The Algebra Teacher Powers to B.I.

POWER BI can make apps too?   Wait, then what is the point of Microsoft Power Apps?   Well, that’s where there can be confusion and I see it often during my training sessions.   An app in Power BI is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DIFFERENT from an app in Microsoft Power Apps.     According to Microsoft a Power BI App is, “ An  app  is a Power BI content type that combines related dashboards and reports, all in one place. An app can have one or more dashboards and one or more reports, all bundled together.”  Notice how the word app has been italicized.  I didn’t format it that way.  I believe "app" is italicized in their documentation because the semantics can be confusing and intermingled. So let me give you my brief overview of a Power BI app.   Next week’s blog will dive into deeper details and have a video demonstration as well. I like to think of an app as a container where you place all the dashboards, reports, and workbooks you w...

  It’s now our 6 th session of building this Power App.   If you are interested in all of the ins and outs of what got us to this point and you want to build the app from the beginning check out the five videos in the playlist first. We are at the point of adding records to our data sources and actually checking in students to locations around the school.  To create records for this app we use the pre-built forms with some minor modifications.  Along with the modifications to the form we will build in some navigation buttons along with a button to submit the record or cancel the record from being created. The goal of these next few blogs and videos is to build an app, but not do it too quickly.   I want to let the information soak in one week at a time without overwhelming anyone.   If you think the videos cover too much or not enough material for one session please email me at mpeterson@pragmaticworks.com so I can modify the future sessions or leave ...

  I can build a power app and I'm not afraid to edit. And, so can you! It’s time for another session of building our check-in Power App for my former school.  This is now session 5 of our series. If you are interested in all of the ins and outs of what got us to this point and you want to build the app from the beginning checkout the four videos in the playlist first. In the fourth session, we learned how to sort data in a gallery, add new screens, make a confirmation pop up screen, and delete records. For this session , we will pivot the development of our app.   When building apps it will often be the case that after you finish one build you come up with a better idea of how you want the app to function.   That’s exactly what I thought about when approaching this section.   So take a look to see what minor overhaul of the app we did. Below is a more detailed list of items we will be covering: 1.        Add icons for screen...

I started my journey of switching careers from a math educator of 16 years over to becoming a technology trainer focused on Power BI.   A few months in, I was given the opportunity to also learn how to train clients on Power Apps.   The first thing I thought was,   “What in the world is a Power App?   Is that like an app on my iPhone?”   How in the heck was I going to learn how to code and make an app?   Well, thanks to the company I work for I had so many resources to learn from and hit the ground running.   I’m a month or so into learning the basics and some more advanced functions of making a Power App.     After learning some of the basics of what a Power App can do, I immediately thought, “Gosh, I wish I knew this before now!”  This revolutionary program would solve a critical hurdle at my former school.   We had the problem of not being able to locate a student during lunch.  Wait…. that didn’t sound right! I swear...