In this module, we will look at an overview of theory and scientific evidence about data visualisation. Understanding the ‘why’ can help to make us better at the ‘how’, regardless of the technology.We will also look at an overview of the Power BI suite of tools.

1. The Data Analysts
Toolkit
SQL SERVER DAYS 2014
Jen Stirrup

2. Module 1:

3. The Data Analyst’s Toolkit
Setting up your Data for R
Jen Stirrup | Director
Copper Blue Consulting | June, 2014

4. Objectives

5. Objectives

6. Objectives

7. Objectives

8. Objectives

9. Objectives

10. Objectives

11. Objectives

12. Objectives

13. Objectives

14. Objectives
20
15
10
5
0
Year
1962
1965
1968
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
2004
2007
Total Expenditure on Health, % of GDP - 1960-
2007
Total Expenditure on Health, % of GDP - 1960-2007

18. Challenger

19. Challenger

20. Challenger

21. Why visualise?
Zimbabwean inflation rates (official) since independence
Date Rate Date Rate Date Rate Date Rate Date Rate Date Rate
1980 7% 1981 14% 1982 15% 1983 19% 1984 10% 1985 10%
1986 15% 1987 10% 1988 8% 1989 14% 1990 17% 1991 48%
1992 40% 1993 20% 1994 25% 1995 28% 1996 16% 1997 20%
1998 48% 1999 56.9% 2000 55.22% 2001 112.1% 2002 198% 2003 598%
2004 132% 2005 585.84% 2006 1,281% 2007 66,212% 2008
231,150,8
88% (July)

22. Think with your Eyes: Data Visualisation
Zimbabwean inflation rates (1980 – 2008)

23. Translated into picture…

25. Big data is driving us to a tipping point

26. Data gives you the WHAT, so people can
uncover the WHY
Data science process

27. Solutions built on Microsoft technology

28. Challenges to
unlocking data
insights
Integration with
existing tools
41%
Security &
manageability
37%
Lack of skills
& knowledge
59%
Connected
devices per adult
4.3
Source: Big Data & CIO Adoption Quantitative Research, Sept 2012, Microsoft

29.  The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of
stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
..
Where is the wisdom we have lost in
knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in
information?
Excerpt from The Rock by TS Eliot (1934)

30. Secret
Sauce?

31. Why Big Data?

33. Genius depends
upon the data
within its reach.
Ernest Dimnet

34. You have to start with the truth. The
truth is the only way that we can get
anywhere. Because any decision-making
that is based upon lies or
ignorance can't lead to a good
conclusion.
Julian Assange, Wikileaks

35. You have to start with the truth. The
truth is the only way that we can get
anywhere. Because any decision-making
that is based upon lies or
ignorance can't lead to a good
conclusion.
Julian Assange, Wikileaks

36. What data will we look at today?
The true measure of a nation’s
standing is
how well it attends to its children –
their
health and safety, their material
security,
their education and socialization, and
their sense of being loved, valued,
and
included in the families and societies
into
which they are born.
UNICEF, Child poverty in perspective:
An overview of child well-being in rich
countries,
Innocenti Report Card 7, 2007
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence.

37. 37

38. Defining Business Intelligence (BI)
• Today, BI is generally a well-understood term
• According to Gartner, BI is defined as:
A broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, sharing
and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions
• It encompasses a broad spectrum of technologies and usually
requires skilled professionals to implement and manage

39. Course Outline
 Module 1: Setting up your data for R with Power Query
 Module 2: Introducing R
 Module 3: The Big Picture: Putting Power BI and R together
 Module 4: Visualising your data with Power View and Excel 2013
 Module 5: Power Map
 Module 6: Wrap up and Q and Q

40. In a Nutshell: Power BI and R
Prepare Data with
R
Analysing Data
with R
Putting it all
together

41. Introducing Microsoft SSBI
Microsoft Office 2013 – Excel
 Over the past decade, the core spreadsheet capabilities have been enhanced to enable
analysts to analyze, communicate, and manage information
• Comprehensive support for querying Analysis Services data models
• Rich and interactive data visualizations
• Add-ins provide rich and integrated BI capabilities:

42. Introducing Microsoft SSBI
Microsoft Office 2013 – Excel
Product Purpose Excel 2010 Excel 2013
Power Query Data acquisition and preparation
Power Pivot Data modeling
Power View Presentation-ready, and interactive
reports
Power Map 3D geospatial visualization

