| The Bad Old Days of SQL Reporting Services (2004 – 2016) |
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Let me paint a picture of what pre-Power BI was like at SSW. The best example I can give you is my monthly financial meetings, which go for about 4 hours.
I look at a mix of printed and online reports. There are the standard reports like profit and loss, and the balance sheet, but I also dive into opportunities, booked in days, and a whole lot of other reports that are driven from data from our 3 main systems: Microsoft CRM, MYOB, and SSWTimepro.com.
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- During the meetings I had last year, I would I often find myself banging my head against a wall as I try to get my head around what choices I should be making. My printed out Reporting Services reports show plenty of grids and charts, but there's always something that is missing.
- It is common that I will pause the meeting and email the developers another round of changes to make next month's reports clearer. I usually get the report changes done by the next financial meeting, a month later. I know I shouldn't interrupt the meeting, but I justify it as it's better to "strike while the iron is hot".
- Due to the lack of easy insight into my actual data, decisions are too often made based on gut feel, war stories and guesses. In contentious issues, the loudest or most persistent person generally wins... I hope that doesn't incentivize some very non-optimal behavior.
- There's no easy way to set KPIs, meaning it's hard to track the success (or lack thereof) of the choices we do make, meaning we're less effective and not able to pivot as needed towards a more effective route. For example, when you hit a certain point of developer utilization, it's time to hire a new guy.
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Keep reading to to find out how Power BI came to the rescue.
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| Featured Video from SSW TV |
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| VIDEO: NDC Sydney 2016 – AMA with Scott Hanselman & Adam Cogan! |
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While Scott Hanselmen was in town to present the keynote at NDC Sydney, he sat down with Adam Cogan, Chief Architect at SSW, for a brief Ask Me Anything session. Watch as they discuss Community, Open Source, Azure, Exciting Future Tech, and more. Scott's hilarious attempt at an Aussie accent is not to be missed! Watch video
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Nov
11
Fri
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Melbourne, Australia |
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Nov
18
Fri
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Brisbane, Australia |
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Nov
25
Fri
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Sydney, Australia |
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| Come watch us build an Angular 2 app from Scratch! |
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This one-day workshop brings developers up-to-speed on the new features and benefits of using Angular 2 to build awesome web applications.
Everything has changed! Angular 2 and modern web best practices involve massive changes to how we build modern web applications.
At SSW we have already gone through the hard work of implementing these new and exciting technologies in our projects for everything from small start-ups to enterprises and government agencies. Read More
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Begins
Every
Monday
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| 6 week course |
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| Angular 2 - 6 Week Online Bootcamp |
| FireBootCamp is running a new 6 week online Angular 2 course designed to teach you how to build robust user interfaces using the Angular 2 framework. This course is for front end and backend developers who want to upskill in the shortest possible time on Angular 2. We teach you how to build scalable/enterprise apps following best practices we have learned from experience on client projects. |
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| With the release of Angular 2, there's even more to learn and love. Angular Hack Days are free events for beginner and pros alike to come and share the thrill of creating something beautiful in a supportive and friendly environment. Read More |
Oct
22
Sat
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Brisbane, Australia |
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Nov
5
Sat
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Sydney, Australia |
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| Xamarin Hack Days are free events that make it easy for anyone to learn cross-platform development using Xamarin, a product that allows you to use .NET/C# to create native apps that will run across Android, iOS, and Windows. Read More |
Dec
10
Sat
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Melbourne, Australia |
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Jan
14
Sat
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Sydney, Australia |
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| October User Group - Sydney |
| Power BI - Finally I can make decisions based on facts |
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SSW's General Manager, Ulysses Maclaren, will take you through his personal journey of discovery into the world of Power BI.
Many companies have valuable data, but the challenge is being able to easily visualize it in a way that allows you to make decisions.
He will show in a live demo how Power BI allows even non-technical users to produce and share invaluable reports and dashboards.
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| About the presenter |
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Ulysses is the General Manager of SSW and has been managing the team since 2006.
Used to working under pressure, he is Adam Cogan's 2nd in charge, and keeps the company running smoothly while also dealing with SSW's clients and the development and design teams.
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Oct
19
Wed
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SSW Sydney
Gateway Court Suite 15
81-91 Military Road, Neutral Bay
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| SSW and Octopus Deploy invite you to join us for pizza! It's a fun and delicious opportunity for networking with peers and sharing thoughts after the Sydney .NET User Group. Read More |
Oct
19
Wed
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SSW Sydney
Gateway Court Suite 15
81-91 Military Road, Neutral Bay
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| Sydney .NET User Group and NerdDinner proudly sponsored by: |
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| October User Group - Canberra |
| Power BI - Finally I can make decisions based on facts |
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SSW's General Manager, Ulysses Maclaren, will take you through his personal journey of discovery into the world of Power BI.
Many companies have valuable data, but the challenge is being able to easily visualize it in a way that allows you to make decisions.
He will show in a live demo how Power BI allows even non-technical users to produce and share invaluable reports and dashboards.
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| About the presenter |
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Ulysses is the General Manager of SSW and has been managing the team since 2006.
Used to working under pressure, he is Adam Cogan's 2nd in charge, and keeps the company running smoothly while also dealing with SSW's clients and the development and design teams.
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Oct
17
Mon
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Microsoft Canberra Branch
Level 4, 6 National Circuit
Canberra
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