Enhancing Data Visualization Models in Power BI with DAX

DAX forms the backbone for working on any complex data model for Power BI reporting. So, it is necessary to understand the concepts and the underlying functions inside of DAX. This video also provides an overview to DAX.

   •  Understand DAX i.e. Data Analysis Expressions, with an example

   •  Understand the core concepts of DAX i.e. measures and calculated columns

   •  Get introduced to DAX Studio, which is used for some advance DAX analysis

Once you are thorough with the concepts of DAX and the overview part, it is important to also understand the different data types and operators in DAX, before you begin writing any DAX code.

   •  Learn different data types in DAX, and understand the same in Power BI Desktop Workspace

   •  Understand different DAX operators with the help of an example

   •  Implement DAX operators using a few DAX functions

DAX functions and formulas play a useful role, when writing DAX codes, to implement any kind of reporting logic. So, it is necessary to understand the different types of DAX functions and write DAX formulas.

   •  Understand the basics of DAX formulas

   •  Learn different DAX functions, with the help of definitions

   •  Implement a few of the useful DAX functions, from various categories on the sample sales dataset

Power BI Desktop and Online Service support a wide range of data sources. This video tutorial provides an overview of the supported data sources.

   •  Get an overview of a list of data sources available in Power BI Desktop tool

   •  Understanding various categories of data sources supported in Power BI Desktop tool

   •  Overview of list of data sources available in the Power BI Online Service

There are two modes when dealing with data in Desktop tool, namely, Import and DirectQuery mode. In this video tutorial, we will understand them in detail, along with an example.

   •  Understand loading data or import data mode, along with its features, advantages, and a demo

   •  Understand DirectQuery mode with the help of SQL Server Database

   •  Learn about the various data sources supported for DirectQuery

This video tutorial talks about the combination of import data and DirectQuery mode, namely, the composite model.

   •  Understand composite model in detail

   •  See the composite model working diagram

   •  Implement composite model by importing data from Excel and directly connecting to SQL DB

Data transformation is one of the important steps when working on reports. This video tutorial will give you a brief idea as to why data transformation is needed, and the various ways of achieving the same.

   •  Learn as to why we need data transformation

   •  Explore the various ways to achieve data transformation in Power Query Editor

   •  Demo of data cleansing and transformation on a sample superstore data

This video session talks about the two different approaches to combine data in Power BI Desktop, that is, Append and Merge, which are important when joining or combining data from various sources.

   •  Learn what combining queries means and the two ways to combine, namely, Append and Merge

   •  Understand Append, with the help of an example

   •  Understand Merge, with the help of an example

Power Query functions, also known as M function in Power BI, are used in various use cases to demonstrate the capabilities of data transformation activities, and also to create custom calculations within the Power Query.

   •  Understand the Power Query M formula language with the help of a small example

   •  Get an overview of different categories of M functions

   •  Look at the M query in Advanced Query Editor in Power Query window

Power Query parameters are important in different scenarios like filtering of data, changing database server credentials, removing certain rows or values, and many more. In this tutorial, we will learn how we can use query parameters to filter the rows in a dataset.

   •  Understand Query Parameters and its features

   •  Explore the major drawbacks when working with Query Parameters

   •  Apply Query Parameters to filter out rows, with the help of a sample sales dataset

Renaming tables and columns, so that, it is easily readable by the end user, is the most important aspect, as far as reporting is concerned. This video tutorial describes various ways and methods to rename the table and columns in the Power BI Desktop.

   •  Understand how to rename a column name in the Power BI Desktop

   •  Understand the various ways to rename a table

   •  Apply the ways described to rename a table and column in the Power BI report file, with an example

Hiding unwanted fields or tables is extremely important and useful from a reporting perspective. This video will provide us the importance of hiding the fields or tables.

   •  Explore the importance of hiding the columns or tables, that are not useful for reporting

   •  Demonstration of hiding fields/ columns in the Power BI Desktop

   •  Demonstration of hiding tables in the Power BI Desktop

This video tutorial talks about the different data types available in Power BI, as well as, the various formatting options for a particular field value.

   •  Understand the different data types in Power BI Desktop, and its comparison with report view and query editor

   •  Learn the different formatting options available for different types of fields

   •  Demonstrate the formatting options inside of Power BI Desktop tool

Numerical fields or measures play a vital role, as far as, DAX is concerned. This tutorial will walk you through the concept of measures in detail and show how we can create our own measure.

   •  Understand the numerical fields or measures

   •  Explore different ways to aggregate a numerical field or measure

   •  See the steps for creating your own measure in the Power BI Desktop

This video session walks you through the concept of computed / calculated columns, also sometimes known as derived columns, which is derived from the existing column in the data model using DAX.

