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  • Unlocking Potential: How Work Experience Supercharges Student Skills

    Hollie wearing a Purple Frog branded shirt, standing in front of a school building with a tech-themed overlay and the text ‘How Work Experience Supercharges Student Skills’ displayed on the right.November 10th, 2025 in Blog, careers, Community, News

    Work experience is a crucial component in the development of young professionals and providing that, employer engagement is something that I am very passionate about. It provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge to the real-world, gain practical work-ready skills, and understand the dynamics of the workplace. When Ofsted are going into schools, they are keen to understand progress with Gatsby Benchmark 4 which focuses on…

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  • Predictive Analytics for Small and Medium Enterprises

    Lewis standing with arms crossed in front of a graphic background featuring hexagonal patterns and business charts, wearing a black and purple Purple Frog Systems polo shirt. Text on the image reads: “Predictive Analytics for Small and Medium Enterprises.November 3rd, 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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  • FabFest 2025: Running the Microsoft Fabric Clinic!

    Laura-Jayne wearing a black Purple Frog Systems polo shirt, standing in front of a graphic background with hexagonal patterns and an event photo of people networking. Text on the image reads: “FabFest 2025: Running the Microsoft Fabric Clinic!” along with the FabFest logo.October 16th, 2025 in Blog, Community, Data Lakehouse, Fabric, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Sponsoring Event

    FabFest is a great community conference held in Birmingham, UK, that Purple Frog Systems has sponsored for the past 2 years. This year, we had the opportunity to host 2 clinics for attendees, where they could learn more about Microsoft Fabric or AI solutions, or troubleshoot issues currently faced in these areas. Why did we choose to run these clinics? At last year’s conference, we had several attendees approach us with questions about…

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  • My Trip To BDL: Insights, Innovation & Responsible AI

    Lewis wearing a black and purple Purple Frog Systems polo shirt with arms crossed, standing in front of a graphic background featuring hexagonal patterns and an event photo. Text on the image reads: “My Trip To BDL: Insights, Innovation & Responsible AI” alongside the Big Data LDN logo.October 14th, 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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  • Fear to First: Creative and Media Apprentice of the Year

    Charlie-Mae wearing a black Purple Frog Systems polo shirt, standing in front of a graphic background with hexagonal patterns and event imagery. Text on the image reads: “Fear to First: Creative and Media Apprentice of the Year.”October 3rd, 2025 in Apprenticeships, Blog, Social Media

    When you first start an apprenticeship, it’s easy to feel like you’re never quite good enough, fast enough, or experienced enough. That’s been me for much of my journey so far, always chasing that feeling of “am I doing this right?” But sometimes, life throws you a moment that stops you in your tracks. A moment so overwhelming that you realise just how far you’ve come. Last night was one of those moments for me. When I first joined…

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  • Underutilised Power BI Visuals (and When to Use Them)

    James wearing a black and purple Purple Frog Systems polo shirt, standing in front of a graphic background with hexagonal patterns and an image of hands working on a tablet. Text on the image reads: “Underutilised Power BI Visuals (and When to Use Them).October 3rd, 2025 in Blog, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI

    Introduction Power BI provides many built-in visuals, plus custom options from the marketplace. Yet many reports still rely heavily on bar, column, and line charts. While those are effective, a few underutilised visuals can help tell richer stories and surface deeper insights. This post highlights some of them, explains when they add value, and offers guidance on using them thoughtfully. Decomposition Tree What it does: Lets you dynamically…

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  • How Power BI Totals are Calculated

    Tom wearing a black and purple Purple Frog Systems polo shirt, standing in front of a graphic background featuring hexagonal patterns and an image of hands using a calculator and laptop. Text on the image reads: “How Power BI Totals are Calculated.”October 1st, 2025 in Blog, Power BI

    When using Power BI visuals such as a table or matrix, they use a built in total column for your rows or columns. When using it, you may have noticed that the totals column sometimes doesn’t add up to a Grand Total as might be expected. It sometimes looks like the below screenshot:     From first glance, you can see that the “Total” column isn’t the sum of its row, as you might expect. So why is this the case? The “Total”…

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  • GPT-5 for Dummies

    GPT-5 for DummiesSeptember 16th, 2025 in AI, Blog, ChatGPT

    What’s the difference? GPT-5 is the newest version of the AI behind ChatGPT. It’s now the default model for everyone who signs in, and it’s built to be quick when your question is simple and thoughtful when the problem needs careful reasoning. You don’t need to choose a mode or a model; the system decides for you and adjusts on the fly. Behind the scenes, GPT-5 is a “unified” setup. Their fast, general model handles most…

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  • Fill Blank Rows With Previous Non-Blank Values – DAX

    Fill Blank Rows With Previous Non-Blank Values - DAXSeptember 5th, 2025 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Dashboarding and Reporting, DAX, Power BI, PowerBI

    Fill Blank Rows With Previous Non-Blank Values – DAX I want to see a value for everyday, whether a new value exists or not – lets call it tracking the members of a golf club. If there are no changes to the member numbers, I would have no movement figure on that day. If someone joined or left, the figure would be updated. Just because there are no changes, it doesn’t mean that there are no members on that date and therefore this day is…

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  • Narrate Your Data: Implementing Dynamic Alt-Text for Inclusive Reporting

    August 21st, 2025 in Blog, DAX, Power BI

    As Power BI Developers our aim is to make data insights accessible universally, so that everyone can make full use of their data and the insights it holds. Therefore it is critical to step out of our own shoes during the design process to ensure that what we build is inclusive to as many audiences as possible. In this blog I will explore how you can implement dynamic alt-text using DAX measures, which help people who are blind or have low…

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