Power BI Training Course

This workshop is aimed at Data analysts, business analysts, software developers and other business stakeholders who want to create and publish cross-platform Business Intelligence dashboards solutions.

Participants should have some knowledge of Excel, and any experience with an equivalent BI / reporting package would be useful but is not mandatory.

We can customise the training to match your team's experience and needs - with more time and coverage of fundamentals for new starters, for instance.

This Power BI course is available for private / custom delivery for your team - as an in-house face-to-face workshop at your location of choice, or as online instructor-led training via MS Teams (or your own preferred platform).

Get in touch to find out how we can deliver tailored training which focuses on your project requirements and learning goals.

Introduction

• Data visualisation and Big Data: Understanding the importance of visualising large datasets to uncover insights and support data-driven decision-making in modern business environments.

• Why Power BI?: Exploring Power BI's role as a leading Business Intelligence platform, its comprehensive capabilities (data connection, modelling, visualisation, sharing), and advantages in the data analytics landscape.

• Overview of Power BI: Understanding the different components of the Power BI ecosystem: Power BI Desktop (the primary Windows application for report development), Power BI Service (the cloud-based platform for publishing, sharing, and collaboration), and Power BI Mobile (for consuming reports and dashboards on mobile devices).

Tour of Power BI Desktop

• Report Tab: The primary interface within Power BI Desktop for designing interactive reports by arranging visualisations and elements.

  • Canvas: The main workspace area where visualisations are placed, sized, and arranged to build report pages.

  • Filters pane: Applying interactive filters at the visual, page, or entire report level to refine the data displayed.

  • Visualisations pane: Selecting from the gallery of standard and custom chart types and visual elements, and configuring their properties.

  • Fields pane: Accessing all tables and columns loaded into the data model to drag and drop onto the canvas or into visualisation wells.

• Data Tab: Viewing and exploring the raw data loaded into each table of the data model in a grid format.

• Relationships Tab: Visually managing the connections and relationships between different tables in the data model, including setting cardinality and cross-filter direction.

Data Cleansing

• Power Query Editor: Using the dedicated, powerful tool integrated within Power BI Desktop for connecting to various data sources, transforming, and cleaning data before it is loaded into the main data model.

  • Data Structure: Understanding how data is organised in Power Query (tables, columns, rows) and how to inspect data profiles.

  • Transformations: Applying a wide range of steps to shape, clean, and prepare data (e.g., removing/renaming columns, filtering/sorting rows, splitting/merging columns, pivoting/unpivoting, changing data types, handling errors and missing values).

  • Adding Columns: Creating new columns in the data within Power Query Editor using conditional logic, examples, or Power Query's M formula language.

DAX Introduction

• Why DAX?: Understanding the Data Analysis Expressions language as the formula language for creating custom calculations, measures, and calculated columns within the Power BI data model.

• Measures: Creating dynamic calculations (e.g., Sum of Sales, Average Profit, Count of Customers) that aggregate data based on the context of a visualisation or filter.

• Calculated Columns: Creating new columns in existing tables based on calculations evaluated row by row.

• CALCULATE function: Understanding this core function as the key to modifying filter context and performing complex calculations in DAX.

• Time Intelligence: Using specific DAX functions designed for calculations involving dates and time periods (e.g., Year-to-Date totals, Month-over-Month growth, comparisons to previous years).

Data Modelling

• Relationships: Establishing connections between different tables in the data model based on common columns to enable filtering and calculations across tables.

• Hierarchies: Creating logical levels of data (e.g., Year > Quarter > Month > Day, Country > State > City) to allow for drill-down navigation in visualisations.

• Merge vs Append (Join vs Union): Understanding two primary methods in Power Query for combining data from different tables: Merge (combining columns based on matching rows, like a SQL Join) and Append (stacking rows from tables with similar structures, like a SQL Union).

Data Visualisation

• Overview of visualisations available: Exploring the standard set of built-in visual types provided in Power BI Desktop.

• Visualisation marketplace: Discovering, importing, and using custom visualisations available from Microsoft AppSource to extend the range of visual options.

• Key visualisations: Understanding the purpose, best use cases, and basic configuration for commonly used chart types:

  • Bar/Column Chart: Comparing discrete categories or showing changes over time.

  • Line Chart: Primarily used to show trends over time or ordered categories.

  • Scatter Chart: Displaying the relationship between two numerical measures.

  • Pie Chart: Showing proportions of a whole for a limited number of categories (use with caution).

  • Map: Visualising data geographically using location data.

  • Card: Displaying a single, prominent key performance indicator or measure value.

  • Slicer: An interactive filter control that allows users to easily filter data on a report page by selecting values from a list or range.

  • Table/Matrix: Displaying data in a row-column format (Matrix allows hierarchical grouping and subtotals).

• Filters: Applying additional filters to visuals, pages, or reports to narrow down the data displayed.

• Drill Up/Down with Hierarchies: Navigating through different levels of detail within visualisations using defined hierarchies.

• Formatting Visualisations: Customising the appearance of visuals (colours, fonts, titles, labels, tooltips) to improve clarity and aesthetics.

• Applying Analytics: Adding analytical features to visualisations such as trend lines, forecasting, anomaly detection, or utilising AI-driven insights like Key Influencers or Q&A (if covered).

• Insert Image/Shape/Text: Adding static elements to enhance report layout, branding, and readability.

Tour of Power BI Service

• Sharing Reports: Methods for distributing reports and dashboards to colleagues and stakeholders within or outside an organisation (e.g., using Workspaces, Apps, sharing links).

• Scheduled Refresh: Configuring data sources to automatically update the dataset at scheduled intervals without manual intervention (requires a Gateway for on-premises data sources).

• Row-Level Security: Implementing rules in the data model to restrict the data that specific users or groups can see when viewing a report, based on their identity.

Optional topics for custom courses

• We're happy to discuss including coverage of extra topics such as Calculate and Time Intelligence functions, or interacting with other data sources - let us know if you have additional learning goals so we can build a syllabus that meets your needs. (This section indicates flexibility to add more advanced DAX, connect to specific data sources not covered in the core, or include other topics based on client needs).

• Microsoft Power BI Documentation: The official and most comprehensive source for information on all aspects of Power BI Desktop, Service, Mobile, and related tools. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/

• Power BI Blog: Stay up-to-date with the latest features, updates, and announcements for Power BI. https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/

• DAX Guide: A definitive reference for Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) functions, concepts, and patterns. An essential resource for anyone working with DAX. https://dax.guide/

• Power BI Community Forum: Connect with other Power BI users, ask questions, share solutions, and get help from the community and Microsoft experts. https://community.powerbi.com/