Excel Video 473 Configuring Excel 2013 BI Tools

My objective in Excel Video 473 is configuring Excel 2013 BI tools so we can get started. The first hurdle is to get the right version of Excel. You either need the Pro Plus version of Office 365, the Professional version of Office 2013, or the standalone version of Excel 2013. Your entire clinic doesn’t need the fancier version of Excel, just the people who will design with the BI Tools. Note that end users may be able to use Microsoft’s new cloud based Power BI tool, so unless you have a very technical doctor or administrator who wants to get involved in design, you might wait to get the professional version for these users.

There are 4 tools to configure: PowerPivot, Power View, Power Map and Power Query. Watch for how to active COM add-ins and how to download a component if you have the right version of Excel but the component is not available. You’ll see where to find each component in the ribbon and how to get started.

One quick note. I was just working on client data and tried to use Power Map to map patient demographics. The client has the Professional version of Office 2013. Microsoft is currently only offering a preview version of Power Map for Office 2013. If you have Office 365, Microsoft is maintaining Power Map and offering more frequent updates. If you have a choice, Microsoft seems to be pushing users to Office 365. I use Office 365 and these videos are recorded with Office 365.

The place to start in discussing Excel 2013 BI tools is the Excel Data Model. You don’t absolutely have to use the Excel Data Model for every project, but there are some real advantages to becoming familiar with the Excel Data Model. We’ll get started in the next Excel Video. I look forward to seeing you then.