POWER BI WHAT S INSIDE ABOUT THE AUTHOR APPLIED MICROSOFT. Bring Your Data to Life! Teo Lachev EDITION MICROSOFT DATA ANALYTICS.

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1 POWER BI FOR PROS Get instant insights from cloud services & files Enable sharing and collaboration Explore data with interactive reports Deploy to cloud and on premises Assemble dashboards with a few clicks Implement organizational BI solutions Access BI content on mobile devices POWER BI FOR DEVELOPERS POWER BI FOR DATA ANALYSTS Automate Power BI Import data from virtually anywhere Report-enable custom applications Cleanse, transform, and shape data Build custom visuals Create sophisticated data models Implement business calculations Get insights from data AND MUCH MORE! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Teo Lachev is a consultant, author, and mentor, with a focus on Microsoft BI. Through his Atlanta-based company Prologika (a Microsoft Gold Partner in Data Analytics) he designs and implements innovative solutions that bring tremendous value to his customers. Teo has authored and co-authored several SQL Server BI books, and he has been leading the Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence group since he founded it in Microsoft has recognized Teo's expertise and contributions to the technical community by awarding him the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status since E PL POWER BI FOR INFORMATION WORKERS POWER BI Bring Your Data to Life! M WHAT S INSIDE The book page at prologika.com provides sample chapters, source code, and a discussion forum where the author welcomes your feedback and questions. APPLIED MICROSOFT SA Information Workers will learn how to connect to popular cloud services to derive instant insights, create interactive reports and dashboards, and view them in the browser and on the go! Data Analysts will discover how to integrate and transform data from virtually everywhere and then implement sophisticated self-service models. The book also teaches BI and IT Pros how to establish a trustworthy environment that promotes collaboration, and how to implement Power BI-centric solutions for descriptive, real-time, and predictive analytics. Developers will find out how to integrate custom applications with Power BI, to embed reports, and to implement custom visuals to effectively present any data. Ideal for both experienced BI practitioners and beginners, this book doesn t assume you have any prior data analytics experience. It's designed as an easy-to-follow guide that introduces new concepts with step-by-step instructions and hands-on exercises. rd APPLIED MICROSOFT POWER BI 3 Edition AN INSIGHTFUL TOUR THAT PROVIDES AN AUTHORITATIVE YET INDEPENDENT VIEW OF THIS EXCITING TECHNOLOGY, THIS GUIDE INTRODUCES MICROSOFT POWER BI A CLOUD-HOSTED, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS PLATFORM THAT DEMOCRATIZES AND OPENS BI TO EVERYONE, MAKING IT FREE TO GET STARTED! MICROSOFT DATA ANALYTICS Lachev Teo Lachev 3 rd EDITION

2 Microsoft Data Analytics Applied Microsoft Power BI Bring your data to life! Third Edition Teo Lachev Prologika Press

3 Published by: Prologika Press Copyright 2018 Teo Lachev Made in USA Applied Microsoft Power BI Bring your data to life! Third Edition All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be sent to Trademark names may appear in this publication. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, the names are used strictly in an editorial manner, with no intention of trademark infringement. The author has made all endeavors to adhere to trademark conventions for all companies and products that appear in this book, however, he does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. The author has made every effort during the writing of this book to ensure accuracy of the material. However, this book only expresses the author's views and opinions. The information contained in this book is provided without warranty, either express or implied. The author, resellers or distributors, shall not be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly or indirectly by this book. ISBN ISBN Author: Editor: Cover Designer: Teo Lachev Edward Price Zamir Creations The manuscript of this book was prepared using Microsoft Word. Screenshots were captured using TechSmith SnagIt.

