dataMinds News Round up –
January 2025

Author: Patrick LeBlanc

As the year wraps up, the Microsoft Fabric team reflects on a milestone-filled 2024! From celebrating Fabric’s first birthday at Ignite to the launch of FabCon, two sold-out community conferences that drew over 8,000 fans, it’s been a transformative year. FabCon 2025 promises to be even bigger, with 215 sessions, 20 workshops, and exciting new events like a Power BI visualization showdown. Certification season is also here to supercharge your career.

Want the full scoop? Dive into the highlights and get ready for an exciting 2025! 👇

Author: Microsoft

You’ve heard the rumors, the stories, the legends. You may have even experienced a Power Hour or two yourself. You might think you know the Power Hour, but nothing will prepare you for this once-in-a-lifetime community event! The Power Hour: Scandinavian Showdown brought together members of the Fabric product team from Microsoft, members of the Fabric technical community, and a collection of hands-on demos designed to show Fabric being used in ways it was never intended to be used.

Watch now

Author: Sandeep Pawar

Its finally here 🎉! Thanks to Michael Kovalsky, one of the most requested & anticipated APIs in now available in Semantic Link Labs (v0.8.10) – the Scanner API. The Scanner API in Fabric Admin REST APIs allows Fabric administrators to retrieve detailed metadata about their organization’s Fabric items, supporting governance and compliance efforts. It provides information such as item names, descriptions, date created, lineage, connection strings and so on. Its not new, we have been using it in Power BI for a long time but in the Fabric world, its even more important given the number of items and configurations.

Author: SQLBI

SQLBI has published their annual roundup: “What Happened in the DAX World in 2024.” This comprehensive video covers all the key updates, new features, and developments in the DAX ecosystem this year.

Whether you’re a seasoned Power BI user or just getting started, it’s a great way to catch up on everything you might have missed.

Author: Koen Verbeeck

In this article Koen demonstrates why it’s beneficial to use explicit measures instead of implicit measures in Power BI models. Not only does it promote good coding practices, but implicit measures are not even supported in Excel. Lastly, implicit measures might return results that you don’t expect in certain use cases. Koen walks the talk.

Author: Meagan Longoria

Meagan’s latest article breaks down how the PBIR format simplifies making updates to Power BI reports outside of Power BI Desktop. Whether you’re rebranding or updating visuals, replacing images like logos and backgrounds is more manageable than ever. This guide offers a practical approach to streamlining your report updates.

Learn more

Author: Jaroslav Reken

In his latest article, Jaroslav reflects on key lessons from 2024’s data strategy projects, emphasizing the importance of aligning data with business objectives, prioritizing security and ethics, and fostering collaboration between business and IT teams. He outlines how a robust data strategy addresses these needs while leveraging emerging technologies like AI to drive innovation.

The article includes a comprehensive checklist of 25 essentials for 2025, organized into actionable categories—ranging from setting clear business goals to optimizing data management and fostering intelligence. Whether it’s preparing for market expansion, product launches, or scaling operations, Jaroslav’s insights provide a practical roadmap for success.

Learn more