Category: power Bi

Power BI – Visualization Options ”; Previous Next In this chapter, you will learn about the various visualization options in Power BI. Creating Simple Visualizations Visualizations are used to effectively present your data and are the basic building blocks of any Business Intelligence tool. Power BI contains various default data visualization components that include simple bar charts to pie charts to maps, and also complex models such as waterfalls, funnels, gauges, and many other components. In Power BI, you can create visualization in two ways. First is by adding from the right side pane to Report Canvas. By default, it is the table type visualization, which is selected in Power BI. Another way is to drag the fields from right side bar to the axis and value axis under Visualization. You can add multiple fields to each axis as per the requirement. In Power BI, it is also possible to move your visualization on the reporting canvas by clicking and then dragging it. You can also switch between different type of charts and visualizations from the Visualization pane. Power BI attempts to convert your selected fields to the new visual type as closely as possible. Creating Map Visualizations In Power BI, we have two types of map visualization – bubble maps and shape maps. If you want to create a bubble map, select the map option from the visualization pane. To use a bubble map, drag the map from Visualizations to the Report Canvas. To display values, you have to add any location object to the axis. In the value fields, you can see that it accepts values axis such as City and State and or you can also add longitude and latitude values. To change the bubble size, you need to add a field to the value axis. You can also use a filled map in data visualization, just by dragging the filled map to the Report Canvas. Note − If you see a warning symbol on top of your map visualization, it means that you need to add more locations to your map chart. Using Combination Charts In data visualization, it is also required to plot multiple measures in a single chart. Power BI supports various combination chart types to plot measure values. Let us say you want to plot revenue and unit_solds in one chart. Combination charts are the most suitable option for these kind of requirement. One of the most common Combination chart in Power BI is Line and Stacked column charts. Let us say we have a revenue field and we have added a new data source that contains customer-wise unit quantity and we want to plot this in our visualization. Once you add a data source, it will be added to the list of fields on the right side. You can add units to the column axis as shown in the following screenshot. You have other type of combine chart that you can use in Power BI – Line and Clustered Column. Using Tables In Power BI, when you add a dataset to your visualization, it adds a table chart to the Report canvas. You can drag the fields that you want to add to the report. You can also select the checkbox in front of each field to add those to the Report area. With the numerical values in a table, you can see a sum of values at the bottom. You can also perform a sort in the table using an arrow key at the top of the column. To perform ascending/descending sort, just click the arrow mark, and the values in the column will be sorted. The order of the columns in a table is determined by the order in the value bucket on the right side. If you want to change the order, you can delete any column and add the other one. You can also undo summarize or apply different aggregate function on numerical values in the table. To change the aggregation type, click the arrow in the value bucket in front of the measure and you will see a list of formulas that can be used. Another table type in Power BI is the matrix table that provides a lot of features such as auto sizing, column tables, and setting colors, etc. Modify Colors in Charts In Power BI, you can also modify the colors in the chart. When you select any visualization, it has an option to change the color. Following options are available under the Format tab − Legend Data Colors Detail Label Title Background Lock Aspect Border General To open these options, go to the Format tab as shown in the following screenshot. Once you click, you can see all the options available. When you expand the Legend field, you have an option where you want to display the legend. You can select − Position Title Legend Name Color Text Size Font Family Similarly, you have data colors. In case, you want to change the color of any data field, you can use this option. It shows all objects and their corresponding colors in the chart. You also have Analytics feature in the tool, where you can draw lines as per requirement in data visualization. You have the following line types in data visualization − Constant Line Min Line Max Line Average Line Median Line Percentile Line You can opt for a dashed, dotted, or a solid line. You can select Transparency level, color, and position of the line. You can also switch on/off data label for this line. Adding Shapes, Images and Text box Sometimes it is required that you need to add static text, images, or shapes to your visualization. In case you want to add header/footer or any static signatures, messages to data visualization this option can be used. You can also add URLs in the text box and Power BI uses those link to make it live. To add shapes, images and text box, navigate to the

