Initial PBI Setup - Security, Refreshing, SQL Querying

[Anonymous]

Hi folks, new to PBI and astounded at the possibilities! We're a manufacturing outfit trying to move into the 21st century in terms of KPI and performance metrics. The idea is wherever employees are in the world, they need access to data to analyze problem root causes, inform strategic decisions, and have a handle on company health. You get the idea.

My management team just approved PBI Pro licenses for about 30 of our 50 or so employees, and put me in charge of the whole thing. I know full well that the effort runs deeper and covers more territory than what I realize, and so I'm asking for some direction from you seasoned and brave PBI veterans.

I know our database intimately, am learning SQL, and have two guys that don't know Power BI but are masters of SQL. I know what the end result looks like (more or less), have begun building SQL views, security groups, function-specific Teams (within MS Teams) and PBI dashboards/reports, but we are struggling to connect up all the pieces. The data isn't refreshing at all when users view the dashboards (or are they reports?), users just get blank screens from the app site, there's some concern about upper management-level info being accessible by employees that don't need to know, etc. 

The questions: what should I be reading, or what kinds of courses should I be taking to best lead this project? Is it realistic to think I can do this with my team of 3 over a year's time? Do I need to bring someone in who already knows this stuff?

Thanks folks.

Ben Connelly

Financial Systems Analyst

entrotech, Inc.

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

3 people in a year, yes. I would start with the Learn link at the top of this community site. There are lots of good books out there too. I would recommend Phil Seamark's for the SQL guys to learn DAX. Great book.