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Short, plain-language posts on HR, analytics, teaching, and research — the fundamentals worth coming back to.

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5 posts

Stylised illustration of a tea stall — Reena stands centre behind her counter looking up at a chalked flowchart on the back wall titled `TWO WAYS TO COPY A QUERY`. The flowchart shows an ORIGINAL chain of three step-boxes (Source, Cleaned, Output), a DUPLICATE chain below it that copies all three boxes identically in plum, and a single REFERENCE box on the right that says `= "Original"` with a curved live-link arrow pointing back up to the ORIGINAL's Output. On the far left a woman in plum holds a thick photocopied folder labelled `ALL STEPS`. On the far right a woman in soft grey holds a small slip with a curved string trailing offstage.

Analytics

Duplicate and Reference Walk Into a Tea Stall

Reena needs two new summary tables off her cleaned sales query. Power BI offers two options that look identical on the right-click menu — and her cousin warns that one of them will quietly break tomorrow.

07 May 2026 Rani C 11 min read

Stylised illustration of a tea stall — Reena standing behind her counter looking at two paper schemas in front of her: a clean Customer→Sales 1:N schema with a green tick, and a messy Order↔Product *:* schema with a yellow warning. A calm woman holding an open hand-fan approaches from the left, and a slightly flustered man holding a tangled red ball of yarn approaches from the right.

Analytics

One-to-Many and Many-to-Many Walk Into a Tea Stall

Reena's Power BI report has thrown a yellow warning at her. One stranger arrives with an open fan. The other arrives with a tangled ball of yarn — and a small wooden plank.

07 May 2026 Rani C 9 min read

Stylised illustration of a tea stall — Reena standing at her counter in the centre, a tired-looking woman on the left at a small writing desk piled with papers and pre-written profit numbers, a calm man on the right with a small handheld calculator in one hand and a glass of tea on the counter.

Analytics

Calculated Column and Measure Walk Into a Tea Stall

Reena needs a Profit number for Sunday. Two strangers turn up — one who writes it into every row, one who keeps only the formula and presses a calculator when asked.

06 May 2026 Rani C 8 min read

Stylised illustration of a tea stall scene — Reena stands behind her counter looking down at a thick open notebook with redundant rows and loose pages spilling out, a question mark over her head; a man with a long receipt scroll trailing down to the floor approaches from the left, a woman with a neat stack of three books labelled CUST, ITEM, DATE approaches from the right.

Analytics

Fact and Dimension Walk Into a Tea Stall

Reena's notebook is bursting with repetition. Her cousin wants the data organised the proper way before he comes on Sunday. Two strangers know exactly how to split it.

30 Apr 2026 Rani C 7 min read

Stylised illustration of a tea stall scene — a wall-mounted chalk slate shows Reena's weekly tea and samosa numbers with Tuesday struck through; Reena is chalking on it; a woman with a tea strainer is approaching from the left and a man with a wooden menu board is approaching from the right.

Analytics

Slicer and Filter Walk Into a Tea Stall

Reena is preparing her slate for her cousin's visit. Some numbers should never be seen, some should be flipped through — and the difference is the difference between a filter and a slicer.

30 Apr 2026 Rani C 6 min read

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