data sources Managing data in the cloud Integration with existing environment Keeping data current Ease of use and adoption
3. Key message: Power BI is a business analytics service. With Power BI you can now see all of your data through a single pane of glass. Live Power BI dashboards and reports show visualizations and KPIs from data residing both on-premises and in the cloud, providing a consolidated view across your business regardless of where your data lives. Talking points: This is Power BI in a nutshell and the overall benefits to your business. We will look at what this means for the IT Pro and the key benefits for IT on the next slide
4. Key message: There are several capabilities that differentiate Power BI from other offerings in the market. Talking points: What that means for the IT Pro – key benefits: - Power BI is a cloud service which allows for faster time to solution and ease of management. - Connect live to your on-premises data (e.g. SSAS), no need to move your data to the cloud. - Schedule data refresh for on-premises data sources - Connect live to your cloud-based data, e.g. Azure based data services, Dynamics CRM or other SaaS applications - Secure your data and manage permissions - Open APIs for custom development - Create and publish customized content packs of packaged data models, reports and dashboards for users to easily consume
5. Let’s walk through an overview of how Power BI works. 1. The Power BI service, sometimes referred to as powerbi.com, is what allows you to: Create beautiful visualizations to tell compelling data stories Build rich, live dashboards that turn BI into business insights Create reports & datasets from which you can create visualizations and dashboards Enjoy the benefits of up-to-date data with real-time, automatic and scheduled refreshes Share dashboards easily with other people in your organization Ask questions of data in plain English with Natural Language Query Stay connected to your data all the time with mobile applications 2. Power BI connects to a variety of data sources. These range across both cloud and on-premises sources, and include: A variety of popular SaaS solutions, such as Marketo, Salesforce, GitHub, Dynamics CRM, Zendesk, and several others On-premises databases – Power BI offers live connectivity to SQL Server Analysis Services, which we’ll cover in more detail later. And using a gateway solution, Power BI can connect to other database solutions. Custom data sources – Power BI can connect to any data source you need it to thanks to its extensibility via REST APIs. This includes both proprietary corporate data sources, as well as external data services. For example, if you are a SaaS solution provider, you can work with Microsoft to connect your solution to Power BI. Other Azure services – Power BI integrates tightly with SQL Azure and Stream Analytics, and will be integrating closely with more Azure services over time Power BI Desktop and Excel files – Excel workbooks can be directly connected to Power BI.com, or may be used with Power BI Desktop. Power BI Desktop is a companion application to the Power BI service – it is a desktop tool that supports data analysis and reporting. Like Excel files, Power BI Desktop files may be uploaded to the Power BI service.
6. There is more…. 3. Power BI Desktop is a visual data exploration tool that enables you to analyze data and create stunning reports. With Power BI Desktop, you are able to: Acquire and prepare data using extensive query capabilities Manipulation and consolidation of multiple data sources is performed in Power BI Desktop – this enables Power BI service users to use data from multiple sources in a single report Establish data structure, then transform and analyze data Visualize and explore your data in new ways through a freeform drag-and-drop canvas Author reports with a broad range of modern data visualizations Publish beautiful, interactive reports directly to powerbi.com 4. Finally, the Power BI REST API library allows you to customize nearly every aspect of Power BI, including connecting to custom data sources, enabling real-time data streaming from your data source to Power BI, and integrating other applications with Power BI
7. There is more…. 3. Power BI Desktop is a visual data exploration tool that enables you to analyze data and create stunning reports. With Power BI Desktop, you are able to: Acquire and prepare data using extensive query capabilities Manipulation and consolidation of multiple data sources is performed in Power BI Desktop – this enables Power BI service users to use data from multiple sources in a single report Establish data structure, then transform and analyze data Visualize and explore your data in new ways through a freeform drag-and-drop canvas Author reports with a broad range of modern data visualizations Publish beautiful, interactive reports directly to powerbi.com 4. Finally, the Power BI REST API library allows you to customize nearly every aspect of Power BI, including connecting to custom data sources, enabling real-time data streaming from your data source to Power BI, and integrating other applications with Power BI
