👋 Hello ,

🗞️ Welcome to BIPro#92 – Your Weekly Business Intelligence Boost! 🚀

This week, we’re serving up an exciting lineup of must-reads, expert insights, and game-changing developments in data analytics, engineering, and BI. Whether you're looking to sharpen your Power BI skills, explore the latest in AI-powered analytics, or dive into high-performance data strategies, we’ve got you covered.

📚 BI Must-Reads ~ Elevate your knowledge with top books on Power BI, time series forecasting, reinforcement learning, and more.

📊 Data Viz & BI Trends ~ Stay ahead with February’s Power BI update, featuring performance boosts, AI integrations, and the first-ever DataViz World Championships.

💡 Engineering Insights ~ Learn why Tally Tables outperform traditional SQL approaches, how to build a Lakehouse with Azure Databricks, and how to use the Azure Emulator for offline storage solutions.

🔎 AI & Databases ~ Explore OpenAI’s Deep Research for literature reviews, query databases with natural language using OpenAI and PostgreSQL, and solve complex SQL puzzles.

🚀 Real-World Innovations ~ See how DataRobot’s latest acquisition is shaping AI orchestration, discover Metabase’s new Embedded Analytics SDK, and explore materialized views in RisingWave.

⚡ Quick Wins & Hacks ~ Master API management as code, optimize distributed system messaging, and streamline healthcare analytics in the cloud.

🎤 Expert Voices ~Scale Elasticsearch efficiently, integrate Azure Cosmos DB into CI/CD pipelines, and fine-tune advanced DAX time intelligence in Power BI.

From deep dives into the latest tools to hands-on guides for improving your workflows, this edition is packed with insights to keep you at the cutting edge. Enjoy the read and happy analyzing! 📈🔥

Cheers,

Merlyn Shelley

Growth Lead, Packt

❯❯❯❯ Microsoft Power BI Cookbook: Written by Greg Deckler and Brett Powell, Microsoft Power BI Cookbook (3rd Edition) is a detailed guide for data professionals, covering data integration, Hybrid tables, scorecards, real-time processing, governance, security, and advanced visualization. With step-by-step techniques, it helps you transform raw data into actionable insights using Power BI’s latest innovations.

❯❯❯❯Modern Time Series Forecasting with Python: Written by Manu Joseph and Jeffrey Tackes, Modern Time Series Forecasting with Python (2nd Edition) is a detailed guide for data professionals, covering machine learning, deep learning, transformers, probabilistic forecasting, feature engineering, and ensemble methods. With hands-on techniques, it helps you build, evaluate, and deploy advanced forecasting models using Python, PyTorch, and pandas.

❯❯❯❯ Deep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On: Written by Maxim Lapan, Deep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On (3rd Edition) is a detailed guide to mastering RL, covering Q-learning, DQNs, PPO, RLHF, MuZero, and transformers. With hands-on projects, it helps machine learning professionals build, train, and apply RL models using PyTorch for real-world tasks in gaming, finance, and beyond.

❯❯❯❯ Polars Cookbook: Written by Yuki Kakegawa, Polars Cookbook is a hands-on guide featuring 60+ real-world projects to master data manipulation, transformation, and analysis with Python Polars. Covering advanced querying, performance optimization, and integrations with pandas, PyArrow, and cloud platforms, this book helps data professionals build fast, scalable, and efficient workflows.

❯❯❯❯ Python Feature Engineering Cookbook: Written by Galli, Python Feature Engineering Cookbook (3rd Edition) is a practical guide featuring real-world techniques to craft powerful features for tabular, transactional, and time-series data. Covering imputation, encoding, transformation, feature extraction, and automation, this book helps data professionals build efficient, reproducible, and production-ready feature engineering pipelines.

❯❯❯❯ Data Management Strategy at Microsoft: Written by Aleksejs Plotnikovs, Data Management Strategy at Microsoft is a practical guide to building a data-driven culture and maximizing data’s business value. Covering data strategy, governance, change management, and intellectual property, it provides key insights from Microsoft’s decade-long transformation to help leaders drive impactful data initiatives.

❯❯❯❯ Power BI February 2025 Feature Summary: The February 2025 Power BI update brings major improvements, including a 50% boost in modeling performance for live edits in Direct Lake mode, an interactive Explore feature for Copilot, and OneLake catalog integration in Microsoft Teams. Plus, the first-ever Power BI DataViz World Championships is live, leading up to the FabCon conference in Las Vegas. New AI, visualization, and connectivity updates enhance usability, including Copilot on iPads and Android tablets, Snowflake connector improvements, and Azure Maps visual support. Power BI enthusiasts can also access exclusive FabCon discounts. Stay ahead with these game-changing enhancements!

