List of Power BI DAX Function

with Example
What is DAX

DAX is the abbreviated form of Data Analytics Expressions. It means that it is a type of formulae
or expressions that are used for the analysis and calculations of data. The combination or collection
of different expressions such as constants, operators, and functions form a formula to give results or
output. To check the list of examples check Power BI DAX functions with examples pdf.

Need of DAX in Power BI

In Power BI, we can read data from the database. The table can also be merged in Power BI. It is
seen that the data from columns are readily available for plotting but it is not possible that the data
will always be available in the same way.

Suppose we want to improve our dashboard and for that, we need to change or modify our data.
Examples help in understanding the topic clearly check Power BI DAX functions with examples pdf.
Consider a situation that in Power BI the modifications that we require are not readily available. It is
simple we will have to perform some modifications to the available data. Thus, to help perform this
kind of modification on the data Power BI DAX function comes into the picture.

Power BI DAX function helps in finding more detailed information from raw data. Long things cut
short is Data Manipulation is done with the help of DAX. Analysts can come up with fresh insights
by discovering new ways of data calculation with the help of DAX. A smart and intelligent approach
is provided to the data analysis in Power BI by using DAX.

Key points about DAX

 A DAX function that can be executed may contain value references, nested functions,
conditional statements, etc. The complete code of DAX will always be a function.
 Numeric and Non-Numeric or others are the two primary data types in DAX formulae.
Currency, decimals, integers, etc. come under a numeric data type. Whereas, binary objects
and strings come under non-numeric data type.
 The procedure of evaluating a DAX function is that the evaluation starts from inside to
outside. This makes the DAX formulating important.

New Skills for New Jobs: Microsoft Power Query Course

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Mixed datatype values can be used as inputs to the Power BI DAX formula, conversion of theses
values takes place at the time of execution automatically.  To understand the conversion of DAX
formula goes to Power BI DAX functions with examples pdf.  The output of the DAX formula will
be in the datatype you instructed.

Getting started with Power BI DAX

To understand the usage and importance of DAX in detail and how exactly it is helpful in Power BI,
let us take an example to understand it fully.

Let us assume that we want to make a visual in Power BI that will analyze the percentage of growth
across all states in a country or want to compare growth/sales yearly. For this kind of calculation, the
data is not sufficient that are imported in data tables. We have to perform some operations on the data
to make it in a usable form. This work is done by using the Power BI DAX function. Still, confused
about creating the first Power BI Dashboard? Refer the steps once again.

Syntax of Power BI DAX Formula

Any language can be learned in the best way by understanding its elements after splitting them. Thus,
before studying any language we study its syntax first. The following is the DAX formula. Let us
understand its syntax through its elements.

Power BI DAX Syntax

1. TotalSales defines the name of the new measure.

2. = (equals to sign) is an operator equating two sides and starting of DAX formula.

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 3. SUM is the DAX function.
4. Parenthesis() is used to define arguments and enclose it in the service. Every formula should
have at least one argument compulsorily. Sheet1 is the name of the table. [Gross Sales Amt]
is the name of the field. The function will apply itself in the areas of the table name
mentioned. To understand the syntax more clearly read the Power BI DAX functions with
examples pdf.

Thus, this Power BI DAX formula finds the sum of the product of Gross sales Amount of three
years of total sales data.

Note: D is used to represent that this formula is DAX related formula for our understanding.

Calculation Types of DAX

Formulas in DAX can also be called calculations because ultimately, they are performing
calculations to give a resultant value that can be used. Calculated Columns and Calculated
Measures are the two calculations that are mainly performed via DAX in Power BI.

Calculated Columns

A new column is created in the existing table by Calculated Columns. At least one function is there
in the calculated column rather than the regular one. Whenever you want a column with sorted or
filtered information, these calculated columns are used.

Steps to create a Calculated Column:

 Step 1: Click on the Modelling tab in Power BI and select New Option.

 Step 2: A formula bar will open. In that, you can replace the Column word in it by the name
of your column.
 Step 3: Enter the equation to the right-hand side of the equals to sign.

Calculate Measures

Calculated measures will create a field having aggregated values such as averages, percentages,
ratios, sum, etc.

Steps to create a Calculated Measures:

 Step 1: Click on the Modelling tab in Power BI and select the New Measure tab.
 Step 2: A formula bar will open. In that, you can replace the Measure word in it by the name
you want.
 Step 3: The expression which needs to be calculated can be entered on the right side of the
equals to sign.

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  Step 4: The measure name can be modified by the calculator icon (?) next to it.

Power BI DAX Functions

Calculations performed on the values provide in the arguments are by DAX functions. The
arguments in the function should be in a particular order. The cases can be a logical value such as
true or false, another formula or function, constants, texts, numbers or reference of the column. The
functions perform a particular operation on the enclosed values in arguments. to find more examples
refer Power BI DAX functions with examples pdf. DAX formula allows the use of more than one
case.

Important Features of DAX functions

To understand DAX functions better, one should know these features.

 DAX function will never refer to individual values; it will refer to a whole column or field
or table. To apply DAX function on personal costs, filters need to be involved in the
formula.
 Time intelligent features are used to calculate date/time ranges. Such categories of functions
re-included in DAX functions.
 One can create its method which can be applied in row by row basis in DAX functions. The
context of the values decides the application of equations or applications in each row.
Understand DAX functions more clearly with Power BI DAX functions with examples pdf.
 Sometimes DAX formulas need all the values from the full table which is returned by DAX
functions, but you are not able to display the contents of this table.

Types of Power BI DAX functions

The following will be the DAX Power BI formula list.

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Time Intelligent Functions

If we need to find out values over a fixed period like years, quarters, months, weeks, days, etc. are
called time intelligent DAX functions. You can determine the period by these functions and compare
the scenarios in the report. List of Power BI DAX functions as follows:

 NEXTMONTH
 NEXTDAY
 LASTNONBLANK
 NEXTQUARTER
 LASTDATE
 FIRSTNONBLANK
 FIRSTDATE
 ENDOFYEAR
 ENDOFQUARTER
 ENDOFMONTH

Date and Time Functions

The calculations to be carried out on date and time values are called date and time DAX functions.
These functions always possess Date Time datatype. List of DAX functions as follows:

 YEARFRAC
 YEAR
 WEEKNUM
 WEEKDAY
 TODAY

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Logical Functions

The expression that can be evaluated logically and return only one value of either true or false and
are base on the conditions are met or not are called logical DAX functions. List of DAX functions as
follows:

 TRUE
 SWITCH
 OR
 NOT
 IN
 IFERROR
 IF
 FALSE
 AND

Information Functions

These functions provide information about the values in rows and columns and are called
Information DAX functions. It returns the value of TRUE or FALSE after evaluating a given
condition. If the evaluated situation comes out to be an error, then ISERROR returns TRUE. List of
DAX functions as follows:

 USERNAME
 LOOKUPVALUE
 ISTEXT
 ISONORAFTER
 ISODD

Statistical Functions

The functions which carry aggregation and statistical operations on data values are called as
Statistical DAX Functions. List of DAX functions as follows:

 MINX
 MINA
 MIN
 MEDIANX
 MEDIAN

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Mathematical and Trigonometric Functions

The functions which carry out mathematical calculations on the values are known as Mathematical
and Trigonometric DAX functions. List of DAX functions as follows:

 FLOOR
 FACT
 EXP
 EVEN
 DIVIDE

Parent-Child Functions

The data values that are the part of parent and child hierarchy are called as parent-child DAX
functions. List of DAX functions as follows:

