PowerBI.Tips - Tutorial - ALM ToolKit with Christian Wade

The ALM Toolkit is an excellent tool for aiding users with Tabular Model management. Christian Wade has been generous enough to provide us with a detailed tutorial on the ALM ToolKit.
ALM Toolkit provides the following features:
- Database Compare
- Code Merging
- Easy Deployments
- Source-Control Integration
- Definitions Reuse
Download ALM Tookit: alm-toolkit.com/
Follow Christian Wade: / christianwade1
Visit PowerBI.Tips: powerbi.tips/

[@DarkOri3nt]

Wish Christian did more stuff on videos he sounds very knowledgeable. I seen his demo and overview on the premium xmla endpoint stuff very interesting stuff.

[@relaxlifenostress]

with that it is possible several users our developers work simultaneously on the same power BI Deesktop?

[@kingparc]

hi, thank you for all these information. Please can you tell us how to add the "External tools" tab in Power BI desktop ?

[@nuricugarte5583]

External tools ribbon has not shipped yet, this will ship this summer.

[@mcheibani]

The external tools are now available with the July 2020 update.

[@princebritwum9781]

Hello Power BI Tips, Can I update the incremental refresh policy of dataset in the Power BI Service with the new incremental refresh policy in PBIX file using AML Toolkit Eg. I have a power BI dataset in the service with Incremental refresh policy of Archive 10 Months and Refresh 2 Months, can I update the dataset in the service with new incremental policy, Archive 11 Months and refresh 1 Month I have defined in the power BI Desktop?

[@ronnyhagen5016]

Moving reports from Azure Analysis Services to Power BI Premium setup; would ALM or PowerBI desktop be able to change the datasource from 'SQL Server Analysis Services' to 'Power BI dataset' datasource? Changing from XMLA endpoint from 'asazure://' to 'powerbi://' is easy - but it will not reference the common dataset from a centralized workspace for dev, test and production. Also the governance of implications on report level when changes on the dataset is limited when reports are deployed on the XMLA endpoint.

[@efficiencydna897]

very good , thanks !!

[@PowerBITips]

Our pleasure! ALM toolkit is quite the impressive tool.

[@noahhadro8213]

I keep getting the error that says "Could not connect to database". I've followed this training and the guy in the cube training. I don't have two workspaces named the same and I have export to excel enabled. I also turned xmla setting to read / write in capacity settings? Can you help?

[@sarva0483]

Is there option to refresh the Table schema from desktop file to PowerBI service. ex: I want to add the new column in the existing table in desktop model, and i want to sync this change in Power BI Service as well

[@Bharath_PBI]

Thank you, this is awesome time saver. Two questions, if there is change in power query (fact table example) in desktop model then will we be able to do meta data deployment retaining partitions in service? 2nd question is a thought, if we can save the partition inside desktop model so that next time if some dev by mistake deploys from PBI desktop then it will not wipe out the same in service. Thanks

[@PowerBITips]

To deploy directly to the service, and only deploy the meta data you will need to use a third party tool such as tabular editor. Power BI desktop does not currently have this ability to modify the meta data into PowerBI.com 2nd question, I am not aware of any protections where you can save off the partitions. If a dev deploys the model a full refresh will instantly be triggered. At this time there is not a way to prevent this. You might want to have have a dev and prod workspace where you can control access to this PBI model. Thus, limiting the exposure to incorrect deployments.

[@Bharath_PBI]

@@PowerBITips Thanks for getting back. Yes we are using ALM toolkit and also we have Dev, test and prod environments. We use tabular editor mainly for desktop modeling rather than directly connecting to service and making the changes. Would you recommend doing that? As part of metadata deployment, we want to keep the partition intact irrespective of the environment.

[@DavidBridgeTechnology]

This tool is invaluable, but it needs to go on a secure server and be properly certified so that Windows Defender smart screen doesn't complain when you install it, as infrastructure police don't like it when apps trigger warnings.

[@sau002]

Will this tool work for Power BI Professional?