Explicit Measures Podcast

The last couple of weeks the Power BI team at Microsoft has released some major improvements to Goals in the Power BI Service (see articles below). With this feature that was announced back at MBAS 2021 in May, we wanted to check in and see how the adoption or the usage has been, and where do we see Goals being used by teams and users in it's current form. Does Goals in Power BI have enough featur...

Technical Debt. The concept of buildup of unscalable solutions that causes rework in a solution, and eventually catch up on you. Anyone in the Power BI Space should already see the relationship between Technical Debt and building Power BI models and maintaining reports for an organization.  The guys dive in how this relates to a Power BI Professional, offering different concepts of debt. Have...

It does not matter if you are just starting off in Power BI or a season veteran, or even an all-star: You are going to run into complications with your models. It's not about avoiding messy models sometimes as much as it is about the ability to audit, clean, and optimize one. The guys run through their best approaches and tools that have served them well over the years in cleaning, optimizing, and...

One of our more favorite segments, we imagine Microsoft gave us $100 to spend on however we want to enhance the Power BI Service. Where would we have the Microsoft team put their time and effort, and where would we put our dollars on making the Power BI Service a better experience for Consumers, Admins, and Authors? Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting...

We know how important phones and tablets are to our culture. This is the same for companies and users. Microsoft continually enhances the Power BI mobile experience for users on a monthly basis, however do you see the usage of reports on user's mobile devices as you would expect? The guys dive into the Mobile experience, and what role it should play in the Power BI platform. Get in touch: Send in...

Today's episode is all about the importance of communication skills for a Power BI Professional. First and foremost, why are even talking about communication in the Business Intelligence space? It is integral to have the ability to listen, empathize, and effectively communicate to our users what their needs are, along with talking data.  What challenges have you faced when communicating as a...

With some of the major new features available to connect to live datasets in Power BI (Direct Query on Analysis Services) that allows a Power BI report connect to both a Power BI Dataset and other sources, the immediate potential becomes profound. But why should you ensure that this is the way to go, and what are the use cases and also the limitations? This question came in from a mailbag, if you...

Based on this amazing article by Microsoft on how they developed their corporate KPI's, the guys wanted to run with it and talk about how any Power BI Pro can begin to help develop for their reports and users goals and KPIs. What are the insights, and how do we help guide our stakeholders in the direction where are reports have meaningful data, and metrics that matter? https://www.microsoft.com/en...

There are more than one way to filter a Power BI Report. You can use the Filter Pane, use Slicers, interact with a visual, or even use drill-through. Now, the real question is what the experience for a user? What should you use, and what are the pitfalls and benefits to each? Join in and listen as the guys discuss.  Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by twee...

As companies evolve in their reporting and data systems, there has been an ongoing discussion around ownership of datasets in Power BI, including when IT gets involved. The guys discuss what would define an IT dataset and what makes up a user dataset, and dive into the evolution and the separation of Business Intelligence and data from the IT realm. Is Power BI and BI still a part of IT anymore?&n...

Another bout with the Power BI Adoption Roadmap, this time focusing on the need for and importance of Executive Sponsorship & Support. What entails or successful factors should a Pro look for in an Executive Sponsor? Is it required to be Top-Down (C-level)?  Listen in to hear what the guys have experienced with successful Sponsorship, and what to look for in a promising candidate. Moreove...

Note: Many of the guys have been working to still get episodes out despite vacation plans, we apologize for the spotty audio in some segments. We pre-recorded this week episodes due to vacations - no live chat or talk about the August 2021 Desktop release. If you are a Power BI Pro, it would be hard pressed to say you have never heard of Power BI User Groups. One of the many amazing things about w...

Note: Many of the guys have been working to still get episodes out despite vacation plans, we apologize for the spotty audio in some segments. We pre-recorded this week episodes due to vacations - no live chat or talk about the August 2021 Desktop release. Let's face it: Tables & Matrix's are the necessary evil in Power BI. Users need it, pro's hate the experience, yet they are still one of th...

We are diving back into the Power BI Adoption Roadmap with what and why of Data Culture. How do you even define it , and how do you identify it? Join the guys as we cover changing organizational behavior, providing and showing value, and getting others aligned with vision. From correlating an Italian Culture to Power BI all the way to Executive buy-in, you do not want to miss this one! Get in touc...

The guys cover somewhat of a contentious topic in the Power BI community and for professionals throughout the industry: How essential is a college degree for a professional to be successful and work in the Power BI platform at an organization? While many of us have learned and developed the technical skills online (Forums, Blogs & Articles, Videos), what did the College experience provide that...

The guys are using the amazing resource by Melissa Coates on the Power BI Adoption Roadmap (referenced here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/powerbi-adoption-roadmap-maturity-levels ) all around the Maturity Levels and looking at the Adoption Roadmap and the adoption perspectives around implementing a successful Power BI solution at an organization. What makes up maturity? How d...

The guys focus on a topic that is widely discussed but seldom agreed upon - The Power BI Pro's Resume. What is impactful, what is important, and what should you put in yours to have the best chances of showcasing your skills and what companies are looking for? Listen for the guys experience and own opinions on what matters to them.  Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us t...

How often do you try new things in Power BI? What approaches or methods do you have? The guys focus today on their own experience on how they have used Power BI as a sandbox and a playground to test out learning new skills, solving problems, and using the Power BI platform to grow their arsenal of knowledge and apply community resources to their own solutions.  Get in touch: Send in your ques...

The guys are back discussing a little more heartfelt topic: How do you manage or balance work and life in the Power BI World? We all love what we do - so do you, listening to a Power BI podcast! But it can be tough to try to manage work, community, and your own personal needs, and needs of others.  Follow along as the guys go through what work / life means to them, their struggles, and what t...

From Microsoft's Research Lab, a newly released custom visual in Power BI is the amazing visual named Charticulator. It gives you nearly infinite design possibilities using a completely new way to visualize and show your data. However, some contend the learning curve is too high. Mike has been the resource online for how to use Charticulator with YouTube series, but with the amount of time to lear...

In case you missed it, Microsoft released an amazing new resource named the Power BI Adoption Roadmap - an in-depth and all-encompassing resource to blueprint how to drive usage and adoption in your organization. Today's episode investigates one of the sections, driving a Center of Excellence.  What is a Center of Excellence (CoE) in the Power BI world? It's the team, users, and nucleus that...

The journey of learning DAX for a Power BI Pro is quite a unique one. On one hand, the formulas seem straightforward enough, like Excel. On the other, it is a rite of passage to fail miserably not understanding how or why your DAX is showing what it shows.  The guys share their own stories on what pillars, hurdles, and methods they have experienced along the way learning, understanding, and m...

Any Power BI Pro knows they need more than just skills - they need some tools up their sleeve. The guys are talking about what makes up what they call their Power BI Dev Studio: Essential tools, items, and components that are essential for how they build, manage, and grow Power BI as a professional and in their daily workflows.  If you ever wanted to know what the essentials of the people are...

The podcast has covered tools, process, and workflows in previous episodes, but not like this episode. Taking the idea of "Virtuous Waste", which is either personally or from an organizational standpoint the idea that certain tasks and processes are essential or good to continue yet could easily be eliminated and automated in a better fashion. Think of scrubbing and cleaning an CSV file every week...

It's getting hot in July and the guys are back, expanding on a topic they discussed in May about the best ways to share content in Power BI. They have dived into Power BI Apps, but what are other situations, services, and deployment methods that make sense? Get in touch: Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on th...