 PATHLENGTH
 PATHITEMREVERSE
 PATHITEM
 PATHCONTAINS
 PATH

Text Functions

String functions in excel matches to the text DAX functions in Power BI. List of DAX functions as
follows:

 VALUE
 UPPER
 UNICHAR
 TRIM
 SUBSTITUTE
 SEARCH

Table Functions

The functions that apply conditions and operations on the entire table are known as Table Functions
in DAX formula. The input in other arguments or expressions comes from the output of table
functions used in a DAX formula. The relationship between that table is retained due to the results of
these functions. List of DAX functions as follows:

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  RELATEDTABLE
 DISTINCT
 VALUES
 FILTER

Other Functions

How to Create a Power BI Dashboard from a Report. List of DAX functions as Follows:

 VAR
 UNION
 TREATAS
 Table Constructor
 SUMMARIZECOLUMNS
 EXCEPT
 ERROR

DAX Context

Complete the understanding of the DAX language, and it is necessary to know the concept of DAX
Context. It will also help in understanding how DAX works in Power BI. Filter context and Row
context are the two types of DAX Context in Power BI.

Filter Context:

If we want to focus on specific values within a row or wish to apply filters on particular benefits from
a row, rather than choosing the entire row, the filter context comes in use. Thus, row context, along
with filter context, is used when we want to focus on applying the calculations to the specific values
of a table. When functions such as ALL, CALCULATE, RELATED, FILTER, ETC. is applied to the
values filter context is to be used.

Row Context:

In the row context, we apply a filter to a specific row in a table to carry out DAX calculations. This
row context applies the formula for the count on a current row. It is mainly used to measure rows.

Power BI is one of the fast-growing business analytics services from Microsoft. This self-
service business intelligence tool is a new flash in the data-driven industry. It simplified the
workaround of getting data from multiple sources and collating them into one tool for proper
management.

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Many top organizations today rely on Power BI to get better business insights. Also,
Microsoft Power BI has made its place in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant as a leading analytics
and business intelligence platform for the fourteenth consecutive year. As far as the scope
is concerned, Power BI will continue to be a top player in the coming years. If you like to
work with data, visualizations, discovering insights, etc., then getting a Power BI certification
can help you to stand out in the job market. In order to gain practical experience in Power
BI, check out our Power BI training.

And if you’ve started to prepare for PowerBI roles in the IT industry, make sure you go
through these frequently asked Power BI Interview Questions and Answers. These are
compiled by our trainers from basic to advanced levels to help you get started with Power BI
easily. If you want to enhance your Power BI basics, you can take a look at this Power BI
Tutorial blog.

In our Power BI interview questions and answers blog, we have gathered interview
questions from various MNCs around the globe and curated the best and frequently asked
questions with answers. Power BI Interview questions of Wipro, Deloitte, Mindtree,
Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS, Amazon are covered in the blog.

So, here are the top Power BI Questions that you might face in a Power BI job interview:

Types of Power BI Interview Questions

 Power BI Interview Questions - Beginner Level

 Power BI Interview Questions - Intermediate Level

 Power BI Interview Questions for Experienced Professionals

 Frequently Asked Power BI interview questions

Top 10 Power BI Interview Questions

1. What are the major components of Power BI?

2. What are the Unique features of Power BI over other BI tools?

3. What is DAX in Microsoft Power BI?

4. What is a Power map?

5. What type of data sources can you connect to the Power BI tool?

6. What is Microsoft Power BI desktop?

Page 9 of 82
 7. What is a Power BI query editor? How does it work?

8. What is a Power BI designer?

9. What are the KPIs in Microsoft Power BI?

10. What is Slicer in Business Intelligence?

Power BI Interview Questions - Beginner Level

Let's start with some commonly asked Power BI interview questions and answers for
beginners.

1. What is Power BI? And why is it used for?

Power BI is a Business Analytics solution by Microsoft used to visualize business data from
hundreds of data sources and share insights across your organization. It is a cloud-based
Self-Service BI tool that collects applications, connectors, and software services used to
organize raw data into informative content.

The most prominent uses of Power BI are:

 Allows real-time dashboard updates.

 Prebuilt dashboards and reports for Saas solutions
 Provides a secure and reliable connection to your data in the cloud or on-premises
 Offers hybrid configuration, quick deployment, and a secure environment.
 Explore data using natural language queries.

2. What are the main differences between self-service BI and Managed Enterprise BI?
Managed Enterprise BI Self-Service BI

Here, data flows from many sources, and

Enables companies to ingest data seamlessly
there is no order for companies to ingest and
from any data source.
manage data sources.

There are time constraints and a lack of

proper information when it comes to analyzing Analyzing data is easy. 
data.

Users could generate actionable and intuitive

Complex programming skills are required to
dashboards almost instantaneously without
generate reports.
executing complex programming codes.

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 Companies are unable to run business
With data ingestion falling into order,
operations effectively, as they cannot report
companies can process data and conduct
and analyze data and collaborate valuable
business operations with ease.
insights from it.

3. How does Power BI work?

The primary purpose of Power BI is to scale business growth by putting information together
in a more efficient way. It brings your company data forward in a seamless, comprehensive
interface. Employees and team members come forward in a streamlined fashion with
access to identical information that has been translated into simplified reports, charts,
diagrams, and more. Power BI Works more efficiently by improving your operational
efficiency.

4. In what formats does Power BI available?

 Power BI Desktop: for desktop computers.

 Power BI service: an online SaaS (Software as a Service)
 Mobile Power BI apps: for iOS and Android devices

5. Describe the building blocks of Power BI

The building blocks of Power BI are:

 Visualizations - A visual representation of data like a chart or map.

 Data Sets - A collection of data that Power BI uses to create visualizations.
 Reports - A collection of visualizations that appear together on one or more pages.
 Dashboard - A Power BI dashboard collects visuals from a single page that you can
share with others. Often, it’s a selected group of visuals that provide quick insight
into the data or story that you’re trying to present.
 Tiles - It’s a single visualization on a report or a dashboard. It’s a rectangular box
that holds an individual visual.

6. What are the major components of Power BI? And what do they do?

These are various Power BI components.

 Power Query - Data mash-up and transformation tool.

 Power Pivot - In-memory tabular data-modeling tool.
 Power View - Data visualization tool.
 Power Map - 3D Geo-Spatial data visualization tool.
 Power BI Q&A - Natural Language Question and Answering Engine
 Power BI Desktop - A powerful companion development tool for Power BI.

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7. What is the current version of Power BI?

Power BI Desktop is supported on Windows 8 or newer versions of Windows. Download the

Power BI Desktop version that matches the architecture (x86 or x64) of your Windows OS.

8. Is Power BI free to use?

Power BI is available in two versions: Power BI Free and Power BI Pro.

Users can use Power BI for free. However, the Power BI Pro subscription avails more from
Microsoft Store. The subscription offers an enhanced version of various features available
with the free Power BI account. Most business users use the subscribed account as it
provides more data refreshers per day and other features than the free version.

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Page 12 of 82
FLAT 20% OFF

9. Name some top features of Power BI

 Quick Insights
 Acquiring data
 Real-time information
 Natural language questions
 Content the way you want
 Quick decisions
 View reports on the Go
 Freedom for Integration
 Sharing

10. Differentiate Power BI vs Excel

Parameter Power BI Excel

Power BI is not so handy for Excel is better at handling

Tabular reports
tabular style reports tabular-style reports.

