Talk Data to Me

Data-related concepts can be intimidating, especially giving the rate of change in the world of business intelligence and AI. Data Lake, Data Migration, Data Warehouse, Data…Lakehouse? It’s never a good feeling to feel lost in a group working session, or like you need to “stealth Google” concepts just to understand what everyone else is talking about.

Join us for an overview of the most common data terms and concepts that cause confusion within the Microsoft data stack. This low-jargon session will demystify common data-related terms for business users and data professionals alike, translating these concepts into practical business applications. We’ll provide real-world examples of how key data concepts work in practice, so you can go into your next data project meeting with confidence.

D365 Data 101

Working with data in D365 applications gets a lot easier once you know what’s going on under the hood. While most users don’t need a developer-level knowledge of D365’s data infrastructure, everyone benefits from understanding how the data infrastructure that supports each D365 application works together.

This low-jargon tour of how D365 data flows from your fingertips to underlying data models (and back!) will help you better understand both how and why D365 systems work the way they do. Learn the underlying data anatomy of each “family” of D365 applications, including how that logic defines your options for integration with other tools, such as Fabric and the Power Platform. Leave this session ready to work with your D365 app of choice with less frustration, greater understanding, and more success!

Paginated Reports 201 – Build a Better Report

You’ve connected to your data source and generated a table with parameters in Power BI Report builder, but the basic structure of your report leaves something to desire. How do you upgrade your functional but ho-hum report without breaking it?
   
In this session, users will learn how to tackle a mix of structural and formatting challenges that often plague paginated report developers, such as getting headers to repeat on each page, leveraging date pickers, and incorporating two datasets within the same table. Attendees will leave with links to the sample files and instructions they can reference in future when tackling their own reports.

Workshop - Paginated Reports 101 for the Power BI Veteran

Scenario: you’ve just completed a Power BI report, and it’s downright majestic! There’s just one tiny problem: it turns out your report users need a simple table that will print out well instead. Now what?  
 
This hands-on session will go step-by-step in converting a Power BI analytical report into a Power BI paginated report that uses the same underlying Power BI Dataset.  We’ll break down what each section of Power BI Report Builder contributes to your report and discuss how the underlying paginated report logic differs from a standard PBIX file. 
 
Session attendees will have the opportunity to practice what they learn throughout session with hands-on support and time for Q&A. At the end of this deep dive, attendees will leave with practice files that they can reference for practice and as a starter template for developing their own paginated reports.  

This is a 90-minute hands-on workshop version of this presentation, which I have also presented as a 50-minute session without the hands-on component.

Paginated Reports 101 for the Power BI Veteran

Scenario: you’ve just completed a Power BI report, and it’s downright majestic! There’s just one tiny problem: it turns out that your users need a report that can be easily printed, and fast! Now what?
 
This hands-on session will go step-by-step in converting a Power BI analytical report into a Power BI paginated report that uses the same underlying Power BI Dataset.  We’ll break down what each section of Power BI Report Builder contributes to your report and discuss how the underlying paginated report logic differs from a standard PBIX file. 
 
At the end of this deep dive, attendees will leave with practice files that they can reference, both for practice and as a starter template for developing their own paginated reports.  

Choosing the Right Reporting Tool for the Job (D365 Finance & Power BI)

The right reporting tool can make a huge difference in development costs and user adoption but knowing which tool to use (and when) can be a challenge. During this session, users will learn when to use standard Power BI reporting, paginated reports, Excel-based reporting, customized Dynamics 365 Finance reports, OData, or a combination to meet their specific reporting needs. We will dive into the wealth of out-of-the-box reporting Dynamics 365 F&O has, where to look, and what changes users can make without having to engage in any type of code changes. Finally, we'll review common D365-to-report "data plumbing" approaches to demystify how your critical information gets from point A to point B.

This session was first presented at Community Summit NA in collaboration with the inestimable Lauren Wooll.

Talk Data to Me

Aligning your data infrastructure to your company's key business needs is a team sport; IT simply can’t build the right tools and structure without guidance from various business stakeholders. Yet, it’s difficult to work together when you seem to be speaking different languages. ETL, Dual Write, API, Data Lake, Data Migration, Data Warehouse, Data…Lakehouse? It’s never a good feeling to feel lost in a group working session, or like you need to “stealth Google” concepts just to understand what everyone else is talking about.

If you’ve ever left meeting feeling like you needed a data translator, this session is for you! Join us for an overview of the most common data terms and concepts that cause confusion within the D365, Fabric, and Power Platform space. We’ll provide real-world examples and jargon-free explanations for key terms and concepts, so you can go into your next data project meeting with confidence.

Mastering the BI Mullet - Managed Self Service BI with Power BI and Power Automate

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 empowers end users to develop reports using tools maintained by a central data team.

