Category Archives: SQL Server 2016

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 →

#SQLFamily, Free Training, SQL Server 2016

SQL Server 2016 Rundown – Session Materials Available

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imageYesterday evening I had the distinct pleasure of presenting at the Jacksonville SQL Server Users Group on some of the new features of SQL Server 2016. We had delicious pizza, lots of great networking, and a lot of fun talking about SQL Server. The group had a ton of great questions, too! Thank you to everyone Continue reading SQL Server 2016 Rundown – Session Materials Available →

Excel, Power BI, Power BI Desktop Designer, SQL Server 2016, SSRS

Power BI Architecture Diagram v2 is Now Available

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

I finally finished putting together version 2 of my Power BI architecture diagram. I previously put together an architecture diagram but as fast as Power BI is changing, v1 of the diagram was quickly obsolete. I always wanted to come back and add more to the diagram to make it more complete but now that SQL Server 2016 is generally available and enhancements have been made to Power BI to facilitate integration with Excel and SSRS, it made sense to do another diagram.

The reason I originally created this diagram was to use as a tool during conversations with my customers. But I’ve also used the diagram in other presentations and found it beneficial while teaching about how Power BI works. I wanted to make this resource available to others for their benefit. So here’s v2.

Click here to download a .zip file with the .pdf and .png files.

Power BI architecture v2

I’ve included a few new things to make the diagram up to date with the latest changes to Power BI, SQL Server Reporting Services, and Excel.
This document includes components to illustrate:

  • Publishing Power BI desktop files and Excel workbooks to Reporting Services
  • Publishing Excel workbooks to a Power BI site
  • Browsing Power BI data models with Excel
  • Publishing Reporting Services content to the Report Server
  • Browsing Reporting Services mobile reports and KPIs using Power BI apps

Feel free to download this content and use it in your presentations, discussions, and for your own learning. I hope you find it useful and if you do, share it with a friend.

Feedback?

Do you have any feedback on this diagram or anything you’d like to see me change? Leave a comment or let me know! Thanks!

Power BI, SQL Server 2016, SSRS

What’s New in Reporting Services 2016

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Today I had the pleasure of presenting to the Higher Ed Data Warehousing and BI Group. We discussed the long list of new features and enhancements included with SQL Server Reporting Services 2016. The webinar has been recording and I’ve uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

If you’d like to download my PowerPoint slide deck, you can do that here.

And you can download my portal brand package here.

Continue reading What’s New in Reporting Services 2016 →

Community, Power BI, Power BI Desktop Designer, Rstats, SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, TSQL

Microsoft & R Programming Session Materials & Resources Available

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Last Thursday night I had the pleasure of speaking with Gregory Kramer and his friends at the Madison, WI Power BI User Group. We took an introductory look at how Microsoft’s acquisition of Revolution Analytics is making serious waves across the Microsoft data platform. We also walked through leveraging R in Power BI and SQL Server 2016.

New to R & Power BI? Start here.

R visuals in Power BI

Continue reading Microsoft & R Programming Session Materials & Resources Available →

SQL Server 2016, SSAS, Tabular, XMLA

Executing DBCC for SQL Server Analysis Services 2016

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In the upcoming release of SQL Server Analysis Services 2016, one of the new features you’ll see is the ability to perform a database consistency check against your SSAS cubes and Tabular models. Just like in the database engine side of things, DBCC for SSAS checks for corruption across the entire database or individual objects within the database.

Check out what’s new in SSAS 2016

The DBCC command is shaped likes the XMLA Process command so there’s not a lot of complexity to it. Below here, you can see the basic syntax for the SSAS DBCC command. Its worthing noting that the syntax of the command will look the same whether you’re running it against an SSAS multidimensional database or Tabular model. Continue reading Executing DBCC for SQL Server Analysis Services 2016 →

DAX, SQL Server 2016, SSAS, Tabular

What’s New in SQL Server Analysis Services 2016?

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There’s a load of new features that are included in the release of SQL Server Analysis Services 2016 CTP2. I’m pretty excited about these changes and while these changes have been public for a while now, I’d like to share my thoughts. I’ll say that these features are included in the SSAS 2016 CTP2 release. This release does not include all the enhancements to SSAS 2016 and these enhancements are subject to change. You can read about the enhancements here. Continue reading What’s New in SQL Server Analysis Services 2016? →