All posts by Dustin Ryan

Dustin is a Data Platform Solutions Architect on the Education team at Microsoft. You can find Dustin blogging and speaking at events like SQL Saturday, Code Camp, and SQL Rally. Follow Dustin on Twitter @SQLDusty.
Power BI, power bi desktop

Power BI NFL Football Stats Comparisons and Analysis Report is now available!

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Important Update: View the latest version of my NFL stats analysis Power BI Report here

For the past few years I’ve combined my love of professional football and analytics by releasing a series of Power BI reports featuring player statistics. This year is no different. This year I’m finally able to release my NFL Football Stats, Comparisons, and Analysis reports featuring the stats for players at the quarterback, runningback, wide receiver, tightend, and kicker positions. Unlike previous years, this years reports are based on data from NFL.com. My goal for producing this report is, as nerdy as this is, to give me a leg up on my fantasy football drafts. If you’ve ever played fantasy football, you know the key to winning is having the deepest roster and I hope that these reports will allow me to identify middle and late round talent using the collected data in a readable and navigable format.

I think this is probably my best version of the NFL stats report that I’ve released yet, and there’s a few reasons why I think so. First, I included Continue reading Power BI NFL Football Stats Comparisons and Analysis Report is now available! →

Analysis Services, Azure, SSAS, Tabular

How to Automate Processing of Azure Analysis Services Models

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I’ve been working on a proof of concept for a customer that involved using Azure Analysis Services as a cache for some data in an Azure Data Warehouse instance. One of the things I’ve been working on is scheduling the automatic processing of the Azure AS database. I did find the following documentation on the process, but the screenshots of the Azure portal are out of date and I did find some errors in the instructions. I also found this very extensive project for partition management in Azure AS, but this was a little overkill for my purposes and I was just interested in the very basics.

Read my recap for MS Data Summit here

These previously mentioned resources led me to write this blog post. In this post I’m going to leverage the previously mentioned article and walk through creating an Azure Function App to automatically refresh my Azure Analysis Services model, while correcting a few errors and updating the screenshots.

If you’re new to Azure Analysis Services, take a look at this documentation. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume you have a basic understanding of Analysis Services.

Continue reading How to Automate Processing of Azure Analysis Services Models →

Data Insights Summit, Microsoft, Power BI, Power BI Desktop Designer

Microsoft Data Insights Summit Day 2 Recap: Timeline Storyteller, Future of Power BI Desktop, and Freakonomics

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The theme of day 2 of the Microsoft Data Insights Summit was sessions, sessions, sessions! There were a ton of different sessions for attendees and for us to watch! In total, there are 75 different videos between the keynotes and the individual sessions posted on the Microsoft Power BI YouTube channel that you can go back and watch anytime, which is pretty amazing!

Read my Microsoft Data Insights Summit Day 1 Recap here!

Obviously I haven’t watched all 75 different videos, but I did watch a few so I’ve included some of the things I learned, announcements on new features, links to some of the especially interesting sessions, and my notes from a couple of those sessions below. Continue reading Microsoft Data Insights Summit Day 2 Recap: Timeline Storyteller, Future of Power BI Desktop, and Freakonomics →

Data Insights Summit, Microsoft, Power BI, PowerApps, Visio

Microsoft Data Insights Summit Day 1 Recap: Power BI Visio & PowerApps Integration, Custom Drill Through Actions, Book Marks, What If Analysis, & Data Insights

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If you were at the Microsoft Data Insights Summit or were watching the live stream of the keynote, then you know that yesterday was a great day for Power BI! There were numerous announcements regarding new features, capabilities, and integrations coming to Power BI (If you missed it, you can watch the recording here!). Amir Netz, Technical Fellow at Microsoft, said that all the features demonstrated are features that will be available in Power BI within the next three months. These aren’t pie in the sky features or capabilities that will never see the light of day. These are all features that will be here by the end of next quarter!

