Ernest's past presentations:
I presented my last class at Scaling New Heights in June 2023. No new presentations are planned but I am available for custom presentations.  Fans of my talk about desktop reporting may want to know that the last version is on my linked in page.

​Using Power BI to Change How You Deliver the Financial Story
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2023

During this presentation, I focused on empowering attendees to revolutionize financial storytelling using the right tools and techniques.  A main point emphasized was the distinction between financial reporting tools like Jirav and Reach vs Business Intelligence Reporting Platforms like Power BI.  Business Intelligence platforms allow data from every aspect of a business but typically financial reporting applications only have financial data. In an ever-segmented application world, this distinction makes a huge difference to a business owner who wants a 360 degree view of his operations. After an overview of the recent updates from Microsoft related to Fabric and how Power BI fits into the overall Microsoft data strategy, I teased how Microsoft’s implementing AI tools into Power BI before getting to the nuts and bolts of implementing Power BI.

A key discussion point for this audience was the pros and cons of different data extraction methods for QuickBooks data, In the end I gave a strong recommendation to the QQUBE tool because of its rich set of Power BI data models and DAX that are ready to use out of the box. 

In contrast to earlier years, in this session I expanded on the story telling aspects of Power BI. I emphasized that accountants should not just put a couple of charts up in Power BI but instead leverage all the robust platform has to offer.  One example is the comments feature that enables an accountant to engage their clients in a contextual, data based conversations about their business. Another example is Bookmarks which allows an accountant to maximize the analytics capability and build a list of talking points so they can walk business owners through complex financial data, point by point, to bring them to a level of understanding beyond the surface level Profit and Loss Statement

INTRODUCTION TO POWER BI

Venue: Scaling New Heights 2022

During this session we walk through all the considerations and steps to go from data to dashboard with Power BI.  In addition to dials on dashboards, we discuss how critical a good data model is and provide some recommendations for that. We also will show attendees how you can also leverage data stored in Power BI to give full financial statements with Power BI’s tabular reporting and analyze your financials using Excel.  While I still cover getting QuickBooks online data into Power BI, I have expanded the scope of the class to also include tools for using QuickBooks Enterprise (desktop) data in Power BI

Extending Excel with Power Query
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2021

Building on the success from the 2020 show, in this year's session we not only demonstrated basic Power Query techniques to allow attendees to enhance their everyday use of Microsoft Excel. While covering the basics, we’ll show you how to build a repeatable process for transforming the information into a form you can use in other applications or combine data in ways that can’t be done in other tools

INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING YOUR OWN QBO DASHBOARDS WITH POWER BI
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2021

Back by popular demand, we are training again on Power BI and how to use it to report your QBO data.

A highlight of this year's presentation is a preview of QQUBE's new model built specifically for QBO. The new model we showed allows customers to leverage Power BI with QuickBooks data. Because QQUBE is now provide your clients with up to date metrics that matter to them while future-proofing your business. During the session we will start from scratch to build a dashboard that you can immediately use to show meaningful QBO information and then expand on with information from other sources. We will also show how your client’s can expand their team’s online access to QBO data online while maintaining control of the data and end with a peek at how natural language queries will allow for no code self-service business intelligence.

QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP REPORTING:
​ A DEEP DIVE INTO USING THE DATA YOU WORK SO HARD TO PUT INTO QUICKBOOKS

Venue:  Scaling New Heights 2021
​

This course is designed for pro advisors who are new to the custom reporting arena, or for those who are experienced but perhaps frustrated with the limitations they encounter. Developers and geeks who are less experienced with accounting will also benefit from this information.

QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP: UNDER THE HOOD
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2020

In this session, we walked people thru all the various ways users can do with regards to custom reporting and analytics. This course is designed for pro advisors who are new to the custom reporting arena, or for those who are experienced but perhaps frustrated with the limitations they encounter. Developers and geeks who are less experienced with accounting will also benefit from this information.

​POWER QUERY 101
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2020

In a first for Scaling new heights, we showed attendees in this session the basic techniques needed to leverage Power Query to enhance their everyday use of Microsoft Excel. We started with QuickBooks reports and used  techniques build into Power Query to show how to build a repeatable process for transforming (converting) QuickBooks reports and IIF files into the information they need.

INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING YOUR OWN QBO DASHBOARDS WITH POWER BI

Venue: Scaling New Heights 2020

Making a little Scaling New Heights history, we showed attendees Power BI for the first time.  We started from scratch to build a dashboard that you could be immediately used to show meaningful QBO information and then expanded on with information from other sources. We also showed how pro advisors client’s can expand their team’s online access to QBO data online while maintaining control of the data . 

Tools and Tips for Exporting: Migrate to QB Desktop
Venue: Scaling New Heights 2019 Online

Description: Join Ernest Cook as he and Sara team up to show you not just the theory, but the mechanics of getting QuickBooks desktop data ready for migration to a new platform.

Stretching QuickBooks - Populating Microsoft  Power BI with QB Data

Description:   In this webinar hosted by Woodard and Stratos Cloud Alliance,  Ernest presented why Power BI was a great tool to use for QuickBooks professionals and showed multiple ways that Power BI can be used with QuickBooks.

Venue: Woodard webinars

Slide deck is available here: