Introduction
Completed100 XP
1 minute
Microsoft Power BI is a complete reporting solution that offers data
preparation, data visualization, distribution, and management through
development tools and an online platform.
Power BI can scale from simple reports using a single data source to reports
requiring complex data modeling and consistent themes. Use Power BI to
create visually stunning, interactive reports to serve as the analytics and
decision engine behind group projects, divisions, or entire organizations.
Power BI is an essential tool to data analysts and their organization;
however, all data professionals benefit from understanding how Power BI
works to explore and present data insights within organizations.
In order to create reports with Power BI, you must first understand the tools
necessary. There are three primary components to Power BI:
Power BI Desktop (desktop application)
Power BI service (online platform)
Power BI Mobile (cross-platform mobile app)
Power BI Desktop is the development tool available to data analysts and
other report creators. While the Power BI service allows you to organize,
manage, and distribute your reports and other Power BI items. Power BI
Desktop is available to download for free either through the Windows
store or as a direct installer.
You can access the Power BI service at [Link] with a school or
work account. If your organization doesn't already use Power BI, you can still
explore the service by getting a free trial or signing up for a free Microsoft
365 Developer account.
Explore the flow of Power BI
There's a common flow when creating reports with Power BI. First, you start
with Power BI Desktop to connect to data and create the report. Then you
publish the report to the Power BI service and distribute to consumers.
The flow of Power BI is:
1. Connect to data with Power BI Desktop.
2. Transform data with Power Query Editor (comes with Power BI Desktop).
3. Model data with Power BI Desktop.
4. Create visualizations and reports with Power BI Desktop.
5. Publish report to Power BI service.
6. Distribute and manage reports in the Power BI service.
The Power BI service also allows you to create high-level dashboards that
drill down to reports, and apps to easily group related reports to users in a
simple format.
Tip
See additional details about Power BI in the reference documentation.
Next unit: Building blocks of Power BI
Building blocks of Power BI
Completed100 XP
8 minutes
The building blocks of Power BI are semantic models and visualizations.
Create a semantic model and then use visuals to build a report. Let's explore
these items in more detail and how they relate to the flow of Power BI.
Create a semantic model
A semantic model consists of all connected data, transformations,
relationships, and calculations. To follow the flow of Power BI, you first
connect to data, transform data, and create relationships and calculations to
create a semantic model.
First, connect to as many data sources you need. Then clean and transform
the data to your needs, using Power Query Editor. Add relationships between
tables and calculations to extend the semantic model. After all of that, now
you can create a report.
Create visualizations in a report
In Power BI Desktop, when you create a visualization (also called visual),
you add it to the canvas for a report page. Choose your visualizations to
build pages in your report. It's ideal to keep each page simple with related
data, so consumers can easily see the insights.
Power BI is a low-code solution, which means that you can "drag and
drop" data field directly onto the canvas. Power BI will choose a visual for
your data field. You can easily change between visuals for the same fields,
and add or remove data fields to the visual.
One of the most valuable features of Power BI reports is
the interactivity between visuals. Consumers can select different data
points in the visual and see how that affects the other visuals. Depending on
your design, they can also drillthrough from one visual to more detail or filter
based on different fields in the report.
Once you're satisfied with your report, you publish it to the Power BI service.
Create a dashboard
In the Power BI service, you can also create dashboards after you've
published a report. Dashboards consist of a single page made up of tiles.
Add tiles to a dashboard by pinning a visual in a report to the dashboard.
Tiles aren't interactive like visuals, so when a user interacts with the tile,
they go to the underlying report for more information.
Dashboards are an excellent way to provide high-level information to
consumers. Similar to a dashboard in a vehicle, include the most important
information in a dashboard. Then consumers can go to the report for more
details.
To recap, the building blocks of Power BI are semantic models and visuals.
Using Power BI Desktop, you create the semantic model and use visuals to
create reports.
In the Power BI service, you can distribute content to your consumers and
use reports to create dashboards.
Next unit: Tour and use the Power BI service
ation about all refresh schedules, see the Refresh data documentation.
Next unit: Knowledge check