Knowledge Center
Insights, guides and thought leadership on data engineering, AI strategy, analytics and modern data platforms.
Data EngineeringCI/CD for dbt on Microsoft Fabric
How we set up CI/CD for dbt on Microsoft Fabric: one workspace per environment, isolated schemas, slim CI with deferral, quality gates and scheduled runs.
AIAsk your plant anything
One AI assistant across all your plant data, and what it takes to build one you can trust. A Plainsight point of view on getting answers out of MES, ERP, SOPs and email.
AI StrategyThe AI model question just changed
The question for businesses is no longer which AI vendor to choose. There is no longer one obvious model for every job, and that turns model choice into an architecture decision rather than a procurement one. A Plainsight point of view.
AI StrategyAI wins the task. You still keep the person.
Technology moves faster than people do. The gap between those two speeds is the moment we are in, and the real subject of every AI and jobs conversation.
Data StrategyWill we soon just talk to our data?
Conversational AI finally promises real self-service analytics. Whether talking to your data gives you answers you can trust depends less on the data agent than on the foundation beneath it. A Plainsight point of view, based on the work we are doing with our first clients.
AIWe built ourselves an extra brain
Every AI tool at Plainsight connects to the same company memory. What it does, what it took to build, and the honest answer to 'can we put all our data in it?'
Power BIFrom Prototype to Power BI Project: Bridging the Gap with Claude
A prototype does not have to be a throwaway mock-up. Here is how I use a Claude Skill to turn a React prototype into a real Power BI project (PBIP) that Desktop can open, so the work in Power BI becomes refinement instead of reconstruction.
Power BIHow I Use Claude to Build Power BI Prototypes in Minutes, Not Hours
Prototyping gets skipped because it takes too long. Here is how I use a reusable Claude Skill to turn realistic, on-brand Power BI prototypes into a fast, repeatable process, going from idea to mockup in minutes instead of hours.
Power BICopilot Gives Bad Answers? Fix Your Data First.
Copilot misses the mark when your Power BI semantic model isn't prepared for AI. Two concrete steps (clean up your model and use Prep Data for AI) turn unusable answers into ones you'd happily share with your manager.
StrategyAre We Still Thinking? The Hidden Risk in Every AI Rollout
AI is reshaping every workflow, but cognitive surrender, deskilling and a shifting skill mix are the blind spot most AI strategies miss. Here is what to do about it.
Power BIPower BI Meets AI: MCP, Copilot & Fabric Agents Explained
How the Power BI Authoring MCP server, Copilot in Power BI and Fabric data agents fit together: who each one is for, what it can do, and how to start with real prompts.
DevOpsFrom Technician Notes to PDF: Automating Incident Reporting
A smarter way to automatically turn field technician input into clean, branded PDF reports: from ticket data to professional documents in seconds.
AI StrategyShadow AI is not the problem
AI is no longer something organisations are considering. It is already part of daily work. Employees use AI tools to draft emails, summarise documents, and analyse data -- not because they were told to, but because it helps.
Power BIEfficiently Managing Version History and Deployment in Power BI
How to choose a version history and deployment setup for Power BI that fits your team: PBIP and TMDL in Git, deployment pipelines, quality gates and shared models.
Power BISave Future You Time with Auto-Generated Color Measures
Stop clicking through Power BI formatting menus. Generate semantic color measures from your theme with C# or Python and restyle a report in minutes.
AI StrategyThe Hidden Value of Internal AI Pilots
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how organizations operate, but turning an AI idea into a reliable business tool isn't as simple as flipping a…
Data EngineeringImplementing Data Mesh with dbt: From Principles to Practice
Most traditional organizations rely on a centralized data team to own, build, and maintain everything data related. This team supports every business domain…
Microsoft FabricTop 5 Fabric Innovations Announced at Microsoft Ignite
Last month Microsoft Ignite took place in San Francisco. During this event lots of new developments got announced regarding all Microsoft products. This…
DevOpsOps I Did It Again: From DevOps to MLOps to LLMOps
You might have heard of DevOps, MLOps or even LLMOps, but what are they really and how do they relate to one another? Each emerged to solve a distinct set…
AIWhat Is Retrieval Augmented Generation?
