The Dashboard Effect

Brick and Caleb discuss the importance of data modeling and good DAX in Power BI, highlighting common mistakes that can lead to poor report performance. For fast and efficient reporting, you need a sound data model that contains the right level of detail, dimensions, and relationships, avoids snowflake schemas, and uses simple (and standardized) naming conventions.

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 a re-release, but the content is still just as relevant as it was the first time around!) Brick and Caleb discuss the complexities of building an in-house BI department. In addition to sharing their firsthand experience and insight from years of supporting mid-market companies, the duo discusses the potential benefits and pitfalls of moving from relying on external BI vendors to establishing internal teams. They explore why companies might want to bring these capabilities in-house despite the challenges and offer practical steps and advice for those considering this shift. Tune in to learn about the hiring hierarchy within a BI team, cost implications, and how to foster an environment where a newly formed BI team can thrive.

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 guest co-host Greg Brown explore the dynamic between leading and lagging indicators in BI reporting. They share challenges and strategies for integrating these metrics to enhance operational efficiency and financial performance. Greg shares anecdotes from his operations background to emphasize the need for timely and actionable data to adjust behavior before it's too late.

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 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.