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Practical perspectives on data governance, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI and analytics strategy for UK organisations.
Why 85% of AI projects fail before the model does anything wrong
The number Microsoft put on stage at FabCon Europe 2026 was blunt: most AI projects fail, and they fail for data reasons. Here is a practical checklist for working out whether your estate is ready before you commission a proof of concept.
FabCon Europe 2026: what to adopt now, what to watch, and what to leave alone
Eight of us went to Barcelona to separate what is ready for production from what is still roadmap. Here is the list, sorted into adopt now, watch, and leave alone for now.
Power BI visual interactions: a checklist before you publish
Interactions are the part of a Power BI report nobody checks until a reader clicks something and the numbers stop making sense. Here is what to check before you publish.
Cross-highlight or cross-filter? Choosing the right interaction for each Power BI visual
Filter, highlight or none. Each has a job. Choosing deliberately, visual by visual, is what makes a report answer questions instead of raising them.
How to make cross-filter the default interaction in Power BI
Power BI cross-highlights by default. One report setting switches it to cross-filtering, and saves you changing every interaction by hand.
Good enough to build on: how to decide which data gaps are worth fixing
Once you start building, the data gaps show up quickly. The skill is knowing which ones change the answer, fixing those at source, and being honest about the rest.
Start with the data you have: a practical way to take stock before you build
Before you build, list the data that might help, then ask three questions of each item: can we get it, is it usable, and is it worth it. The answers tell you where to start.
Usable, not perfect: why waiting for clean data means you never start
Waiting for perfect data feels responsible. In practice it is the most reliable way to still be in the same place six months from now.
Deployment successful is not the same as production-ready
A green tick in a Power BI deployment pipeline means the metadata moved. It does not mean the data refreshed, the gateway connected or the right people can see the report.
Deploy only what changed: comparing stages and switching data sources in Power BI pipelines
Before you deploy, Power BI will tell you exactly what is different between stages. Use it, deploy only what changed, and let parameter rules point each environment at the right data.
DEV, TEST, PROD: why business-critical Power BI needs somewhere safe to be wrong
Publishing a report straight into production works for small reports. Once people depend on it, every change needs somewhere safe to be wrong first.
From site telemetry to a number the board trusts
Sensors and machines produce a flood of data. Turning that flood into a figure a board can act on is a different job from collecting it. Here is where the two meet.
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