4 contents preface viii acknowledgements ix about the book x 1 Introducing Power BI What is Microsoft Power BI? 1 Understanding Business Intelligence 1 Introducing the Power BI Products 3 How Did We Get Here? 5 Power BI and the Microsoft Data Platform 9 Power BI Editions and Pricing Understanding the Power BI Capabilities 15 Understanding Power BI Service 15 Understanding Power BI Desktop 18 Understanding Power BI Premium 20 Understanding Power BI Mobile 21 Understanding Power BI Embedded 22 Understanding Power BI Report Server Understanding the Power BI Service Architecture 25 The Web Front End (WFE) Cluster 26 The Back End Cluster 26 Data on Your Terms Power BI and You 28 Power BI for Business Users 28 Power BI for Data Analysts 30 Power BI for Pros 32 Power BI for Developers Summary 35 PART 1 POWER BI FOR BUSINESS USERS 36 2 The Power BI Service Understanding Types of Business Intelligence 37 Understanding Organizational BI 37 Understanding Self-service BI Getting Started with Power BI Service 41 Signing Up for Power BI 41 Understanding the Power BI Portal Understanding Power BI Content Items 46 Understanding Datasets 47 Understanding Reports 50 Understanding Dashboards Connecting to Data 53 Using Service Apps 53 Importing Local Files 55 Using Live Connections Summary 58 3 Creating Reports Understanding Reports 59 Understanding Reading View 60 Understanding Editing View 64 Understanding Power BI Visualizations 69 Understanding Custom Visuals 75 Understanding Subscriptions Working with Power BI Reports 79 Creating Your First Report 79 Getting Quick Insights 82 Subscribing to Reports Working with Excel Reports 85 Connecting to Excel Reports 85 Analyzing Data in Excel 87 Comparing Excel Options Summary 90 CONTENTS iii

5 4 Creating Dashboards Understanding Dashboards 91 Understanding Dashboard Tiles 91 Sharing Dashboards Adding Dashboard Content 99 Adding Content from Power BI Reports 99 Adding Content from Q&A 101 Adding Content from Predictive Insights 103 Adding Content from Power BI Report Server Working with Dashboards 105 Creating and Modifying Tiles 105 Creating and Modifying Tiles 106 Using Natural Queries Summary Power BI Mobile Introducing Mobile Apps 109 Introducing the ios Application 109 Introducing the Android Application 111 Introducing the Windows Application Viewing Content 112 Getting Started with Power BI Mobile 112 Viewing Dashboards 114 Viewing Reports Sharing and Collaboration 119 Sharing Dashboards 119 Annotating Tiles and Reports Summary 121 PART 2 POWER BI FOR DATA ANALYSTS Data Modeling Fundamentals Understanding Data Models 123 Understanding Schemas 124 Introducing Relationships 126 Understanding Data Connectivity Understanding Power BI Desktop 132 Installing Power BI Desktop 133 Understanding Design Environment 133 Understanding Navigation Importing Data 141 Understanding Data Import Steps 141 Importing from Databases 146 Importing Excel Files 149 Importing Text Files 150 Importing from Analysis Services 152 Importing from the Web 153 Importing OData Feeds Summary Transforming Data Understanding the Query Editor 157 Understanding the Query Editor Environment 157 Understanding Queries 162 Understanding Data Preview Shaping and Cleansing Data 165 Applying Basic Transformations 165 Loading Transformed Data Using Advanced Features 169 Combining Datasets 169 Using Functions 172 Generating Date Tables 174 Working with Query Parameters Summary 178 iv CONTENTS

