I've actually started writing several posts, but I either hit a wall, found other (short-term) inspiration to start another post, or just never finished it.
Now to the post of today. I've worked as a Power BI Service (and Power Platform) Administrator quite a while. I started doing admin tasks when I was working for Van Lanschot Kempen, and now at Powerdobs I'm often asked similar questions at clients. So I often run into things related to governance and administration of Power BI and Power Platform environments.
Earlier, I already wrote quite a few posts around these topics:
In our world of data, I don't think we ever stop learning. In January 2021 I got both the DA-100 (now PL-300) and PL-900 certifications. But lately I've been busy learning again for a specific purpose. That purpose is the DP-500 exam, which I have scheduled to take for next week. In case you are wondering: DP-500, is that a new exam? Yes it is! However, it's still in beta. That doesn't have to be an issue, there are just a few things you need to be aware of.
First, you will not immediately get your score after you take the exam, these will only be calculated when it goes out of beta. The exam is still in beta because they want to gather feedback on the quality of the exam and the questions. They might need to fix questions, or improve the quality or accuracy based on the data and comments from the participants. Usually, the scores to the exam will be released 10 business days after the exam goes live.
Second, the exam details page will list the skills measured, as well as a more detailed PDF, but there are no preparation materials, like learning paths, modules or instructor-led training. However, our amazing Power BI community already got you covered for a large part, more on that later.
Next, a good thing: you mostly get a nice discount to beta exams, if you act in time that is ๐. On April 19th, a post went out on the Tech Community site announcing the new exam and a discount code for the first 300 people scheduling it.
Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate
Now onto the exam, its full name is: Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI.
Let that sink in for a while. Designing, implementing, an enterprise-scale solution, with Azure and Power BI. That means it will cover the following products/services:
Are you interested to know where this certification/exam fits into the bigger picture, or are you interested in other certifications? Have a look at the Microsoft Certification poster.
Skills measured
This is the overview of the skills measured, you can download a detailed PDF here.
Implement and manage a data analytics environment (25–30%)
Andy and Nikola are also doing a session at Dataweekender covering the skills needed for this exam: The Essential Guide to the new Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate Certification
It's a busy time, but there is also lots of fun stuff happening! Besides my move to Powerdobs earlier this year, there are also several interesting conferences that caught my attention! Let me tell you about them.
SQLBits
For starters, at the beginning of this month there was SQLBits, were I (virtually) presented a session called Power Platform Better Together: Create a Scoring App with a Live Dashboard. In this session I showed how to use Power BI, Power Automate and Power Apps to create an interactive application. While I loved to be there in-person, I made the decision earlier this year to present virtual due to all the uncertainty back then. Although I do regret it after seeing all the excitement on social media, I still have some travel plans to other conferences this year.
If you don't know SQLBits, it's probably the greatest Data conference in Europe, spanning a whopping 5 days, including the free community event Saturday.
Here's a few stats from the conference this year:
Over 450 hours of training delivered
232 speakers, over 25% of whom identify as diverse in our industry
67 helpers
Over 1600 attendees Tue-Fri, with almost 2/3 in-person
Plus another 900 registrations for the free Saturday
Attendees from 38 countries
Over £8K raised for Ukraine, in support of two Ukrainian speakers and a Ukrainian helper
Session recordings are still being worked on and will become available for registered attendees. But, in case you missed out, slides are already available at their website.
Power BI Global Summit
I bet the Power BI Summit is known you all, it is the biggest Power BI conference in the world. A multi-day event with speakers from the Microsoft Power BI team’s product group, community experts and MVPs from all around the world. This time I had the honor of hosting a Table Talk around the topic of Power BI Service Administration and beyond at the Global Power BI Summit, with my friends Tom Martens ( B | @tommartens68), ล tฤpรกn Reลกl ( B | @tpnRel1) and Benni De Jagere ( B | @BenniDeJagere). We actually did it twice that day, in the morning and the evening, to accommodate all time zones across the world.
There was a lot of interaction, people asking questions in chat but also coming on camera for a live chat. We even got some people answering questions from time to time, which is great for the engagement. And that way I also learned some new things!
MVP Summit
Although every conference has its perks, I am pretty sure this is the one I'm most excited about!
As a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, you are eligible to attend the MVP Global Summit once a year, The event features a large catalog of in-depth technical discussions and feedback sessions, directly with the Microsoft product teams and engineers.
The MVP Award is a global program of recognized technology experts and community leaders who actively support technical communities through unique, innovative, and consistent knowledge sharing. These community leaders actively contribute to support the developer and IT Pro communities worldwide, helping them learn, build, and use our products.
My expectations are high! There will be a lot of demonstrations of functions and features that are not yet publicly available. Of course there are strict Non-disclosure agreements on all sessions on the MVP Summit, but that won't spoil the fun.
Due to the fact that the world is still not 100% back to normal, this year the Summit is still virtual, so the organizers are trying to accommodate all time zones. Most sessions are roughly from 4 PM until 5 AM here in Europe, so that's going to be a tough three days ahead... ๐ด
Power BI Gebruikersdag
Last but not least, this week also marks the start of the famous annual Dutch Power BI User Day: Power BI Gebruikersdag. It’s a great community event with lot's of local attendees and speakers.
You can have a look at a recap of one of the earlier conferences:
The association behind this user day has had a major overhaul, with 4 new board members, so I'm excited to see what they have been up to!
I'm also delighted to be presenting 2 sessions there:
A (big) look into Query Folding on Deep Dive Friday! I've done Query Folding before, but this is a 2-hour long session going into (all) the depths! ๐
Write-back with Power Apps in Power BI on Saturday, which is a new session, showing off how to use Power Apps inside Power BI to edit data in the backend.
My very last point then, because in June I'll also be attending and speaking at DataGrillen, the only conference (I know of) that has Data, Bratwurst and Beer. ๐ But more about that later.
For everyone attending one of the conferences above, please come and say hi, ask a question, tell a story or just grab a drink and hang out! ๐
