PowerPivot Compression: Mysterious Ways

Longtime readers of this blog have seen me tout the benefits of reducing columns in your data, even if that means adding a lot more rows (see also David cover it here).

Well, I recently discovered an exception to that "rule." And that same data set also yielded a VERY dramatic example of the benefits of sorting your data prior to import.

Let's cover one at a time. But first, some perspective.