With Composite Models, Microsoft significantly expands the application spectrum of Power BI for business departments in companies. At the same time, a very powerful tool for self-service BI is created for the central business intelligence and IT departments in order to give the departments new freedoms and possibilities while taking their governance guidelines into account. The article is therefore aimed at both responsible and advanced users of Power BI Desktop in Controlling as well as those responsible in central IT or Business Intelligence. Used correctly, composite models open up a new world for self-service BI.
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At noventum, we very often deal with the connection of SAP systems to Microsoft-based data platforms. Both on Azure with ADF and Azure SSIS or locally with SSIS and often with XtractIS from Theobald.
The supreme discipline of data extraction from SAP is the connection of data via SAP BI Content Datasources.
The project team of the analysis platform "CLAIR" of our long-standing customer Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) has been awarded 2nd place in the category "SME" for the "Best Data Project Award" at the VOICE ENTSCHEIDERFORUM 2022 in Berlin.
With more than 400 members, VOICE - Bundesverband der IT-Anwender e. V. is considered the largest community of digital decision-makers in the German-speaking world, serves as a network for CIOs of leading companies from a wide range of industries and promotes professional exchange and the strengthening of IT user interests.
As "Director Senior Azure Analytics Architect", Felix Möller has worked for the technology group Avanade for the past five years and has now returned to noventum consulting to contribute his experience to the consultancy. In his last role, Felix Möller worked as an architect and project manager in large Azure Data Platform projects for German corporations. In the future, he will increasingly lead noventum BI customers into the cloud and bring the experience from the corporate world to SMEs.
SAP systems offer advanced interfaces, which on the one hand provide delta mechanisms. On the other hand, these bring together a wide variety of base tables in order to simplify processing. This functionality can be accessed with the help of Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services and the 3rd party component XtractIS from Theobald. We have used this technology successfully many times in the last 10 years (e.g. BRITA).
The topic of data protection is gaining importance for many companies in the lockdown due to the accelerated digital transformation. The use of adequate collaboration tools is increasingly becoming a decisive success factor in times of social distancing. At the same time, the legal framework conditions are tightening due to the so-called "Schrems II" ruling and its effects on international data transfer. In this situation, how can we remain capable of action and data protection compliant at the same time?
Microsoft Power BI has been on everyone's lips for several years now under the keyword "Self-Service BI" and contributes significantly to the perception of the Microsoft Data Platform as a leading analytics and business intelligence platform. In order to maintain and expand its leading position, Microsoft is making significant investments in the further development of the platform and is constantly increasing the range of functions via short, sometimes monthly release cycles.
The EU has developed a new privacy / data protection law, the “EU General Data Protection Regulation”. It has been in full force since May 2018 and there is still uncertainty among a lot of companies and their data protection officers as to what is actually required by the new regulations and what kind of impact they will specifically have on their data processing processes. Especially in the big data and business intelligence environment, fundamental conflicts of interest arise and widely spread paradigms regarding data retention and analysis will potentially have to be put into question.
The following article provides an overview regarding the fundamental requirements of the GDPR and the obligations arising for companies and for the data protection officers, and outlines a possible approach to comply with these requirements. In addition, the impacts of the regulation are discussed in the business intelligence context and it is shown, based on the example of the Microsoft SQL Server platform, how the requirements of the new EU Directive can be covered by features of modern database management systems.
The family-owned company BRITA, based in Taunusstein, Germany, is a leader in the field of drinking water optimization and is represented on all five continents. It operates a complex data warehouse to meet its diverse commercial requirements. By upgrading its SQL Server software to the latest version of 2016 SP1, the company is now able to use the various new functions of the Standard Edition and to remain technically up to date with justifiable effort.