With the right systems in place, a BI Mullet can encourage innovation and make the most of the time staff has available. With the wrong (or absent) systems? Your mullet will get messy fast.

Join this session to learn practical strategies to keep your own BI Mullet on point, including:
• Creating optimized Power BI semantic models that eliminate report writing guesswork and enable effective usage of AI.
• Designing custom Power BI report themes and templates that automatically apply your company's style guide, saving time and improving consistency.
• Building in Power Automate flows to ensure cross-team feedback, collaboration, and data quality checks.
• Leveraging Microsoft Purview to support incremental improvements to your DQ&G (Data Quality & Governance).

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

Mastering the BI Mullet - Create an efficient data ecosystem in Fabric & Power Platform

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.

Mastering the BI Mullet Part 1: Concepts & Strategy

The Challenge: Your organization has big data dreams but limited data staff. Report requests are piling up, and your small team can't possibly build everything users need—but you also can't let BI turn into the Wild West.

The Solution: A BI Mullet.

Microsoft calls it "Managed self-service BI"—discipline at the core and flexibility at the edge. This hybrid approach empowers end users to create their own reports using centrally maintained systems, so your data team can focus on the foundational work that matters most.

But here's the catch: with the wrong systems (or no systems at all), your BI Mullet gets messy fast. This first half of the session establishes the conceptual foundation for growing your BI Mullet with confidence.

You'll learn:
-The key principles of Managed self-service BI and why traditional approaches fail in resource-constrained environments

-How to identify what belongs "at the core" (centralized discipline) vs. "at the edge" (flexible self-service) in your organization

-Strategic architecture decisions that enable scalable self-service without sacrificing governance

-How Power BI semantic models, Purview, and Power Automate work together to create a sustainable BI ecosystem

Mastering the BI Mullet Part 2: Implementation & Demos

Now that you understand the BI Mullet strategy, let's see it in action. This demo-driven second half walks through how you can build core aspects of the BI Mullet that, together, will protect a small data team's time and help maximize their impact.

Demo 1: Reduce "Shadow BI" Risks with Thoughtful Use of Admin Features

-Workspace governance settings & deployment pipelines
-Tenant setting management
-Certification & sensitivity labels
-Usage monitoring to identify what's actually working

Demo 2: Make Your Power BI Semantic Model "People-Friendly"

-Best practices for naming conventions
-Features that help report writers easily identify the right fields, measures, and tables
-How to reconcile conflicting department-specific needs (e.g., different date hierarchy requirements)
-Bonus tip: Leveraging a hidden "help" tab that can feature key links, instructions, or FAQs

Demo 3: Create a Custom Report Theme & Starter Template

-Design a custom theme that applies your organization's style guide by default
-Build a minimal starter template that builds in consistency while minimizing the report writer's learning curve

Demo 4: Leverage Purview's Unified Catalog

-Key features that help users find the right data independently
-Using Purview to connect the dots between business contexts, data products, and access policies
-How data quality rules and scanning can prevent unwelcome surprises at the report writing stage
-One practical (manual) way to integrate Unified Catalog metadata into your Power BI Semantic Model

Bonus Demo: Use SharePoint Forms & Power Automate Flows to Support Decentralized Collaboration

-How (and why) to create SharePoint forms that capture new data requests or data quality issues
-Building a Power Automate flow that routes requests to the right approvers for streamlined updates
-Designing approval workflows that scale without overwhelming your small team

The Takeaway: Every BI Mullet will look a little different based on your organization's needs. You'll leave with concrete implementation patterns you can adapt immediately—business in the front, party in the back, and governance all the way through.

Beyond the Tech: Improving Collaboration in Data Governance

Most data problems are really people problems in a trench coat.

Sure, data governance tools can make it easy to implement data quality & governance (DQ&G) policies, but implementation is the easy part. The hard part? Defining–and getting your people to actually agree on–the details in those policies.

No technology can decide for you who should be the data steward for which data points, nor can any DQ&G software resolve internal disputes over who should be able to access what sensitive data.

Organizations often rush to implement new data systems before they resolve existing data issues. While it’s certainly more fun to explore the latest tech, the greatest risk to any data project is not choosing the wrong tool, but failing to resolve ongoing challenges related to security, data quality, and consistent data categorization and usage.

Because conversations around DQ&G can become so contentious, we believe that collaborative communication strategies are an essential part of the DQ&G toolkit, one that could potentially save your organization from spending thousands in project overruns and months of delays down the road.

Join self-identified Data Plumber Lenore Flower and collaboration expert Brian Stauber to learn practical strategies for tackling the most stubborn roadblocks in your data governance plan. This deep dive will provide both practical communications skills and methodologies and core items to incorporate as you build (or grow) your organization’s DQ&G practice.

This session was originally presented at PASS Summit in Nov 2025 as a two-hour deep dive.