8. There is more…. 3. Power BI Desktop is a visual data exploration tool that enables you to analyze data and create stunning reports. With Power BI Desktop, you are able to: Acquire and prepare data using extensive query capabilities Manipulation and consolidation of multiple data sources is performed in Power BI Desktop – this enables Power BI service users to use data from multiple sources in a single report Establish data structure, then transform and analyze data Visualize and explore your data in new ways through a freeform drag-and-drop canvas Author reports with a broad range of modern data visualizations Publish beautiful, interactive reports directly to powerbi.com 4. Finally, the Power BI REST API library allows you to customize nearly every aspect of Power BI, including connecting to custom data sources, enabling real-time data streaming from your data source to Power BI, and integrating other applications with Power BI
9. There is more…. 3. Power BI Desktop is a visual data exploration tool that enables you to analyze data and create stunning reports. With Power BI Desktop, you are able to: Acquire and prepare data using extensive query capabilities Manipulation and consolidation of multiple data sources is performed in Power BI Desktop – this enables Power BI service users to use data from multiple sources in a single report Establish data structure, then transform and analyze data Visualize and explore your data in new ways through a freeform drag-and-drop canvas Author reports with a broad range of modern data visualizations Publish beautiful, interactive reports directly to powerbi.com 4. Finally, the Power BI REST API library allows you to customize nearly every aspect of Power BI, including connecting to custom data sources, enabling real-time data streaming from your data source to Power BI, and integrating other applications with Power BI
10. Purpose of this presentation: Describe the capabilities and value of Power BI for the IT Professional Target audience: Business Intelligence IT Professionals
11. Key message: Power BI is a Software as a Service (SaaS) BI solution Talking points:Power BI enables fast deployment with guaranteed SLAs for uptime Power BI scales to your demands, without having to worry about new hardware acquisitions and maintenance The service is updated for you
12. Key message: Power BI has built-in connectivity to your data sources Talking points: ETL can be expensive and time consuming: connectors, development extraction and transformation processes, scheduling tools, data staging. Power BI makes it easier and faster to see results with built-in connectivity. Azure data services include HDInsight, Azure SQL Server DW, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Machine Learning
13. Key message: With Power BI you can create custom content packs for your organization Talking points: If you need to make data available across your organization, a custom connector can do just that in an efficient way. For example, your finance team can provide access to financial data to the appropriate users across the organization. In addition to connecting your data source, Power BI REST APIs enable you to create and publish custom content packs, which consist of pre-built dashboards, reports, data models, embedded queries, and metadata Content packs make it easier and faster for users to explore the data you’re providing – they get dashboards and reports that they can use immediately to drive insights
14. Key message: Power BI comes with content packs for the SaaS solutions that you already use Talking points: It’s easy to discover business insights quickly by connecting all of the SaaS data sources you already use to Power BI Power BI has “connector” functionality that establishes a direct connection to a variety of popular SaaS solutions It’s more than just a connection though – Power BI has a “content pack” for each SaaS solution These “content packs” consist of pre-configured dashboards, reports, data models, embedded queries and metadata That means users don’t have to set anything up from scratch – you connect your data and instantly have a beautiful dashboard ready for you to customize to your needs Thanks to the direct connection from Power BI, data processing is optimized, so you can explore at a rapid pace And data is updated automatically each day (or on-demand if you need it) – no need for special refresh configuration
15. Key message: Power BI works directly and seamlessly with other Azure Data Services Talking points: Power BI integrates with select Azure services, enabling you to build seamless end-to-end data solutions For example, Power BI integrates with SQL Database and SQL Database Auditing, making it easier to surface data from those solutions Power BI also directly integrates with Azure Stream Analytics - real-time data from Stream Analytics can be pushed directly into Power BI for real-time visibility via dashboards For example, if you have IoT devices like sensors and factory-floor machines connected to Stream Analytics, that data can be surfaced live to Power BI dashboards, so operations managers can get real-time information on the status of plant operations Integration with additional Azure services is planned, which will light up other scenarios