Retrieval-Augmented Generation or RAG is not a new buzzword anymore. It has been discussed in countless conferences, proof-of-concepts, and AI strategy…
From Chaos to Clarity: How Microsoft Fabric Enables Collaboration Across Teams in Small to Mid-Sized Companies
In small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), speed and cost-efficiency matter most. SMEs need to make quick decisions, adapt fast, and keep expenses low. But…
How to Simplify Deployment Pipelines: One Parameter to Rule Them All
Replace a parameter per data source with one environment parameter and a small Power Query function, so a Power BI deployment pipeline needs one rule per stage.
CultureFrom Campus to Client: Building Data Analyst Skills at Plainsight Academy
As two freshly graduated business engineers stepping into the world of data consulting, we joined the Plainsight Academy. Eager to bridge the gap between…
Power BITurning Power BI Into a Two-Way Street: Enabling Real-Time Scheduling with the Power Platform
Imagine multiple people are consulting the same report on a regular basis. The report contains information about vehicles, more specifically when they are…
AIAI meets Excel
Turn image URLs into polished product descriptions inside Excel with Power Query and OpenAI's API. Thousands of images, a few clicks, a few dollars.
Microsoft FabricFrom Start-up to Enterprise: One Platform, Infinite Insights with Microsoft Fabric
One boutique, one manufacturer, one insurer: how Microsoft Fabric turns scattered data into decisions at every company size.
CultureBridging Data, Business, and Team Spirit: Our Internship at Plainsight
In today's data-driven world, bridging the gap between business and technology is more important than ever. As students in the Master of Management and IT…
AIFrom Data to Dialogue: How to Build RAG and Agentic Chatbots on Azure
In today's AI landscape, chatbots are evolving far beyond basic Q&A. From enhancing customer experience on websites to streamlining internal workflows…
DatabricksDatabricks: Data & AI Summit '25 -- What to Expect?
Credits: Databricks The Databricks Data + AI Summit 2025 was nothing short of revolutionary for the Data & AI landscape. With over 22 000 attendees in San…
AIGenerative AI in Azure: What to build, when and why
Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, AI Foundry or fully custom? When each Azure GenAI option fits, with capabilities, limits and pricing.
AII Built the Same App in Windsurf, Cursor & Lovable. Here's What Actually Worked
In this blog, I'm sharing my first-hand experience testing three of the most talked-about AI coding tools on the market: Windsurf, Cursor and Lovable. The…
AIWhat to expect from GPT-5
GPT-5 is expected to improve memory, reasoning, and multimodal capabilities significantly. But it's unlikely to unlock entirely new use cases -- it will refine and streamline existing ones.
Microsoft FabricSQL Databases in Fabric: Because Life's Too Short for Database Configuration Nightmares
At the end of 2024, databases were introduced to Microsoft Fabric, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of Fabric as an end-to-end data…
Microsoft FabricAutomating Data Pipelines with Microsoft Fabric for Faster Insights
How to automate ETL with Data Pipelines in Microsoft Fabric: ingestion, transformation, storage, and orchestration, all in a low/no-code environment.
How to Deploy and Configure 12 Microsoft Fabric Capacities in a matter of hours
THE CHALLENGE - Deploy 12 Fabric Capacities - Across 4 business Units - With a dev, tst & prd capacity - With a Bronze, Silver, Gold & Control workspace for…
Data StrategyDon't Let Your Data Stack Be a Showroom
block-3270cc589386c718be5a { box-sizing: border-box; height: 100%; padding: 6% 6% 6% 6%; border-radius: 16px 16px 16px 16px; } "Without a delivery…
Power BIReporting on Officient with Power BI
This guide complements the free Power BI app for Officient, available on Microsoft AppSource: Officient Reporting. It helps you quickly gain insights from…
Power BIReporting on Odoo with Power BI
How to connect Odoo's accounting data to Power BI with Plainsight's template app: what it shows, how to create an Odoo API key, and what to watch out for.
