Microsoft Power BI Essential
1. Power BI Overview & Setup (1.5 hrs)
- What is Power BI? Ecosystem: Desktop, Service, Mobile
- Import vs DirectQuery vs Live Connection
- Installing Power BI Desktop & exploring the interface
- Understanding PBIX file structure and basic workflow
- Hands-on: Explore Power BI Desktop and create a blank PBIX
2. Connecting & Preparing Data (3 hrs)
- Connecting to Excel, CSV, and SQL Server
- Navigating Power Query Editor
- Data cleaning: split, merge, replace, filter
- Change data types, format columns
- Hands-on: Clean sample sales data using Power Query
3. Data Modeling & Relationships (2.5 hrs)
- Understanding tables, relationships, and star schema
- Building relationships between tables
- Adding calculated columns and basic measures
- Building a proper date table
- Hands-on: Create a data model from multiple tables
4. Visualizations & Report Design (3 hrs)
- Choosing the right chart for the right data
- Creating visuals: bar, line, map, matrix, donut, slicers
- Adding interactivity with filters and drillthrough
- Formatting visuals for readability and impact
- Hands-on: Design an interactive multi-page report
5. DAX & Measures (2.5 hrs)
- Introduction to DAX: what, where, and why
- Writing simple measures: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, IF, SWITCH
- Understanding filter and row context
- Best practices for writing efficient DAX
- Hands-on: Build KPIs and measures using DAX
6. Publishing & Collaboration in Power BI Service (2 hrs)
- Publishing reports from Desktop to Service
- Managing dashboards, workspaces, and datasets
- Data refresh schedules
- Viewing and interacting via mobile
- Hands-on: Publish and share a dashboard
Capstone Activity:
- Clean, model, analyze, and visualize sales data
- Use DAX to create key metrics
- Publish the final dashboard to Power BI Service
- Present and explain key insights
Learning Outcomes
- Connecting to Data
- Modelling Data
- Creating Visuals
- Generating DAX KPIs
- Publishing Reports
Frequently Asked Questions
Learning Power Query allows you to clean, transform, and shape your data before building visuals in Power BI. It helps automate data preparation, saving time and ensuring accuracy in reports.
DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) are powerful formulas used to create custom calculations and measures in Power BI. They help you analyze data more deeply, build KPIs, and create dynamic reports with advanced logic and filtering.
Dashboards turn raw data into visual stories by highlighting key insights through charts, graphs, and KPIs. They help you communicate trends, patterns, and performance clearly, making it easier for decision-makers to understand and act on the data.