New to Power BI Desktop? Start here!

Yesterday I watched Amir’s presentations and took notes on all the neat stuff coming down the pipe but I know everyone couldn’t attend the event or watch the live stream. So I thought I’d take a few moments to Continue reading Microsoft Data Insights Summit Day 1 Recap: Power BI Visio & PowerApps Integration, Custom Drill Through Actions, Book Marks, What If Analysis, & Data Insights →

Power BI, power bi premium

Deploying to Power BI Premium

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Obviously the big news of the day is the announcement for general availability of Power BI Premium! And if you were at or you watched the Microsoft Data Insights Summit you saw that announcement. But early last month on May 3rd, Microsoft announced Power BI Premium, which allows you purchase dedicated capacity for your Power BI assets, thus allowing you to share content with Free users within your organization.

What is Power BI Premium?

Microsoft stated that Power BI Premium would be GA late Q2 of 2017, which could mean nothing else aside from June. Well, today is the day that Power BI Premium, along with Power BI Report Server, are generally available.

Continue reading Deploying to Power BI Premium →

Azure, SQL Database, TSQL

Setting up Cross Database Queries in Azure SQL Database

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A question that I answer what seems like all the time is how to run cross-database queries against Azure SQL Database. So rather than answering those questions repeatedly I figured I should blog my response up so from here on out I can just forward the link to this blog on to my customers and others interested.

Most people I talk to still think that cross-database queries in Azure SQL DB aren’t possible. But thanks to a new feature called “Elastic Query”, we can issue cross database queries. There’s actually a few different types of cross database queries that Continue reading Setting up Cross Database Queries in Azure SQL Database →

Free Training, Power BI, power bi premium, power bi report server, Uncategorized

What is Power BI Premium?

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What is Power BI Premium?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of delivering a webinar presentation in partnership with Pragmatic Works called “What is Power BI Premium?”.

New to Power BI? Watch this introduction to Power BI Desktop video.

Since Power BI Premium was announced on May 3 there’s been a lot of questions around what exactly Power BI Premium is for and what it can do. Thus I thought it’d be beneficial to discuss Power BI Premium during yesterday’s webinar. Continue reading What is Power BI Premium? →

Power BI, power bi premium, power bi report server, SSRS

Setting up the Power BI Report Server Preview

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Last week on May 17th the Power BI team announced the release of the Power BI Report Server preview. Power BI Report Server includes the ability to host Power BI reports, along with traditional SQL Server Reporting Services content, within the boundaries of your organization’s firewall.

I put together the following video that Continue reading Setting up the Power BI Report Server Preview →

Power BI, power bi desktop

Power BI Architecture Diagram v3 is Now Available!

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Download the latest version of the Power BI Architecture Diagram here!

Over the past couple weeks there has been a ton of news and announcements around the direction Microsoft is taking Power BI. Between Power BI Premium and Power BI Report Server, my head has been spinning trying to stay educated on all the new changes and enhancements. With all these announcements, it was definitely time to update my Power BI architecture diagram to reflect the addition of Power BI Premium and Power BI Report Server.

Here’s how to install and set up Power BI Report Server (Preview)

I’ve made a few changes in v3 of the Power BI architecture diagram. Continue reading Power BI Architecture Diagram v3 is Now Available! →

business intelligence, Power BI, power bi desktop, SQL Server 2016, SSAS

Microsoft Business Intelligence Materials from Discussion at Jacksonville University

Today I had the wonderful pleasure for leading a discussion regarding the products, services, and tools Microsoft provides in the business intelligence stack. I met with Jacksonville University students and faculty and also had the pleasure of speaking with members of local businesses that are interested in leveraging Microsoft technologies. It was a wonderful experience and I had a great time!

If you’d like to download my slide deck from the discussion and presentation today, you can find that here.

Continue reading Microsoft Business Intelligence Materials from Discussion at Jacksonville University →