6 8 Refining the Model Understanding Tables and Columns 180 Understanding the Data View 180 Exploring Data 181 Understanding the Column Data Types 183 Understanding Column Operations 185 Working with Tables and Columns Managing Schema and Data Changes 188 Managing Data Sources 188 Managing Data Refresh Relating Tables 193 Relationship Rules and Limitations 193 Auto-detecting Relationships 196 Creating Relationships Manually 198 Understanding the Relationships View 200 Working with Relationships Implementing Analytical Features 204 Working with Hierarchies 204 Assigning Data Categories Summary Implementing Calculations Understanding Data Analysis Expressions 208 Understanding Calculated Columns 209 Understanding Measures 210 Understanding DAX Syntax 212 Understanding DAX Functions Implementing Calculated Columns 218 Creating Basic Calculated Columns 218 Creating Advanced Calculated Columns Implementing Measures 222 Implementing Implicit Measures 222 Implementing Quick Measures 224 Implementing Explicit Measures Implementing Advanced Relationships 228 Implementing Role-Playing Relationships 228 Implementing Parent-Child Relationships 229 Implementing Many-to-Many Relationships Implementing Data Security 232 Understanding Data Security 232 Implementing Basic Data Security 235 Implementing Dynamic Data Security 237 Externalizing Security Policies Summary Analyzing Data Getting More Insights 242 Drilling Down and Across Tables 243 Drilling Through Data 244 Grouping and Binning 245 Applying Conditional Formatting 247 Working with Links 249 Working with Images Using Predictive Features 252 Explaining Increase and Decrease 252 Implementing Time Series Forecasting 253 Clustering Data 254 Using R Data Storytelling 259 Asking Natural Questions 259 Integrating with Windows Cortana 260 Narrating Data 263 Sharing Insights with Bookmarks Summary 267 CONTENTS v

7 PART 3 POWER BI FOR PROS Enabling Team BI Power BI Management Fundamentals 269 Managing User Access 270 Using the Admin Portal 273 Auditing User Activity Collaborating with Workspaces 277 Understanding Workspaces and Groups 277 Managing Workspaces 279 Working with Workspaces Distributing Content 285 Understanding Organizational Apps 285 Comparing Sharing Options 287 Working with Organizational Apps 289 Sharing with External Users Centralizing Data Management 291 Understanding the On-premises Data Gateway 291 Getting Started with the On-Premises Data Gateway 292 Using the On-Premises Data Gateway Summary Power BI Premium Understanding Power BI Premium 296 Understanding Premium Performance 297 Understanding Premium Workspaces Managing Power BI Premium 299 Managing Security 300 Managing Capacities 300 Assigning Workspaces to Capacities Understanding Power BI Report Server 303 Understanding Reporting Roadmap 303 Getting Started with Power BI Report Server 305 Understanding Integration with Power BI 307 Managing Power BI Reports Summary Organizational BI Implementing Classic BI Solutions 313 Understanding Microsoft BISM 313 Understanding Setup Requirements 317 Using Analysis Services in Power BI Service Implementing Real-time BI Solutions 321 Using the Streaming API 322 Using Azure Stream Analytics Implementing Predictive Solutions 329 Understanding Azure Machine Learning 329 Creating Predictive Models 330 Integrating Machine Learning with Power BI Summary 337 PART 4 POWER BI FOR DEVELOPERS Programming Fundamentals Understanding Power BI APIs 339 Understanding Object Definitions 339 Understanding the REST APIs 341 Testing Power BI APIs Understanding OAuth Authentication 348 Understanding Authentication Flows 349 Understanding Application Registration 351 vi CONTENTS

8 14.3 Working with Power BI APIs 356 Implementing Authentication 356 Invoking the Power BI APIs Summary Power BI Embedded Understanding Power BI Embedded 360 Getting Started with Power BI Embedded 360 Configuring Workspaces Understanding Embedded Features 364 Embedding Tiles 364 Embedding Dashboards 368 Embedding Q&A 369 Embedding Reports Report-enabling Intranet Applications 374 Understanding the Sample Application 375 Authenticating Users 375 Embedding Reports Report-enabling Internet Applications 380 Understanding the Sample Application 381 Authenticating Users 382 Implementing Data Security Summary Creating Custom Visuals Understanding Custom Visuals 385 What is a Custom Visual? 385 Understanding the IVisual Interface Custom Visual Programming 387 Introducing TypeScript 388 Introducing D3.js 389 Understanding Developer Tools Implementing Custom Visuals 394 Understanding the Sparkline Visual 395 Implementing the IVisual Interface 395 Implementing Capabilities Deploying Custom Visuals 401 Packaging Custom Visuals 401 Using Custom Visuals Summary 403 Appendix A 405 Glossary of Terms 405 index 408 CONTENTS vii