Cannot display duplicated Allows to display duplicated

Duplicate Table
tables  tables

Offers beautiful, Doesn’t offer advanced

Reports personalized, and interactive cross-filtering between
reports  charts.

Offers advanced features in Doesn’t offer advanced

Cross filtering  cross-filtering between cross-filtering between
charts. charts.

Analytics Offers simple analytics Offers high-level analytics

Ideal for dashboards, KPIs,

Excel does have some new
alerts, and visualizations,
Applications  charts now, and they can’t
including analysing your data
connect to the data model.
visually.

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11. Name some important tools of Power BI

 Power BI Desktop  
 Power BI Service
 Power BI Data Gateway
 Power BI Report Server
 Power BI Mobile Apps

12. What are content packs in Power BI? And why would you use one?

In Power BI, content packs are used to share objects, such as reports, dashboards, or
datasets with individuals within your organization. The sharing takes place over the Power
BI website and can be shared with multiple users. No one can change the original content in
the content pack. Also, users have “read-only” access to the Power BI content shared with
them.

13. Explain DAX

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is a collection of operators, functions, and

constants used to calculate formulas and return values. In other words, it helps you create
new info from data you already have.

14. SUM() vs SUMX(): What is the difference between the two DAX functions?

The sum function (Sum()) takes the data columns and aggregates them totally but the
SumX function (SumX()) lets you filter the data which you are adding.
SUMX(Table, Expression), where the table contains the rows for calculation. Expression is
a calculation that will be evaluated on each row of the table.

15. List the benefits of using variables in DAX.

 Improve performance
 Improve readability
 Reduce complexity
 Simplify debugging

16. What is the Power Map?

Power BI is a business intelligence and Analytics tool for non-technical and technical users
to manage, analyze, visualize and share data with others. One of its key features is
visualization - that is, present data and insights using appealing visuals. Among the visuals
available in power BI  are maps. 

17. How to create and use Maps in Power BI?

There are 4 types of core or built-in map visuals:

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  Map (Basic)
 Filled Map
 Shape Map
 ArcGIS Maps

18. Explain the filled map in Power BI?

Power BI utilizes two built-in map charts map and a filled map. A filled map shows data
points with geospatial areas rather than points on a map. Areas can be continent, country,
state, city. Working with a filled map, however, is not as easy and convenient as the map
chart is 

19. What data sources can you connect to Power BI?

The Power BI data sources are extensive, which are divided as follows:

Files: Data can be imported from Power BI Desktop files (.pbix), Excel (.xlsx, xlxm), and
Comma Separated Value (.csv).

Content Packs: It refers to the collection of related files or documents that are stored as a
group. There are two types of content packs in Power BI: those from service providers
including Google Analytics, Salesforce, or Marketo, and those created and shared by other
users in the organization.

Connectors: To connect databases and other datasets, including Database, Azure SQL,
and SQL Server Analysis Services tabular data, etc.

20. Explain about Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is a free desktop application that can be installed on your computer. It
cohesively works with the Power BI service by providing advanced data modeling, shaping,
exploration, and creating reports with highly interactive visualizations. It enables users to
save the work to a file or publish their reports and data right to your Power BI site to share
with others.

Below are the distinct Excel BI add-ons.

 Power Query to find, edit and load external data

 Power View for designing interactive and visual reports
 PowerPivot to analyze data modeling
 Power Map for displaying insights in 3D Map

21. What is the use of the “Get Data” icon in Power BI?

When users in Power BI click on the icon “Get Data”, a drop-down menu displays all data
sources from which data can be ingested. Data can directly get ingests from sources such

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as Excel, XML, PDF, JSON, CSV, and SharePoint folder databases and formats such as
SQL, SQL Server Analysis Services, IBM, Access, Oracle, MySQL, and much more.

22. How to perform query tasks in Power BI Desktop?

Power Query is available in Power BI Desktop through the power query editor. To open the
power query editor, select Edit Queries from the Power BI Desktop home tab.
The ribbon in Power Query Editor consists of five tabs - home, transform, add column, view,
and help. 

23. Can we store data in Power BI? If so, where does it get stored?

Power BI stores data in a few different locations. All the data stays secure through
measures such as encryption and password protection. It mainly depends on the channel
that you used to import the data. Data is stored in a few places, but it all boils down to one
of the main two locations: the cloud and your desktop.

24. How do you create a group in Power BI?

To perform grouping in power bi, please select the fields you want to group, and right-click
on it will open the context menu. Please select the Group option from the menu.

Once you click on the group option, Power BI will automatically group those items, as
shown below. That's it; we did the grouping. If you observe closely, the legend section is
replaced by group, and colour is placed in the details section.

25. Name some of the popular types of filters available in Power BI?

26. Explain what M language is in Power BI?

M is a query formula language used in Power BI Query Editor to prepare data before
loading in the Power BI model. 
Power Query works with Excel, Analysis Services, and Power BI workbooks. Its core
functionality is to filter and combine, i.e., to mash up data from one or more rich collections
of supported data sources. Any such data mashup is expressed using Power Query M
Formula Language.

27. Can you explain a few ways of how a Power Query can transform the data?

Power Query is available through getting & Transform in Excel 2016 or Power Pivot. 

28. Which data sets can be used to create dashboards with streaming data tiles?

 Streaming datasets
 Hybrid Datasets

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29. What are the different views that Power BI Desktop contains?

 Report View
 Data View
 Relationship View

30. What do you know about Row Level Security? And how do you implement it?

Row-level security restricts the data that users view and access based on filters. To
configure row-level security, users can define rules and roles within Power BI Desktop and
publish them to Power BI Service. Also, the username() function can restrict data in the
table to the current user.
However, to enable row-level security, a Power BI Pro subscription account is essential,
and Excel sheets can be used when converted to the .pbix file format.

Following are the ways to implement Row Level Security in Power BI:

 Define roles and rules in Power BI Desktop

 Validate the roles within Power BI Desktop
 Manage security on your model
 Validating the role within the Power BI service

31. Explain about Bidirectional Cross-Filtering in Power BI?

One of the most important features of Power BI is  Bidirectional cross-filtering. This feature
allows you to apply filters on both sides of a table relationship, using right-to-left and left-to-
right options for their calculations. Through this, modelers can know how exactly particular
relationships can work in multiple contexts.

32. How to create and manage relationships in Power BI Desktop?

As the name suggests, relationships in Power BI are used to define connections or the
relation between two or more tables. To perform analysis on multiple tables, relationships
are used.

To create and manage relationships in Power BI Desktop:

 On the Home tab, select Manage Relationships > New.

 In the Create relationship dialog box, in the first table drop-down list, select a table.
Select the column you want to use in the relationship.
 In the second table drop-down list, select the other table you want in the relationship.
Select the other column you want to use, and then choose OK.

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33. Explain Power BI Query Editor

Power BI Query Editor is used to transform or edit data files before they are loaded. The
Query Editor plays the role of an intermediate data container where you can transform data
by selecting rows and columns, splitting rows and columns, pivoting and unpivoting
columns, etc.
The modifications done by the Query Editor are not reflected in the actual datasheet.

34. Describe Power BI Designer

Power BI is a stand-alone application to make Power BI reports and upload them to

Powerbi.com; it does not require excel. It is the combination of Power Pivot, Power View,
and Power Query.

