This session is a collection of my top tips, tricks & hacks gathered over the years working over the Power BI platform from simple tips to boost your productivity into more advanced non conventional hacks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoR-2NjZCCk

1. Power BI Tips, Tricks & Hacks
@ RADACAD
Rui Romano
2020-06-10

2. Rui.Romano@DevScope.net
https://ruiromanoblog.wordpress.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruiromano/
@RuiRomano

3. Agenda
Learn useful tips & hacks on Power BI
Fast-paced, full of demos
Focus on productivity tips
This session is not:
Intro to Power BI
Deep-Dive
Advanced DAX/Powerquery

4. Tip – My PBI Desktop defaults
Tab Settings
Report Settings Default Visual Interaction to Cross Filtering - ON
Data Load Automatic Detect Column Types - OFF
Auto Detect New Relationships – OFF
Allow data preview to download in background - OFF
Auto Date/Time – OFF
Or leave it on with consciousness
(be carefull)

5. Tip – Report Template
FastTrack to new Developments
Understand theme files
Much more than just colors
Built in common tables
Calendar, Time, System,…
Learn more: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-report-themes

6. Hack – Copy Report Layout
Copy all the Report Layout between
PBIX including:
• Visuals
• Pages
• Bookmarks
• Themes
• Filters
• …
*Not Supported!

7. Hack – File Proxy
Create a “FilesProxy” to be referenced by others
Useful as a productivity boost (stage data locally)
Parameters to small publish & online refresh
TopN Parameters (see Chris Webb blog post)
Local Folder Sharepoint List
Folder Proxy
M Query 1 M Query N
OR
Slow Query!
OR

8. Tip – Excel + Power BI
Don’t ignore it, embrace it!
Build powerful & dynamic reports
Excel Tables as DAX Query
Paginated Reports of the Poor ☺
Self-Service Data Export
Change the Query with VBA

9. Hack – Export Data from PBIDesktop
Export all data from PBIDesktop to CSV / SQL Server
Very useful for:
DW / BI POC’s (Quick & Dirty ETL)
Create “Query Proxies”
Data Science data wrangling using Power Query
PowerBIPS.Tools / DAX Studio
Learn more: link1
*Not Supported!

10. Tip – Use the PBI REST API
Use the REST API to:
Automation, Productivity,
DevOps, Realtime…
Usage Examples:
Export all pbix from PowerBI.com to
Folder
Bulk Create Multiple Workspaces
using Folders and Files
DataSet Refresh
Learn more: link1, link2
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/power-
bi/overview?view=powerbi-ps

11. Hack – Deployment Pipeline (by script)
Automate PBIX Deployment + Rebind
1. Publish changes to a vNext dataset
2. Set PRD Parameters
3. Refresh & Wait for success
4. Rebind (Using the new Impact Analysis Internal API)
5. Delete the vOld
Be aware that references (ex: excel reports)
to old dataset will be broken
Learn more: link1
*Not Supported!

12. Hack – Deployment Pipeline (PBI Premium)
Use Tabular Editor + Azure DevOps to build a
much more professional deployment pipeline,
full session by Daniel Otykier on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzZgXe3Mjh
I&feature=youtu.be
Require PBI Premium / Azure PBI Embedded to
activate XMLA Connection
Just Blindbæk blogged on how save € and still
use this capabilities:
https://justb.dk/blog/2020/04/using-the-xmla-
endpoint-without-premium/

13. Tip – Know about the Power Platform Ecosystem

14. KPI’s
Microsoft
Flow
Power BI
Query
REST API
(Streaming)
Real Time w/ Flow + Stream DataSet
Mix Import & Real-Time (by the second)
No Authentication needed (stream)

15. Microsoft
Flow
Power BI Dataset
REST API
Power BI DataSet Refresher
Refresh PBIDataset on the GO
Limited to 8x Refreshes a Day

16. Event Attendees
KPI’s
Microsoft
Flow
Power BI
https://tinyurl.com/rreval
Microsoft
Forms
Session Evaluation

18. DevScope Suite of Power BI tools
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values in the data model and apply filters in bulk.
Embed Power BI Reports in PowerPoint presentations, Word
documents or Outlook messages.
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anywhere.
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