It’s time to refresh your data in Power
BI!
Cédric L. Charlier
@Seddryck
A big thanks to our sponsors
SQL Saturday Belgium
Who is this guy?
 Business Intelligence,
Data & Information
Architect
Main committer of NBi
(BI testing solution - Open-Source)
Contributor on some
Open-Source projects
 Data Platform MVP
from Belgium
Intrinsically agile
seddryck.wordpress.com
@Seddryck
Product architecture
Power BI
Desktop
Power BI
(Services)
Power BI
Mobile
Pricing
9
.99$
/month
/user
Power BI
Desktop
Power BI
(Services)
Power BI
Mobile
Dashboards
On-Premises
Reports
Datasets
Scheduled refresh
Power BI
Desktop
Power BI
(Services)
Datasets
On-premises
Cloud
Remarks about Scheduled Refresh
 Pay attention to the volume
 Full experience (no limitation)
 Refresh once by hour (or day with « free » version)
Direct Query (wih cloud sources)
Query
Power BI
Desktop
Power BI
(Services)
Datasets
Result
On-premises
Cloud
Remarks about Direct Query (with cloud sources)
 Tiles are not refreshed in real-time
 Each 15 minutes
 Nothing to schedule
 Direct Query … with a cache
 Could be an issue on high velocity and low volumes
 All data must come from the same data source
 No calculated table
 But measures (with limitations)!
 Some calculated columns
 Really limited query editor experience
Remarks about SSAS Live
 Extremely cool, but is it really Power BI?




No creation of measures, columns, …
Not possible to use to the Query Editor
No remodeling
All data from a unique data source
 Enterprise gateway
SSAS tabular & multi-dimensionnel live
Query
Power BI
Desktop
Datasets
Results
On-premises
Enterprise Gateway for direct query (or live)
Query
Power BI
Enterprise
Connector
Power BI
(Services)
Model
Results
On-premises
Cloud
Enterprise Gateway for scheduled refresh
Power BI
Enterprise
Connector
Power BI
(Services)
Model
Data
On-premises
Cloud
Remarks about Enterprise Gateway
 DirectQuery on SQL and SAP Hana
 Live connection to SSAS (Tabular and Multidimensional)
 Sheduled refresh with




SQL Server, SSAS
SAP Hana, Oracle, Teradata
File, folder
Sharepoint lists (on-premises)
Personal Gateway (Refresh)
Data + Metadata
Data
Power BI
(Services)
Datasets
On-premises
Cloud
Key points and limitations
 Difference between data and metadata
 First « refresh » is special
 Personal Gateway not needed if Power Query file is “cloud”
based
 Power Pivot behavior is similar to Power Query
 Power BI v2 behavior is also similar
OneDrive
OneDrive
Power BI
(Services)
Datasets
On-premises
Cloud
Why go through OneDrive?
 Avoid usage of Personal Gateway
 Usage of flat CSV files
 Updates on OneDrive take less than 60 minutes to appear on
Power BI.
Push and API
Power BI
(Services)
Datasets
On-premises
Cloud
Remarks about API
 Real-time refreshment!
 But only for tiles! (It’s perhaps smarter)
 Limited Power BI experience
 Unique table
 No remodeling
Sources
Acquisition
Enrichment
Storage
Power BI
(Services)
Model
Cloud
When do I need a « pro » version






More than 1Go of data
Scheduled refresh each hour (and not day)
Streaming via API larger than 10,000 rows/hour
Live connections
Gateway (Personal or Enterprise)
But also
 Groups Office 365 ou AD
 Content packs for organisations
Conclusion
 Many similar architectures but each with notable differences
 Test first … then implement
SQL Saturday Belgium