35. What are the different types of gateways available in Power BI? Why would you use
them?

The Gateway acts as an extension between azure cloud administration and on-premise
data sources. There are three major types of Gateways listed as follows:

On-premises data gateway

Allows multiple users to connect to various on-premises data sources. You can use an on-
premises data gateway with all supported services with a single gateway installation. For
complex scenarios, this gateway is best suited.

On-premises data gateway (personal mode)

This data gateway allows one user to connect to sources and can’t be shared with others.
This gateway is best suited to scenarios in which you only create reports and don’t need to
share any data sources with others.

The virtual network data gateway

This data gateway allows multiple users to connect various data sources that are secured
by virtual networks. For complex scenarios in which multiple people access multiple data
sources, this data gateway is highly preferred.

36. Can we create geographic maps using Power BI?

Yes, Power BI can display geographical visualizations. That’s why some kind of location
data is needed.

For example, state, country, or latitude and longitude.

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37.  Explain z-order in Power BI?

Z-order is a design strategy used to arrange visuals over shapes. It can also be defined as
a method applied to implement when reports consist of multiple elements. Moreover, this
can also be used to refresh the display when items in a report are changed.

38. What is the primary requirement for a table to be used in Power BI?

In Power BI, the primary requirement for the table is that it contains unique rows. It must
also contain location data, which can be in a Latitude/Longitude pair.

You can use address fields instead, such as street, city, etc., which Bing can geolocate.

39. What is the difference between Power BI, Power Query, and Power Pivot?
Power BI Power Query Power Pivot

Data modeling and

Business Intelligence tool Import and shape data
calculations

M and DAX languages

M language supported DAX language supported
supported

Incredible visualization Handles millions of rows of

Easy to use interface
options data.

Simple built-in interactive Powerful tools to import and Modeling tools for efficient
options clean data data storage and analysis

All Excel users can benefit Powerful DAX calculations

Powerful DAX calculations
from this tool going beyond standard Excel

40. Are Power View and Power Query the same?

Power View can be used to download data to Excel as well as make nice transformations.

Example: Filter, merge multiple sources, calculate, etc.

Power View enables you to present the data in reports.

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41. Is there any process for refreshing Power BI reports uploaded to the cloud?

Of course, Power Bi reports can be refreshed with Data Management Gateway and Power
BI Personal Gateway.

42. Can you tell me what the difference between Power BI personal Gateway and Data
Management Gateway is?

Power BI Personal Gateway is used for reports that are deployed in Powerbi.com. On the
other hand, data management is an app that installs the gateway on source data machines
to deploy reports on Sharepoint and schedule to refresh automatically.

43. How is data security implemented in Power BI?

 Power BI applies models with Row Level Security.

 Dynamix security involves using USERNAME functions in definitions.
 A DAX expression can be applied to tables filtering their rows at query time.
 A table is typically created in the model that relates to specific dimensions and roles.

44. What do you know about many-to-many relationships in Power BI?

Many-to-many relationships involve a bridge or junction table that reflects the combinations
of two dimensions. Either all possible combinations or those combinations that have
occurred.

A relationship with many-to-many cardinality in Power BI is composed of three features:

 Composite models: Allows a report to have two or more data connections, including
DirectQuery connections or Import. With composite models, you can establish
relationships with a many-many cardinality between tables.
 Relationships with a many-many cardinality: This approach removes unique values
in tables.
 Storage mode: You can specify which visuals require a query to back-end data
sources. This feature improves performance and reduces back-end load.

45. What are the key differences between a Power BI dataset, a report, and a
dashboard?
Dataset  Report Dashboard

A series of Power Query A series of visualizations, A way of pulling

queries that have been filters, and static elements on visualizations together from
shaped in a DAX model. a canvas. several reports.

A Power BI dataset can have Each report can have A Power BI dashboard is a

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 single page, often called a
many data sources. multiple sheets. canvas, that uses
visualizations to tell a story.

A dashboard is a tool for

A data set can have one The data set and your report
pinning visuals from different
report, and a report can have are going to have a one-to-
reports and other sources of
one data set. one relationship. 
data.

46. List some Edit interactions options in Power BI.

Filter: It thoroughly filters the visual/tile based on the filter selection of another variable.

Highlight: Highlights only the related elements on the visual

None: Ignores the filter selection from another tile/visual.

47. How can you convert SSRS to Power BI?

Following are the ways to integrate SSRS with Power BI:

 SSRS report items such as charts can be pinned to Power BI dashboards.

 By clicking the tile option in Power BI dashboards will bring users to SSRS reports
 To keep the dashboard tile refreshed, a subscription is created.
 Power BI reports will be published to the SSRS portal.

48. What is the Time Intelligence function?

It is a function that allows manipulating data using periods.

49. How do I prepare for Power BI certification?

Mindmajix instructor-led training completely prepares you for the certification. We provide
two industry-specific projects in the course, which helps you have hands-on experience on
all possible scenarios that are part of certification.

50. Is Power BI a good career?

Five major reasons why Power BI will create a good career path for you:

 Gartner’s framework for the Analytics and BI Magic Quadrant 2021.

 There is a big market for Microsoft Power BI Consultants in almost every industry.
 In perspective, Qlik and Tableau (both high in Gartner ranking) have a market cap
close to 1% of Microsoft.
 Top companies offering lucrative Power BI career opportunities.
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  Variety of job roles available:
o Power BI Analyst/Developer
o Data Analyst
o Business Analyst
o Business Intelligence Analyst
o Business Intelligence Developer
o Business Intelligence Manager

Power BI Interview Questions - Intermediate Level

51. What are the Parts of Microsoft's Self-Service Business Intelligence Solutions?

Microsoft Self-Service BI has two parts:

 Excel BI Toolkit: Allows users to create reports interactively through data importing
from distinct data sources as well as model data according to the requirement.
 Power BI: It is an online solution that empowers users for sharing interactive reports
and queries that you have created with Excel BI Toolkit.

52. What is the Differentiate between Power BI and Power BI Pro?

Power BI offers distinct kinds of features to help you get started in searching for data in a
completely new way.  Power BI Pro, on the other hand, caters to some additional features
like scheduling data, live data sources, storage capacity, complete interactivity, and much
more.

53. Define Excel BI Toolkit?

Excel BI Toolkit allows users for creating an interactive report by importing data from a
distinct range of sources and model data according to requirements.

54. What is the Cost of Power BI?

Both Power BI Desktop and Power BI are free of cost. For Power BI Pro, users have to pay
$9.99 per month after a 60-day free trial.

55. What are the basics needed for using Power BI?

To use Power BI, you need to have a  web browser and a work email address. 
work email addresses finishing in .mil and .gov are not supported currently.

56. What is the need for signing up with a work email?

Power BI does not email addresses provided by telecommunications providers and

consumer email services, thus there is a need of signing up with work email.

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57. Name the work email addresses that are currently supported?

Work email addresses that are finishing with .org and .edu are currently supported.

58. Is there any support by Power BI available for mobile devices?

Yes, Power BI supports mobile devices. It consists of apps for iOS devices, Windows 10
devices, and Android smartphones. You can install Power BI apps from the below app
stores:

 Google Play
 Apple Store
 Windows Store

59. What is Visualization?

Visualization is a process to represent data in pictorial form like tables, graphs, or charts
based on the specific requirement.

60. What is a Report?

The report is a Power BI feature that is a result of visualized data from a single data set. A
report can have multiple pages of visualization.

61. What is Power Pivot and what are the filter writes in Power BI?

Power Pivot is an in-memory component that enables storing compressed data. It is used to
build data models, relationships, creating formulas, calculated columns from different
resources.

