22-25 April 2026

Business Intelligence in Azure

2018

TL; DR

Learn how to architect hybrid business intelligence solutions using Microsoft Azure, including batch and real time data, small and big data, structured and unstructured data, using all the tools Azure has to offer.

Session Details

Are you looking to develop or migrate a business intelligence (BI) solution to Azure? With so many different services available on the Microsoft Data Platform are you confused what to use for where and why? If the answer is yes, then this training day is for you!

We’ll look at a variety of different architectures, both PaaS and IaaS, and how the various Azure services can be used to create a cloud based BI platform to deliver your enterprise data. This will include SQL DB, SQL DW, Data Factory, Data Lake and Power BI.

We’ll also explore how you can extend this even further, integrating real-time data with a Lambda architecture using IoT Hubs and Stream Analytics, as well as introducing Machine Learning into the mix.

By the end of this day you’ll understand the pros and cons of the various services available, and how they can work together to provide a full business intelligence solution in Azure. Not just lift and shift, but a native cloud BI architecture.

Pre-requisites
A little experience developing business intelligence solution on the Microsoft data platform.
Laptop Required:No

3 things you'll get out of this session

Speakers

Paul Andrew

mrpaulandrew.com

Paul Andrew's previous sessions

An Evolution of Data Architectures - Lambda, Kappa, Delta, Mesh & Fabric
How has advancements in highly scalable cloud technology influenced the design principals we apply when building data platform solutions?
 
Building an Azure Data Analytics Platform End-to-End
Based on real world experience let’s think about just how far the breadth of our knowledge now needs to reach when starting from nothing and building a complete Microsoft Azure Data Analytics solution.
 
Creating a Metadata Driven Orchestration Framework Using Azure Data Integration Pipelines
We'll explore delivering this framework within an enterprise and consider an architect’s perspective on a wider platform of ingestion/transformation workloads with multiple batches and execution stages.
 
ETL in Azure Made Easy with Data Factory Data Flows
What happens when you combine a cloud orchestration service with a Spark cluster?! The answer is a feature rich, graphical, scalable data flow environment to rival any ETL tech we’ve previously had available in Azure.
 
Using Azure DevOps for Azure Data Factory
DevOps as a concept does not always translate to the technology when implemented. In this session we'll explore that problem when working with Azure Data Factory and what the different cloud only CI/CD options are.
 
Complex Azure Orchestration w Dynamic Data Factory Pipelines
If you have already mastered the basics of Azure Data Factory (ADF) and are now looking to advance your knowledge of the tool this is the session for you.
 
Building an End to End IoT Solution Using Pi Sensors & Azure
Demonstrating an end to end IoT solution providing real-time sensor data from a Raspberry Pi into an Azure IoT Hub, through Stream Analytics, then with outputs to Power BI and SQL DB. Learn how to build this simplified IoT solution from scratch.
 

Alex Whittles

purplefrogsystems.com/blog

Alex Whittles's previous sessions

Prepare for Fabric with Power BI Governance, Auditing and DR
With the introduction of Microsoft Fabric, taking control of your rapidly growing Power BI estate provides an ever-increasing challenge. In this session we’ll look at how we can monitor activity, structure Power BI and Fabric for better management, and increase transparency. This will cover native Power BI functionality, additional Microsoft tools, as well as Power BI Sentinel.
 
Power BI Composite and Hybrid Models
Take Power BI to the next level to support real-time and BIG data, and find out how hybrid and composite models can open up unlimited flexibility and scalability.
 
Power BI governance, disaster recovery and auditing
As your Power BI usage grows you need to think carefully about how to plan and manage your tenant so you don't lose control of it and end up in Power BI Hell. Including security, planning, auditing, advanced data lineage and more.
 
Power BI Calculation Groups
Level up your Power BI capability by using calculation groups to simplify time intelligence (WTD, MTD, etc) and more
 
Power BI Composite and Advanced Models
Take Power BI to the next level to support BIG data, as well as layering logic over the top of an existing cube or dataset for unlimited flexibility.
 
Machine Learning and Power BI
In this session we’ll look at what ML tools are available in the Power BI and Azure worlds, and how you go about using these in your Power BI reports
 
So what's this Machine Learning all about?
Machine Learning is a popular buzzword, but what does it actually look like, and how can we use it? This session will show a number of high level examples of using ML to do some useful and fun stuff, including training a model to play a game
 
An Introduction to Machine Learning
Learn how to build an Azure Machine Learning model, how to use, integrate and consume the model within other applications, and learn the basic principles and statistics concepts available in the different ML algorithms.
 
Using PowerBI and DAX to predict and win Fantasy F1
Using PowerQuery, PowerPivot, PowerView and DAX to model, analyse and win a Fantasy Formula 1 league. Guarantee yourself eternal glory as a braniac petrol head, and become a PowerBI and DAX pro in the process.
 
MDX 101
In this session we'll look at the structure and basics of MDX, the Multi Dimensional query eXpression language for querying Analysis Services OLAP cubes. We'll start at the beginning, so no previous experience necessary.
 
Data Modeling for Analysis Services Cubes
In this session we’ll look at a number of different data scenarios and explore ways of remodelling the data to optimise it for cubes and MDX. Sometimes a small ETL change can have a dramatic impact on the cube's functionality and simplicity.
 
Loading Data Warehouse Dimensions in SSIS
This session looks at some of the different methods available to load slowly changing dimension data into a data warehouse, and compares the relative performance given different data scenarios and traditional storage compared with FusionIO
 
Automating SSAS cube documentation using SSRS, DMV and Spatial Data
This session will show how to use DMVs (data management views) to query the OLAP cube structure, and then use SSRS to create a set of interactive reports including the BUS matrix, and using spatial data to generate automated star schemas.
 
PowerPivot and QlikView 101
How to get started with PowerPivot and QlikView. Covering how to combine data sources, common pitfalls, adding some calculation logic and building a basic dashboard. We’ll walk through the same example on both systems and compare the results.