Introduction: We can split an Address column into multiple columns for Flat Number, Building, Road, City etc. in order to make it easier to process the data. In order to do this, we can use the Derived Column Transformation in SSIS. Steps: In the screenshot below, you can see the Address column has an aggregated address for each employee. In your SSIS Package,  bring a Data Flow Task. Configure you Excel Source in Connection Manager and select the sheet you want the data from. Check in the Columns Tab to verify if the Columns are correct. Now drag the  Derived Column Transformation and connect the Excel Source to it. Double click the Derived Column Block and configure it as shown in the screenshot below. Flat: SUBSTRING([Col 2],1,FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,1) – 1) Building: SUBSTRING([Col 2],FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,1) + 1,((FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,2) – FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,1)) – 1)) Road: SUBSTRING([Col 2],FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,2) + 1,((FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,3) – FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,2)) – 1)) Area: SUBSTRING([Col 2],FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,3) + 1,((FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,4) – FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,3)) – 1)) City: SUBSTRING([Col 2],FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,4) + 1,((FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,5) – FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,4)) – 1)) PIN: SUBSTRING([Col 2],FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,5) + 1,((LEN([Col 2]) – FINDSTRING([Col 2],”,”,5)))) Once the configuration is done, connect Derived Column Transformation to you Target Block. Configure your Target Block to your Destination as shown below and check the Mappings to ensure the correct Source and Target columns are mapped. This is what your Data Flow should look like: Click on ‘Start’ when done. Once the execution is complete, check your Target Database for the desired output. Conclusion: This can be a requirement in many scenarios and by following the steps mentioned above, we can achieve the desired output.

Introduction: In this article, we will learn how to configure Live connection for Analysis Services in Power BI. Requirements: Power BI Licence SQL Server Analysis Service Power BI Gateway (Refer this link to configure Power BI Gateway) Steps to Connect Analysis Services Live in PowerBI Open PowerBI Desktop Click Get Data and Select Analysis Services In the Analysis Services Connection details, select Live Connection Mode for Live Connection. Once the Data, Measures, KPIs are loaded you can create Power BI Dashboard. Live Connection enabled status is visible at the right bottom of the Power BI Desktop. Before publishing the Dashboard, login into Power BI Service. Under Manage Gateway, we must add a data source for Analysis Services. Note: The account should be a Server Admin on the Analysis Server and should be a domain account in the same domain that the Analysis Services instance is located. (Click here for more information on Analysis Server Connection) Go back to Power BI Desktop and publish the Power BI dashboard. In the Power BI Service, under the Reports you will be able to see the published Live SQL dashboard.

Introduction: In this article, we will learn how to configure Live connection for SQL in Power BI. Requirements: Power BI  Licence SQL Server Database Engine. Power BI Gateway (Refer this link to configure Power BI Gateway) Steps to Connect SQL Live in PowerBI: Open PowerBI Desktop Click Get Data and Select SQL Server. In the SQL Connection details, select DirectQuery Mode for Live Connection. Once the Data is loaded, you can create Power BI Dashboard. DirectQuery enabled status is visible at the right bottom of the Power BI Desktop. Before publishing the Dashboard, login into Power BI Service. Under Manage Gateway, we must add a data source for SQL Server. Go back to Power BI Desktop and publish the Power BI dashboard. In the Power BI Service, under the Reports you will be able to see the published Live SQL dashboard.