Filters are applicable in:

 Visualization level
 Report Level
 Page-Level

62. What data sources can Power BI connect to?

The following data sources that support DirectQuery in Power BI are as follows:

 Amazon Redshift
 Azure Data Explorer
 AtScale (Beta)
 Azure SQL Database
 Azure HDInsight Spark
 Google BigQuery

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  Azure SQL Data Warehouse
 HDInsight Interactive Query

63. Why do we need BI?

You can take data and create reports at the click of a button. You can take data and create
reports with a button click. It helps in attracting new customers to service and monitor
existing customers. You can keep track of information and set your goals accordingly. In
general, building an ETL solution (Extraction, Transformation, and Loading) ultimately helps
to make better decisions. The ROI is very high Helps to make unwanted data into
progressive information.

64. Does Power BI store data?

Datasets are the data sources that are uploaded or connected to databases. These sources
include Excel workbooks and Power BI Desktop files. The following are also included in
your data capacity. Reporting Services on-premises visualizations are pinned to a Power BI
dashboard.

65. What must be installed to use Power BI?

To use the Power BI service for free, you need a work email and a web browser. With this,
you can explore data as well as create reports in Power BI Desktop. The mobile app can be
downloaded from the following stores:
Google Play, App Store, and Windows Store.

66. How one can get started with Power BI?

There are some resources to get assistance and get started with Power BI. They are as
follows:

 Webinars
 Power BI Blog
 You can get started with an article on Power BI
 You can get started with a video on YouTube
 Last but not least, joining a related community and get answered

67. What is SSBI?

SSBI stands for Self-Service Business Intelligence. It can also be termed as accessing data
analytics to empower business users to divide, clean, and interpret data. SSBI has made it
easy for end-users to access their data and create various kinds of visuals to acquire useful
business insights. Anyone who has basic data knowledge can build reports for creating
spontaneous and shareable dashboards.

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68. What is a Dashboard?

The dashboard is used to visualize the strategic data of one or multiple reports at a glance.

69. What is the CORR function and when is it used?

CORR is a correlation function that provides a correlation between two distinct variables
ranging from -1 to 1.

70. What are the advantages of Power BI?

Here are the top advantages of Power BI

 Power BI integrates well with the existing application

 It contains rich and personalized Dashboards.
 publishing reports in a secure way
 Quick accessibility to data means there is no speed and memory issue

71. What are the data destinations for Power Queries?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

 Load to a table in a worksheet

 Load to the Excel Data Model

72. What are the different connectivity modes in Power BI?

 Import
 Direct Query

73. What is the data source filter?

A data source filter is a parameter of data filtering before loading into machines.

74. What are the Different Products in the PowerBI family?

Below are different Power BI services/products:

 Power BI Desktop
 Power BI Services
 Power BI Mobile
 Power BI Gateway
 Power BI Premium
 Power BI Report Server
 Power BI Embedded

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75. What is Power View?

Power View is a data visualization technology, which lets you create interactive graphs,
charts, maps, and other visuals to bring life to your data. It is available in Excel, SQL
Server, SharePoint, and Power BI.

76. Which language is used in Power Query?

A new programming language is used in a power query called M-Code. It is easy to use and
similar to other languages. M-code is a case-sensitive language.

77. How to import the data on the Power BI desktop?

Go to getting data Sources and click on your required sources (Excel, SQL, CSV) then Load
it. Click on the Data view to view that data.
To choose the table click on the fields and you can pick a visualization to generate a report.

78. Which datasets are used to create a dashboard with streaming data tiles?

Streaming datasets (we need to have data that is cached in memory before we use
streaming data sets)
Hybrid Datasets

79. How Dynamic filtering in Power BI is performed?

Dynamic Filtering in Power BI is done by the following steps:

 Once all the data are set up publish the detailed report to Power BI
 Publish it to Group Work Space
 Create Filter Link
 Create a DAX calculated Column
 Public Overview Report

80. What is the procedure to buy Power BI Pro?

Power BI license can be purchased at powerbi.com. However, you can also get assistance
from Microsoft partners to aid using Power BI implementation.

81. Is the Power BI service accessible on-premises?\

The user cannot avail of the service as an internal or private cloud service. However, with
Power BI and Power BI Desktop, the user can connect to their on-premise data sources
securely.

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82. Which is the language used to calculate column/calculated field in Power Pivot?

Data Analysis Expression (DAX) is used to calculate column fields in Power Pivot.

83. What are the column values that DAX supports?

 It is not capable of inserting or modifying data

 It cannot be used to calculate rows, though you can calculate measures and
calculated columns

84. Explain the Power Pivot Data Model?

It is a model that is made up of data types, tables, columns, and table relations. The data
tables are generally constructed to hold data for a business entity.

85. Define Power Query?

Power Query is an ETL tool to clean, shape, and transform data without any code using
intuitive interfaces. With this:

 You can import data from various sources like databases from files
 Append and join data from a wide range of sources
 You can shape data as needed by adding and removing it

86. Name the language that is used in the power query?

M-code which is a new programming language is used in Power Query. This language is
easy to use and is quite similar to other languages. Also, it is case-sensitive.

90. Name the data destinations for Power Query?

Two destinations are there for the output we receive from the power query. They are:

 Load to Excel Data Model

 Load to a table in a worksheet

91. Explain the Power BI Designer?

Power BI Designer, a standalone app that is used to create reports in Power BI and to
upload them to Powerbi.com. It is a combination of Power View, Power Pivot, and Power
Query.

92. What is the use of the split function?

The split function is used for splitting the string database on the given delimiter.

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93. Name all the platforms for which the Power BI app is available?

Power BI app is available for:

 Android
 iPhone and iPad
 Windows tablets and Windows Desktops
 Coming for Windows phone soon

94. What is the difference between older and newer Power BI?

There is a new design tool that is used in the new Power BI called Power BI Desktop. It is a
standalone designer, including Power Pivot, Power View, and Power Query in the back end.
Whereas, Older Power BI consists of excel add-ins. In the newer Power BI version,  there
are several graphs available including treemap, line area chart, waterfall, combo chart, etc.

95. Is it possible in the power pivot data model to have more than one active
relationship between two tables?

No, it is not possible. There cannot be more than one active relationship in the power pivot
data model between two tables. It is possible to have only one active and many inactive
relationships.

96. What are the general data shaping techniques?

The common data shaping techniques are:

Removing Columns and Rows
Adding Indexes
Applying for a Sort Order

97. What are the KPIs in Power BI?

KPIs are Key Performance Indicators, which evaluate the organization’s performance in
distinct areas by evaluating measurable goals and values. A KPI has a measure or base
value that is evaluated against target values. It includes a comparison of the performance
with the target. The KPI also helps you evaluate the analysis performances with their
graphical representation. Thus, KPIs will show whether your goals have been met or not.

98. What could be the difference between Distinct() and Values() in DAX?

We can use both Distinct() and Values() functions to return the values into a column or cell
on the worksheet. The difference between them is that the Values() function returns blank
values along with unique values, whereas the Distinct() function returns only unique values.

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99. State the advantages of the Direct query method?

The advantages of the Direct query method are listed as follows:

Users can build huge data sets of data visualizations using the Direct Query Method, but
the Power BI desktop supports data visualizations on smaller sets alone. There is no limit to
the dataset for the direct query method and a 1GB dataset limit is not applicable in this
method.

