Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power View Book Review

This is a very cool way to learn Power View. The book contains step by step instructions that show you how to take advantage of all Power View features, and the accompanying DVD contains a video of the instructions being implemented. There are 4 hours 48 minutes and 56 seconds of video included on the DVD. They show you how to implement the learn by doing sections of the book. Although I have an environment built for implementing the samples, the videos are great for people that don't have the resources to put one in place. While on the topic of putting an environment in place I'll mention that Appendix B shows you how to set one up with evaluation software. If you have the hardware available, I would definitely recommend setting it up. If you have an MSDN license I would recommend setting it up with non-evaluation software so you can have it for future proof of concepts and book exercises. The book is broken down into two parts. The first is for the Power View end user. It covers how to use the Power View report authoring tools. Part two describes the process for creating a Tabular BI Semantic Model. Part 1: Using Power View Getting Started The Table Visualization Additional Visualization Charting Bringing Your Data to Life Sharing Reports Part 2: Creating a BI Semantic Model (BISM) BISM: Getting Started Basic BI Semantic Model Design BI Semantic Model: Additional Model Features Using DAX Expressions Deploying Tabular BI Semantic Model Appendixes Installing and Configuring the Sample Data Creating a Virtual Learning Environment One of the things I really like about this book is that it uses examples that mirror real world scenarios. They are large enough to show the powerful features of Power View and PowerPivot, yet simple enough that you get lost in the business logic. They also go deep into topics. They include an entire chapter on using the Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) language, and that chapter is accompanied by seven videos for a total of 45 minutes of coverage. All the examples created in the book are available for download. They come with detailed instructions for implementing and configuring them. They were all easy to implement and worked very well. This book covers everything you need to know to get started with Power View and creating BI Semantic Models. If you buy one book on Power View make it this one. The book is absolutely worth the price and the videos make the buy a steal.

Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power View