9 preface T o me, Power BI is the most exciting milestone in the Microsoft BI journey since circa 2005, when Microsoft got serious about BI. Power BI changes the way you gain insights from data; it brings you a cloud-hosted, business intelligence and analytics platform that democratizes and opens BI to everyone. It does so under a simple promise: "five seconds to sign up, five minutes to wow!" Power BI has plenty to offer to all types of users who're interested in data analytics. If you are an information worker, who doesn't have the time and patience to learn data modeling, Power BI lets you connect to many popular cloud services (Microsoft releases new ones every week!) and get insights from prepackaged dashboards and reports. If you consider yourself a data analyst, you can implement sophisticated selfservice models whose features are on a par with organizational models built by BI pros. Speaking of BI pros, Power BI doesn't leave us out. We can architect hybrid organizational solutions that don't require moving data to the cloud. And besides classic solutions for descriptive analytics, we can implement innovative Power BI-centric solutions for real-time and predictive analytics. If you're a developer, you'll love the Power BI open architecture because you can integrate custom applications with Power BI and visualize data your way by extending its visualization framework. From a management standpoint, Power BI is a huge shift in the right direction for Microsoft and for Microsoft BI practitioners. Not so long ago, Microsoft BI revolved exclusively around Excel on the desktop and SharePoint Server for team BI. This strategy proved to be problematic because of its cost, maintenance, and adoption challenges. Power BI overcomes these challenges. Because it has no dependencies to other products, it removes adoption barriers. Power BI gets better every week, and this should allow us to stay at the forefront of the BI market. As a Power BI user, you're always on the latest and greatest version. And Power BI has the best business model: most of it it's free! I worked closely with Microsoft's product groups to provide an authoritative (yet independent) view of this technology and to help you understand where and how to use it. Over more than a decade in BI, I've gathered plenty of real-life experience in solving data challenges and helping clients make sense of data. I decided to write this book to share with you this knowledge, and to help you use the technology appropriately and efficiently. As its name suggests, the main objective of this book it so to teach you the practical skills to take the most of Power BI from whatever angle you'd like to approach it. Trying to cover a product that changes every week is like trying to hit a moving target! However, I believe that the product's fundamentals won't change and once you grasp them, you can easily add on knowledge as Power BI evolves over time. Because I had to draw a line somewhere, Applied Microsoft Power BI (Third Edition) covers all features that were that were released by December Although this book is designed as a comprehensive guide to Power BI, it's likely that you might have questions or comments. As with my previous books, I'm committed to help my readers with book-related questions and welcome all feedback on the book discussion forums on my company's web site ( Consider also following my blog at and subscribing to my newsletter at to stay on the Power BI latest. Bring your data to life today with Power BI! Teo Lachev Atlanta, GA viii

10 acknowledgements Welcome to the third revision of my Power BI book! The book added about 20% new content and about that much content was rewritten to keep it up with the ever-changing world of Power BI. Writing a book about a cloud platform, which adds features weekly, is like trying to hit a moving target. On the upside, I can claim that this book has no bugs. After all, if something doesn't work now, it used to work before, right? On the downside, I had to change the manuscript every time a new feature popped up. Fortunately, I had people who supported me. The book (my ninth) would not have been a reality without the help of many people to whom I'm thankful. As always, I'd like to first thank my family for their ongoing support. The main personas in the book, as imagined by my 17-year old daughter, Maya, and 14-year old son, Martin. As a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), Gold Partner, and Power BI Red Carpet Partner, I've been privileged to enjoy close relationships with the Microsoft product groups. It's great to see them working together! Special thanks to the Power BI, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services teams. Finally, thank you for purchasing this book! PREFACE ix

