Microsoft Power BI - The Practical Guide

Explore Power BI Desktop basics by reviewing the desktop workflow, interface, and organization of common functions, then create an empty project with recommended settings and adjust convenience features.

Explore data preparation in Power BI Desktop by converting the first row into headers, removing top rows, and applying various row operations to shape clean, query-ready tables.

Apply filters in Power BI desktop using per-column menus to sort, filter by country, and refine results with search. Note that filtering hides rows and cautious searches prevent data loss.

Learn to use choose columns and remove columns in Power BI desktop to keep only relevant data, then rename columns for consistent, analysis-ready data.

Fix sorting in Power BI using filter options and the home ribbon. Restore the initial order when age group text blocks numerical sorting, including ascending sorts.

Organize your Power BI project by creating a source group, dragging and dropping queries into it, then rearrange column order with the transform ribbon and undo as needed.

Master the query editor basics: connect to CSV and Excel sources, perform row and column operations, use filters, append tables, and create a clean, combined table in Power BI Desktop.

Explore how to transform raw data into a structured data model in Power BI, covering data warehouse concepts, multidimensional schemas, and separating product, customer, and sales data.

Construct the dim age table by restoring the age group range, creating a max column and a conditional category, then add a unique age group ID with Power BI.

Learn to derive maximum values per age group in Power BI by duplicating a column, removing duplicates, and extracting after the dash delimiter to get the max.

Create a dim-gender table in Power BI by duplicating the population table, keeping only gender, removing duplicates, and adding an index as gender-id for two rows and two columns.

Explore the Power BI star schema by building the fact-population table containing year and population count, linked to dimension tables via country-id, age-id, and gender-id, enabling year-by-age visuals.

Create the fact population as the central fact table for the star schema, duplicating the base query and merging country, age, and gender IDs from the dim tables.

Move from the query editor to the data model in Power BI Desktop to analyze prepared data in the data and model views. Explore relationships between fact and dim tables and apply calculations in the data model or query editor for later visuals.

Create a stacked column chart in Power BI using the FACT-population and DIM-age tables. Then establish a relationship by linking age-id, and manage relationships to explore cardinality and cross-filter direction.

Explore cardinality and relationship types in Power BI, including one-to-many, many-to-one, many-to-many, and one-to-one, and learn about active properties and cross-filter direction.

Explore one to many and many to one relationships using the companies and employees tables. See how primary keys in companies relate to foreign keys in employees.

Use the M-language in the query editor to cleanse and transform data before loading to the data model, and apply DAX for insights in visuals.

Explore the core dax syntax by building a formula with a name, an equals sign, a sum function, and a table reference with a column reference in square brackets.

Explore DAX core functions across text, information, logical, mathematical, statistical, filter, and calendar and date and time functions with practical examples like concatenate, isnumber, if, round, and average on Fact-Pop.

Learn to use dot notation in dax to access date parts from a calendar table, enable time intelligence, and create a new column with quarter values.

Explore DAX basics by adding and dividing column values to compute total revenue and profit margin, and learn to handle divide by zero with the DIV function.

Explore the if function in Power BI DAX to classify profit margins as good day, average day, or bad day, using three arguments and nested conditions.

Create and use measures in measures in Power BI by dividing female-population by total-population, applying a 2020 year filter with calculate and filter, and formatting as a percentage.

Learn to customize chart colors in Power BI by adjusting line and column colors, applying hex or RGB values, and using conditional formatting with gradients to reflect data like population.

Learn to customize Power BI visuals by configuring the legend, axis options (range, type), grid lines, font and color, and zoom, then apply formats across visuals with the format painter.

Learn to create and apply report themes in Power BI, customize page background and filter pane, and save or import custom themes to apply consistently across all report pages.

Create and configure a table visual in Power BI Desktop by adding region, age category, and population, use slicers to filter data, and adjust formatting and interactions.

Explore creating single-value card visuals and multi-row cards in Power BI, and use year filters and slicers to control displayed data across countries.

Add a divider and place a second visual on the right. Configure the secondary y-axis to show the female population share as a percentage and adjust its range.

Learn to create a combined line and column visual in Power BI Desktop using the line and cluster column chart, with a year axis, population columns, and female share line.

Import custom visuals into Power BI Desktop via Get more visuals or from a file, signing in to download visuals not provided by Microsoft.

Apply finishing touches to a Power BI report by tailoring visuals, adjusting axis titles and legends, and applying a consistent look across charts with the format painter.

Power BI Pro is a cloud service priced around $10 per user per month, with 10 GB per user storage; course compares Pro to premium plans and shows setup options.

Navigate the Power BI Pro interface, including the left navigation pane, settings, and storage, then learn to create reports, manage datasets in your workspace, and share via apps.

Explore gateways as the link between source files and Power BI Pro, detailing the personal gateway for local data and the standard gateway for server data to enable data refresh.

Learn how to install and configure the personal mode gateway for Power BI, sign in, manage data sources, and set up manual and daily scheduled refreshes.

Explore collaboration workspaces in Power BI and understand how other company-wide workspaces enable sharing of datasets, reports, and dashboards.

Discover how to use the collaboration workspace to manage data sets, reports, and dashboards, and share tailor-made content as apps that replace content packs.

Delete a collaboration workspace by going to the workspaces menu, hovering the target, opening the three-dot menu, and confirming delete workspace in workspace settings, which removes data and ends collaboration.

Explore Power BI Pro workspaces and apps, including my workspace for individuals and collaboration workspaces for teams, and learn how apps share projects with end users across browser and mobile.

Install Power BI mobile from the App Store or Google Play, sign in with your credentials, and navigate workspaces, reports, dashboards, filters, and sharing features.

Power BI Pro enables cloud collaboration and publishing from desktop to My workspace or collaboration workspaces, while Power BI Desktop handles data preparation, cleansing, and modeling, with mobile access.

Stay up to date with monthly Power BI updates via the official blog and community, download the latest Power BI Desktop, and explore ideas on ideas.powerbi.com.

Explore how to access and evaluate Power BI preview features through the global options menu, enabling you to test upcoming updates and stay up to date.