Transform unstructured data into usable insights for Power BI
Power BI (Business Intelligence) is a Microsoft BI tool which is widely used at every level in the organization to make confident decisions, perform ETL logic and visualize data using up-to-the-minute analytics. Here, we are targeting the issue of mixed data values coming from APIs in a single column. Targeted audience– Developer Use Case:, In figure: A column containing the Records and List of records may create issues while further expanding them due to different data types. We can expand the list and record separately, but it will duplicate columns if the data contains a similar structure to this. JSON Sample for reference: { “@timestamp”: “30-11-2020 01:31:30 PM”, “postitems”: [ { “itemCode”: “abc1″ }, { “itemCode”: “abc2″ }, { “itemCode”: “abc3″, “hours”: [{ “day”: “Monday-Thursday”, “time”: “2:00PM – 1:00AM” }, { “day”: “Friday-Sunday”, “time”: “10:00AM – 2:00AM” }] }, { “itemCode”: “abc4″ } ] } This issue can be resolved by the Power Query editor formula as given below. let #”source” = Json.Document(File.Contents(“d:pathfilename.json”)), #”tabled “= Table.FromRecords({source}), #”expandListField” = Table.ExpandListColumn(tabled, ” postitems “), #”expandRecField” = Table.ExpandRecordColumn(expandListField, ” postitems “, {” itemCode “, “hours”}, {” itemCode “, “hours”}), #”expandList2″ = Table.ExpandListColumn(expandRecField, “hours”), #”fieldForRec” = Table.AddColumn(expandList2,”Rec”, each if Value.Is([hours], type record) then [hours] else null, type record), #”fieldForList” = Table.AddColumn(fieldForRec, “List”, each if Value.Is([hours], type list) then [hours] else null, type list), #”expandList3″ = Table.ExpandListColumn(expandRecField2, “List”) #”Replaced Value” = Table.ReplaceValue(#”expandList3″, each [List], each if [List]=null then [Rec] else [List], Replacer.ReplaceValue, {“List”}), #”expandRecField2″ = Table.ExpandRecordColumn(#”Replaced Value”, “Rec”, {“day”, “time”}, {“day”, “time”}), in expandRecField2 The formula here creates a set of lists and records into separate columns. #”fieldForRec” = Table.AddColumn(expandList2,”Rec”, each if Value.Is([hours], type record) then [hours] else null, type record), #”fieldForList” = Table.AddColumn(fieldForRec, “List”, each if Value.Is([hours], type list) then [hours] else null, type list), Then expand the column with a list. #”expandList3″ = Table.ExpandListColumn(expandRecField2, “List”) It makes both the column with the same data type i.e., Records Now we merge both the columns by replacing the null values in the list column. #”Replaced Value” = Table.ReplaceValue(#”expandList3″, each [List], each if [List]=null then [Rec] else [List], Replacer.ReplaceValue, {“List”}), Now we only have a record that contains “Employee Name” in the column, and we can expand the data to be used. In figure: Column with an only record data type that can be further expanded and get Employee Name Conclusion: Here we transformed data for multiple types of values into single columns with PowerBI. Next Steps- Join us in a one-day workshop Dashboard in a Day (DIAD) and Paginated Reports in a Day (PRIAD) to understand and explore Power BI as a solution for business data collaboration.With the new year upon us, this could be the right time to consider this powerful business management solution. With the flexibility to start small and scale, and with the advantages as outlined such as lower costs, unification, and ease of use, why not? Also Know Why Microsoft Power BI is the leader in business analytics? Gain advantage of a phased approach for your next BI project. Learn How to embed a Power BI report into an application for your customers? Ankit Panchal Ankit Panchal is currently working as Senior Associate in Advaiya and has worked on Microsoft technologies for past 3.5 years and has been a SharePoint expert. Currently is working on Microsoft Power Platforms. Contact us by filling the form below for Power BI implementation and integration.
