Comments on: 10 things you should know when you use PowerPivot

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:42:20 +0000

Hi Kasper,
Thx for all the information. Was and is very useful. The questions i have are:
1) whether Powerpivot can be used for day-to-day (P&L) financial reports or is it more to be used like a ad-hock analitical tool?
2) The company i am working for is concidering on buying a reporting tool (like JetReport). So we like to know whether Powerpivot can do the job for us?

Eric (work in finance department)

By: Kasper de Jonge PowerPivot Blog » 10 things you should know when you use PowerPivot version 2.0

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:01:01 +0000

[...] figured it was time for an updated 10 things you should know when you use PowerPivot. The last one is from January 2010 when the product wasn’t even [...]

By: Kasper de Jonge

Kasper de Jonge — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:53:02 +0000

Hi Maurijn,

Thx for the reply. I think this list is applicable for both the it-pro and the business user (except the last item). I can’t think of building a serious workbook with PowerPivot without these items. DAX is my number one item to solve any problem, and I like to make sure my sheets look great, it’s done in about 5 seconds and user appreciate it a lot. Although PowerPivot is a reasonable user friendly application some technical skill will still be required from the Business user (like keys and datasource best pratice), mostly the Excel Pro, these users are already very familiar with formulas and working with tables. I understand your remark but in my opinion is PowerPivot currently positioned right in the middle of the IT and Excel pro you need to have a little of both to really be able to use PowerPivot.

Kasper

By: Maurijn

Maurijn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:17:53 +0000

Hi Kasper,

Nice post.
I’m just wondering though, what type of audience are you targeting?

On the one hand, I think this blog will be read predominantly by the IT-pro (that’s us I guess:) who will probably be introducing and supporting PowerPivot to the business. I wonder of these guys will actually be doing a lot of pimping or creating DAX calculations for instance.

On the other, some items in your list seem to be adressing the business analyst who will be working with PowerPivot most of the time. For these users, some of your tips are probably less relevant.

Maybe each type of user should have their own top-10 don’t you think?

Anyway, like the list already. Maybe you could add an item about the why of 32 vs 64-bit installation.