❯❯❯❯ Why use Tally Tables in the Fabric Warehouse? This blog explores efficient SQL design patterns for generating a date table, comparing an iterative (RBAR) approach with a set-based tally table method. It tests performance on SQL Server 2022 and Microsoft Fabric Warehouse, demonstrating a 99.39% improvement with the tally table. The article also covers schema creation, database modernization, and execution timing analysis. A downloadable T-SQL script is included for practical implementation.

❯❯❯❯ Engineering a Lakehouse with Azure Databricks with Spark Dataframes: This blog explores engineering a Lakehouse using Azure Databricks and Spark DataFrames. It covers data loading techniques, creating Spark clusters, storage management, and building efficient workflows. The article compares full and incremental load patterns, explains cluster properties, and demonstrates how to create and manage Delta tables. It also highlights Unity Catalog security features, workflow automation, and job scheduling for Databricks-based ETL processes. A downloadable ZIP file with all code examples is included.

❯❯❯❯ How to use the Azure Emulator to create blob containers, queues and tables? This blog explains how to use the Azure Storage Emulator to create and manage blob containers, queues, and tables without connecting to Azure. It covers installation, setup, and testing using Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer. The guide walks through creating blob containers, uploading files, and using virtual directories. It also introduces Azurite as an alternative emulator for testing Azure Storage solutions offline.

❯❯❯❯ Configuring Maintenance Plans in SQL Server: This blog provides a step-by-step guide to configuring a Maintenance Plan on a local SQL Server 2017 instance, applicable to SQL Server 2022. It explains enabling Agent XPs, using sp_configure, and creating a Maintenance Plan with subplans for rebuilding indexes and database backups. The article walks through managing connections, configuring SQL Server Agent jobs, and saving configurations, highlighting key challenges encountered in real-world setups.

❯❯❯❯ Deep Research by OpenAI: A Practical Test of AI-Powered Literature Review. This blog explores OpenAI’s Deep Research, an AI-driven literature review tool integrated into the o3 model. It explains its workflow, tests its efficiency, and discusses challenges like bias, superficiality, and academic integrity, comparing it with Perplexity AI and Google Gemini.

❯❯❯❯ Database Query Service With OpenAI and PostgreSQL in .NET: This blog explores building NorthwindServicefromDB, a .NET service that converts natural language queries into SQL using OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. It retrieves database schemas, generates secure SELECT queries, executes them on PostgreSQL, and returns structured results. Security, enhancements, and best practices are discussed.

❯❯❯❯ Practical SQL Puzzles That Will Level Up Your Skill: This blog presents SQL query patterns for solving real-world data puzzles. It explores challenges like tracking task durations, identifying contract sequences, and analyzing concurrent events using advanced SQL techniques like window functions (LAG, SUM), CTEs, and event-based solutions. Each puzzle introduces an efficient approach to handling edge cases, optimizing queries, and improving SQL problem-solving skills. PostgreSQL and DuckDB-compatible code is provided, along with a GitHub repository containing all solutions.

❯❯❯❯ Start building with Gemini 2.0 Flash and Flash-Lite: This blog introduces Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, Google's latest AI model optimized for efficiency, affordability, and long-context processing. It highlights real-world applications in voice AI, data analytics, and video editing, showcasing its impact on faster, cost-effective AI development.

❯❯❯❯ LaunchDarkly's approach to AI-powered product management: This blog features Claire Vo, CPO and CTO of LaunchDarkly, discussing AI’s impact on product management and leadership. She explains how AI automates tasks, reshapes PM roles, and enhances productivity through her "anti-to-do list" approach. Vo also highlights LaunchDarkly’s AI-driven product development and urges executives to rethink AI’s influence on their own roles.

❯❯❯❯ Feather Wand: Your AI-Powered Companion for JMeter. This blog introduces Feather Wand, an AI-powered JMeter plugin that integrates Anthropic’s Claude API to assist performance test engineers. It helps with test plan creation, optimization, and troubleshooting by providing AI-driven suggestions, code snippets, and insights. Key features include @this commands for context-aware guidance, one-click test element additions, and automated Groovy script generation. While boosting efficiency, users must verify AI suggestions, back up test plans, and monitor resource usage. Setup is straightforward with configurable properties, requiring an Anthropic API key. Feather Wand enhances JMeter’s usability, making performance testing more intuitive and efficient.

