Power BI for Serious Business Solutions

This session has several demonstrations with accompanying materials attendees may use to repeat on their own.  Attendees are not expected to follow-along but some of the demonstrations are optional, instructor-led exercises.  Please install the software and tools you wish to use before the session.  We will not be supporting or waiting for installations during the session.

At minimum, you will need Power BI Desktop installed on your Windows 10 or Windows 7 laptop with at least 4GB of RAM (8GB+ recommended) and you should have a Power BI Pro subscription.

Optionally, you may find it useful to install SQL Server 2017 Developer Edition (Database engine & Tabular SSAS), SSDT, SSMS and Power BI Report Server to use the examples provided with the session materials.

Power BI Desktop is a free download from the Power BI site.  You can also install it from the Windows 10 Store (without requiring local administrator access to your computer).

You can setup Power BI Pro monthly subscription for $9.99, setup a trial subscription or use your account from work or school.  You will need a company or school email address, or an address for a domain that you manage.   Use an address with a registered domain (not a free email services like GMail, Live or Yahoo!).  Some organizations prevent their users from setting up a Power BI subscription on their own. If you can’t use your work or school email address for any reason, you can setup a trial Office 365 account to get an email address.  Please do this ahead of time as it can take some time.

Power BI On-premises Gateway is installed from the Downloads drop-down menu in your Power BI tenant.  You can also just go here.  You will need to setup a Pro account beore you can use it.

Power BI Report Server can be installed as a trial.  When you install it, you can use the Developer option so the software activation will not expire.

SQL Server Developer Edition is available for free if you sign-up for Visual Studio Dev Essentials.  You can also install it without using a license if you have an MSDN subscription.

SQL Server Management Studio may be installed from a link in the SQL Server Installation Center, or from here.  Install the most recent version.

SQL Server Data Tools may be installed from a link in the SQL Server Installation Center, or from here.  Install the most recent version.  If you have an existing edition of Visual Studio 2015 or 2017, SSDT will be added.  If not, the installer will setup the Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 shell.  This installation can take some time.