Issue 128 June 2026
Tools moved again this month. Here is what changed, what to learn, and who in the community is doing good work.
6 min read
Welcome to the first Projecting Success monthly, for people on the apprenticeship and our alumni. One newsletter, a fixed shape each month: what changed in your tools, a technique you can use this month, and the work coming out of the cohort.
Lead story
Our read
The tools you work with are changing faster than any course can keep up with. So each month we cut it down to what moved, what it means for your delivery work, and one technique worth your time. The same seven sections every issue, so you always know where to look. The cohort and showcase sections carry real apprentice and alumni work as consent and content come in. This first issue uses illustrative examples in those two slots, clearly marked, so you can see the shape.
Try this
Reply with one thing: a project you want featured, a tool change worth flagging, or an event for the calendar. That is how the next issue gets better than this one.
Tools update
What changed in the stack you actually use, and what it means for your work.
- Power BICopilot GA
Copilot can now draft DAX measures and summarise a report page from a plain-language prompt, and it is rolling out without a separate capacity in more tenants.
What it means Use it to get a first draft of a measure, then read and correct the DAX yourself. It is fast at the boilerplate and still wrong on filter context often enough that you cannot ship its output unchecked.
Read the change notes - Microsoft FabricExpanding
Fabric keeps absorbing the data stack: Dataflows, notebooks, and a single OneLake store now sit behind one bill, and Power BI is just the reporting layer on top.
What it means If your employer is on Fabric, the line between analyst and data engineer is thinning. Learning a little Spark notebook work alongside Power BI is becoming a real edge, not a nice-to-have.
- ExcelPython in Excel
Python in Excel moved out of preview for Microsoft 365 business accounts. You can write pandas in a cell and keep the result on the grid.
What it means For anything past a pivot table, you can now reach for pandas without leaving the workbook your stakeholders already trust. Good for prototyping a transform before you build it properly in Power Query.
What's moving in the field
Broader AI and project-delivery signals worth a glance.
Project bodies start publishing AI-use guidance
SectorProfessional bodies in project delivery are putting out early guidance on declaring AI use in client work. If you deliver into regulated or public-sector clients, expect AI-use questions to start appearing in assurance and tender processes.
Studies keep finding assistants help most on unfamiliar work
ResearchThe pattern across recent studies holds: AI assistants give the biggest lift on tasks you are not already fluent in, and a smaller, riskier one on work you know cold. Lean on the tool when you are out of your depth, and review harder when you are not.
Open data and free models keep getting better
ToolsCapable open models you can run cheaply, and a growing pile of open datasets, mean a credible portfolio project no longer needs a big budget. Worth knowing if you are an apprentice building evidence or an alum changing direction.
Solution showcase
One apprenticeship project: problem, approach, result, and the KSBs it evidenced.
Your project here
A project from your apprenticeship — submit yours for a future issue
- Problem
- A weekly delivery report took most of a day to assemble by hand, pulling figures from a finance export, a scheduling tool, and a shared spreadsheet. The numbers often disagreed and nobody trusted the totals.
- Approach
- Mapped where each figure came from, then built a Power Query pipeline to merge the three sources on a common project ID. Agreed the metric definitions with the delivery leads first, then put the agreed measures on a single Power BI page.
- Result
- The report dropped from around four hours to fifteen minutes, and the figures now reconcile across systems. The delivery leads start their Monday meeting from the page instead of rebuilding it.
- Next time
- Agree the metric definitions with the team before building, not after. Two measures had to be reworked once people saw them on screen and realised they meant different things by 'open action'.
Tools used
- Power BI
- Power Query
- SharePoint
KSBs evidenced
- K7 data architecture
- S4 data cleaning
- B2 works independently
Cohort and alumni spotlight
The people: one current apprentice, one alum. Submit yours for a future issue.
Your spotlight here
Current apprentice, Data Analyst
The shape of a spotlight: a current apprentice, what they are working on this term, and one thing they have learned that surprised them.
SampleYour spotlight here
Alum, graduated last year
And an alum: where they were on the programme, where they are now, and one piece of advice for the cohort behind them.
Now A role they grew into after the apprenticeship
Sample
Skill of the month
One reusable technique you can apply this month.
Write the prompt as a brief, not a question
Models follow structure. A short brief that says who the model is, gives it the input, and describes the output you want beats a one-line question every time. It is the single change that most improves the results people get.
- State the role and the task: who the model is and what it is working on.
- Give it the input, and say what the input is.
- Describe the output: the format, the length, and what to leave out.
You are reviewing a weekly delivery report for a project team. Input: [paste the report] Return the three biggest risks, one line each, in plain English. No preamble, no recommendations unless I ask.
What's on
Events, deadlines, and one thing to do.
- Project:HackJuly, date to confirm
- Lunch and learn: automating a report end to endMid July
This month We need one real apprenticeship project to feature next month. Reply with two lines on what you built and we will help you write it up.
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Projecting SuccessIssue 128 June 2026
The monthly for our apprentices and alumni.
Editorial compilation © 2026 Projecting Success. Rights and reuse
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