It is already the start of March, where has this year gone?

I always look forward to the first week of every month when the imminent Power BI Desktop release is about to happen. But with that being said there are some updates already.

Let’s dig in

Microsoft Leader in Analytics & BI

As you can see above, Microsoft is clearly ahead in the Completeness of Vision and I would say an extremely close second in the Ability to Execute.

This is why I love working in the Power BI space, continually innovating as well as watching the competition.

All the details with regards to the Gartner Magic Quadrant are here: Gartner recognizes Microsoft as a leader in Analytics and BI platforms for 11 consecutive years

Power BI – The ability to push Apps to users

One request that I have seen both in the Power BI Community as well as from users that I engage with, was the capability to be able to push an app to users.

This has now been delivered!

I know that this will make the data exploration, as well as data analysis easier and seamless for users.

You can find more details here: Automatically install apps

Power BI – On-Premise Data Gateway Update

The new feature which now allows for the combination of cloud and on-premise data sources to be refreshed is a game changer. In the past there had to be a work around, or to try and manually bring data down from the web. Now this can easily be achieved with the latest version of the On-Premise Data Gateway.

Along with this there is also Improvements for DirectQuery over SAP HANA.

As well as this version gets the February 2018 Mashup Engine version.

All the details are here: On-premises data gateway February update is now available

Power BI – Developer Update for Feb

As you can see from above there is always a lot of work that goes into the Power BI Development space.

Under Embedding capabilities, it is great to see even faster loading times, mobile layout support for when an embedded app is being viewed on a mobile device. As well as visual-level filters which allow visuals to be filtered via the API.

Under Automation & Life-cycle, you now can use the Custom Data function in Azure Analysis services, Power BI Premium capacity now also has an API which also allows you to clone a workspace, connect to a customer’s data source and assigning a customers cloned workspace to dedicated capacity.

Along with this having the Query Parameters in the API means that you can now change the connection string for your report, change a query parameter and measure parameters. Also more data source connections.

Under Power BI Embedded is now generally available for the Government Cloud Community. And finally, you can now use the Azure Monitor Resource Metrics, which will allow you to see in real-time data on the status or load of your Power BI Resources. This is great if you want to understand and view how your resources are being used.

All the details are here: Power BI Developer community February update