Power BI – Supported Data Sources ”; Previous Next Power BI supports large range of data sources. You can click Get data and it shows you all the available data connections. It allows you to connect to different flat files, SQL database, and Azure cloud or even web platforms such as Facebook, Google Analytics, and Salesforce objects. It also includes ODBC connection to connect to other ODBC data sources, which are not listed. Following are the available data sources in Power BI − Flat Files SQL Database OData Feed Blank Query Azure Cloud platform Online Services Blank Query Other data sources such as Hadoop, Exchange, or Active Directory To get data in Power BI desktop, you need to click the Get data option in the main screen. It shows you the most common data sources first. Then, click the More option to see a full list of available data sources. When you click “More..” tab as shown in the above screenshot, you can see a new navigation window, where on the left side it shows a category of all available data sources. You also have an option to perform a search at the top. Following are the various data sources listed − All Under this category, you can see all the available data sources under Power BI desktop. File When you click File, it shows you all flat file types supported in Power BI desktop. To connect to any file type, select the file type from the list and click Connect. You have to provide the location of the file. Database When you click the Database option, it shows a list of all the database connections that you can connect to. To connect to any database, select a Database type from the list as shown in the above screenshot. Click Connect. You have to pass Server name/ User name and password to connect. You can also connect via a direct SQL query using Advance options. You can also select Connectivity mode- Import or DirectQuery. Note − You can’t combine import and DirectQuery mode in a single report. Import vs DirectQuery DirectQuery option limits the option of data manipulation and the data stays in SQL database. DirectQuery is live and there is no need to schedule refresh as in the Import method. Import method allows to perform data transformation and manipulation. When you publish the data to PBI service, limit is 1GB. It consumes and pushes data into Power BI Azure backend and data can be refreshed up to 8 times a day and a schedule can be set up for data refresh. Advantages of Using DirectQuery Using DirectQuery, you can build data visualizations on large datasets, which is not feasible to import in Power BI desktop. DirectQuery doesn’t apply any 1GB data set limit. With the use of DirectQuery, the report always shows current data. Limitations of Using DirectQuery There is a limitation of 1 million row for returning data while using DirectQuery. You can perform aggregation of more number of rows, however, the result rows should be less than 1 million to return the dataset. In DirectQuery, all tables should come from a single database. When a complex query is used in the Query editor, it throws an error. To run a query, you need to remove the error from the query. In DirectQuery, you can use Relationship filtering only in one direction. It doesn’t support special treatment for time-related data in tables. Azure Using the Azure option, you can connect to the database in Azure cloud. Following screenshot shows the various options available under Azure category. Online Services Power BI also allows you to connect to different online services such as Exchange, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and Facebook. Following screenshots shown the various options available under Online Services. Other Following screenshot shows the various options available under other category. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

DAX Basics in Power BI ”; Previous Next In this chapter, you will learn how to use various DAX functions in Power BI. DAX Introduction DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a formula expression language and can be used in different BI and visualization tools. DAX is also known as function language, where the full code is kept inside a function. DAX programming formula contains two data types: Numeric and Other. Numeric includes – integers, currency and decimals, while Other includes: string and binary object. Following is an example of DAX formula, which uses a function to calculate a column in a table. DAX function can also include other functions, conditional statements, and value references. DAX Functions In Power BI, you can use different function types to analyze data, and create new columns and measures. It includes functions from different categories such as − Aggregate Text Date Logical Counting Information Power BI provides an easy way to see the list of all functions. When you start typing your function in the formula bar, you can see the list of all functions starting with that alphabet. Aggregate Functions DAX has a number of aggregate functions. MIN MAX Average SUM SUMX Counting Functions Other counting functions in DAX include − DISTINCTCOUNT COUNT COUNTA COUNTROWS COUNTBLANK Logical Functions Following are the collection of Logical functions − AND OR NOT IF IFERROR TEXT Functions REPLACE SEARCH UPPER FIXED CONCATENATE DATE Functions DATE HOUR WEEKDAY NOW EOMONTH INFORMATION Functions ISBLANK ISNUMBER ISTEXT ISNONTEXT ISERROR DAX Calculation Types In Power BI, you can create two primary calculations using DAX − Calculated columns Calculated measures When you navigate to the Modeling tab, you can see a New Column option at the top of the screen. This also opens the formula bar where you can enter DAX formula to perform the calculation. DAX – Data Analysis Expression is a powerful language used in Excel to perform calculations. You can also rename the column by changing the Column text in the formula bar. In the following example, we have created a new column: Product Code (Product_C), which is derived from the last 3 characters of Prod_Id column. Following is the formula − Product_C = RIGHT( Sheet1[Prod_Id],3) To create a calculated measure, navigate to New Measure tab under Modeling. This will add a new object under the Fields tab with the name Measure. You can write DAX formula to calculate the value of the new measure, as we did for the new calculated column. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Discuss Power BI ”; Previous Next Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are used by business users to consume data and build BI reports. This tutorial covers all the important concepts in Power BI and provides a foundational understanding on how to use Power BI. