In our previous Power BI automation blog, we utilized the Power Platform in combination with Azure SQL DB to store refresh history of our datasets leveraging the Power BI REST API when on a Power BI shared capacity. A solution to manage Power BI dataset refreshes is particularly useful when data source refresh times are variable and end users need to know when dataset refreshes are successful. However, Power Automate and Azure SQL create two failure points. This solution also requires additional licensing cost in Power Automate to leverage premium data connectors to Azure SQL. So, how can we ..read more

A company performing financial performance analytics year over year on consumer data may run into the challenge of gaining trust regarding the metrics from internal stakeholders. A common pain-point can be attributed to holidays (and their associated sale campaigns) not lining up each year. A reoccurring criticism we have seen at BlueGranite is summed up with the following real-life scenario: “I don’t trust these numbers because Easter was on a different week last year and our stores sell a lot of Easter chocolates.” In this post, we'll walk through how to build a comparative system to aid in ..read more

With Power BI Premium and the Capacity Metrics App, you can track metadata such as refresh statistics of your reports and data sources, as well as additional detail regarding CPU usage, memory usage, and average wait times for a dataset to refresh. Refresh data can be invaluable for users monitoring the health of their workspace and troubleshooting issues as well as IT leaders ensuring proper SLA standards from ETL to the Power BI Report. It also provides transparency and trust to business users to know that the data they are viewing is up to date ..read more

At BlueGranite, our fundamental business strategy is simple: to build a world class consulting organization that delivers meaningful business impact for our clients through data & analytics solutions. Discussions about strategy happen at all levels, and strategy factors into many tactical discussions and lower level decisions as a crucial reference point. We refine and remain true to our strategy by constantly asking the question “Why does this matter?”. We believe it’s easy for companies these days to have artfully written, inspirational vision statements, strategies, ideas, and values ..read more

When clients and consultants tackle MBI and MDP projects together, there can often be an assumed "one right way" to get the job done. This myopic focus on the presumed solution comes both from the consultant and the client side. Oftentimes, consultants may feel pressure to conform to industry-based solution templates, while clients may have their own preconceived notions about the problem they’ve articulated as well as about the type of solution it requires. But in either case, we believe there's benefit in taking a step back and examining the context behind every articulated problem in order ..read more

Metric and goal setting is paramount when formulating business operations. That's why Microsoft Metrics (previously known as ‘Goals’) make it possible to keep every member of a team striving toward a singular, unified key objective and ensures a higher probability of positive outcomes. In fact, in this study regarding goal setting and optimism, it is shown that the goal setting process assists individual workers to improve their performance and enhances optimism for business success. So, how can productivity metrics and business objectives be met while also integrating the latest and greatest ..read more

Creating a custom app is a breeze thanks to Microsoft’s PowerApps. Users of any skill level can design sleek applications to service numerous business needs as designing an app now requires little to no coding experience. The simple drag and drop interface in Canvas apps boosts efficiency by speeding up development time, while empowering user allow users ultimate control over the layout and navigation experience of the app. Canvas apps can connect to data in hundreds of cloud-based or on-premises sources. Further, your potential audience can access your apps via mobile devices, web browsers ..read more

Since its inception, Power BI has been a leading tool in self-service analytics. This week at Build, Microsoft released an exciting new feature available to preview – Power BI Datamarts! Power BI Datamarts enable self-service users to build and distribute an analytical solution from end-to-end. Data ingestion and preparation, data exploration and analysis, data modeling, and report design can all be done in a low- or no-code experience in Power BI Service ..read more

While there are settings that you can customize through the menu system in Power BI for a custom theme, one of the settings you cannot edit is to add a default background image to your pages. Here are 5 easy steps to create a theme that incorporates a background image for each page ..read more

Data ingestion is the process of transferring data from its source system to a data store, often a data lake. When considering your methods for data ingestion, there are many important considerations that your process must adhere to. Your data should be ingested in a timely manner, your data should arrive in its destination in an accurate format, your data should be in a format that can be transformed for analytical processes... just to name a few. Efficient data ingestion can be a daunting task depending on the complexity of your data sets. Yet, optimizing performance is a crucial part of t ..read more