If your organization has big data dreams but limited data staff, you may need a BI Mullet.
Microsoft describes “Managed self-service BI” as “discipline at the core and flexibility at the edge.” This hybrid “BI Mullet” approach can make the most of institutional knowledge spread throughout the organization while focusing the data team’s workload to tasks best suited to their technical expertise.

Done right, this approach can save time for the data team and money for the organization, all while empowering business users to leverage data in ways that might never occur to those outside their department. Done wrong, without processes and systems that support a decentralized data approach? That “BI Mullet” will get messy fast.

This daylong workshop will provide a mix of technical step-by-step instructions and functional best practices tailor made to help data professionals adopt the right managed self-service BI approach for their organization.
Technical topics will include how to:
• Optimize your semantic models to eliminate report writing guesswork and enable effective usage of AI.
• Design custom Power BI report themes and templates that automatically apply your company's style guide, saving time and improving consistency.
• Build Power Automate flows that support seamless cross-team feedback, collaboration, and data quality checks.
• Leverage Microsoft Purview to support incremental improvements to your DQ&G (Data Quality & Governance).
• Reliably collect data internally that can't be sourced from existing systems

Functional topics will address common "people and process" challenges that often fall to small data teams, including:
• Where to start when you need to bring order to a chaos in the Power BI service.
• How to identify and address common DQ&G (data quality & governance) issues.
• Ways to meet internal training and change management needs.
Attendees will leave how proactive planning and design can lead to more "data kismet" and fewer data migraines.

Every BI mullet will be a little different. Let’s get yours styled right.

This session is designed as a day-long workshop that includes a mix of demos and hands-on activities. I've designed it based on the recurring patterns I've noticed among my clients, who are generally SMBs with few-to-no existing data staff.