This video shows data being mashed-up from multiple sources using Microsoft PowerPivot and DAX, all by the end user, in a self-service way.

For most people, self-service analysis means Microsoft Excel, however, it is Microsoft PowerPivot, which has added tremendous new capabilities to that popular tool. It is known for being able to analyse huge amounts of data in-memory, which you can briefly see at the beginning of this video (00:48). Amongst its lesser-known features, PowerPivot enables a non-technical user to easily mash-up data from multiple sources, for example from a report (01:18), databases, cubes, spreadsheets, flat files and so on. You can also perform meaningful calculations on such data using Data Analysis Expressions (02:00), which are similar to those of Excel, but much more powerful. You can learn DAX in our in-depth DAX course.

If you would like to replicate this demo yourself, make sure to get Microsoft Excel 2010 and the free Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel. If you need some data, have a look at the Azure DataMarket. Above all, enjoy exploring your own data in new ways.