Analyzing your data with Power BI for BI Professionals

Introduction to Power BI

Power BI is a product that covers many things: Power BI in Excel, Power BI Desktop, the Power BI cloud service, ... . In this introduction we set the scene for the rest of the training, introducing the different aspects of Power BI.

• The need for Business Intelligence
• Self-Service BI versus Enterprise BI
• Core concepts of Power BI
• Introducing Power BI Desktop
• Introducing the Power BI Service
• Power BI Service Tiers and Features

Creating Queries using Power BI Desktop

In this chapter, you will learn how to create queries using Power Query in Power BI Desktop to extract, transform, and clean data from source systems such as SQL Server, Oracle, Excel files, CSV files, folders, and others.

• Creating Power Queries and working with Query steps
• Loading data from CSV and Excel files
• Loading data from relational databases
• Loading data from web, folders, SharePoint, ...
• Applying basic transformations
• Query Folding
• Importing data, using Direct Query or using Live Connections
• LAB: Creating Queries using Power BI Desktop

Writing Advanced Queries in Power BI Desktop

Often, your data sources contain data that requires extra processing. You will learn about the more advanced transformations that Power BI offers, such as Pivot, Unpivot, Column By Examples, and more. This chapter will also cover combining data from multiple queries into a single query. In the second part, you will learn about query parameters, how to write query functions, and how to manage data source credentials.

• Advanced Transformations in Power Query
• Appending and Merging Queries
• Working with Query Parameters
• Defining and using Query Functions
• Managing Data Source Security
• LAB: Writing Advanced Queries in Power BI Desktop

Building a Data Model

Participants learn why and how to create a data model, including data sorting, data types and formatting, hiding tables and columns, creating hierarchies, and more. We will also have a look at the storage of data in import mode, including the techniques that are used for compression. We will see DAX Studio as a tool to analyze and reduce storage costs.

• The need for a Data Model
• Authoring Data Models in Power BI Desktop
• Column Data Types and Formatting
• Sorting Columns
• Data Categorization
• Creating Hierarchies inside tables
• Data model storage in import mode
• Analyzing storage costs using DAX Studio
• LAB: Building and enhancing a Data Model

Relationships

Participants will learn about the different types of relationships available in Power BI, including 1:N, 1:1 and N:M relationships. We will see the limitations of relationships, including the fact that there can only be one active relationship between two tables and how to overcome this limitation. Finally, we will discuss the concept of filter direction, and have a look at single- and cross filter directions.

• Cardinality of Relationships
• Relationship Limitations
• Role-playing Dimensions
• The Cross-Filter direction of Relationships
• LAB: Working with Relationships

Data Model Storage Modes

We will have a look at the different storage modes of a Power BI data model (Import, DirectQuery, Dual and Live). We will discuss a solution for the problem that in this era of big data, we often face data sources that are too big to be imported and too slow to be directly queried. The solution for this dilemma is a combination of Import and Direct Query, called aggregation tables.

• Import Mode
• DirectQuery Mode
• Dual Mode
• Live Connection
• Aggregation Tables
• LAB: Working with Storage Modes

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is the formula language used in the Power BI Data Model, Excel Power Pivot Data Models, and in Analysis Services Tabular. Among other things, it's used to create calculated columns, measures and tables. In this chapter, we will introduce the basic concepts of DAX. If students are interested in a deeper dive into this language, we refer them to the three-day course Mastering DAX

• DAX introduction
• Creating Calculated Columns
• Creating Tables
• Creating Measures
• CALCULATE-Function
• Time-Intelligence Functions
• LAB: Introduction to DAX

Designing Reports in Power BI Desktop

After the model has been fine-tuned we can use this to create our reports. Power BI allows you to create very impressive reports, and in this module you will explore many visualizations, as well as the interaction between these visualizations.

• Overview of the Report Canvas
• Adding Text Boxes, Shapes and Images
• Using built-in Visualizations
• Custom Theming
• Printing a Power BI Report
• Power BI Templates
• LAB - Designing Reports in Power BI Desktop

Enhancing Reports in Power BI Desktop

Sometimes a static report just isn't enough. In this module you'll learn how to make interactive reports which are easy to use for any type of end user. Take your reports to the next level!

• Slicers and Filters
• Drill through Pages
• Custom Tooltips
• Bookmarks
• Visual Hierarchies and Drill-down Behaviour
• Grouping and Binning
• Dynamic Behaviour with Parameters
• Custom Visuals
• Report Mobile Design
• LAB - Enhancing Reports in Power BI Desktop

Introduction to the Power BI Service

If you want to share models and reports with you co-workers, you should upload them to the Power BI service. In this module you will learn about the general features of the Power BI service, the next modules dive into the details.

• Power BI Service Overview
• Power BI Service Tiers and Features
• Working with Datasets and Reports
• Creating and using Workspaces
• LAB - Introduction to the Power BI Service

Creating Datasets and Reports in Power BI Service

For some types of reporting you do not want to go through the hassle of creating a dataset in Power BI Desktop. That's why for a limited set of data sources we can start using them directly from the Power BI service without the need to first create an offline model. In this module you'll learn how to create these models directly in the Power BI Service.

• Creating Datasets in the Power BI Service
• Connecting to Datasets in Power BI Desktop
• Dataset Configuration and Permissions
• Creating Reports in the Power BI Service
• Configuring and Exporting Reports
• LAB - Creating Datasets and Reports in Power BI Service

Creating Dashboards and Analyzing Data with Power BI Service

Dashboards enable you to integrate visuals from various reports onto a single page for swift access. This module instructs you on constructing and customizing these dashboards within the Power BI Service. You will also learn how to connect datasets in Excel Pivot Tables and keep track of important KPIs using Scorecards.

• Creating & Configuring Dashboards
• Working with Power BI Q&A
• Analyze Datasets in Excel
• Metrics and Scorecards for KPI tracking
• LAB - Creating Dashboards

Sharing Content in the Power BI Service

Power BI has different mechanisms to share content with other users: Sometimes you want to share in order to develop something together, or you want others to customize something, or maybe you want others to have read-only permissions on the shared object. In this module you'll learn how to accomplish this with the different sharing options in the Power BI Service.

• Sharing Reports and Dashboards with internal and external users
• Sharing content inside a Workspace
• Creating & Consuming Power BI Apps
• Publishing Reports to the web
• Subscribing to Report updates
• Embedding a report in SharePoint Online or Microsoft Teams
• Report Usage Metrics
• LAB - Sharing Content in the Power BI Service

Managing Data Refresh in Power BI

Data models that are uploaded to the Power BI Service need to have their data refreshed from time to time. This module shows the different options to configure the data refresh, for cloud data as well as data which runs on-premises.

• Scheduling Dataset Refreshes
• Online vs. on-prem Data Sources
• The need for a Data Gateway
• Configuring a Data Gateway
• Incremental Refresh

Securing a Data Model

Security roles can be defined in Power BI Desktop. In the Power BI service, we can enforce row level security by assigning (groups of) people to the different security roles. We will see how to set up Row Level Security in Power BI Desktop, including Dynamic Row Level Security, and how to enforce it in the Power BI Service.

• Enhancing a Data Model with Row Level Security
• Configuring Row Level Security
• Implementing Dynamic Security
• Security and Relationships