Power BI Solution Template for Twitter
Why are Solution Templates Important?
For a business that cares about data-driven decisions the business value of adopting power BI Solution Templates are immense and is a contrast to the traditional approach of building an organization-wide Business Intelligence Solution for your business, from scratch and composed of disparate teams, technologies and builds.
The Solution Template is a full stack BI Solution packaged in a single execution. The Power BI Solution Template for Twitter described herein is one example of how easily a Solution Template can be deployed for a specific environment and specific purpose and Solution Templates for other platforms and purposes can be found here>>.
There is no cost for the Twitter Solution Template!
There is no costs for the QBO Solution Template but there is an Azure Platform As A Service (PAAS) cost for the ETL that your data undergoes before landing in your Power BI dashboard and you can estimate the cost here>>.
For the reasons below, we at FreshBI are bullish on Solution Templates and their derivatives, so much so that we have adopted them as the central method for building and delivering solutions to our partners.
What tools do I need to enable the use of the Power BI Solution Template for QBO ?
A Quickbooks Online Account
Power BI Pro (for sharing the Dashboard with your organization)
An Azure Account with rights to initiate
Azure Functions
SQL Server
Azure Analysis Services (Optional)
Solution Templates start with an o-auth connection to your data source, then your data can be enriched by various selected services in Azure (like Machine Learning and Analysis Services) and stored in either Azure Blob Storage or Azure SQL Server.
This Solution Template for QBO uses i) o-auth to your QBO, ii) Azure logic apps. ii) Azure Cognitive Services, iv) Machine Learning and v) Azure SQL Server.......with Azure Analysis Services being optional.
The last step in the process below is to download the Power BI Desktop file for this Solution Template which has a link to your Azure SQL Server database containing your twitter data. You can see the connection string to your data in Azure by going to Edit Queries > Data Source Settings in the Power BI Desktop. Be sure that in the Power BI Desktop, you sign into the same account that you used in step 2 below when you signed into Azure.
Solution Mobility
A Solution Template is like having a full stack BI solution in your wallet - it can be deployed against multiple environments and re-deployed anytime you need it.
Fast Solution Deployment
You can burn through the 12 steps below and interacting with your Trial Balance and have visibility of your QBO assets, shared with your team through Power BI, within 30 minutes.
Organization Wide Consistency
Solution Templates create an organizational standard for all your Business Intelligence Solutions.
Single Execution
No disparate actions required to deploy the Solution Template - the whole solution from data to dashboard is executed in one sitting.
Unified Technology Stack
The core technologies for the Solution Template live in Azure, all the way from API's to 'M', to Azure Function and Logic Apps moving data, to storage and finally, visualizing the data in Power BI.
Controlled Azure Deployments
The Solution Template executes a very specific set of instructions to Azure with very specific Azure resources being deployed and this method of deployment can be controlled in one package.
Source Code & Documentation
Source Code and Documentation for all solution templates are available to you in this Github repository. and your organization can us it the way it is or use these assets as a solid base for your documentation and data governance if you select to customize the solution template.
Solution Re-Usability
I like this feature of Solution Templates very much - knowing that there is a fully documented backup of the BI Solution Stack for each business function and that it can be re-used in new/different environments, against various social accounts and companies and even repurposed with a fraction of the effort of building from the ground up.
What Steps are Required to Acquire Such a Solution?
Well, the short answer is, get it here>>
The challenge for most people when they land on this page is that they are faced with some unknowns and consequently and obstacle to obtaining a potentially high ROI Campaign and Brand Management Analytics platform.
The most salient unknowns as far as I can tell are:
Effort required to obtain the Solution Template for Twitter
Initial Cost and Total Cost of Ownership of obtaining the Solution Template for Twitter
The impact that it will have on my Azure environment when I proceed
All of the unknowns above are covered in the 12 steps and video below.
If you're pretty sure you want to try the Solution Template for QBO and you don't wish to review the steps below, then my advice is: you've got nothing to lose if you try it. If you go through the 12 steps and don't find value in the Solution, just cancel the Azure services that it invokes and at least you can say you tried it.......but you'll likely keep it when you experience your twitter data in the thoughtful Power BI dashboard that you receive.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1) Getting Started
This page reveals the tools needed (as listed above) and a summary of the features of this solution template for twitter
2) Connect to Azure
If you don't have an Azure account, don't hesitate to get one at this point - every modern organization can benefit from an Azure account.
If you have an Azure account, sign in and select which Azure subscription to use.
3) Cognitive Services
It is not apparent exactly how this solution template is using Azure Cognitive Services but it is part of the Machine Learning algorithms that are enriching your twitter data.
Cognitive Services is one of the Azure services that get spun up during this step.
4) Azure SQL Database
Typically Solution Templates use either BLOB on Azure SQL for data storage.
This step creates a SQL database in Azure SQL in either an existing instance of Azure SQL or it creates a new Azure SQL instance.
5) Twitter Account
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6/7) Search Terms & Handles
Hashtags, twitter handles, plain text and more...
The Solution Template collects these search terms and includes in the data model for consumption by the standard Power BI template and for you to consume in any way you choose in Power BI.
8/9/10) Scale with AAS
This is an optional service.
Azure Analysis Services does what you know it to do - scales well with larger deployments.
With the standard solution templates, data volume is the main benefit. If you were adventurous enough to customize the solution template then you could also get creative with modelling the data in Azure Analysis Services too, to take the load off Power BI and centralize your organization wide data modelling.
11) Verify & Run
This step is easy - just read and verify your details and hit the 'Run' button to create the solution template.
12) Track Progress
Creation time is estimated at 10-15 minutes.
Once the solution template is created, you'll be shown 2 buttons: one to get into the associated PowerApp to customize search terms and one to download the Power BI Desktop file that has a connection string to your Azure SQL containing your twitter data.
13) Publish Your Dashboard
Open the downloaded Power BI Desktop file that has a connection string to your twitter data and make sure it is signed into your Power BI account. Either customize it or leave it the way it is and then hit the 'Publish' button in the Power BI Desktop to share it with your team through the Power BI Service.
How do Solution Templates Benefit my Business?
In addition to the business value derived from the features of Solution Templates listed at the start of this post, there are 3 value propositions that I think are important to consider.....
TIME: When comparing the time to deploy between engaging a team to build this solution from the ground up vs acquiring this Solution Template, the benefit to your organization is astounding.
COST: Try this cost estimator and remember that your investment is 100% elastic and controlled by the running time of you Azure Services and the capacity of the selected Azure Services.
ANALYTICS AVAILABLE: The video below does a great job of showing the Analytics available to you and how you can apply this Dashboard to Campaign and Brand Management and to you social media assets.
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