RSMUS.comThe Power BI September update was recently released, and it’s packed with powerful new features. The top highlights include hierarchal axis by default, translations for composite models, mobile formatting options general availability and cross tenants’ datasets sharing. See which added features can make a difference for you.
Power BI Desktop
Hierarchal Axis by Default
This month, users no longer need to go through the multi-step process of formatting a chart to use the hierarchical x-axis. Now, the hierarchy axis is automatically turned on when a user drags multiple fields into the x-axis field well of charts. This update should save the user clicks by presenting the best settings for a user’s needs right out of the box.
Improved display name for summarized fields
In this update, end users will no longer have to assume or guess which aggregation was applied if any to a quantifiable field. Now, the default or selected aggregation will appear automatically to signal aggregation.
Conditional formatting for data labels
To add to the previous month’s release of including individual data labels for each individual data point, this feature can now be applied to visuals with a field in the Legend area. Conditional formatting rules for data labels that a user has already set on current reports will not be affected until they reapply the rule and publish the report again.
Translations support for Composite models on Power BI Datasets and Analysis Services
In preview, this month’s update includes translations on composite models which enable you to show the tables and columns in your dataset in the language the user prefers. Previously, if the source had any translations defined, they would be ignored when building a composite model on Power BI datasets or an Analysis Services model.
Mobile Formatting Options
Mobile formatting options are now generally available! This update allows you to style and format visuals in a mobile-optimized layout without affecting their formatting in web layout.
Information Protection Update
This month’s desktop update also includes a feature that automatically will apply a live dataset’s sensitivity label to the PBIX file to maintain the data’s classification and protection as it leaves the Power BI service.
Data Connectivity and Preparation
Dremio Connector
The Dremio connectors have been updated with a fix to provide more accurate error reporting when a connection error occurs. It also contains a fix that prevents Dremio Software from displaying VDSs in reports in some cases.
Profisee Connector
The new Profisee connection for Power BI makes it fast and easy to access, clean, complete and accurate data to help organizations accelerate both operationalized BI and “ad hoc” analytics.
Starburst Enterprise Connector
The updated Starburst Enterprise connector contains the following:
- Added support for new authentication methods: OAuth 2.0 Personal Access Token.
- Added support for advanced filtering with the built-in regular expression filtering feature in Power BI Desktop.
- Added an optional Catalog field in connection dialog. When enabled, queries will not fail on faulty catalogs, but performance will be slower.
Service
Cross-Tenant Dataset Sharing
The cross-tenant dataset sharing capability is now available in public preview! This allows customers to share their Power BI datasets with external users in a way that allows external users to access the datasets in their own Power BI tenant. Consumers can connect to external datasets using the Direct Query method and build their own composite models and reports on top of the shared data, eliminating the need to manually transfer data between organizations.
Recognizing the need to provide governance over external sharing, the dataset sharing capability has two tenant settings that enable Power BI admins either to disable cross-tenant data sharing entirely or to control which users and/or user groups are allowed to share datasets across tenants.
Auto-generate reports on existing datasets
This month’s update makes it quick and easy to automatically generate reports on existing datasets in the Power BI service. On the Create page, if you select the ‘Pick a published dataset’ option, you’ll be able to pick if you want to auto-create a report or, through the split button, if you want to start from a blank report.
Discoverability Feature for B2B Content
Power BI users who are guest users in any other tenant will now see a new tab on their home page called “From external orgs”. This interface will list all artifacts you have access to as a guest user and which organization is sharing a specific document with you.
Mobile Apps
Power BI fonts are now available on your mobile devices (iOS and Android)
The Power BI mobile apps now support the full range of fonts available in Power BI Desktop meaning the report will look exactly as you designed it on Desktop.
Windows app: upgraded browsing experience with WebView2
The Power BI app for Windows is now aligned with the overall Power BI migration to Microsoft Edge WebView2, for faster performance and a better browsing experience all around. Note, the minimum OS required by the Power BI Windows app has changed to Windows 10 version 17763.
Embedded Analytics
Power BI component for Vue.js
The new library available for embedding Power BI content in Vue.js applications makes it easy to embed Power BI content and leverage Power BI embedded capabilities such as bootstrapping and phased embedding for better performance, applying styles to the embedded component, setting event handlers, and more.
Power BI & Jupyter integration updates
Improvements have been made to the Powerbi-jupyter library, which is a python IPyWidget that brings Power BI embedded capabilities to Jupyter notebooks.
Export paginated reports by a service principal with a Power BI dataset as a data source
It is now possible to export paginated reports with Power BI datasets as a data source when the caller is a service principal, given that all downstream data sources are SSO-disabled.
Visualizations
New Visuals in AppSource
This update provides the following new visuals in AppSource: calendar by Datanau, SuperTables by Apps for Power BI, and Selection Slicer by Walnut Innovation.
Shielded HTML Viewer by Nova Silva
The first HTML Viewer Certified by Microsoft now is part of the first Visuals you can buy and manage directly through Microsoft. All HTML rendered through the Shielded HTML Viewer is sanitized to keep your data safe.
Drill Down Combo PRO by ZoomCharts
Drill Down Combo PRO offers plenty of customization options including, cross-chart filtering along with intuitive on-chart interactions. Popular use cases may involve sales and marketing, human resources, accounting and finance, and manufacturing.
Intelligent Narratives by Arria NLG
In the 3.4.0.0 release of Arria for Power BI, you’ll find a redesigned UI, significantly increased control over the building of narratives, and formatting improvements for better readability.
Other
Paginated reports data preview
Data preview in paginated reports enables you to view selected tables and columns from the dataset and provides entry points for exporting the data to supported file formats, customizing it as a formatted table, and saving it as a paginated report. ‘Show Query’ is a new feature added to data preview that allows you to copy to the clipboard the DAX query used to create the table preview. This makes it easier to reuse the DAX query for future actions. Column resizing was also added to the data preview table to improve readability.
That concludes this month’s release summary. Stay tuned for future updates and be sure to download the latest version of Power BI: Download Power BI Desktop September Update.
If you have any questions regarding this month’s updates or Power BI in general, contact our professionals here.
