A Method to the Madness

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to take the skills you developed in the previous chapters and build on them to create the beginnings of a methodology for success with your PowerPivot for Excel solutions. Much like students of architecture begin not by designing a structure but by learning how to measure, cut, and fasten building materials together with basic tools, you have acquired the essential basics of PowerPivot. The basic carpentry skills of PowerPivot for Excel include

• Installing the software

• Loading data from text files, spreadhseets, and databases

• Creating relationships between disparate data sources

• Bending the data to our will using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)

A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan. — Boone Pickens