Power BI Debate: DirectQuery vs Import

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Using Power BI is easy. We download the Desktop software, install it in a snap, add a couple data sources, throw a table on a report, select a few columns. Done in 5 mins. No muss no fuss =) Seems pretty straightforward right? But if you ask any Power BI developer, he/she will tell you the devil is in the details. Having used it for a while, one of my biggest complaints remains an important decision you have … Read More

Which chart to use when comparing data? Tell your story effectively.

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  Data visualization is powerful for us to explore, discover, analyze, and communicate our findings. However, when it comes to the right chart to use, some of us are at a cross road. After all, there are so many! Line chart, pie chart, bar chart, area chart, donut chart, scattered plot, the list goes on and on, and thanks to the latest data analytics technology, our choices keep growing. It becomes quite a head-scratching exercise to choose the right visualization to … Read More

Let’s not forget about data warehouse.

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A great number of folks get instantly attracted to data visualization, whether it is powered by Power BI, Tableau, or other “big data tools” that they forget the beauty should be built on a solid foundation – a sound data warehouse. When the data set is small, we can still get away with using the OLTP database but as it grows, performance becomes sluggish. The first reaction from some IT managers might be throwing more resources to it, … Read More

Data… data… data…

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In today’s data frenzy world, organizations begin to realize how much value their data could provide them. All of a sudden, data visualization becomes utmost important for business users to see the untapped revenue potential and hidden relationships among products. Many vendors are delivering their own BI tools. Even Google is entering the field with a product called Data Studio 360 (https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio/) as part of its Google 360 Suite. Tableau has been leading this market for a while … Read More