   •  Learn what exactly a calculated column is, and how they are stored in your data model

   •  See the difference between a measure and a calculated column, in terms of storage and ways to create

   •  Create calculated column in the Power BI Desktop data model, with the help of a DAX function

Sorting can be quite useful while designing reports which can be a simple alphabetical sort or custom user defined sort. Here, you will learn about different methods to sort your data, with the help of an example.

   •  Explore simple sorting in the Power Bi Desktop, using pre-defined options at the visual level or in the toolbar

   •  Sort a value using some other criteria like another field or user defined way to sort the data

   •  Explore the importance of data categorization and how we can categorize different types of data like URL, geographical, etc.

Hierarchies in Power BI have the ability to drill up and drill down, which can be quite useful while reporting, so as to slice and dice your data as you need. This video will walk you through the steps to create your own hierarchy in Power BI Desktop.

   •  Understand what are the hierarchies in the Power BI

   •  Understand the built in date hierarchy and its use

   •  Create your own custom defined hierarchy

Defining correct relation between tables is quite important, as far as, data modeling is concerned. This video talks about the steps to define relationships between entities, and their properties like cross filter direction and cardinality.

   •  Explore how to create or define relationship using the two methods, namely, autodetect and the manual approach

   •  Understand the cardinalities in Power BI Desktop data model

   •  See the usefulness of cross filter direction in the Power BI, to filter the correct and required data

Referencing other tables plays quite a useful role when creating reports. This video tutorial talks about how we can reference other tables using various DAX functions.

   •  Understand RELATED DAX functions, to refer other tables or a column from another table

   •  Understand LOOKUPVALUE DAX function to return result based on the matching criteria

   •  Understand GROUPBY DAX function for creating a new aggregated table similar to SUMMARIZE

The concept of row context and filter context is necessary to understand as to how data is being filtered or accessed. This video tutorial will walk you through an example of clear understanding between the two.

   •  Understand row context concept with the help of an example

   •  Understand the filter context concept with the help of an example

   •  Demonstrate the row context and filter context in Power BI Desktop

Of all the DAX functions, CALCULATE is one of the most powerful and useful DAX function. So, it is important to understand the same, in detail.

   •  Learn why learn about CALCULATE DAX

   •  Get introduced to CALCULATE DAX

   •  Example of CALCULATE DAX, with the help of a demonstration in Power BI Desktop

From around the 200+ DAX functions, there are a few quite important and widely used DAX functions, that need to be highlighted.

   •  Understand CALENDARAUTO and SELECTEDVALUE, along with example

   •  Understand USERELATIONSHIP and USERNAME with an example

   •  Understand FORMAT with example

Majority of the reporting projects use time related functions in various scenarios. Therefore, it is really important to understand few of them.

   •  Understand DATEADD and LASTDATE, with the help of an example

   •  Understand TOTALYTD, along with an example

   •  Understand SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR, with an example

In Power BI Service, workspace is a place to publish the reports and create dashboards. It is necessary to understand how we can create a new Workspace.

   •  Learn what is the use of a Workspace in the Power BI Online Service

   •  See what are the Workspaces in Power BI

   •  Create a new Workspace in Power BI Online Service

This video tutorials talks about understanding different aspects of Workspace like roles, contact list, licensing, certain limitations, and considerations.

   •  Understand the roles and why are they important

   •  Understand contact list and licensing

   •  Learn a few of the limitations and considerations for a Workspace

Sharing and collaboration with coworkers are an integral part of a report or dashboard creation. Here, we will learn as to how we can share work with internal and external users.

   •  Explore why is it necessary to share reports or dashboards

   •  Provide access, permissions, and reshare options

   •  Share reports or dashboards outside of organization along with some limitations and considerations, while sharing

Apps are another means of collaborating with coworkers in Power BI Online Service. Here, we will understand how apps can be created and published, so that the end user can view reports or dashboards.

   •  Learn what are apps in Power BI Service, and also how to create an app

   •  Publish the app, along with some features

   •  Explore the licensing options, when using apps for the creator and the consumer

Once the app is created and published, it is important to understand how the end user will consume the app to view their data.

   •  See the different ways to install or get new apps

   •  Automatically install app for an end user

   •  Understand how to unpublish an app

Power BI reports cannot only be viewed through Power BI Service, but also, by embedding it into a blog post, website, email, or any other application. Here, we will learn how can we publish Power BI report to a webpage.

   •  Using publish to web from Power BI

   •  Understanding HTML tags to embed the code using iFrame

   •  Few limitations when using publish to web feature

In this video, you will conclude and end the course.

   •  Learn about the summary of each section

   •  Learn about what is next after learning this course