❯❯❯❯ DataRobot buys Aqnostiq to advance AI agent development with dynamic compute orchestration. DataRobot has acquired Agnostiq to enhance AI agent development through dynamic compute orchestration. By integrating Agnostiq’s Covalent platform, DataRobot enables heterogeneous compute orchestration, allowing AI agents to scale across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. This acquisition optimizes resource allocation, cost, and performance, addressing the inefficiencies of fragmented AI infrastructure. DataRobot’s platform, known for its no-code AI builder and advanced tools for data scientists, now supports agentic AI more efficiently. CEO Debanjan Saha emphasized that this move streamlines AI deployment, making it more scalable and cost-effective for businesses.

❯❯❯❯ Introducing Metabase's new Embedded Analytics SDK for React: This blog introduces the Embedded Analytics SDK for React, a new way to embed Metabase with greater control, customization, and flexibility. It allows developers to embed charts, dashboards, and query builders, apply advanced theming, and refine UX beyond iframes. Available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

❯❯❯❯ Materialized Views in Data Stream Processing With RisingWave: This blog discusses Materialized Views in Data Stream Processing with RisingWave. It explains how materialized views enhance incremental computation by enabling efficient querying, caching, and aggregation in real-time data processing. The article explores RisingWave’s approach, benefits, and how it integrates materialized views for low-latency analytics.

❯❯❯❯ API Management as Code: A Declarative Approach to Scale APIs. This blog explores API Management as Code, a declarative approach to managing APIs at scale. It explains how automation, GitOps, and the operator pattern streamline API lifecycle management, improve security, and enhance collaboration. The article also covers tools, best practices, and Kubernetes-based implementations.

❯❯❯❯ Outbox Pattern: Reliable Messaging in Distributed Systems. This blog discusses The Outbox Pattern, a design pattern for ensuring reliable event publishing and data consistency in distributed systems. It explains how the pattern works, key components like the outbox table and message dispatcher, and its use cases in microservices, event sourcing, and transactional messaging.

❯❯❯❯ Cloud-Driven Analytics Solution Strategy in Healthcare: This blog explores Cloud-Driven Analytics Solutions in Healthcare, focusing on real-time streaming analytics with Apache Spark, AWS, and Databricks. It details data ingestion, processing, storage, and governance, highlighting security, compliance (HIPAA), and scalability for efficient healthcare data management and actionable insights.

❯❯❯❯ Efficient Data Handling in Python with Arrow: This blog introduces Efficient Data Handling in Python with Apache Arrow, highlighting its columnar in-memory format, zero-copy reads, and high-performance data processing. It covers data storage, compute functions, file handling (Parquet, ORC, CSV, JSON), and advanced features, making Arrow a powerful tool for analytics.

❯❯❯❯ How to Scale Elasticsearch to Solve Your Scalability Issues? This blog explores Scaling Elasticsearch for High-Performance Search and Analytics, covering sharding, query optimization, memory management, and real-world deployment strategies. It highlights best practices for horizontal scaling, data ingestion, and performance tuning, ensuring efficiency in handling large-scale, high-velocity queries in distributed systems.

❯❯❯❯ Use Azure Cosmos DB as a Docker Container in CI/CD Pipelines: This blog explores Using Docker Containers for CI/CD with Azure Cosmos DB Emulator, focusing on GitHub Actions integration. It demonstrates configuring the emulator as a service container, running integration tests in an isolated environment, managing certificates, and optimizing workflows for .NET, Python, Java, and Go applications.

❯❯❯❯ API Strategy - Important for Digital Success: This blog explores the importance of API strategy for digital success, emphasizing an API-First approach to enhance scalability, integration, and developer experience. It highlights how a well-planned API strategy fosters innovation, platform thinking, and seamless digital experiences, ensuring business growth and competitive advantage.

❯❯❯❯ Advanced Time Intelligence in DAX with Performance in Mind: This blog explores Advanced Time Intelligence in DAX, focusing on efficient performance and complex time-based calculations. It covers rolling sums, leap year adjustments, fiscal week YTD, and extended date tables to optimize queries in Power BI while balancing accuracy and computational efficiency.

We’ve got more great things coming your way, see you soon!