Data StrategyIs Your Business Unhappy with Your Data Products?
block-3c65e0e33ce55fb630e6 { box-sizing: border-box; height: 100%; padding: 6% 6% 6% 6%; border-radius: 16px 16px 16px 16px; } -- How to Trace the Frowns…
Data EngineeringStruggling with Slow Data Product Delivery? Here's Where to Automate
In today's data-driven economy, the speed at which you deliver data products directly affects your organization's ability to make timely decisions.
AI StrategyThe Smart Path to AI Readiness: Where to Invest First
In today's data-driven world, the buzz around Artificial Intelligence (AI) is louder than ever. But while the potential is huge, most organizations remain unclear on one critical question: Where should we invest to truly become AI-ready?
Data StrategyBusiness Only Cares About Gold -- And Why You Should Too
Nobody ever asked for a beautifully maintained bronze layer. Go for Gold keeps only the layers that earn their place between raw data and insight.
Data EngineeringHow to Analyse Data Across Multiple Regions with Confidence and Consistency
Multi-region analytics breaks on formats, latency and local data laws. How Azure, Microsoft Fabric and Power BI get you one trusted global view.
Data EngineeringHow to Improve Collaboration Between Your Data Tools: From Silos to Synergy
DBT builds the logic, Fabric runs it, Purview tracks it. How to connect transformation, governance, and reporting so every tool shows the same truth.
Data EngineeringHow to Build a Scalable Data Architecture That Supports Long-Term Growth
Legacy pipelines break every time the business changes. What scalable architecture looks like on Azure, Fabric, and OneLake, and how Plainsight builds it.
Power BIHow to Migrate from Tableau to Power BI
A practical guide to moving from Tableau to Power BI: key differences, a six step migration plan, common pitfalls, and how to get adoption right.
Data EngineeringHow Do You Use Azure Synapse and Databricks for Seamless Data Integration?
Synapse for warehousing and SQL analytics, Databricks for Spark and AI. How the two fit together and what to watch out for on cost, security, and performance.
How Can I Use Power BI and Microsoft Fabric to Automate Reporting Across Multiple Data Sources?
Manual reporting means stale numbers and copy-paste errors. How Fabric and Power BI automate the pipeline from source to dashboard, step by step.
Microsoft FabricHow Microsoft Fabric Simplifies Data Integration Across Your Organisation
OneLake, pipelines, Dataflow Gen2, Notebooks, Eventstream: how Fabric puts ingestion, storage, and reporting on one platform instead of five tools.
Power BIReporting on Exact Online with Power BI
A walkthrough of our Power BI app for Exact Online: the reports you can build on your financial data and how to set up authentication, step by step.
AI StrategyAI-gentification
Electricity gave companies a Chief Electricity Officer. Agentic AI calls for its own leadership role, and the Agentic AI Canvas maps what it must cover.
Power BIReporting on Harvest with Power BI
A walkthrough of our free Harvest Reporting app for Power BI: what it does, the insights you get, and how to authenticate with a personal access token.
Data EngineeringTriggering and Monitoring a dbt Cloud Job with Azure Data Factory
Ready to master your data pipelines? Dive into our latest blog to discover how Azure Data Factory can trigger and monitor dbt Cloud jobs. Learn how to…
DevOpsOne-Click Workspaces for Power BI CI/CD: Is It Possible?
How we deploy one Power BI report to many workspaces across tenants: service principals, PowerShell and the Power BI APIs in an almost one-click setup.
