This session is a collection of my top tips, tricks & hacks gathered over the years working over the Power BI platform from simple tips to boost your productivity into more advanced non conventional hacks.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoR-2NjZCCk
3. Agenda
Learn useful tips & hacks on Power BI
Fast-paced, full of demos
Focus on productivity tips
This session is not:
Intro to Power BI
Deep-Dive
Advanced DAX/Powerquery
4. Tip – My PBI Desktop defaults
Tab Settings
Report Settings Default Visual Interaction to Cross Filtering - ON
Data Load Automatic Detect Column Types - OFF
Auto Detect New Relationships – OFF
Allow data preview to download in background - OFF
Auto Date/Time – OFF
Or leave it on with consciousness
(be carefull)
5. Tip – Report Template
FastTrack to new Developments
Understand theme files
Much more than just colors
Built in common tables
Calendar, Time, System,…
Learn more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-report-themes
6. Hack – Copy Report Layout
Copy all the Report Layout between
PBIX including:
• Visuals
• Pages
• Bookmarks
• Themes
• Filters
• …
*Not Supported!
7. Hack – File Proxy
Create a “FilesProxy” to be referenced by others
Useful as a productivity boost (stage data locally)
Parameters to small publish & online refresh
TopN Parameters (see Chris Webb blog post)
Local Folder Sharepoint List
Folder Proxy
M Query 1 M Query N
OR
Slow Query!
OR
8. Tip – Excel + Power BI
Don’t ignore it, embrace it!
Build powerful & dynamic reports
Excel Tables as DAX Query
Paginated Reports of the Poor ☺
Self-Service Data Export
Change the Query with VBA
9. Hack – Export Data from PBIDesktop
Export all data from PBIDesktop to CSV / SQL Server
Very useful for:
DW / BI POC’s (Quick & Dirty ETL)
Create “Query Proxies”
Data Science data wrangling using Power Query
PowerBIPS.Tools / DAX Studio
Learn more: link1
*Not Supported!
10. Tip – Use the PBI REST API
Use the REST API to:
Automation, Productivity,
DevOps, Realtime…
Usage Examples:
Export all pbix from PowerBI.com to
Folder
Bulk Create Multiple Workspaces
using Folders and Files
DataSet Refresh
Learn more: link1, link2
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/power-
bi/overview?view=powerbi-ps
11. Hack – Deployment Pipeline (by script)
Automate PBIX Deployment + Rebind
1. Publish changes to a vNext dataset
2. Set PRD Parameters
3. Refresh & Wait for success
4. Rebind (Using the new Impact Analysis Internal API)
5. Delete the vOld
Be aware that references (ex: excel reports)
to old dataset will be broken
Learn more: link1
*Not Supported!
12. Hack – Deployment Pipeline (PBI Premium)
Use Tabular Editor + Azure DevOps to build a
much more professional deployment pipeline,
full session by Daniel Otykier on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzZgXe3Mjh
I&feature=youtu.be
Require PBI Premium / Azure PBI Embedded to
activate XMLA Connection
Just Blindbæk blogged on how save € and still
use this capabilities:
https://justb.dk/blog/2020/04/using-the-xmla-
endpoint-without-premium/
18. DevScope Suite of Power BI tools
Connect data from Power BI or OLAP cubes to Excel, search for any
values in the data model and apply filters in bulk.
Embed Power BI Reports in PowerPoint presentations, Word
documents or Outlook messages.
Schedule and automatically send Power BI data to anyone,
anywhere.
Try Now
Try Now
Try Now
19. 38
Rua de Passos Manuel, nº223, 3º
4000-385 Porto, Portugal
info@devscope.net
+351 223 751 350