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Our take on the new features introduced in the October 2019 update for Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 20 October 2019
This month's big story is a huge range of improvements to the Q&A feature in Power BI, with more in the preview pipeline. There are also a built-in PowerApps visual, improvements to data profiling in Query Editor and a new template for connecting to datasets.
A comparison of SQL Server Reporting Services and Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 18 October 2019
Power BI improves with each monthly update. Will it reach a point where SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) becomes redundant? This detailed blog compares the two products, and considers the future of SSRS.
Excel MasterClass: creating a worksheet and chart to track your weight
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 October 2019
It's fairly easy to create a simple Excel worksheet to chart your weight, but this master class shows you lots of tips and tricks to make the final result quicker to create and easier to use.
The Wise Owl October 2019 newsletter competition - complete the phrase
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 October 2019
Test your Excel skills by finding a way to follow a series of instructions to accumlulate numbers and unlock the hidden question.
The answer to (and winner of) our September 2019 newsletter competition
Posted by Andy Brown on 11 October 2019
This month's word search proved challenging, with only four correct answers submitted. The unused letters in the word search revealed a question, as this blog explains.
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 05 October 2019
Sam lists out 5 board games you should try, covering everything from matching symbols to killing zombies.
The competition for the Wise Owl September 2019 newsletter
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 September 2019
If you're a subscriber to the Wise Owl newsletter you can enter our competition and win a fifty-pound Amazon voucher (this month's puzzle is a word search with a twist).
The answers to our August 2019 newsletter competition (SQL query)
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 September 2019
Last month's newsletter competition asked you to identify 8 errors in a SQL query. Here are the results, with the name of the lucky winner!
Some ideas for lunch boxes for the school run or the office microwave
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 September 2019
Bored of the same sandwich every day? Be creative, and try one of these recipes from Lunchbox Dad.
Andy Brown of Wise Owl reviews his top 15 podcasts - see if you agree!
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 September 2019
When travelling to Wise Owl training courses Andy Brown is a podcast enthusiast. In this blog he lists his 15 favourites - see if yours make the cut, or if there are any in the list that you haven't heard of.
Introducing three new functions in SQL to make concatenating text easier
Posted by Andy Brown on 20 September 2019
The CONCAT function makes it much easier to join columns together, while the STRING_AGG and CONCAT_WS functions make it easier to create things like comma-delimited lists.
A summary of the changes introduced in the September 2019 update to Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 20 September 2019
This month sees the welcome (if belated) introduction of Excel-style custom number formats, as well as more (and easier-to-create) themes and a host of other minor improvements.
Using the new Power BI template app to view Google Analytics data
Posted by Andy Brown on 20 September 2019
How to create a new app to view your Google Analytics data in Power BI Service.
Introducting the new XLOOKUP and XMATCH functions
Posted by Andy Brown on 13 September 2019
Microsoft have finally recognised the limitations of the VLOOKUP function, and are rolling out the XLOOKUP function to supersede it, as well as the useful (if less significant) XMATCH function.
A summary of new features introduced in the August 2019 Power BI update
Posted by Andy Brown on 19 August 2019
This was a month of few updates. Our favourite by far is that you can now group visuals, but the Key Influencers visual has also emerged from the preview shadows.
Posted by Andrew Gould on 19 August 2019
Lots of our training material uses examples related to movies but did you know that Wise Owl has several tenuous connections to famous films?
Attending an Expo - 5 things to consider
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 19 August 2019
Having attended our first expo we would like to share some insights into things to consider!
We have unearthed two new sources of information on future Power BI features
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 August 2019
In addition to the Power BI preview features dialog box, Andy Gould has discovered two excellent new sources of information on forthcoming changes for Power BI, as this blog explains.
How to confuse other Excel users by changing your cell styles
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 August 2019
Want to make a worksheet inexplicably change colour, and display strange text in cells? This blog explains how you can do this using the Normal style.
Another OOH moment in Excel - a quick way to create charts
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 August 2019
The previous blog listing great OOH moments in Excel omitted one of the biggest - the absolute quickest way to create a chart.