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Power BI – Excel Integration ”; Previous Next In this chapter, you will learn how to integrate excel with Power BI. Using Excel Data Using Power BI, you can also import Excel workbook file from the local drive into Power BI. To import data from the excel sheet, you have to ensure that each column has a proper name. To import an Excel file in Power BI, navigate to Get Data → Files → Local Files. Importing xls Files In Power BI Service, navigate to My Workspace → File → Local File. Also note that it is not necessary your Excel file should only be saved on the Local Drive. You can also import an Excel workbook from OneDrive or even from SharePoint. Once the dataset is imported, you are ready to create the reports in Power BI. Imported dataset is available under “DATASETS” option in Power BI menu. Double-click Datasets. Then, navigate to the Explore tab. This will open a new Report Canvas. All the fields from your table and corresponding columns are available under the Fields option on the right side of the screen. To create a report, select any visualization and add the fields from the table to visualization. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Sharing Power BI Dashboards ”; Previous Next In this chapter, you will learn how to share Power BI dashboard for report sharing, printing, publishing, etc. Using Power BI Desktop for Report Sharing Once BI reports are created in Power BI desktop, you can also share the reports with other business users. All BI reports, dashboards, and data can be shared with other colleagues and business users in the organization. You can share reports using the following methods − Publish reports using Power BI Service Content Packs combine dashboard, report, and datasets obtained in BI desktop tool Create Groups and assign specific rights to different users for report sharing Use Power BI mobile apps to access share dashboards and reports Let us see how to publish a BI report using Power BI desktop tool. Once the report is created, navigate to the Publish button on the Home tab in Power BI desktop. Once you select the Publish service, your visuals, custom measures and reports are all packaged and published to Power BI service. Power BI files have an extension .pbix files. When the upload is in process, you get a dialog box that Publishing is in process. Once the upload is complete, you will get a confirmation message announcing the “Success”. You can also view Quick Insights and open the shared report from the dialog box. Printing Power BI Dashboards It is also required sometimes to take printouts of your reports and dashboards. With Power BI, you can take prints of your BI reports and dashboards. To take a Printout of the report, navigate to Power BI service and click the “…” option. It will open a Print dialog box. You can select the Printer on which you want to take the printout of the report. You can also select different Print options such as Portrait/Landscape, Margins, Header or Scale. Export Options In Power BI, you can also use different Export options to export data from BI report. To use the export option, navigate to Power BI service and select the BI report you want to export. When you click the Export to option, it generates a CSV file. In Power BI, you can also export/view a report directly by navigating to File → Print option. Publishing Report to Web In Power BI, it is also possible to publish a BI report to web or share it via email. To publish a report to the web, you have to navigate to Power BI service → My Workspace. Once you open the report that you want to publish, navigate to the File tab → Publish to Web. Once you select this option, it opens a new dialog that creates an embed code for this report to include in the website or email. Option says: Get a link or embed code that you can include on a public website. You may use publish to web functionality to share content on a publicly available website. You may not use this functionality to share content internally, which includes through your email, your internal network, or intranet site. Publish a live version that will remain synchronized with the source report in Power BI. Any changes you make to the report will immediately be reflected in the published public version. When you select – Create Embed code, Power BI prompts that you want to share your data with everyone on the internet. The following message is displayed: You are about to create an embed code for this report. Once published, anyone on the Internet will be able to access the report and the data it contains, and Microsoft may display the report on a public website or a public gallery. Before publishing this report, ensure you have the right to share the data and visualizations publicly. Do not publish confidential or proprietary information, or an individual”s personal data. If in doubt, check your organization”s policies before publishing. Note − You can publish the report as a web page and any user with the link can view it. The link can be sent via email or it can be used as an iframe in a web page. Deleting an Embed Code Let us say, you want to delete an embed code. Navigate to the Gear icon at the top of the screen as shown in the following screenshot. Then go to Manage Embed codes. To remove an embed code click the ellipsis mark (…) in front of the report name and select the Delete option. When you click the Delete option, it will ask you if you want to delete publish to web code. Once you are sure, click Delete. Using Content Pack In Power BI, you can also share dashboard, report, and dataset as a package with your colleagues. To create a content pack, click the Gear box icon in Power BI workspace as shown in the following screenshot. Once you select Create content pack, you will be prompted with a new dialog