16. Key message: Connect live to your existing on-premises data, such as SQL Server Analysis Services. No need to move your data to the cloud Talking points: Power BI lets you establish live connectivity with on-premises SQL Server Analysis Services tabular models Simply configure the connector to work with your existing SSAS solution With this connector, there is no need to move any data to the cloud – your data stays in SSAS on-premises, even while it is viewed in Power BI The connection is live – meaning that when users view and explore dashboards, Power BI interactively queries the on-premises cube to fetch the data right then This enables efficient data exploration thanks to optimized query performance You can create reports with SSAS data on powerbi.com, even while data remains on-premises Your existing, role-based SSAS permissions still apply – user access to SSAS data via Power BI is controlled the same way The connection to SSAS is secured via Azure Service Bus SSL encryption
17. Key message: You can upload Excel and Power BI Desktop files from your computer, or connect to them on OneDrive for Business or OneDrive Personal Talking points: Excel files or Power BI Desktop files can be published directly to Power BI with one click These files may content datasets, data models and reports that Power BI users can explore immediately Take advantage of OneDrive for Business – Excel workbooks stored in OneDrive for Business can be connected to Power BI Any time the file is updated, data is refreshed on the Power BI service And as you’ll discover in a couple slides, Power BI Desktop connects to a broad variety of data sources, extending Power BI to an even greater range of data When you upload your files, the data gets uploaded to the cloud as well
18. Key message: You can keep your data where it is Talking points: Power BI connects to data sources on your behalf. The connections require valid accounts that meet the requirements of the specific data source. In order for Power BI to refresh your dataset, you will need to provide credentials for that particular data source. The type of credentials required depend on the data source your dataset is connecting to. You will be required to enter credentials the first time you use Schedule Refresh or Refresh Now. Once entered, those credentials will be retained as part of refresh settings for that dataset. If you get data from another workbook that uses the same data source in a dataset you've already configured authentication credentials for, you won't need to configure credentials again for your new dataset.
19. Key message: Power BI REST APIs allow developers to extend Power BI to deliver exactly what an organization needs Talking points: Here are some of the important uses of APIs: Push data directly from another application into Power BI Push not only static data, but also real-time data, into Power BI Just as Azure Stream Analytics can push data directly into Power BI, you can enable other applications to do the same thing for real time visibility This enables users to manage and monitor real-time content You can add Power BI to existing application workflows As discussed earlier, you can create custom connectors and content packs for unique data sources that Power BI doesn’t support as a default Manage authentication using Azure Active Directory integration
20. Key message: Power BI has built-in data refresh capabilities Talking points: Connecting to SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular models by using the Power BI Analysis Services connector creates a live connection to model data, so there's no need to schedule refresh. Model data you see in Power BI is automatically refreshed about every ten minutes. Live connectivity to on-premises data Power BI supports live query over enterprise data sources such as SQL Server Analysis Services (Tabular models) Analysis Services with auto-refresh every 10 minutes Azure SQL Database with auto-refresh every 15 minutes
21. Key message: The Power BI Personal Gateway empowers business analysts to securely and easily keep their data in sync with on-premises data Talking points: With the Power BI Desktop or Excel, business analysts can import data from a wide range of on-premises sources and publish it to Power BI. The Personal Gateway keeps this imported data in sync so that reports and dashboards in Power BI are always up-to-date. The power of the Personal Gateway is in its ease of use. Once the Personal Gateway is running on the user’s computer, data refresh is seamless. The Personal Gateway helps analysts to quickly get started and refresh content in Power BI without having to depend on IT – this is a tremendous productivity gain offering self-service in its truest sense!
22. Thanks for taking the time to walk through the main capabilities of Power BI. To get started, please visit powerbi.com.