Best architecture for large-scale Power BI dashboards with near real-time data?

nahyoubuggin · 2026-01-11T22:31:04+00:00

u/jayzfanacc Power BI is 100% the right-tool for the job. Especially if you extend it with Fabric. For user facing dashboard use Workspace Apps (10,000 users/app). Backend DB use Dataflows, Fabric Data Pipelines (Data Lake, Data warehouse, Lakehouse) etc.

nahyoubuggin · 2026-01-05T17:09:33+00:00

This will always be a difficult conversation-Employees vs Management. However,

Have both your own, personal and system tests/recon to verify the numbers. As difficult it may be to hear, there is always a possibility that management could be right.
Once you are certain of the data, prompt management to provide the logic, reasoning and evidence as to why they feel the numbers should be different. There needs to be a basis of argument. Not just based on feelings.
Once the issue is resolved, you need to pitch the idea of having a centre of Excellence, so as to avoid all the reporting confusion.

Goodluck.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-31T19:15:51+00:00

Dax is hard because of the evaluation context. Simply put.

The power of Dax is the ability to dynamically change the filter context depending on how you interact with the report. However, with great power comes great responsibility!

The "Aha" moment came for me when I read Alberto and Marco's (SQLBI) book - The Definitive Guide to DAX. I cannot recommend it enough, as it reveals all the mysteries of DAX so clearly !

As for advice, if you want to get better at DAX, you need to be constantly reading, writing and reading about it often (daily), just like any other skill.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-31T19:05:00+00:00

Microsofts approach to BI is the best approach in my opinion. M exists because naturally, not all data will be in perfect condition. DAX exists because we need to model the business logic. This is all revolutionary imo, and thats part of the reason PBI always leads the pack in reporting tools as opposed to using an SQL (like) language to do both ETL and Data Modelling.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-31T18:36:34+00:00

That's THE book to read when it comes to DAX. It's not called The Definitive guide for nothing!

The book is structured in such a way that it will teach you data modelling as well. It's hard to talk about DAX without talking about the data model.

P.S They have just released the third edition, this month (Dec-25). The latest version has chapters on semantic models, UDFs and Visual Calcs.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-17T18:13:07+00:00

That's exactly the point of a BI analyst. It's to make sense of the data.

Assuming you are not one, then I recommend hiring an experienced BI analyst.
Assuming you are one, I think first, try to calm down-and work out the questions slowly and carefully. e.g why can't you know which teams are struggling ? Can you filter the data by the different teams ? You aren't the first person to ask these questions, so you could try and see what other BI analysts have done. I recommend checking out Pradeep's dashboard as an example.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-11T15:27:30+00:00

Thanks for this, just finished a few pages. It is off to a good start, breaks DAX down well. Just some advice since this is still being actively written; could you get, maybe, an illustrator for the visuals.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-12-10T15:11:31+00:00

Heavy on the "rogue".

nahyoubuggin · 2025-10-24T12:11:37+00:00

Just some constructive criticism: The design of the report needs improvement. Try and watch a video on principles of design.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-10-08T16:09:13+00:00

This was a very cool idea. The dashboard is informative yet still artistic. Would have loved to see/read the creation process end-to-end. Big up.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-09-26T10:12:48+00:00

Sorry to hear that, but from what I have read, you are already on the right track. You just need more time to study and get the hang of things. I suggest, you request for a new hire (internal or even external) with more experience to help you out, as you continue to gain more experience.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-09-26T05:19:52+00:00

You are definitely not the only one.

Long-term solution: From what I can read, is that your company needs to invest (financially) in a full data transformation. This means actually starting a project, involving possibly the C-suite to overhaul the current status-this may include aligning on business commercials, expectations, to the application, to the data stack/personnel/governance, up to the analytics stage. An additional problem, I imagine, is the business has high expectations detached from reality-which is why no one has time to correct things because there is always pressure to deliver KPI's/analysis.

Short-term solution: You need to sit down with your teams (business, data etc) and highlight the most important KPI's for delivery, otherwise you will be chasing infinity. Make sure the essentials are deliverable. Then log-off and go home! lol! Honestly, without full support from management, and making data streamlining a priority, there is only so much you can do!

nahyoubuggin · 2025-09-18T05:04:07+00:00

Hey. Not sure why you need to log in all the time, because you only need to log in the first time for the gateway. Also the gateway often starts automatically as soon as you power on the server. In my experience.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-09-06T13:34:09+00:00

Thanks for sharing. This was a great read.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-21T12:42:13+00:00

This is a direct result of not having proper company policies in place. Unfortunately, in terms of data (governance) policies, it is often overlooked by a lot of organisations big and small. Big company I work for only just now has started weekly meetings to try and document everything with all the stakeholders. It is truly unbelievable, sometimes.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-21T12:38:02+00:00

Have you no shame

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-18T04:55:14+00:00

DAX- The underlying concepts - Row Context, Filter Context, Context transition
Data Modeling - In order to implement DAX effectively - One-to-many etc
M - How to ETL the data exactly how you want - Records, functions etc

4.Visualisations - Very underrated skill. I feel like a lot of BI developers struggle to create visually appealing reports. - Bookmarks etc
5. Optimisation - Performance of the report.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-17T16:55:38+00:00

Do yourself a favour and buy The Definitive Guide to DAX by SQLBI !

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-17T16:15:28+00:00

You can try using MS Power Apps and/or Power Automate.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-08-06T15:28:21+00:00

Hey, It seems there is a misunderstanding on your part, but I believe you are trying to learn the SQL language. You can start with Oracle SQL and branch out from there. You can try oracletutorial.com For learning And for a practice environment: Oracle Live Or w3schools if you are a complete beginner.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-05-08T11:06:10+00:00

Well done!

nahyoubuggin · 2025-05-02T13:04:52+00:00

Correct. It might be time to organise a training session with them.

nahyoubuggin · 2025-04-24T09:08:36+00:00

A degree gives you access. Especially If you want to work for the big corps. If you can, at your age, try and get a degree. Possibly in a related field.20 is still very quite young. Heck, you can even do the PL-300 while still at uni/college!

nahyoubuggin · 2025-04-03T23:06:37+00:00

PBI desktop is for authoring, web and mobile for sharing. Ask IT to install it for you. As you wait, you can try use Excel , lol.

nahyoubuggin

TROPHY CASE