Blog - CDO Advisors

Visualize Baltimore Crime Reports with Power BI

Use Power BI to Visualize Baltimore Crime Reports Using Power BI to Visualize Baltimore Crime Reports With Power BI you can take raw data and quickly transform it into easy to use visualizations. For this example, I will be using data from the Baltimore police crime reports public dataset that has data points back to 1963. However, most of the data really starts in 2014. I wanted to see what I could build from the dataset and spent a few hours pulling together the data and then building reports that enable me to see various trends about Baltimore crime reports. Here is a sample of the Baltimore Crime Reports available for download. As you can see it is difficult to spot trends and outliers in this format. If you are looking to visualize your crime report data, please contact us for assistance. [...]

By Derek|2020-01-05T10:09:50-06:00January 5th, 2020|Business Intelligence, Power BI|0 Comments

Use Power BI Decomposition Tree for Root Cause Analysis

Power BI Decomposition Tree Breaking Down Your Data Use the Decomposition Tree Visual in Power BI to explore your data and gain insights into how parts contribute to the whole. Drill into hierarchies to see how each part contributes to the total. Enable faster analysis for your team and gain data driven insights. Using this visual enables you to break down a metric by the dimensions of your data to see the impact of each. This can be used for root cause analysis such as failure of parts, operational processes or determining where you highest sales are coming from. While in Preview mode, you will need to enable the feature in the Power BI options and then restart Power BI. The screenshot below shows the proper setup. Analyzing Data with a Decomposition Tree I am using a sample dataset of retail sales. The sample dataset can be found here - [...]

By Derek|2019-11-14T08:07:20-06:00November 13th, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

Where is Your Company on the Data Maturity Roadmap

Maturity Model for Data and Analytics Where are you on your data and analytics journey? Are you getting the value you expect from your business intelligence and analytics reporting environment. Are you still spending more time on gathering data than you spend analyzing your data? Applying a framework such as Gartner's Data Maturity Model enables you to evaluate the level of your organization. To increase your company's maturity level you can see what IT and Operational changes need to be implemented. According to Gartner, "A worldwide survey of 196 organizations by Gartner, Inc. showed that 91 percent of organizations have not yet reached a "transformational" level of maturity in data and analytics." Use the model below to see your current data and analytics maturity. Gartner Survey on Data and Analytics - 4 minute read Level 1 - Basic Maturity Companies in this level have basic reporting from source systems. They get [...]

By Derek|2019-12-26T08:58:46-06:00November 10th, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

Tabular Modeling with SQL Server Analysis Services Cookbook – Contest

By Derek|2019-11-26T09:55:03-06:00October 17th, 2019|Business Intelligence|0 Comments

Power BI Key Influencers Analytics Example

What is Power BI Key Influencers Visualization? The Power BI Key Influencers visualization is designed to help you understand what data impacts the metric you are interested in. For example, I used the Titanic dataset to see what data was influencing the survival of a passenger. In this example, I want to see what factors about the passengers were critical to their survival. We all have heard women and children first. Now let us see what the data shows and how to get that information from the Key Influencers visualization. These are the columns I used to derive my results within Power BI Key Influencers. survived - What we want to see the influence on Sex pclass (Passenger Class) fare cabin age ticket Once these values are setup in the options for the Key Influencers it quickly produced the following result. As you can see the likelihood of surviving was [...]

By Derek|2019-11-26T09:58:14-06:00October 5th, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

5 Keys to Get Employees Using Your Dashboards

Get Employees Using Your Dashboards I frequently work with companies that have existing reports and dashboards in place from legacy platforms. Often I hear that they invested in the product and built a solution and then were unhappy with the adoption by their employees. This is more common than it should be and has left a bad perception of data reporting platforms in the minds of many executives. Working with a variety of companies has allowed me to see what does work to increase user adoption and increase the usage of an modern enterprise data and reporting platform. There are five keys to a new reporting platform initiative that has lead to successful solutions. Management Use of the Dashboards The highest levels of management and the business sponsor must use the solution. They need to use it as much as possible and let others see them using it. This could [...]

By Derek|2019-10-02T20:21:23-05:00October 2nd, 2019|Article, Power BI|0 Comments

DataCon Houston 2019

CDO Advisors Sponsors DataCon Houston 2019 I am proud to partner with DataCon Houston 2019 as a Silver sponsor. This conference is on October 9th and 10th at Top Golf in Katy, TX. Come learn about automation and data analytics for oil and gas and petrochemicals. Not in one of those industries? That's OK, the focus in about AI and data analytics. See what other industries are doing and how you can apply it to your own. There are 3 focus areas Data Ontology, Artificial Intelligence, Simulation Capabilities. Come learn about these areas and how they can be used to improve your business operations. We will have information on how to get better insights with your data through data visualizations. See how to get data on your phone or tablet and know how your business is performing at any time. Track critical KPIs and get consolidated dashboards. Learn more and [...]

By Derek|2019-10-02T13:01:09-05:00October 2nd, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

CFOs Need Microsoft Power BI for Business Dashboards

How CFO Dashboards are Better with Power BI? Imagine having the ability to see the data you need where and when you need it. Dashboards enable a visual representation of your companies data in a consolidated platform. This data can be from a variety of sources pulled together into a seamless experience for the management team. By visualizing your data you can quickly spot trends and anomalies in your operations. Then take action and improve your operations and service to your customers. Having a CFO Dashboard in Power BI can save time finding information. In addition it will enable faster decisions and provide a clear view of your business. By using Microsoft's Power BI to power your dashboards you get 5 key advantages. How much does Power BI Cost? The standard user license is $10 USD per user per month. Get your team up and running with a minimal investment. If [...]

By Derek|2019-12-01T09:40:44-06:00August 23rd, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

Power BI Training Videos on YouTube

Power BI Training Videos Check out our YouTube page to see our Power BI Training videos. If you have specific topics that you would like to see please let me know. I will be added new content as features roll out. I have created a YouTube playlist for Power BI that shows you step by step how to create a Power BI report. This is a great way for people to learn how to build a report using a Power BI sample to follow along with. Each video is short around 2 minutes. Watch the segments you need, skip the ones you don't. Build a Power BI Sample Report In this video I show what is possible with Power BI by reviewing a sample Power BI report built using Excel data. This is the final version of the report that you can build by following my Power BI example videos [...]

By Derek|2019-09-25T08:12:11-05:00July 18th, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments

What is the Microsoft Power Platform?

Microsoft Power Platform Microsoft has extended Power BI by added PowerApps and Flow under the umbrella of the Microsoft Power Platform. These apps are designed to work together. And allow you to quickly and easily build custom app and reports that utilize automated workflows. Business leverage the Power Platform to create applications that support processes. That would otherwise not be captured or captured using something like an Excel spreadsheet. No longer do you need to find and build an off the shelf solution. Now you can quickly spin up a solution that solves your problem without needed to know how to code. Microsoft PowerApps enable us build solutions with a point and click design platform. There are templates to get you started or design your solution from a blank canvas. Leveraging Microsoft Flow you can connect your PowerApp to common Microsoft data such as Excel or SQL. In addition, you [...]

By Derek|2019-08-12T15:35:50-05:00July 15th, 2019|Power BI|0 Comments