By Scott Bryson, BI Developer, CSL
Power BI Update
Overview
Microsoft has recently released the June 2021 updates in line with the monthly release schedule.
Below I have pulled some of the more interesting reporting points from this release. Some of these updates are only preview features in Power BI desktop. To be able to view them you’ll need to ensure you’ve selected ‘Preview Features’ on the Options pane, as shown opposite.
Here are the highlights:
Reporting
Paginated reports visual
A great new addition this month is the availability (currently in Preview) of Paginated reports for non-Premium users. This was previously only available on the highest priced Premium version of Power BI.
This is something we have been asked about before from multiple clients, but the Premium licence cost was always a sticking point. With this now available to non-Premium users; going forward this opens up lots of new options for development!
I have attached a link to Microsoft’s more detailed info on Paginated reports.
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/paginated-report-visual-for-power-bi-reports-is-now-available-in-public-preview/
Small multiples: responsiveness and conditional formatting
Since the introduction of small multiples in December Microsoft has been updating and tweaking the visual, whilst still in Preview, to prepare for general release.
You can now make the visual responsive (or not) and add conditional formatting.
Both features are currently only in Preview so remember to enable this.
Modelling
Format strings now persisted when using DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services. In this release, format strings are the latest property that will flow from a remote source to a local one.
Data Preparation
- DirectQuery support for Dataflow
DirectQuery support for Power BI dataflows is now generally available. You can now connect directly to a dataflow without needing to import the data into a dataset. To use this capability, you will need to explicitly toggle the enhanced compute engine to “On” in dataflow settings and then refresh the dataflow before it can be consumed in DirectQuery mode. - Select all operation is now supported for Dynamic M Query Parameters
Previously Dynamic M Query Parameters did not support the Select all operation, requiring end-users to individually select each value if they wanted to see the data for all values. Now in this release there is added support for Select all operation so that with a single-click users can select all values for the query parameter.
Data connectivity
Lots of new and updated connectors this month, list attached below, please see the link here for more information on each connector.
- Assemble Views (new connector)
- BQE Core (new connector)
- SumTotal (new connector)
- Adobe Analytics (updated connector)
- Anaplan (updated connector)
- Azure Databricks (updated connector)
- Cognite Data Fusion (updated connector)
- Dynamics 365 Business Central (updated connector)
- FactSet Analytics (updated connector)
- Google BigQuery (updated connector)
- Starburst Enterprise (updated connector)
- Vessel Insight (updated connector)
- Workplace Analytics (updated connector)
- Snowflake (updated connector)
- Azure Consumption Insights (connector deprecated)
Service
- Datasets discoverability
- Request access to datasets
- Mandatory label policy for Microsoft Information Protection sensitivity labels Preview
- Admin API to Set and Remove Microsoft Information Protection sensitivity labels
- Automate deployments with new APIs and PowerShell samples Preview
- Manage Dataflows in deployment pipelines Preview
- Admin APIs for deployment pipelines
Visualizations
New Visualizations
New this month are:
- Drill Down Combo Bar PRO by ZoomCharts
- Dumbbell Bar Chart by Nova Silva
- Graphomate bubbles 2021.2
- Zebra BI Tables 5.0
- Zebra BI Charts 5.0
Please be aware that visuals from third party may come with an additional charge to use.
To Wrap It Up
For a full list, including any feature I did not touch on, here’s the official announcement
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-june-2021-feature-summary/
For support in getting the most out of Power BI, please call us on 01483 528302 or email info@csl-uk.com, or read more about how our Power BI experts can support you here.
