This week, Brick and Caleb get a bit technical and discuss how to improve Power BI report performance through effective semantic modeling and minimizing data transformation with Power BI. They unpack the challenges of managing data transformations directly within Power BI and highlight the advantages of using serverless SQL views instead. Their insights will help Power BI report developers avoid common pitfalls, streamline data processing, and improve Power BI report performance.

Jump to a Section:
0:40 How Blue Margin approaches semantic modeling with serverless SQL views
1:45 Power BI is not an ETL tool, so use SQL instead
2:34 How tight does governance around semantic models need to be?
5:23 What is the optimal level of complexity for a semantic model?

Watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

Brick and Caleb explore the balance between empowering analysts with data access and the governance required to prevent data sprawl and maintain integrity and consistency across reports. They provide strategies for enabling departments to independently use data for their own insights and how to use a centralized data team to review, refine, and distribute only the best individual reports to be used by the entire company. 

Watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

In a continuation of their AI-readiness discussion, Brick and Caleb outline the importance of the human element in preparing for generative AI analytics. They share strategies for ensuring that your company's culture is ready to harness the power of AI, from how to start improving data literacy to defining clear and consistent business logic. 

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

Brick and Caleb explore the steps businesses must take to prepare their data for the inevitable integration of generative AI analytics. They use this episode to explain the "why" behind data consolidation and semantic layers. 

What you'll learn:

• Why consolidating your data is the first step for AI-readiness
• The challenges and solutions for dealing with data from disparate sources
• The importance of a semantic layer in making data accessible for AI and business users
• Why you should take an agile approach when developing data infrastructure

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

This episode is the third installment of Brick and Caleb's series on breaking down data terminology. They cover foreign and primary keys, data lakes and data lakehouses, parquet and delta parquet files, ETL and ELT, and data pipelines, before concluding with Python, PySpark, and visualizations. 

Watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

This episode is the second installment of Brick and Caleb's series on breaking down data terminology. They cover Kimball data warehouse methodology, fact/dimensional tables, star vs. snowflake schemas, and data models vs. semantic layers. 

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

This episode is the first installment in a series of episodes that will serve as a primer on the key terms and technologies surrounding data management. Brick and Caleb begin with the fundamental differences between transactional and analytical databases, explaining concepts like OLAP, OLTP, normalization, and denormalization in an accessible way. They also clarify the essence of SQL, how it interacts with databases, and introduce the concept of Serverless SQL. Whether you're new to data or looking to deepen your understanding, this episode is a good place to start getting a handle on common data terminology.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

In this episode, Caleb and Kate discuss important KPIs for the manufacturing industry. While there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, they outline and provide insight on the leading and lagging KPIs that have helped our midmarket manufacturing clients improve sales operations, inventory management, labor and machine utilization, and cash flow.

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

Brick and Caleb discuss Blue Margin's use of Azure Data Lake for unified data management. Using a recent client project as an example, Caleb explains how he integrated multiple data sources using serverless SQL to create a single data repository with a semantic model to enhance consistency across projects and reports. They also discuss the current performance benefits of using a serverless SQL and the Microsoft Fabric OneLake updates they're waiting on before transitioning from Azure Data Lake.

In this episode:

• Introduction to Azure Data Lake: Caleb kicks off the discussion with an overview of Azure Data Lake, emphasizing its role in creating a unified data repository. The conversation highlights the significance of maintaining "one copy of your data" to eliminate redundancy and ensure consistency across various data analysis projects.
• Client Case Study: Caleb walks through a recent project of creating an Azure Data Lake for a client. Learn about the challenges of integrating multiple data sources and how serverless SQL views simplify data modeling and reporting.
• Serverless SQL Explained: Caleb outlines the benefits of serverless SQL, including its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and how it caters to users familiar with SQL Server without the need for a traditional database setup.
• Semantic Modeling for Unified Reporting: Understand the process of creating a semantic layer that merges data from disparate systems, enabling consolidated reporting across different business units without compromising data integrity.
• Performance Insights: Caleb shares his experience with the performance of serverless SQL on Azure Data Lake, busting myths about query execution times and handling large datasets efficiently.
• Looking Ahead: Brick and Caleb discuss the features they're waiting on within Microsoft's Fabric OneLake before transitioning from Azure Data Lake. 

Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.

In this episode, Brick and Caleb explain the distinctions of and interdependencies between data setup/data pipelines, data modeling, and reporting, emphasizing their individual roles within an effective approach to data analytics and BI. 

Starting by explaining the necessity of a solid data pipeline structure, this episode highlights how the specific requirements of a report influence the development of a corresponding data model (also known as a semantic layer) and concludes with a practical discussion on balancing the complexities of data models. 

 Click here to watch this episode on our YouTube channel.

Blue Margin increases enterprise value for PE-backed, mid-market companies by serving as their fractional data team. We advise on, build, and manage data platforms. Our strategy, proven with over 300 companies to-date, expands multiples through data transformation, as presented in our book, The Dashboard Effect.

Subscribe here to get more episodes of The Dashboard Effect podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Visit Blue Margin's library of additional BI resources.