Balanced BI Approach (Power Pivot & SSAS Tabular)

A Balanced BI Approach (Self-Service & Corporate)

August 14, 2013

Anthony Sammartino MCITP(BI), PMP® Vice President & Co-FounderTekPartners BI Solutions(954) 282-1798asammartino@tekpartners.com

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/apsammartino

Twitter: @SQLAnt

Blog: www.sqlant.com

Web: www.tekpartnersbi.com

My Contact Information

• Started working with SQL Server 7.0 in 1999

• 16 Data Warehouse / BI Projects in 14 Years

• 12 Years SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008(R2), 2012

• Live in South Florida with my wife and two daughters

• Fan of Miami and Philadelphia Sports teams, all things technology

• MCP(SQL Server), MCTS(BI), MCITP(BI), PMP®

About Me

1. Self-Service BI

2. Corporate BI

3. Common Situation

4. PowerPivot - SSAS Tabular

5. Which One to Choose?

6. Demo

7. Questions

Session Overview

Also known as Personal BI

• Users have access to the data and tools without IT involvement

• Excel is Microsoft’s Self-Service BI Tool and always has been

• In Excel: Power Pivot, Power View, Power Query, Power Map.

• Office 365 bundles it as Power BI.

• Can handle hundreds of millions records

• Limited to your desktop/laptops specs

Self-Service BI

Also known as Organizational BI:

• IT has control of data and tools

• More formal

• Software Development Life Cycle (DEV, QA, PROD)

• Analysis Services (SSAS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), etc.

• Runs on server hardware

Corporate BI

• Spreadmarts are what commonly take the place for Self-Service BI in an organization.

• Unraveling linked spreadsheets into a formal requirements spec takes a lot of time

• Not always a success; things get lost in translation.

• Process can take months for an organization to complete without producing any results.

• Gap between Excel knowledge and OLAP tools is huge.

Common Situation

PowerPivot (SSBI) SSAS Tabular (CBI)

Self-Service (Scooter) or Corporate (Super Bike):

• PowerPivot (64 bit) can handle hundreds of millions of records.

• Threshold is memory on your desktop / laptop (4-16 GB memory)

• SSAS Tabular runs on server hardware (512 GB memory)

• Partitions for incremental loading, perspectives, security roles.

The Ever Important Choice

• PowerPivot and SSAS Tabular are almost identical.

• Both use DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

• Calculated Columns, Measures, etc. are compatible

• There is not a huge gap between Excel and OLAP any longer

• Excel became more advanced, OLAP’s entry point became less advanced.

Similarly Different – What?

Prototype with PowerPivot:

• Provide the data to business users in a sample PowerPivot workbook

• Simple calculations, measures, KPIs as examples

• Educate business users on how to use PowerPivot to their advantage

• Iteratively educate them on DAX (Especially CALCULATE!)

• You can import a PowerPivot model into SSAS Tabular!

You Can Use Both…and You Should!

Success Factors:

• User Adoption – If users had a hand in creating it, adoption will be a success.

• Training – Each BI solution requires training and users will get it from the beginning.

• Time to Market - Requirements process is not disconnected; its small

• Users will speak your DAX language over time as its close to Excel!

Why Use Both?

Demo Time!

Thank you for your time today and hope you found this educational

Anthony Sammartino MCITP(BI), PMP® Vice President & Co-FounderTekPartners BI Solutions(954) 282-1798asammartino@tekpartners.com

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/apsammartino

Twitter: @SQLAnt

Blog: www.sqlant.com

Web: www.tekpartnersbi.com

Questions & Answers