11 about the book The book doesn't assume any prior experience with data analytics. It's designed as an easy-to-follow guide for navigating the personal-team-organizational BI continuum with Power BI and shows you how the technology can benefit the four types of users: information workers, data analysts, pros, and developers. It starts by introducing you to the Microsoft Data Platform and to Power BI. You need to know that each chapter builds upon the previous ones, to introduce new concepts and to practice them with step-by-step exercises. Therefore, I'd recommend do the exercises in the order they appear in the book. Part 1, Power BI for Information Workers, teaches regular users interested in basic data analytics how to analyze simple datasets without modeling and how to analyze data from popular cloud services with predefined dashboards and reports. Chapter 2, The Power BI Service, lays out the foundation of personal BI, and teaches you how to connect to your data. In Chapter 3, Creating Reports, information workers will learn how to create their own reports. Chapter 4, Creating Dashboards, shows you how to quickly assemble dashboards to convey important metrics. Chapter 5, Power BI Mobile, discusses the Power BI native mobile applications that allow you to view and annotate BI content on the go. Part 2, Power BI for Data Analysts, educates power users how to create self-service data models with Power BI Desktop. Chapter 6, Data Modeling Fundamentals, lays out the ground work to understand selfservice data modeling and shows you how to import data from virtually everywhere. Because source data is almost never clean, Chapter 7, Transforming Data, shows you how you can leverage the unique query capabilities of Power BI Desktop to transform and shape the data. Chapter 8, Refining the Model, shows you how to make your self-service model more intuitive and how to join data from different data sources. In Chapter 9, Implementing Calculations, you'll further extend the model with useful business calculations. And, Chapter 10, Analyzing Data, shares more tips and tricks to get insights from your models. Part 3, Power BI for Pros, teaches IT pros how to set up a secured environment for sharing and collaboration, and it teaches BI pros how to implement Power BI-centric solutions. Chapter 11, Enabling Team BI, shows you how to use Power BI workspaces and apps to promote sharing and collaboration, where multiple coworkers work on the same BI artifacts, and how to centralize access to on-premises data. Chapter 12, Power BI Premium, shows how you can achieve consistent performance and reduce licensing cost with Power BI Premium and how to implement on-premises report portals to centralize report management and distribution. Written for BI pros, Chapter 13, Organizational BI, walks you through the steps to implement descriptive, predictive, and real-time solutions with Power BI. Part 4, Power BI for Developers, shows developers how to integrate and extend Power BI. Chapter 14, Programming Fundamentals, introduces you to the Power BI REST APIs and teaches you how to use OAuth to authenticate custom applications with Power BI. In Chapter 15, Power BI Embedded, you'll learn how to report-enable custom apps with embedded dashboards and reports. In Chapter 16, Creating Custom Visuals, you'll learn how to extend the Power BI visualization capabilities by creating custom visuals to present effectively any data. source code Applied Microsoft Power BI covers the entire spectrum of Power BI features for meeting the data analytics needs of information workers, data analysts, pros, and developers. This requires installing and configuring x PREFACE