100. What is the parameter in power bi?

If you want to put a scenario and based on that if you want to see the visuals, the best is the
What-if parameter. It helps you to forecast data and perform advanced analytics. For
example, if you have set up the product discount from the what-if parameter from 1 to 10.
And users can change the values and see the changes in profit, sales, revenue, margin,
etc. that help in detailed analysis.

Power BI Interview Questions for Experienced Professionals

101. What is the incremental refresh?

Incremental refresh is used to refresh the newly added data to avoid truncating and loading
data.

102. What are the three main tabs in the Reports development Window?

The major tabs in the Reports development Window are as follows:

 Relationship tab
 Data Modeling Tab
 Report Tab

103. How many types of default Graphs (Visualizations) available in Power BI?

Around 26 Views

104. What are Slicers in Power BI?

 Slicers are the visual filters, which are present in the report page of Power BI. It
helps us to sort and filter information on a packed report
 Slicers unlike filters present as a report visual and you can select values on it while
analyzing the report data

105. What is the major difference between a Filter and a Slicer?

Using Normal filters users were not allowed to interact with dashboards or reports, but using
slicers we can interact with dashboards and reports.

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106. What is a parameter in Power BI?

A Parameter in Power BI is a dynamic filter that is used in the calculation fields. It is based
on the parameter value result that can vary.

107. Difference Between New Measure and New column?

A new column is an area in Power Bi where the physical data is stored when logic is
applied, whereas, the measure is where the calculations are performed on the fly based on
dimensions. Measure, unlike Column, won't store any physical data.

108. What are the different joins in Power BI?

 Horizontal Joins to append data from multiple tables

 Vertical Joins to merge the data from multiple tables

109. What is the Embed Code?

There is an option in the Power BI service, which publishes to the web to generate a link
address for the Power BI report and can be shared across clients.

110. How do you Hide and Unhide a Specific Report in Power BI?

In the menu bar, choose the Selection pane and hide/unhide the report and the action to
pass to the bookmark.

111. How do you compare Target and Actual Values from a Power BI report?

A gauge chart is used to compare two different measures where the Target and Actuals are
inferred.

112. What are Power Query's major Data Destinations?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

 Load to a table in a worksheet

 Load to the Excel Data Model

113. Can we Refresh Data Reports that are uploaded to the Cloud?

Yes, you can refresh the data reports which are uploaded to the cloud. Power BI personal
gateway and Data management gateway helps you acquire the same.

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114. How are a Power BI Dashboard and Report different from each other?

To understand the difference between Power BI Dashboard and Report, let’s run through
some quick points.

Capability Report Dashboard

Can be of one or more

Pages Consists of one page only
pages.

It has a single dataset per Can have data tiles from one
Data sources
report. or more datasets or reports.

Can perform slicing, filtering,

Filtering Cannot filter or slice reports.
and highlighting.

Set alerts No option for setting alerts. Enable setting email alerts

Enables to set only one

No option for creating a
Featured reports dashboard as a featured
featured dashboard.
dashboard.

Provides options to view Cannot view or access

Accessing tables and fields in
dataset tables, values, and underlying datasets tables
datasets
fields. and fields.

115. How to Toggle Between Two Option and Make it Interact with the rest of the
Visualizations in a Report?

Toggling is an action that is achieved in Power BI reports when there exist two or more
dimensions. With “Enlighten Slicer”, you can show this in Power BI and can be imported
from Marketplace.

116. What does rank() do?

Rank() calculates regular competition rank thus returning identical values. You can ask for
ascending or descending values in the second argument accordingly.

117. How do I Prepare for a Power BI Interview?

The main aspect to learn before attending any PowerBi interview is “how the data
representation and general business intelligence is going to work!”
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118. Is Business Intelligence a Good Career?

One of the great reasons for choosing a career in BI is the on-demand outlook. According to
a report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for expert BI managers and
analysts is expected to soar to 14% by 2026, with the overall need for data professionals to
climb to 28% by 2020.

119. Is Power BI better than Tableau?

Both Tableau and Power BI allow the user to connect to distinct data sources. However,
Tableau provides better support to connect to a different data warehouse, and Power BI is
heavily integrated with Microsoft’s portfolio like the Azure cloud platform.

120.  Is Power BI hard to Learn?

Any data analyst can quickly connect with any data source, summarizing the findings into
simple reports without any programming experience. With Power Pivot built into the Power
BI, analytics measures were developed using DAX query language from Microsoft.

121. Is Power BI hard to use?

Power BI doesn’t require users to write SQL code like BI tools but requires MS Excel
knowledge.

122. Is Data Analyst a Good Career?

Data is useless without proper analytics. Any professional with analytical skills can easily
master the ocean of Big Data and become a crucial asset to the organization, boosting the
business as well as career. There are several on-demand job opportunities in Big Data
management and Analytics and are constantly growing.

123. What are the essential applications of the Power BI?

Power BI is mainly used by:

 PMO - Project Management Office

 Developer & Database Administrator
 Business & Data Analyst
 IT Team, IT Professional
 Data Scientist
 Consumer for End User Report

124. Is Power BI better than Excel?

Power BI is a more powerful tool compared to Microsoft Excel. Power BI is easy to use and
is much more flexible while Microsoft Excel is not so handy to use. Power BI is mostly used

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for data visualization and dashboard sharing to a large number of users while Microsoft
Excel is mostly used for in-depth driver analysis.

125. How do I export from power BI to excel?

In Power BI, a user can export any dashboard or visual. To export your data, choose the
ellipses (3 dots) on the top-right side of any visualization and choose the icon: Export data.
Your data is exported as an a.CSV file. You can even save and open the file in Excel.

126. How do you manage a role in Power BI?

Follow these steps to manage a role in Power BI

 Step 1: Import data into the Power BI Desktop report

 Step 2: connection
 Step 3: Select the Modeling tab
 Step 4: Select Manage Roles
 Step 5: Select Create
 Step 6: Provide a name for the role
 Step 7: Select the table that you want to apply a DAX rule
 Step 8: Enter the DAX expressions
 Step 9: After creating a DAX expression, select the checkbox placed above the
expression and validate the expression
 Step 10: Select Save

127. How do you answer behavioral interview questions?

These can be answered in four simple steps as follows:

 Step 1: Situation. Describe the situation or set the scene

 Step 2: Task. Describe the issue or problem you were confronted with
 Step 3: Action
 Step 4: Results

128. What is the difference between Power BI vs Tableau?

Here are key differences between Power BI vs Tableau

Feature Power BI Tableau

Focuses only on modeling

Data visualization Best tool
and reporting

Cost Less expensive Very expensive since it uses

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 data warehousing

It is associated with Microsoft It has python Machine

Machine Learning
Azure. learning.

User Interface Simple and easy to use Use a customized dashboard

It drags down slow when

Data handling Handles bulk data
handling huge data

TCS Power BI Interview Questions

129. What is the Power BI Service?

Power BI Service is a cloud-based analytics solution that helps you to create dashboards
and publish, design reports, collaborate and share the reports with internal and external
stakeholders.

130. What is a summarize function in DAX?

Summarize is a DAX function that gives an aggregated result from a table.

This is how you can use summarize function:

 Summarize(<table>,<grouping column>,[<name>,<expression>])
 Table - a DAX expression that returns a table
 grouping column - the column name you want to use for grouping
 name - the name of the new aggregated column
 expression - generates the aggregated column.

131. Can you export Power BI report data into any other format like SSRS?

Yes, you can export a Power BI report data to another file format, such as PowerPoint,
PDF, Image, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel or export the report by generating an Atom
service document, listing the Atom-compliant data feeds available from the report.