Introduction: In this blog article, I will talk about the November Updates for PowerBI Desktop. Conditional Formatting based on Rules: You can now set the colour of the text based on a predefined rule depending on your business logic. This enables you to colour-code your data based on a set of rules that you set based on your business logic. To do this, go to the Conditional Formatting card and select the field you want to make changes to from the drop-down menu. Switch the ‘Font Colour Scales’ option On and select ‘Advanced Controls’. The general Font Colour Scales dialog box will open. Select the ‘Colour by rules’ checkbox. The Rules pane is displayed. There are dropdown lists to select the conditions, text fields to set values and a colour selector to set the colour of the data that satisfies the condition. If left empty, they default to the Minimum and Maximum values. To add additional conditions, click the ‘Add’ button. Once done, click OK. You will see the Conditional Formatting Rules being applied and the data being colour-coded accordingly. Also, if a data value satisfies multiple rules, the bottom rule applies. Cell Alignment for Table and Matrix: Now, you can set the alignment of data to Left, Right or Center for cells in a table or matrix. This feature is very useful when formatting your report. To do this, go to the Field Formatting card and select the field you want to make changes to. Go to the ‘Alignment’ option and select the alignment of your choice from the dropdown menu. You will now see that all the data in the selected fields have been aligned according to your selection. Selection Pane Update: The Selection pane now has an added feature of letting the user select which objects are displayed on top of the canvas if there is overlapping. Locking Report Objects: There is now a checkbox called ‘Lock Objects’ that allows you to fix the position and the size of each object in a report so that no changes are accidentally made. This is very useful when browsing reports as the layout will not be affected. One thing to keep in mind is that this setting will not be saved with the report and to ensure this checkbox is ticked when browsing. New options for slow/large data sources: Sometimes, if you have a large or a slow data source, obtaining a response to actions taken in the report can take time. To improve this, options have been introduced to send fewer queries so that it is easier and quicker to interact with the report. To enable this option, go to Options and settings in the File menu. Select Options and then the Query Reduction tab. From here, you can disable cross-highlighting and automatic slicing and filtering within the report. For slicing and filtering, an apply button can be added instead so that the report is only sliced/filtered once you click the ‘Apply’ button. As you can see above, the pie chart is not sliced when ‘Product 1’ is selected. It is only sliced when the ‘Apply’ button is clicked as seen below. Improvement in filtering: The limit of 500 values on the number of values you can match when filtering has been removed. This is applicable for all data sources except Live connections to analysis services models. Conclusion: As you can see from above, the November Update is full of extremely useful features that further optimize the way we use PowerBI Desktop.

Introduction: In this article, we will learn how to successfully connect to Analysis Services in Power BI for Live Connection. Checklist for Connection: The Domain Account must be a Server Admin in Analysis Server. Right Click on the Analysis Server > Select Properties > Select Security > The domain account must be added/present here.   Check Properties of Domain Account User for UPN (User Principle Name) Open Server Manager >Select Tools at right Upper Corner >Select Active Directory Users and Computers. Drill down the domain name >Select Users >Double-Click on the domain account. Click the Account tab. Note the User Logon name. User Principal Name (UPN) Mapping in Power BI Under the Analysis Server Data Source setting in Power BI Service, Navigate to Users and select the user and click Map User Name. Select CustomData and enter Replace data as the User you are logged in with and With Data as the Server Admin Domain Account UserLogon Name you had noted before. You can even test the mapping rule. For more information on UPN, watch the video for UPN Mapping in Power BI.

Introduction: In this article, we will learn how to configure Power BI Gateway. Steps to configure Gateway Login to Power BI service. Select Downloads icon> Data Gateway. You will be redirected to Power BI Gateway Download Page and click Download Gateway. Run the PowerBIGatewayInstaller. Click Next and then Install. The Power BI Gateway will be Installed. Sign to Power BI. Give the Gateway a Name and Recovery Key and Click Configure. Now, we are all set.