box. You can choose if you want to distribute this content pack with Specific Groups or My Entire Organization. If you want to share this with specific people, you have to enter email addresses. You can also add a Title and description of the content pack as shown in the following screenshot. At the bottom of the page, you have an option to select the components you want to publish. You can select from the following − Dashboards Reports Datasets Editing Content Pack When a content pack is created, you can also go back and edit the shared objects of the content pack. Whenever you update any dashboard, BI report, you are prompted if you want to update the shared content. Click the Gear box icon under My Workspace → View Content Pack. If you see a small icon in front of the name of the content pack, it shows that the content pack is updated. When you select the edit button, you will reach the home screen, where you

Power BI – Useful Resources ”; Previous Next The following resources contain additional information on Power BI. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this topic. Useful Video Courses Power BI Online Training Course Best Seller 41 Lectures 4 hours Tutorialspoint More Detail Mastering DAX And Data Models In Power BI Desktop 54 Lectures 5.5 hours Abhay Gadiya More Detail Microsoft Power BI Course by Tutorialspoint Best Seller 123 Lectures 7.5 hours Tutorialspoint More Detail Business Intelligence Course With Microsoft Power BI Best Seller 137 Lectures 8.5 hours Pavan Lalwani More Detail Data Science Bootcamp with Power BI and Python Best Seller 52 Lectures 3.5 hours Harshit Srivastava More Detail Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Power BI Tutorial PDF Version Quick Guide Resources Job Search Discussion Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are used by business users to consume data and build BI reports. This tutorial covers all the important concepts in Power BI and provides a foundational understanding on how to use Power BI. Audience This tutorial has been prepared for beginners to help them understand the basic concepts of Power BI. This tutorial will give you enough understanding on Power BI, from where you can take yourself to a higher level of expertise. Prerequisites Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should be familiar with Microsoft Excel, data modeling, and have some knowledge of DAX language. What is Power BI? Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports for business-driven decisions. The Power BI suite provides multiple software, connectors, and services. Power BI apps are available for different platforms. This set of services is used by business users to consume data and build BI reports. What is Business Intelligence? Business Intelligence assists companies in processing and filtering massive amounts of stored data and transforming it into actionable insights. Mining, Data Warehouse, and Data Analytics are the correlated names of Business Intelligence. Exploratory data analysis, dashboards, and predictive modeling are the core methods of business intelligence. Why do we need a Business Intelligence Tool? In today”s digital era, unstructured data is dispersed all around the world. Companies face difficulty in handling and monitoring huge amounts of data, which in turn negatively affects their business strategies and operation management. This is why the companies require powerful BI tools for quick decision-making to increase their sales production, increase the availability of structured data, generate immense reports, handle customers, track employee performance, and enhance operational efficiency. Popular business intelligence tools such as Power BI and Tableau are being used by financial companies and big firms like Deloitte, PwC, and EY to compile data from various sources and present it in an attractive format that can be used for making crucial business decisions and identifying market trends and patterns. What are the Major Components of Power BI? Following are the major components of Power BI − Power Query It is the process of cleansing and transforming data and permits users to access datasets connecting from multiple sources. It is included on the Power BI desktop. Business users may view the data from distinct databases like MySQL, SQL servers, DB2, and many more. Power View It is a data visualization tool that assists users in developing stunning charts, and colorful maps, that turn data into a story. Power Map It is a 3D map visualization tool to identify geospatial data on Map visuals. It seamlessly helps organizations to examine the maximum sales production geographically, visualizing the demographic populations of specific regions. Power Pivot It is a Data Modelling technique that is used to create relationships between datasets. It performs complex computations by utilizing DAX functions. Power Q & A When dealing with giant datasets, it becomes crucial to get to know the in-depth details of the data. Luckily, it is done through natural language where users may ask questions and obtain the answer through Power Q & A. Why Power BI as a Career? Aspirants who are willing to make their career as a Power BI developer, researcher, business analyst, or data analyst should learn the Power BI tool and get certified by attempting the PL 300 exam. They should start from scratch and learn all the core components of Power BI. Anyone who is well versed in Excel can easily learn Power BI. The growing demand for Power BI professionals who can develop interactive dashboards and reports has been increasing continuously. Power BI is widely used in all domains, like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, retail, and more. This allows enthusiastic Power BI learners to grab opportunities in these domains. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Power BI – Quick Guide ”; Previous Next Power BI – Introduction Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are used by business users to consume data and build BI reports. Power BI desktop app is used to create reports, while Power BI Services (Software as a Service – SaaS) is used to publish the reports, and Power BI mobile app is used to view the reports and dashboards. Power BI Desktop is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. To download the latest version, you can use the following link − https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/ Power BI – Installation Steps To check the system requirements, installation files detail, users have to navigate to “Advanced download options”. Following are the system requirements to download Power BI tool − Supported Operating Systems Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft Power BI Desktop requires Internet Explorer 9 or higher Microsoft Power BI Desktop is available for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) platforms Users can select a language in which they want to install Power BI and following files are available for download. This is the link to directly download Power BI files − https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45331 PBIDesktop_x64.msi shows a 64-bit OS file. Select the file you want to install as per OS type and click Next. Save the installation file on the local drive. When you run the installation file, following screen is displayed. Accept the license agreement and follow the instructions on the screen to finish the installation. When Power BI is installed, it launches a welcome screen. This screen is used to launch different options related to get data, enrich the existing data models, create reports as well as publish and share reports. Power BI – Architecture Power BI includes the following components − Power BI Desktop − This is used to create reports and data visualizations on the dataset. Power BI Gateway − You can use Power BI on-premises gateway to keep your data fresh by connecting to your on-premises data sources without the need to move the data. It allows you to query large datasets and benefit from the existing investments. Power BI Mobile Apps − Using Power BI mobile apps, you can stay connected to their data from anywhere. Power BI apps are available for Windows, iOS, and Android platform. Power BI Service − This is a cloud service and is used to publish Power BI reports and data visualizations. Power BI – Supported Data Sources Power BI supports large range of data sources. You can click Get data and it shows you all the available data connections. It allows you to connect to different flat files, SQL database, and Azure cloud or even web platforms such as Facebook, Google Analytics, and Salesforce objects. It also includes ODBC connection to connect to other ODBC data sources, which are not listed. Following are the available data sources in Power BI − Flat Files SQL Database OData Feed Blank Query Azure Cloud platform Online Services Blank Query Other data sources such as Hadoop, Exchange, or Active Directory To get data in Power BI desktop, you need to click the Get data option in the main screen. It shows you the most common data sources first. Then, click the More option to see a full list of available data sources. When you click “More..” tab as shown in the above screenshot, you can see a new navigation window, where on the left side it shows a category of all available data sources. You also have an option to perform a search at the top. Following are the various data sources listed − All Under this category, you can see all the available data sources under Power BI desktop. File When you click File, it shows you all flat file types supported in Power BI desktop. To connect to any file type, select the file type from the list and click Connect. You have to provide the location of the file. Database When you click the Database option, it shows a list of all the database connections that you can connect to. To connect to any database, select a Database type from the list as shown in the above screenshot. Click Connect. You have to pass Server name/ User name and password to connect. You can also connect via a direct SQL query using Advance options. You can also select Connectivity mode- Import or DirectQuery. Note − You can’t combine import and DirectQuery mode in a single report. Import vs DirectQuery DirectQuery option limits the option of data manipulation and the data stays in SQL database. DirectQuery is live and there is no need to schedule refresh as in the Import method. Import method allows to perform data transformation and manipulation. When you publish the data to PBI service, limit is 1GB. It consumes and pushes data into Power BI Azure backend and data can be refreshed up to 8 times a day and a schedule can be set up for data refresh. Advantages of Using DirectQuery Using DirectQuery, you can build data visualizations on large datasets, which is not feasible to import in Power BI desktop. DirectQuery doesn’t apply any 1GB data set limit. With the use of DirectQuery, the report always shows current data. Limitations of Using DirectQuery There is a limitation of 1 million row for returning data while using DirectQuery. You can perform aggregation of more number of rows, however, the result rows should be less than 1 million to return the dataset. In DirectQuery, all tables should come from a single database. When a complex query is used in the Query editor, it throws an error.

Power BI – Introduction ”; Previous Next Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are used by business users to consume data and build BI reports. Power BI desktop app is used to create reports, while Power BI Services (Software as a Service – SaaS) is used to publish the reports, and Power BI mobile app is used to view the reports and dashboards. Power BI Desktop is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. To download the latest version, you can use the following link − https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/ Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;