132. What is the difference between the measure and the calculated column?

The difference is the context of evaluation. A measure is evaluated in the context of the cell
evaluated in a report or in a DAX query. While the calculated column is computed at the row
level within the table it belongs to.

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133. Have you faced any performance issues in your project?

This is one of the important Power BI questions. As a developer, while developing projects,
you may face one or two performance issues based on the type of data you use. Explain
about how you overcome those issues.

Cognizant Power BI Interview Questions

134. Describe a time when Power BI limited or enhanced your success on a project?

There is a limitation to export data for large data sets in Power BI

135. What is your go-to DAX function for time intelligence?

DATEDADD is the most versatile function used for time intelligence. However, pretty much
of the time intelligence can be recreated with DATEDADD.

136. How do you improve the performance of your data models?

Following the tidy data philosophy, column usage should be limited. Also utilizing the star
schema to limit joins will also improve the model.

Disabling unused tables from loading also helps. Also using lookups can also improve
overall functionality.

137.  How can You Change the Value Measure to Show Multiple Measures
Dynamically?

You can dynamically change and switch functions to show multiple measures using
harvesting measures.

138. How Important is Power BI?

Dashboards, datasets, and reports are the heart of Power BI, and they enable users to
create personalized dashboards combining cloud-born and on-premises data in a single
view. It allows monitoring the most important data enterprise-wide and from all their
business apps.

Explore Power BI Sample Resumes Download & Edit, Get Noticed by Top Employers!

Frequently Asked Power BI Interview Questions

1. What skills are needed for Power BI?

Required Skills for Power BI Developer:

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  First and foremost, a Power BI Developer should be familiar with business
intelligence, data analytics, and data science.
 Should have good knowledge of data visualization, charts, and graphs.
 Knowledge of mathematical expressions
 Comprehensive knowledge of data design, data modeling, and data management.
 Ability to build dashboards

2. What language does Power BI use?

 DAX and M are the two languages supported by Power BI to filter, handle and
visualize data.
 DAX is an analytical data calculation language used for analyzing data in the Data
View phase.
 n the flip side, M is a query formula language used in Power BI Query Editor to
prepare data before loading in the Power BI model.

3. Is Power BI enough to get a job?

Power BI works with the advanced version of excel, so one needs to have an excellent
knowledge of MS Excel and to build interactive dashboards to get hired. 

4. What is Q&A in Power BI?

Q&A in Power BI allows you to explore data using natural language capabilities and obtain
answers in the form of graphs and charts. You'll find Q&A on dashboards in the Power BI
service.

5. Which company Power BI Interview questions are listed?

In our Power BI interview questions and answers blog, we have gathered interview
questions from various MNCs around the globe and curated the best and frequently asked
questions with answers. Power BI Interview questions of Wipro, Deloitte, Mindtree,
Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS, Amazon are covered in the blog.

Power BI Architecture: A Complete

Tutorial with Diagram

We all know that Power BI is one of the best BI tools, and many organizations are using this
tool to generate reports and dashboards to make effective business decisions.

Before using the Power BI services and features, you should know about the Architecture of
Power BI. Because, you should know how the Power BI services, components are being
used to transform the data, create the reports and dashboards.

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 Want to become a Master in Power BI?  Then Enrol here for Power BI Online
Training

In this blog, we are going to provide detailed information about the Power BI Architecture
and its components. 

Let’s get started! 

Microsoft Power BI Architecture:

Power BI is a business platform that includes several technologies to work together. It

delivers outstanding business intelligence solutions. Power BI Architecture contains four
steps. 

Let us discuss these four steps giving insightful information about each one of them.

1. Data Integration
2. Data Transforming 
3. Report & Publish
4. Creating and Dashboard

1. Data Integration:

Data is extracted from different sources which can be different servers or databases. The
data from various sources can be in different types and formats. If you import the file into
the Power BI, it compresses the data sets up to 1GB, and it uses a direct query if the
compressed data sets exceed more than 1GB. Then the data is integrated into a standard
format and stored at a place called staging area. There are two choices for big data sets.
They are as follows. 

 Azure Analytics Services

 Power BI premium

2. Data Transforming:

Integrated data is not ready to visualize the data because the data should be transformed.
To transform the data, it should be cleaned or pre-processed. For example, redundant or
missing values are removed from the data sets. After data is pre-processed or cleaned,
business rules are applied to transform the data. After processing the data, it is loaded into
the data warehouse. 

Related Page: Know about Power BI Slicer

3. Report & Publish:

After sourcing and cleaning the data, you can create the reports. Reports are the
visualization of the data in the form of slicers, graphs, and charts. Power BI offers a lot of

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custom visualization to create the reports. After creating reports, you can publish them to
power bi services and also publish them to an on-premise power bi server. 

4. Creating Dashboards:

You can create dashboards after publishing reports to Power BI services, by holding the
individual elements. The visual retains the filter when the report is holding the individual
elements to save the report. Pinning the live report page allows the dashboard users to
interact with the visual by selecting slicers and filters.

These are basic steps in the Power BI Architecture. Now we are going to discuss
components of Power BI and how they work together in the Power BI Architecture.

To know more information about Power BI, go through our  Power BI  Desktop
Tutorial.
Components of Power BI Architecture:

Let us learn the components of Power BI Architecture in detail. Here is the list of
components. 

These components play an important role in delivering the Power BI capabilities. Now, let’s
discuss the Components of Power BI Architecture.

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#1. Data Sources

 Power BI can supply information from different online sources and file types.
Import the information into the Power BI or establish live service to receive the information.
If you import the file into the Power BI, it compresses the data sets up to 1GB and, use a
direct query if the compressed data sets exceed more than 1GB. Here is the list of Data
Sources supported in Power BI.

Here is the list of Data Sources supported in Power BI.

 File Types: Power BI supports XML, txt/CSV, Excel, JSON, and Share point folder
type files.
 Database: It supports SQL Server Analysis Services Database, SAP HANA
Database, SQL Server Database, SAP Business Warehouse server, Access
Database, Google BigQuery (Beta), Amazon Redshift, Snowflake, Impala, Oracle
Database, IBM Informix database (Beta), Teradata Database, MySQL Database,
IBM Netezza (Beta), Sybase Database, PostgreSQL Database.
 Azure: Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Analysis Services
database (Beta), Azure SQL Database, Azure Data Lake Store, Azure Table
Storage, Azure HDInsight (HDFS), Azure Cosmos DB (Beta), Azure HDInsight Spark
(Beta).
 Online Services: Power BI service, Dynamics 365 (online), Microsoft Exchange
Online, Common Data Service (Beta), SharePoint Online List, Visual Studio Team
Services (Beta), Dynamics 365 for Financials (Beta), Microsoft Azure Consumption
Insights (Beta), Salesforce Objects, Salesforce Reports, Google Analytics, Dynamics
365 for Customer Insights (Beta), GitHub (Beta), appFigures (Beta), comScore
Digital Analytix (Beta), Facebook, Kusto (Beta), Planview Enterprise (Beta),
MailChimp (Beta), Mixpanel (Beta), QuickBooks Online, Projectplace (Beta).
 Other Services: Hadoop File (HDFS), Vertica (Beta), Web, OData Feed, SharePoint
List, Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, R Script, ODBC, Spark (Beta), Blank
Query, OLE DB.