Introduction: Recently, we encountered a strange behavior of Scribe On-Premise Agent when we deployed a DLLs for a Custom Connector. After deployment of DLLs on the Agent, the status of the Scribe Agent was stuck at “Updating” and the Connector was not visible under the connector drop down. Troubleshooting: We checked the “MICROAGE1 Agent 2” Agent log and found out an error in .Net Framework. Error Details: Message: Folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Scribe Software\TIBCO Cloud Integration Agent 3\Connectors\ConnectorName) has the following exceptions during discovery:System.ApplicationException: Exception Type : FileLoadException Message: Could not load file or assembly ‘file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\Scribe Software\TIBCO Cloud Integration Agent 3\Connectors\ConnectorName\********.dll’ or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515) StackTrace :    at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadFrom(String assemblyFile, Evidence securityEvidence, Byte[] hashValue, AssemblyHashAlgorithm hashAlgorithm, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom(String assemblyFile) at Scribe.Core.Access.AdapterDiscoverer.DiscoverConnectors(String folderName) — Inner Exception — Type: NotSupportedException Message: An attempt was made to load an assembly from a network location which would have caused the assembly to be sandboxed in previous versions of the .NET Framework. This release of the .NET Framework does not enable CAS policy by default, so this load may be dangerous. If this load is not intended to sandbox the assembly, please enable the loadFromRemoteSources switch. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=155569 for more information. Steps to perform Resolution 1 Login to MICROAGE1 Server C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Config Open CONFIG File “machine” Add the code at line 151 and Save the file <runtime> <loadFromRemoteSources enabled=”true”/> </runtime> Current Code screenshot: Restart the Scribe Agent in Services Check if the DLL’s are deployed successfully by creating a connection in TIBCO Cloud Integration for Channel Online. If still failed then perform Resolution 2. Steps to perform Resolution 2 Login to MICROAGE1 Server Stop Scribe Agent in the Services. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Scribe Software\TIBCO Cloud Integration Agent 3\Connectors\ConnectorName and Right Click on a DLL file. (For example: As per the screenshot, “Contact”) Click on “Properties” Under Security Section press “Unblock” Click Apply and Ok Again, open the Properties to check whether it is successfully unblocked. Repeat Step 4-8 for all DLLs. Start the Scribe Agent in the Services.  

With Excel 2016, you can publish your Excel workbooks right to your Power BI site, where you can create highly interactive reports and dashboards based on your workbook’s data. You can then share your insights with others in your organization. Requirements: 1. Before publishing to Power BI, workbook must be saved to OneDrive for Business. 2. Only Excel 2016 with an Office 365 subscription will see the experience to publish with local files. Excel 2016 standalone installation will still have the “Publish” only behaviour which requires the excel workbook be saved to OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. 3. The account should be same for Office, OneDrive for Business, and Power BI. 4. Empty workbook or a workbook that doesn’t have any Power BI supported content cannot be published. 5. Encrypted or password protected workbooks, or workbooks with Information Protection Management cannot be published. Steps: In Excel, select File > Publish (Local file publishing). When you select Publish, you will be able to select the workspace you want to publish to. This can be your personal or group workspace that you have access to. You’ll get two options on how to get your workbook into Power BI. Upload your workbook to Power BI: When you choose this option, your workbook will appear in Power BI just like it would in Excel Online. But, unlike Excel Online, you’ll have some great features to help you pin elements from your worksheets to dashboards. You can’t edit your workbook in when open in Power BI, but if you need to make some changes, you can select Edit, and then choose to edit your workbook in Excel Online or open it in Excel on your computer. Any changes you make are saved to the workbook on OneDrive. When you upload, no dataset is created in Power BI. Your workbook will appear in Reports, in your workspace navigation pane. Workbooks uploaded to Power BI have a special Excel icon, identifying them as Excel workbooks that have been uploaded. Choose this option if you only have data in worksheets, or you have PivotTables and Charts you want to see in Power BI. Using Upload from Publish to Power BI in Excel is pretty much the same as using Get Data > File > OneDrive for Business > Connect, Manage and View Excel in Power BI from Power BI in your browser. Export workbook data to Power BI: When you choose this option, any supported data in tables and/or a data model are exported into a new dataset in Power BI. If you have any Power View sheets, those will be re-created in Power BI as reports. You can continue editing your workbook. When your changes are saved, they’ll be synchronized with the dataset in Power BI, usually within about an hour. If you need more immediate gratification, you can just select Publish again, and your changes are exported right then and there. Any visualizations you have in reports and dashboards will be updated, too. Choose this option if you’ve used Get & Transform data or Power Pivot to load data into a data model, or if your workbook has Power View sheets with visualizations you want to see in Power BI. Using Export from Publish to Power BI in Excel is pretty much the same as using Get Data > File > OneDrive for Business > Export Excel data into Power BI from Power BI in your browser. Publishing: When you choose either option, Excel will sign in to Power BI with your current account, and then publish your workbook to your Power BI site. Keep an eye on the status bar in Excel. It shows how things are going. To keep the data live, save your workbook to OneDrive and create a ODataFeed connection. Visit this blog article for more information. Let us know if there is any issue while implementing or contact us.

