Microsoft-Fabric

Just a heads-up that v26 of SDU Tools went out to SDU Insiders last week. If you haven’t used SDU Tools, they are just a large library of functions implemented in T-SQL. You can use them as a full library or use them as examples of code in work you are trying to do.

Fabric SQL Database Release

The main reason for this release (apart from the standard list updates for SQL Server versions, etc.) is to introduce a new target for SDU Tools. When you download v26, you’ll notice there are now three installation scripts, and three removal scripts. So, there are now versions for:

2025-09-30

Learn to design, automate, and optimize data pipelines across Azure and Microsoft Fabric environments !

We’re pleased to announce that our new course Azure Data Factory and Fabric Data Factory: Data Integration for Data Professionals is now available. This is another course that we’ve had so many requests for. You can find details of it here:

Azure Data Factory and Fabric Data Factory: Data Integration for Data Professionals

Are you ready to master modern data integration with Azure and Fabric Data Factory?

2025-08-11

I was pleased to recently get to review a new book by Nagaraj Venkatesan called Architecting Power BI Solutions in Microsoft Fabric . Nagaraj was an MVP for two years and now a cloud solution architect working for Microsoft.

NOTE: I reviewed the book while it was in preview.

I liked the way that Power BI was discussed for different personas: Business Users, Data Scientists, Administrators.

I was puzzled to see a requirement in the front matter for Angular 9, TypeScript 3.7, and ECMAScript 11. I couldn’t find any relevance to them in the book. Hopefully it will be removed before publication.

2025-04-16

Another Fabric Down Under podcast is out the door.

This time, the guest was Minni Walia.

Minni is a Principal Program Manager with the Microsoft Fabric Customer Advisory Team (CAT), specializing in the Real-Time Intelligence capabilities within Fabric.

Minni has over 20 years in tech, and has extensive experience in developing applications and data platforms. She spent more than a decade as an Enterprise Architect before transitioning into data analytics and engineering roles at Microsoft.

2025-02-10

Another Fabric Down Under podcast is out the door.

This time, the guest was Devang Shah.

Devang is a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft with over 16 years of experience in cloud technology, customer success, and business development. He’s led multi-million-dollar Azure deals, engaged with strategic customers, and orchestrated teams of cloud solution architects, solution sellers, and technology strategists across multiple regions and cultures.

Devang’s core competencies include creating clarity, simplifying complex patterns, creating mutually beneficial environments, and delivering value to customers, partners, and teams. He’s passionate about helping enterprises benefit from digital transformation through adoption of cloud, IoT, and AI.

2024-11-23

I work with a lot of clients that are creating analytic systems. They all collect large numbers of data points and analyze them. Most do a fairly good job with it.

One area that many also handle well is detecting anomalies i.e. data that is out of the ordinary.

But another area that I see very few handling well, is the data that is missing, rather than just the data that is present. There’s a huge difference between data that arrived, and is odd, and data that just didn’t arrive at all.

2024-11-18

Another Fabric Down Under podcast is out the door. This time it was with a another fellow “Down Under” guest Heidi Hasting from Adelaide.

Heidi Hasting is a Business Intelligence professional and former software developer with over ten years experience in Microsoft products.  She’s an MVP, MCT and holder of many certifications along with being an ALM/DLM enthusiast and Azure DevOps fan and co-founder and organiser of the Adelaide Power BI User Group.

2024-07-24

Once again, I had the great pleasure to record a Fabric Down Under podcast. This time it was with a fellow “Down Under” guest Philip Seamark, from across the “ditch” (as we both call it) in New Zealand.

Phil is a member of the Fabric Customer Advisory Team and works as a DAX and Data modelling specialist.

He gets involved when enterprise customers need deeper technical support.

In this show, I discuss Phil’s thoughts on Direct Lake which is one of the very new options that came with Microsoft Fabric. It adds another mode to Power BI, in addition to Import and Direct Query modes that have been there previously.

2024-03-06

I’ve been writing a series on Power BI Implementation Models for Enterprises for Tekki Gurus.

Part 2 that covers what I consider Cloud Native Clients is now published:

Note: Sorry but Tekki Gurus have closed down.

Enjoy !

2024-01-18

Once again, I had the great pleasure to record a Fabric Down Under podcast with a fellow long-term Microsoft Data Platform MVP. This time it was someone I have known for a long time: Paul Turley.

Paul is a director at 3Cloud and a Microsoft MVP. Paul has an amazing level of experience with business intelligence projects and has also worked with Microsoft Fabric since it was just a twinkle in Microsoft’s eye.

2024-01-15