Learn Power BI

Learn how to use Power BI to deliver the insights needed to help your enterprise survive and thrive

Key Features

• Learn simple through to advanced Power BI features in a clear, concise way using real-world examples
• Develop powerful analytical models and reports that extract key business insights
• Publish, share and collaborate on impressive reports, dashboards, apps, and goals

Book Description

To succeed in today’s transforming business world, organizations need business intelligence capabilities to make smarter decisions faster than ever before. This updated second edition of Learn Power BI takes you on a journey of data exploration and discovery, using Microsoft Power BI to ingest, cleanse, and organize data in order to unlock key business insights that can then be shared with others.

This newly revised and expanded edition of Learn Power BI covers all of the latest features and interface changes and takes you through the fundamentals of business intelligence projects, how to deploy, adopt, and govern Power BI within your organization, and how to leverage your knowledge in the marketplace and broader ecosystem that is Power BI. As you progress, you will learn how to ingest, cleanse, and transform your data into stunning visualizations, reports, and dashboards that speak to business decision-makers.

By the end of this Power BI book, you will be fully prepared to be the data analysis hero of your organization – or even start a new career as a business intelligence professional.

What you will learn

• Get up and running quickly with Power BI
• Understand and plan your business intelligence projects
• Connect to and transform data using Power Query
• Create data models optimized for analysis and reporting
• Perform simple and complex DAX calculations to enhance analysis
• Discover business insights and create professional reports
• Collaborate via Power BI dashboards, apps, goals, and scorecards
• Deploy and govern Power BI, including using deployment pipelines

Who this book is for

If you’re an IT manager, data analyst, or BI user new to using Power BI for solving business intelligence problems, this book is for you. You’ll also find this book helpful if you want to migrate from other BI tools to create powerful and interactive dashboards. No experience of working with Power BI is expected.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Business Intelligence and Power BI
2. Planning Projects with Power BI
3. Up and Running with Power BI Desktop
4. Connecting to and Transforming Data
5. Creating Data Models and Calculations
6. Unlocking Insights
7. Creating the Final Report
8. Publishing and Sharing
9. Using Reports in the Power BI Service
10. Understanding Dashboards, Apps, Goals, and Security
11. Refreshing Content
12. Deploying, Governing, and Adopting Power BI
13. Putting Your Knowledge to Use

Review

“Learn Power BI is a must-have book for anyone looking to step into Power BI and for seasoned veterans as there is something new to learn in every read-through. The book is a fantastically paced walkthrough which allows you to go from beginner to advanced at your own pace.”

Leon Gordon, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Director of Analytics at Onyx Data

“Great content that is a comprehensive intersection of in-depth content and easy-to-understand concepts! Highly recommended.”

Reid Havens, Founder, Havens Consulting Inc.

About the Author

Greg Deckler is a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform and an active member of the Columbus Ohio IT community, having founded the Columbus Azure ML and Power BI User Group (CAMLPUG) and presented at many conferences and events throughout the country. An active blogger and community member interested in helping new users of Power BI, Greg actively participates in the Power BI community, having authored over 180 Power BI Quick Measures Gallery submissions and over 5,000 authored solutions to community questions. Greg is Vice President of cloud services at Fusion Alliance, a regional consulting firm, and assists customers in gaining competitive advantage from the cloud and cloud first technologies such as Power BI.