Yes, you heard it right, you can import Microsoft Excel Workbook to Power BI and show you selected section in you powered dashboards, let’s see how it works, as Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used business applications around. It’s also one of the most common ways to get your data into Power BI. Requirement: Power BI supports importing or connecting to workbooks created in Excel 2007 and later. Workbooks must be saved as .xlsx or .xlsm file type and be under 1 GB. Raw Data Vs Range Tables: If your workbook has simple worksheets with ranges of data, to get the most out of your data in Power BI, be sure to format those ranges as tables. This way, when creating reports in Power BI, you’ll see named tables and columns in the Fields pane, making it much easier to visualize your data. Power View Sheets, Pivottables And Charts: How your PowerView sheets and PivotTables and charts appear, or not appear, in Power BI depends on where your workbook file is saved and how you choose to get it into Power BI. We’ll go into this more below. Data Types: Power BI supports the following data types: Whole Number, Decimal Number, Currency, Date, True/False, Text. Marking data as specific data types in Excel will improve the Power BI experience. Saving you Excel file local or OneDrive can make a difference: Local – If you save your workbook file to a local drive on your computer or another location in your organization, from Power BI you can load your file into Power BI. Your file will remain on your local drive, so the whole file isn’t really imported into Power BI. What really happens is a new dataset is created in Power BI and data and the data model (if any) from the workbook are loaded into the dataset. If your workbook has any Power View sheets, those will appear in your Power BI site under Reports. Excel 2016 also has the Publish feature (under the File menu) which is discussed in our other blog. OneDrive – Business – If you have OneDrive for Business and you sign into it with the same account you sign into Power BI with, this is by-far the most effective way to keep your work in Excel and your dataset, reports, and dashboards in Power BI in-sync. Because both Power BI and OneDrive are in the cloud, Power BI connects to your workbook file on OneDrive about every hour. If any changes are found, your dataset, reports, and dashboards are automatically updated in Power BI. Two Ways to Import Excel workbook: 1. OneDrive 2. Import Excel data into Power BI Import or connect to an Excel workbook from Power BI 1. In Power BI, in the navigation pane, click Get Data. 2. In Files, click Get. 3. Find your file. 4. If your workbook file is on OneDrive or SharePoint – Team Sites, choose Import or Connect. Open the workbook and select he section that you want to pin to Dashboards. Try this yourself, it’s an amazing feature and allows us to use the standalone data points to show in Dashboards when even required. Feel free to contact us in case of any issue.  

Introductions: This blog highlights the feature for Drillthrough in Power BI Services, this is the ability to define a report page as a drillthrough page. You can now define an individual report page as a Drillthrough page. Ideally these report pages should be configured across a single entity. With that focused report page, users can right-click on a data point in other report pages, and drillthrough to the focused page to get details that are filtered to that context. Report Example: Below example uses the NORTHWIND database as a data Source, you can download sample database from here. To use drillthrough, create a report page that has visuals you’d like to see about the type of entity for which you’ll provide drillthrough. Your entity Relation should exist while you provide the drillthrough. Entity Relation Diagram: To use the drillthrough functionality right click on the any model and then you can go to the next related page, and data will be filtered according to that data point. How to create Drillthough in Power BI Reports: Select the entity that is used in the report, place the column that will be used from the drillthrough and at the page level drop the column in Drillthrough section below, this needs to be added to child page. When this is added in child page, there will be a back button that will be enabled in the child page. This button helps to navigate back to the parent page or to Drill Up. When this setup is complete you can use the drill up functionality in the parent page when you right click on any visual, option will be enabled. You can try this by yourself on the below power BI Report: Parent Page: Product Child Page: Orders, Region, Customer Feel free to leave comments if there are any issue while implementing the same, or feel free to contact us.