Azure Archives - Purple Frog Systems

Predictive Analytics for Small and Medium Enterprises
November 3^rd, 2025 in AI, Azure, Big Data, Blog, Business, Fabric
For many years, predictive analytics was a luxury reserved for large enterprises with deep pockets and advanced infrastructure. Today, thanks to the power of cloud computing, AI-driven tools, and accessible business intelligence platforms like Power BI, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can tap into predictive analytics to transform how they plan and grow. At Purple Frog Systems, we’ve seen firsthand how even modest-sized organisations can…
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My Trip To BDL: Insights, Innovation & Responsible AI
October 14^th, 2025 in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Azure, Big Data, Blog, Community
Last month, I had the opportunity to attend Big Data London (BDL), the UK’s largest data and analytics conference, bringing together thought leaders, engineers, and strategists shaping the future of data-driven transformation. Across two days, the atmosphere was amazing: over 300 expert speakers, hands-on tech demos, and insightful panels exploring everything from AI governance to the latest in cloud analytics and data architecture. In this…
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Matt and Tom Ace Their Microsoft Exams!
November 9^th, 2024 in Azure, careers, News, Power BI
We’re thrilled to announce that two of our talented team members, Matt and Tom, have recently achieved significant milestones in their careers by passing their Microsoft exams! Tom successfully conquered the DP-600: Designing Data Engineering Solutions on Azure exam, demonstrating his expertise in designing and implementing robust data engineering solutions on the Azure platform. Matt aced the PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst exam,…
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Fabric Trials: The Countdown Is On
May 21^st, 2024 in Azure, Blog, Fabric, Power BI
We are drawing near to the end of Microsoft Fabric trials! ⌛ With the countdown ending mid-June for many trial capacities, it is important that you take measures to protect any Microsoft Fabric resources you have. Microsoft have informed users that once the trial ends, the capacity will be converted to a Power BI Premium capacity where Fabric items can no longer be used or stored. From here, you will have a 7 day retention period before all…
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Synapse Data Flow bug
March 1^st, 2024 in Azure, Blog, Synapse
I recently came across some unexpected output in a dedicated SQL Pool in Azure Synapse Analytics, upon investigation I realised this is as a result of an issue in Data Flows. This blog shows the issue using dummy data and a temporary workaround. At the time of writing (01/03/2024), this is still an issue and has been raised with Microsoft. I will provide a further update once Microsoft have resolved the issue or provided a suitable fix. Below is…
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Upload files to a LakeHouse in OneLake using Powershell
January 12^th, 2024 in Azure, Blog, Fabric, OneLake, Power BI
In this blog post, I will be sharing a PowerShell script that uploads files to a OneLake Lakehouse. This is the script: The script is downloadable at the bottom of the page as a txt file. To use the script there are few steps: Install the Powershell module Az.Storage. This code exists in the script and just needs to be uncommented for the first run, if the module is not already installed. Fill in the variables at the top of the script: tenantID…
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Our Microsoft AI and ML Predictions for 2024
January 4^th, 2024 in AI, Azure, Blog, News, Windows
As we step into 2024, Microsoft’s commitment to advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is evident through its diverse range of offerings. The tech giant continues to push the boundaries of innovation, providing businesses with powerful tools to transform data into intelligent insights. In this blog, we’ll explore Microsoft’s current AI and ML landscape and peek into the possibilities that will…
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Microsoft Fabric enters General Availability!
November 15^th, 2023 in Azure, Blog, Fabric, News, Power BI
After 6 months of public preview, Microsoft Fabric is now in production and generally available! 🎉 The announcement was made today at Microsoft Ignite, in Seattle. A round up of the news can be found at https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2023-book-of-news/. Here is a summary of some of the Fabric changes that we are looking forward to: Mirroring in Fabric Announced – expected in Q4 2023 Mirroring is a real-time clone of an Azure…
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Synapse Script Activity Error “Argument {0} is null or empty.\r\nParameter name: paraKey”
November 1^st, 2023 in Activity Error, ADFv2, Azure, Blog, Data Factory, SQL, Synapse, Uncategorised
Came across this issue when trying to get a range of values that are calculated dynamically at runtime. Using the script activity in ADF, I wanted a result set that I could reference as parameters for a notebook later in the pipeline but was experiencing an error I had not seen before referencing null arguments. The Problem The script is simple – get a few key dates from the last few months and set these as variables. Finally, return these…
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Automate Power BI single table refresh using Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI APIs
August 23^rd, 2023 in Azure, Blog, Power BI, Synapse, Tabular
In a blog I posted back in June 2022, I explained how you could trigger a Power BI dataset refresh via Azure Synapse Analytics. https://www.purplefrogsystems.com/2022/06/how-to-trigger-a-power-bi-dataset-refresh-via-azure-synapse-analytics-in-3-simple-steps/ However, what if you just wanted to refresh a select number of tables or objects rather than a full dataset? This might be the case if you are performing intraday loads in your ETL. There…
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Alex Whittles (MVP)
Annabel Hemingbrough
Callum Bryant
Hollie Whittles
James Snow
Jeet Kainth
Joe Billingham
Jon Fletcher
Laura Adamson
Lewis Prince (MVP)
Matt Mair-Durrant
Nick Edwards
Tom Owen