Delivery Options for Planning a Solution Paul Turley Data Platform MVP
Paul Turley Microsoft Data Platform MVP Principal Consultant, Intelligent Business LLC paul@intelligentbiz.net @paul_turley Sqlserverbi.blog About 25 years working with companies to visualize and deliver critical information to make informed business decisions Director of the Oregon SQL PASS chapter & user group Author of Professional SQL Server 2016 Reporting s and 14 other titles from Wrox & Microsoft Press
Solution Criteria to select candidate solution architectures Consider requirements & restrictions Cloud service restriction/aversion Cloud data storage Data volume Sharing & delivery Calculation & analytics profile Calculation language expertise Security needs Visualization needs
The Nine Realms Norse mythology predates Marvel Comics by thousands of years. According to tradition, the nine realms or worlds are branches of the cosmological tree; Yggdrasil. The realms include familiar worlds like Asgard (home of the gods) and Midgard (home of the humans). Mapping the nine worlds escapes precision because the not all of the realms are progressively better or worse, but different and perhaps better suited for their inhabitants. In this tradition, we present the nine realms of Power BI.
Midgard or Asgard? Achieving perfection is possible but often at great cost Categorically understand your: Requirements Limitations Priorities
Understand Your Capabilities Be optimistic solutions often require creative problem solving Ask for help & advice Stay focused & don t get distracted There are so many options!
Keep Your EnemiesClose You will rarely get all requirements up front Work in iterations Fail quickly Learn through selfservice Create prototypes & keep what works Balance data governance with self-service BI
Sometimes You Need a Bigger Hammer There are several different tools (within the Nine Realms) Out of the box, Power BI has many powerful capabilities Understand the strengths & limits of each tool Know when to use a different tool Data model (Analysis s) Data storage & ingestion (Power Query) Presentation/Delivery (PBI service, PBIRS, embedding)
Audience Internal Small Group Internal Enterprise External Audience B2B Vendors Customers Public (secured) Public (unsecured)
Security Report Level Security A collection of reports (user can see all data in those reports) A single report (user can see all data in one report) Data Level Security Role-based All members of a role see the same filtered records (e.g. All Western Region sales reps see Western Region sales records) Row/record-level Each user is mapped to one or more lookup table records and can only see associated data (e.g. Sales managers only see data for their sales office, Product reps only see data for their product line)
Power BI Dashboards Q&A Mobile Alerts Subscriptions Sharing Management & administration Gateway connections
Solutions
Power BI Solution Architecture Choices With so many solution component options, combinations can be numerous Has the business embraced cloud services? Can data be stored in the cloud? How large is the data: < > 1GB, 10 GB Sharing & delivery needs Calculation profile Calculation language expertise Security needs Visualization needs
Nine Realms of Power BI Cached Data Model - Deployed to SSAS Direct connect - Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed to to to DirectQuery Deployed to Cached Data Model - Deployed SSAS Direct connect - Deployed DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Embedded Live Streaming Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming 14
Solution Criteria tinyurl.com/ PBISolutionAdvisor (just intro)
to to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations 1 GB compressed model max size Cloud storage Primary Power BI product use case Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts Latest capabilities are introduced here New features are available in preview No on-premises infrastructure required Licensing Requirements Free for an individual user (not securely shared) Pro license needed to publish & securely share Premium capacity lic. more cost effective for > 500 users 16
to to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Connect live to SSAS through onpremises gateway Fully governed data solution Generally, all cached mode features are supported Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Q&A index may be <= 60 min old Q&A explicitly enabled Limited Q&A functionality for SSAS multidimensional Licensing Requirements SSAS requires SQL Server licensing (std. or ent.) Azure SSAS avail in monthly subscription Pro or Premium licensing required 17
DirectQuery Deployed to to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Queries are processed at the source so expect response in seconds. Long-running queries may result in errors. Connect live to source data through on-premises gateway Fully governed data solution, Internet access needed Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts Performance & reliability implications Some DAX calculation limitations Licensing Requirements Source licensing & infrastructure costs apply Pro or Premium licensing required 18
to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts are not available R script currently not supported No Internet access required Fully governed, on-premises data & report solution Power BI Pro licensed users can publish to report server Report server & Power BI Desktop feature support are updated quarterly* Licensing Requirements Premium or SQL Server Ent/SA licensing required Pro lic. Required to publish on-prem Source licensing & infrastructure costs apply 19
to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts are not available R script not supported Feature subset of: Cached mode on-prem & SSAS direct connect: No Internet access required Fully governed, on-premises data & report solution No model size limit Power BI Pro licensed users can publish to report server Report server & Power BI Desktop feature support are updated quarterly* Licensing Requirements Premium or SQL Server Ent/SA licensing required Pro lic. Required to publish on-prem Source licensing & infrastructure costs apply 20
DirectQuery Deployed to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts are not available R script not supported Queries are processed at the source so expect response in seconds. Long-running queries may result in errors. Feature subset of: Cached mode on-prem & DirectQuery: No Internet access required Fully governed, on-premises data & report solution No model to design/maintain Performance & feature implications Power BI Pro licensed users can publish to report server Report server & Power BI Desktop feature support are updated quarterly* Licensing Requirements Premium or SQL Server Ent/SA licensing required Pro lic. Required to publish on-prem Source licensing & infrastructure costs apply 21
Azure SSAS Deployed to to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Similar to SSAS on-prem direct connect but no SSAS server requirement: Fully governed data solution Generally, all cached mode features are supported Dashboards, Q&A, mobile, subscriptions & alerts No gateway required Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Q&A index may be <= 60 min old Q&A explicitly enabled Licensing Requirements Azure SSAS monthly subscription Pro or Premium licensing required 22
Application Embedding to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed to Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming Other embedding options may include: Public (non-secure) sharing through a frame or link, or organizational sharing in SharePoint web part Limitations Requires JavaScript & REST API coding skills Integration for ISV solutions Enables developer to embed published solution into custom application using REST API User authentication managed through API No Power BI branding Filter parameterization Generally, all features of the service are available Embed: dashboard, report, visual, Q&A Licensing Requirements Embedded service pay per render Developers require Pro license 23
Application Embedding to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed to Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Embedded Live Streaming 24
Live Streaming to to DirectQuery Deployed to DirectQuery Deployed to Onpremises Azure SSAS Deployed to Real-time dataset types: Pushed dataset (cached data) Streaming dataset (non-cached) PubNub Pushed dataset supports dashboards, reports, Q&A Streaming dataset supports only dashboards Refreshes 1-5x/second Limited data types & visuals Embedded Live Streaming Limitations Supported in the Power BI service Not supported by Power BI Report Server, on-prem No modeling or mashup only one stream Licensing Requirements Developers require Pro license Regular Power BI service licensing applies 25
Solution Criteria tinyurl.com/ PBISolutionAdvisor (now do the tour)
Thank You paul@intelligentbiz.net Questions @paul_turley Sqlserverbi.blog