43. Introducing Microsoft SSBI
Power BI for Office 365
 Power BI delivers cloud-based BI abilities
 BI site provide a cloud portal to share workbooks, and includes benefits:
‐ Data catalog to store and search for queries
‐ Data refresh from on-premise data
‐ Larger workbook sizes, up to 250MB
‐ HTML5 report viewing
‐ Natural language querying (Q&A)

44. Introducing SQL Server
 SQL Server also can play a major role in delivering BI
 Standard, Business Intelligence and Enterprise editions provide BI
capabilities to deliver larger scale BI solutions:
‐ Data warehousing
‐ Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) with Integration Services
‐ Data modeling (multidimensional and tabular)
‐ Data mining
‐ Reporting

45. Business Analysts
• Data Discovery
IT Professionals
• Configure data services
• Create, combine, manage
and publish advanced
queries
Users
• Search for, and consume,
published queries
Introducing Power Query
Power Query Audiences

46. Introducing Power Query
• Power Query is a new add-in for Excel to discover, transform and consume
data
• Allows defining queries which run a sequence of steps to import and
reshape data from one or more data sources
- Query steps are defined by using Power Query Formula Language (informally known as "M“)
 Simple query step logic does not require writing formulas
 Advanced query step logic can be written to leverage the full power of the language
• Supports a large collection of data source types
• Query results can be loaded into an Excel table or the workbook data model

47. Introducing Power Query
Power Query Ribbon
- Search for published queries and load their data
- Source external or workbook data to create a new query
- Combine queries to create a new query
- Manage workbook and machine settings

48. Working with Power Query
Creating Queries
• A query is typically created by sourcing external data
• Data can be sourced from:
- Web (an HTML page)
- File
- Database
- Other sources su

49. Working with Power Query
Creating Queries – External Data Sources

50. Working with Power Query
Creating Queries – Query
• Queries are defined in the Query Editor window
• Once a data source is defined, the query can be named, and steps created
• Steps can filter and shape data into a desired result
- Steps can easily be produced by applying column filters, and by using the commands
available from the ribbon, or the query and column context menus
- It is possible to select a step and preview the data at that step
- It is also possible to remove steps – but take care not to remove a step that downstream
steps depend on
- Step formulas can be viewed or edited in the formula bar

51. Working with Power Query
Creating Queries – Query Editor
Navigator Pane
Browse structured
data sources to
find the data
source that you
want to query
Query Name
Unique name
for the query
Formula Bar
View or edit the
formula directly
Applied Steps
Edit any query
step, represented
as a Gear icon,
by using the Edit
Settings option
on each step.
Steps can also be
deleted.
Query preview
Load Settings
Load worksheet
and/or data
model
Latest refresh
time
Refresh
Import the latest data
(run query steps)

52. Working with Power Query
Creating Queries – Query Editor Context Menus
Query
menu:
Column
menu:
Column
filters:
Click here to launch
the query menu

53. Working with Power Query
Combining Queries
• New queries can be created to:
- Merge two queries (joining on a common column)
- Append two queries (union)

54. Working with Power Query
Managing Queries
• Each query is added as a workbook
connection, and can be refreshed like
standard data connections
• Queries are managed in the Workbook
Queries pane
• Hovering over the query will produce a
preview of the data, and provide commands
• Queries can be edited, duplicated,
referenced, deleted, merged, appended or
shared

55. Working with Power Query
Advanced Scenarios
• The Power Query options allow enabling advanced query editing
• When enabled, a query can be edited as a script, and new queries
can be scripted from scratch
• Customized logic can be developed by implementing functionality
not exposed by the context menus, by using looping constructs,
and parameterizing queries to create functions to be invoked by
other queries

56. Working with Power Query
Advanced Scenarios – Example

58. Find, combine and manage

59. Enabling Easy Access to Data with Power BI
Easy access to data on
any device.

60. Find, combine and manage

62. Power BI and R together

64. Discover, analyze, and visualize with Excel

65. Clean, transform, model, mash-up

66. Visualize and analyze

67. Ask real questions, get answers
Featuring Power BI for Office 365 Q&A
 Q&A feature uses natural
language query
 Type questions into the speech
bubble
 Get immediate answers in the form
of interactive charts and graphs

68. Connect and collaborate

69. Resources
 Microsoft Download Center
- Microsoft Power Query for Excel (Preview)
- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39933
 TechEd North America 2013
- DBI-B225: “Microsoft “Data Explorer ” for Excel: Discover, Combine, and Refine your
Data” by Faisal Mohamood
- http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/DBI-B225
 Power Query for Excel Formula Language Specification
- http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=320633

70. Demo

71. About me

72. SQL Server Days would like to thank all of our sponsors!