Data StrategyFrom Data Products to Roadmap
From a long list of data product ideas to a build order: score business impact against technical feasibility and turn the result into a roadmap.
CulturePlainsight Academy: Fast-Tracking Careers from BI to AI
Two recent graduates on their first month at Plainsight: an academy covering Power BI, SQL, Databricks, Azure and GenAI, capped with a workation at De Haan.
Microsoft FabricTop 5 Insights from Microsoft Fabric Community Conference You Need to Know
At the end of September, Microsoft Fabric Community Conference took place in Stockholm. During this four-day event, numerous sessions were organized to keep…
Data StrategyTranslate Your Data & Analytics Capabilities to Business Outcomes
How business outcomes, data products and the capabilities underneath them fit together: the framework we use to connect data work to strategy.
Power BIAn Intern's Journey: Transforming Harvest Data into Insights with Power BI
As a young graduate, it's essential to continue learning beyond the classroom, and there's no better way to do that than by diving into real-world…
DatabricksDatabricks Serverless: Reducing Costs While Enhancing Productivity
At the recent Databricks Data + AI Summit 2024, Databricks made a significant announcement: they are going serverless. Following up on their promise…
Data StrategyHow Decentralized Are Your Data Products?
A four-axis check of how decentralized your data products really are: people, process, technology and data, and where the balance should sit.
CultureUnmasking the Saboteur: A Weekend of Deception in Dinant
When you gather eleven of our data people, pull them away from their desks to pack them off to Dinant, and toss in a deceptive game of "Saboteur," you know…
Data StrategyFrom Insights to Impact: The Ultimate Guide to Landing Your Data Strategy
Our framework for landing a data strategy: the 10,000 feet business view, data products, a ground level roadmap, and outcomes you can measure.
Microsoft FabricFabric Task Flows: The Newcomer's Guide
Another month, another update Fabric! This time, a whole new functionality got released: the Task Flow! Are you a data analytics solution architect in…
DatabricksDatabricks Data & AI Summit '24: What's to Come?
DataBricks is a fantastic tool that includes all necessary components for a Data Platform; from provisioning an all-purpose data lake, to supporting Data…
Power BIGame, Set, Dash: Track Your Padel Progress
The prevalence of padel is evident not only in the sheer number of competitive matches played throughout the year but also in the motivation to climb the…
DevOpsStreamline Your SQL Deployment Using Azure DevOps and Database Projects
First things first Before lift-off, make sure the following prerequisites are met: - The previous two blog posts in this series were read and the steps were…
Data EngineeringStreamline Data Operations: Integrate Database Projects with Data Factory
First things first In this blog post we are going to show a practical use case of how you should use database projects for SQL together with Azure Data…
DevOpsStreamline Your SQL Development with Database Projects and Git
Turn a SQL database into a database project you can track in Git. A hands-on walkthrough in Azure Data Studio, from bacpac import to your first push.
Microsoft FabricWhat's in Your Fabric: Data Warehouse or Data Engineering?
we get a lot of interesting questions on Microsoft Fabric. One of the recurring topics is which ETL engine to choose? Can we use multiple? And when to use…
Microsoft FabricIgnite's Highlights: Microsoft Fabric in Minutes!
The central emphasis of this year revolved predominantly around artificial intelligence (AI), highlighted by the recent introduction of Microsoft 365…
Power BIUnlock the Power of Data with Microsoft Power BI -- 8 Tips
Eight practical Power BI tips: clean data first, Kimball modeling, fewer visuals, external tools like DAX Studio, and choosing between Pro and Premium.
Microsoft FabricIntroduction to Microsoft Fabric!
Microsoft Fabric is an AI-powered platform that aims to reshape the way organizations access, manage, and act upon their data. It is designed to connect…
Data Engineering1st things 1st, Data Lake Planning!
In today's world, data is king. Businesses are generating more data than ever before, and they need a way to store, manage, and analyse it all.