Top 5 Business Intelligence and Data Analysis Trends
The ever changing business needs, fast-moving technologies, innovative techniques – self-service business intelligence (BI), mobility and predictive analytics, have taken the world of business analytics by storm. Organizations, nowadays, have unprecedented quantities of data, and they expect much from their analytics solution. They want their data accessible quickly and easily, anytime and anywhere. Most of the companies are striving towards easy-to-use, fast, agile, and trusted modern BI and analytics platforms to create business value and deeper insights out of the data coming from diverse data sources. Let’s have a look at some of the evolving trends in BI and analytics: 1. Self-service BI and Analytics: Today, business need the useful information fast enough and most importantly at their own. They do not want to be dependent on IT for any request. Self-service BI is an approach within the BI environment which enables to access the right information instantly and easily to the right person at the right time. Many companies are providing self-service BI solutions, which relieve IT from tedious and manual processes to make the data available in a governed manner; and allows business to get the information they want from anywhere at anytime. 2. Cloud based BI and Analytics: The critical corporate data and apps are rapidly moving online, so the BI and analytics cannot be far behind. The cloud based analytics is becoming more mainstream as it offers numerous benefits including lower expenses, greater flexibility and elasticity, quicker operations and on-demand availability. Initially, the cloud-based solutions were designed for SMBs that did not have sufficient IT resources to handle the infrastructure, but today, many large enterprises are also investing in the cloud as a way to deliver the access to corporate resources quickly and easily. 3. Mobile BI: Mobile BI has quickly emerged as the easiest way to deliver real-time useful insights to business users almost anywhere using any device including smartphone, tablet, iPad or iPhone. It helps users to make data-driven decisions on-the-fly, which eventually increases company’s productivity and bottom-line. Most BI vendors are also working tirelessly in this field to strengthen their services and provide a better end-to-end solution to their customers.4. Analytics of Things: The Analytics of Things (AoT) is a new buzzword in the analytics industry after the huge popularity of Internet of Things (IoT).  The AoT is a term used to describe the analysis of huge amount of data generated by IoT devices to make that data valuable. AoT is also essential as it makes connected devices smart and enables them to take intelligent decisions. In simple words, AoT is Analytics of IoT devices; which is required to make IoT devices more capable. Using Analytics of Things, organizations can understand the data that is being generated and can take necessary steps to improve their business. 5. Predictive Analytics: As the BI and analytics landscape is evolving constantly, businesses of tomorrow will be more and more focused on the future forecasts. Predictive analytics is the process to leverage the existing information and gain valuable perceptions to predict the future possibilities and stay ahead of the competition. Organizations are using predictive analytics in many different ways to uncover the future possibilities. Author Recommended 10 Keys to a Successful Business Intelligence Strategy Why Microsoft Power BI is the leader in Business Analytics? Organizations these days are producing a huge amount of data and it is important for them to invest in evolving technologies and skilled resources to be successful. They need to understand the significance and potential of BI and Analytics in achieving success. It is only with time that these trends will advance and prove its worth. Need Help in Business Analytics? Contact Us
Five techniques for successful BI adoption
The primary reason business intelligence strategies fail is the lack of alignment between organizational processes and technological factors. These core areas need to be aligned appropriately. They must receive central business focus, in a way that everyone can identify with these and thus can take an active part in fully utilizing the potential of business intelligence solutions. Business intelligence adoption rates can only increase if every employee making use of business intelligence solutions has a strong sense of involvement and ownership in all strategic areas. Strategies for successful business intelligence adoption in an organization: Defining and monitoring data quality standards during the initial implementation phase: Data quality is the primary factor that can make or break any business intelligence initiative. This is because the users will immediately judge the capabilities of any BI system by the result it generates when they use it for the first time. The results and insights generated from any BI system largely depend on the data quality, and if the initial results are promising and accurate, then only the users will show interest in using the system again, increasing the BI adoption in the organization. Real-time integration between BI system and other third-party ERP and CRM systems  The real potential for generating actionable insights from any BI system is highly dependent on the successful integration of the BI system with legacy ERP and CRM databases. The integration is also essential because it should include all the departments’ data in the BI implementation phase to provide visibility for their deliverables and respective business drivers. In larger organizations, it is imperative to have the Project Management Office (PMO) manage the BI implementation project and to have a senior executive taking ownership of the implementation project. If an organization doesn’t have the PMO, the best approach is to define a project leader who will oversee and manage all aspects, from the formulation of the BI roadmap strategy to implementation on a daily basis. Business results–driven approach: An organization must always keep the focus on the strategic business drivers for developing a good business intelligence system. This approach can provide more significant insights that can turn into revenue. A constant emphasis on the business results will keep the BI project’s focus and intensity on a higher level until the project is completed. Thus, the result–driven approach will lead to successful business intelligence implementation and adoption in an organization. Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Any organization would want to see its business intelligence applications showing an analysis of its KPIs that represent its business objectives in both the short and long run. An analysis of the KPIs will help the organization to spot the areas for improvement. A successful business intelligence strategy will always consider the company’s overall strategy and map it to align with the company KPIs. Thus, for the successful adoption of business intelligence solutions and applications, it is critical to identify and analyze KPIs from the users’ data. Selecting a flexible and agile BI application: Any user of a BI system would want an application that is flexible and agile enough to accommodate and allow changes according to the changes in indicators and requirements. A BI application that has some of the essentials features like content creation, data and its infrastructure management, and embedded analytics will undoubtedly set the foundation for the organization to implement business intelligence and thereby increasing the BI adoption rates in the organization. Conclusion: According to Zion Research, the global BI market, which accounted for 16.3 B in 2015, is expected to reach 26.5B in 2021, indicating around 9% year-on-year growth. Today, business intelligence has become the buzz word, where every organization is investing in BI systems, but very few of them can reap its full benefits. The five strategies discussed above will surely increase the BI adoption rates in the organizations and the benefits resulting from successful BI implementation.  Â
Don’t just survive, grow through the crises with Power BI
Introduction Any business that generates essential customer and business data will find the use of Power BI relevant. Today, data is easily accessible to most of the companies, but we still cannot figure out how to optimally use all the data available to us. Our companies would perform much better if we could use the data optimally to make our decisions. Disruption by COVID-19 COVID-19 has changed how the businesses saw themselves, their goals, and the way they operate today. It is challenging for enterprises to restart post-COVID scenarios as the supply chains are disrupted, and the consumers’ as well as workforces’ behaviors, have changed. However, COVID-19 does not seem to be slowing down and may stick around much longer than we anticipated. This has led to increased uncertainty in the business environment. According to a recent survey by marketing week, as much as 68% of the marketing leaders feel that uncertainty is the major challenge for businesses. PwC experts’ article states that, in times of uncertainty and crisis, the biggest worry for business leaders is to gather information quickly. The primary question for them is, “How will data flow during this crisis?” Understanding the need Imagine you had a successful hospital before the COVID-19 outbreak. The sudden outbreak has everyone on their heels. During this panic state, you know you may have to serve an influx of patients. As a businessperson, you know, the supply of various essentials will get disrupted. It would help if you decided on the sudden changes in the inventory of medicines and assets like ventilators etc. You need information on the approximate number of patients you will be getting, and the specific medication you will need to treat these patients. The decisions taken by you now will impact the business as well as the life of your patients. Solving the problem with Power BI In such a scenario, the visualization of your customer demographics and the supply chain of essential medicines would make a vital impact on your decision. Now, imagine this was a case for all your branches across the world. You would want real-time data of all the users to choose all the hospitals. You might want to make a country-specific choice of stocking the medicines according to the number of cases in the country from your headquarters, and Power BI provides you with a facility to do that. Power BI would give you real-time dashboards of the number of patients, the diverse needs of these patients, country-specific data, and the stocks of the medicines. Benefits of Power BI COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains of businesses, and the workforce must work remotely, which may affect their productivity. Power BI provides real-time dashboards for all kinds of data generated by the company. It provides you with end to end visibility over the supply chain, the current inventory levels, anticipated resource requirements, and the approximate lead time to get the required products. Workforce productivity may also take a hit during these crisis times. Power BI provides you with a platform to keep track of employee productivity and motivation levels and provide valuable insights into employee behavior changes. It helps you compare the outcomes achieved through a process pre-COVID and post-COVID. Business leaders can use this data to motivate employees and take care of their needs. Power BI allows you to integrate the data from various sources like Excel, SQL Server, etc. on the cloud to provide insights for your business and help you in decision-making on multiple fronts. Availability on the cloud makes it easily accessible on a variety of devices like iOS, desktop, etc. It allows you to create live dashboards that provide you with a real-time picture of our business needs. It helps you develop customer segments, customer preferences, take inventory management decisions, and keep track of business opportunities in your industry landscape. The Advaiya advantage With Advaiya, you can develop your dashboards for the specific needs of your business. You can look at a few live dashboards using the following link. https://advaiya.com/live-power-bi-reports/ We can provide your business with customized dashboards that represent all the relevant areas for your business. We can help you understand and analyze the data on these dashboards and provide aid with the AI predictive modeling capabilities of the software to increase the efficiency of your business processes. Step by step process followed by Advaiya: We will figure out the business need of your business. Our experts can build on the previous data sources and infrastructure available in the organization. We will design a customized dashboard for your business. We will link your data sources to your dashboards for a real-time flow. We will train your employees to understand the business insights from predictive modeling. Decision making Are you ready to experience the business growth powered by Power BI?