Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot (Business Skills) 1st Edition

The authors are well known BI gurus, who have unique insight into how the PowerPivot DAX engine functions under different conditions. This book was a slow read for me, with so much technical depth to comprehend. But it provides information on PowerPivot that I haven't encountered in other PowePivot books. I found myself reading sections over and over again to try to understand what was being explained. The material can be complex, and maybe I would have preferred a few modifications to the way the material is explained. But the information is there, and it is worth the work to conquer it, to become, as the authors say, a "DAX master".The only aspect I was disappointed with are the sample excel workbooks that go along with each chapter. At times I found them to be incomplete, in terms of following the examples that are cited in the text. This can be frustrating when trying to understand new concepts. However, the book is brilliant, so this doesn't discourage me from giving it 5 stars.

This book is is targeted at Excel users who want or have to learn about Powerpivot and Dax. . It not only explains how to write calculated fields (or measures) and columns, but also gives you a lot of Information about databases and business intelligence and of courese, all things you can do with Dax and Powerpivot.The great thing about this book is that the authors were able to combine their great technical knowledge with the experience of having teached Dax for the last two years to Excel users all over the world. They know where the difficulities lie, which concepts are difficult grasp for an Excel user and how to best explain them so that they are easily understood.In case you are using Excel 2010, it is still extremely useful, as only a small portion of the book is limited to things only available in Excel 2013, and it might be good to know about them anyway.

This book covers basics such as how to load data, how to create a basic pivot table, and how to do a basic model. It also goes into DAX, the language for creating formulas. The DAX section is extremely useful, but is at a higher level than the rest of the book. The DAX section was what I found most useful because I am already familiar with basic concepts like loading data and building pivot tables. I use the DAX section as a reference when working with PowerPivot.

First, this book is not for the person who uses Excel for storing passwords and making lists. If you haven't had experience with manipulating data with pivot tables, I would start with a different book. This book is for the advanced Excel user who wants to learn Powerpivot & DAX.It's not a reference either. Plan on reading and following/doing the calculations in the companion content.I have had the book for a week and have discovered new and amazing ways to analyze data. I highly recommend this book.

I have read the earlier book as well.This book is even better. It shows key differences between the previous version of PowerPivot as well as traditional Pivot in a detailed manner.It also shows how the approach needs to be different for PowerPivot vs PowerView based BI.I recommend this book to everyone who needs to go beyond Pivot Tables (which actually means everyone who creates reports in Excel). Yes. There is a constraint because everyone does not have Excel 2013. But from my point of view the business benefits you will get due to better analytics using PowerPivot alone will pay for the incremental cost of upgrade within few months!

This is the first powerpivot book that I have read that really attempts to explain the tabular model in Powerpivot. It has an interesting focus that does not shy away from digging into the tricky conceptual issues you will encounter in Powerpivot if you use it beyond the most basic measures. In that sense it was exactly what I was looking for.But I dont think that it is necessarily well written for people like myself who are not developers but have some experience in developing Powerpivot models . It digs into some tricky row context issues right near the start of the book using SUMX formulas as an example. Chapter 6 and 7 are very hard to understand. I think I have read these chapters 5 to 6 times and I still dont get it all. A caveat is given that these chapters will probably have to be read several times to get them, but I dont think this is good enough. If it is so hard to understand then a more detailed explanation is required.Overall this is a good book that doesnt patronise its readers, but if it is aimed at Excel end users and not just developers then it could be written better. Make it 500 pages if necessary, flesh out the examples with more explanations and I will buy the next edition.

Excellent text. This is a fantastic book. I wish I could give it higher, but I feel deceived, as the kindle preview had color screen shots. I bought the physical book because there was no way to buy the kindle version, and when I got it today I found this out. ADDITIONAL NOTE: I upgraded this review, because it is unfair to penalize the content and the authors, which are the best. And, their great next book on SSAS tabular is good too - but also in black and white even though the kindle preview is color screen shots.

This is a great book written in understanding the PowerPivot for Excel 2013. It is a little advanced for the new user to PowerPivot and I would recomend Rob Collie's book first as well as some experience with the tool before reading this book. This book is geared toward someone that has had some experience with PowerPivot. It is more of a reference book than a "how to" book.