12 various software products and technologies. Table 1 lists the software that you need for all the exercises in the book. Depending on your computer setup, you might need to download and install other components, as I explain throughout the book. Table 1 The complete software requirements for practices and code samples in the book Software Setup Purpose Chapters Power BI Desktop Required Implementing self-service data models 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Visual Studio 2015 (or higher) Community Edition Required Power BI programming 14, 15, 16 Power BI Mobile native apps (ios, Android, or Windows depending on your mobile device) SQL Server Database Engine Developer, Standard, or Enterprise 2012 or later with the AdventureWorksDW database Analysis Services Tabular Developer, Business Intelligence, or Enterprise 2012 or later edition Analysis Services Multidimensional Developer, Standard, Business Intelligence, or Enterprise 2012 or later edition Power BI Report Server Developer or Enterprise Recommended Practicing Power BI mobile capabilities 5 Recommended Importing and processing data 6 Recommended Live connectivity to Tabular 2, 13 Optional Live connectivity to Multidimensional 6 Optional Importing from SSRS and integrating Power BI with Power BI Report Server Although the list is long, don't despair! As you can see, most of the software is not required. In addition, the book provides the source data as text files and it has alternative steps to complete the exercises if you don't install some of the software, such as SQL Server or Analysis Services. You can download the book source code from the book page at After downloading the zip file, extract it to any folder of your hard drive. Once this is done, you'll see a folder for each chapter that contains the source code for that chapter. The source code in each folder includes the changes you need to make in the exercises in the corresponding chapter, plus any supporting files required for the exercises. For example, the Adventure Works.pbix file in the Ch06 folder includes the changes that you'll make during the Chapter 6 practices and includes additional files for importing data. Save your files under different names or in different folders to avoid overwriting the files that are included in the source code. 4, 6, 12 NOTE The data source settings of the sample Power BI Desktop models in this book have connection strings to databases and text files. If you decide to test the provided samples and refresh the data, you must update some data sources to reflect your specific setup. To do so, open the Power BI Desktop model, and then click the Edit Queries button in the ribbon's Home tab. Select the query that fails to refresh in the Queries pane, and then double-click the Source step in the Applied Steps list (Query Settings pane). Change the server name or file location as needed. Installing the Adventure Works databases Some of the code samples import data from the AdventureWorksDW database. This is a Microsoft-provided database that simulates a data warehouse. I recommend you install it on a local or shared SQL Server because importing form a relational database is a common requirement. Again, you don't have to do this (installing a SQL Server alone can be challenging) because I provide the necessary data extracts. PREFACE xi

13 NOTE Microsoft ships Adventure Works databases with each version of SQL Server. More recent versions of the databases have incremental changes and they might have different data. Although the book exercises were tested with the Adventure- WorksDW2012 database, you can use a later version if you want. Depending on the database version you install, you might find that reports might show somewhat different data. Follow these steps to download the AdventureWorksDW2012 database: 1. Open the Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples Database webpage on Codeplex ( 2. Click the SQL Server 2012 DW tile. The link URL as of the time of this writing is Click the AdventureWorksDW2012 Data File link. 3. When Internet Explorer prompts you, click Run to download the file. 4. Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and connect to your SQL Server database instance. Attach the AdventureWorksDW2012_Data.mdf file. If you're not sure how to attach a database file, read the instructions at Installing the Adventure Works Analysis Services models In chapters 2 and 13, you connect to the Adventure Works Tabular model, and Chapter 6 has an exercise for importing data from Analysis Services. If you decide to do these exercises, install the Analysis Services models as follows: 1. Open the Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples Database webpage on Codeplex ( 2. Click the SQL Server 2012 DW tile. The link URL as of the time of this writing is 3. Click the "AdventureWorks Multidimensional Models SQL Server 2012" link to download the zip file. 4. Follow the steps in the "Readme for Analysis Services Tutorial on Multidimensional Modeling" section of the of the "SQL Server Samples Readme" document at to deploy the Adventure Works cube. 5. Back to the SQL Server 2012 DW Codeplex page, download and unzip the "AdventureWorks Tabular Model SQL Server 2012" file. 6. Follow the steps in the "Readme for Adventure Works DW Tabular SQL 2012" section of the of the "SQL Server Samples Readme" document at to deploy the Adventure Works Tabular model. 7. In SQL Server Management Studio, connect to your Analysis Services instance. (Multidimensional and Tabular must be installed on separate instances.) 8. Expand the Databases folder. You should see the SSAS database. Reporting errors Please submit bug reports to the book discussion list on Confirmed bugs and inaccuracies will be published to the book errata document. A link to the errata document is provided in the book web page. The book includes links to web resources for further study. Due to the transient nature of the Internet, some links might be no longer valid or might be broken. Searching for the document title is usually sufficient to recover the new link. Your purchase of APPLIED MICROSOFT POWER BI includes free access to an online forum sponsored by the author, where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the author and the community. The author is not committed to a specific amount of participation or successful resolution of the question and his participation remains voluntary. You can subscribe to the forum from the author's personal website xii PREFACE