#2. Power BI Desktop

 It is free software that enables you to connect, transform and visualize the
data on your desktop. You can connect to various data sources with the help of Power BI
Desktop and combine the data into a data model. This data model allows you to create a
collection of images and graphics that make you share the information within the

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organization as records. The majority of the users who work on Business Intelligence
projects use Power BI Desktop to create and share their reports with others.

Visit here to know Power BI Visualization Types with Examples

#3. Power BI Service

 Power BI Service is an On-Cloud service with a web-based platform and

used to share and publish the reports made on Power BI Desktop. It collaborates the data
with other users and creates dashboards. Power BI Service is also called as “Power BI
Workspace”, “Power BI Web Portal”, and “Power BI Site”. Power BI Service offers wonderful
features like alerts and natural language Q&A. 

It is available in three versions. They are as follows:

 Premium version
 Pro version
 Free version

#4. Power BI Report Server

 Power BI Report Server is similar to the Power BI Service. It is an On-

Premises server platform. Using Power BI Report Server, organizations can secure their
data. It enables the users to create reports and dashboards and allows you to share the
reports with other users or organizations with proper security protocols. To use this service,
you need to have a Power BI premium license.

#5. Power BI Gateway

 Power BI Gateway is used to maintain the fresh information by connecting

to your on-site data sources without transferring the data. It provides secure data and allows
you to transfer the data between Microsoft cloud services and on-premise service. Microsoft
cloud services include PowerApps, Power BI, Azure Analysis Services, Microsoft Flow, and

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Azure logic apps. By using a gateway, organizations can maintain the databases and other
data sources securely in cloud services.

Related Article - What is Power BI Services? and their Benefits

#6. Power BI Mobile Apps

 Using Power BI Mobile Apps, you can stay connected with on-premises data
from anywhere. Power BI apps are available for iOS, Windows, and Android platforms.

 
#7. Power BI Embedded

 Power BI Embedded is an On-premises service in Azure. It offers APIs for

embedding the reports and dashboards into custom applications. Till now, we have been
discussing major components of the Power BI, and now, we will talk about the remaining
components of Power BI as well.

Here is the list of the remaining Power BI Components.

#8. Power BI Query

 Power Query is the data connectivity that enables the business users to
access the data which is stored in multiple data sources and redesign it to satisfy their
business requirements. Power Query offers a custom connectors SDK so that the third
party users can create their data connectors.

Visit here to know about  Power BI  Installation

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#9. Power Maps

  Power BI Query are used to display how the values vary in proportion
across the region. It also shows differences with the shadings that range from dark to light.
It offers a 3D geospatial Data Visualization Tool.

 
#10. Power Pivot

  Power Pivot is an element that stores the information in memory and allows
highly compressed data storage and incredibly quick aggregation and calculation. It is also
accessible as part of Excel and can be used within an Excel workbook to build a data
model. Power Pivot can load information on its own, or Power Query can load information
into it. It is highly comparable to the tabular model of SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services),
which is like a Power Pivot server-based variant.

#11. Power View

  Power View offers interactive visualization that enables a drag-and-drop

interface for users to create visualizations quickly and effectively in their Excel workbooks
(using the Power Pivot data model).

#12. Power Q&A

  Power Q & A  is the feature of Power BI, and it enables you to explore your
data in your own words. In other words, you can use natural language and ask a question to
get an answer from your data.

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 Microsoft Power BI Interview Questions

Power BI Architecture - Working

We hope that you have understood the individual components of Power BI, and now, you
will learn how these components work together. You will have a clear understanding of the
Power BI Architecture with the help of the below image. 

In the above diagram, it is clear that the upper half part represents On-Cloud services, and
the lower half part represents the On-Premise services.

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If you observe in the top of the image excel, web browsers and other sources are streaming
into Power BI components, and they are called as data sources. These data sources are
authenticated users. Power BI has different data sources like On-Premise, Cloud
databases, direct connections, etc. 

On-Premise: 

Power BI Desktop is accomplished with the authenticating, development and publishing

tools. You can transfer the data from data sources to Power BI Desktop. And also, it allows
users to create and publish reports on the Power BI Report Server or Power BI Service. 

Power BI Publisher allows you to publish the Excel workbooks to the Power BI Report
Server. Report Publisher and SQL server Data tools help in creating the KPIs, datasets,
paginated reports, mobile reports, etc. All kinds of reports are published at the Power BI
Report Server, and from there, reports are distributed to the end-users.

On-Cloud: 

Power BI Gateway is the essential component in the Power BI architecture. The Power BI
Gateway acts as a bridge or secure channel to transfer the data from On-premise data to
On-cloud data sources or apps.

Cloud side architecture consists of a lot of components including Power suite having
datasets, dashboards, reports, Power BI Premium, Power BI Embedded, etc. Users can
embed the dashboards, reports into applications, SharePoint, Teams, etc. There are on
Cloud data sources and they are connected to the Power BI tools.

Power BI Service Architecture

In the previous section, you have learned how to publish the created reports in the Power BI
Service. 

Power BI Service enables the users to create and access the reports, dashboards from the
client platforms like mobile devices, web sites, etc. User needs to interact with the Power BI
Service whenever they want to access the data that is created on the Power BI. So, now,
we will learn how the Power BI Service works.

Power BI Service Architecture consists of two clusters. The following are the two clusters.  

 Front End Cluster

 Back End Cluster

Now, we will discuss the two clusters in detail.

1. Front End Cluster: Front end cluster acts as an intermediate between back end cluster
and the clients. It is also called as Web Front End Cluster. It establishes the initial
connection and authenticates the users or clients using the Azure Active Directory. After

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user authentication, Azure Traffic Manager directs the user requests to the nearest data
centers and Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) allocates the statice files/content to the
users or clients based on the geographical locations.

2. Back End Cluster: It manages the datasets, reports, storage, visualizations, data
refreshing, data connections and other services in the Power BI. At the back end cluster,
web-client has only two direct points to interact with the data, i.e., Gateway Role and Azure
API Management. These two components are responsible for authorizing, load balancing,
routing, authentication, etc.

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Working Of Power BI Service

 Power BI stores the data in two leading repositories, i.e., Azure SQL Database and
Azure Block Storage. Azure Block Storage enables the users to store the datasets,
and all system-related data and metadata are stored in the Azure SQL database. 
 It authenticates the user requests and sends them to the Gateway Role. It processes
the requests and assigns them to the appropriate components like Background Job
Processing Role, Data Movement Role, Presentation Role, and Data Role.  
 The presentation role manages all the associated visualization queries like reports
and dashboards.
 Presentation Role sends requests to the Gateway Role to the Data Movement Role
or Data Role for all relevant datasets. 
 Azure Service Bus is used to connect and fetch the data from the On-Premises data
sources with the cloud. It sends a request to execute the queries On-Premises data
source and retrieve the data from its cloud service. 
 The Azure Service Fabric allows all components and microservices which are related
to the Power BI Service.
 Azure Cache helps in reporting the data that is stored in the in-memory of the Power
BI system.

Conclusion:
In this blog, we gave detailed information about the Power BI Architecture, it’s working and
components. And also, we have explained Power BI service and its working.

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Are you interested to learn Power BI and build a Career in BI and Data
visualization?  Then check out our Power BI Training and Certification Course at your
near Cities

Power BI Training Online in Bangalore | Power BI Training Online in

Chennai |  Power BI Training Online Chicago| Power BI Training Online in
Hyderabad  |  Power BI Training Online in Houston |Power BI Training Online in
London| Power BI Training Online in Singapore | Power BI Training Online in
Sydney|  Power BI Training Online in Toronto

These courses are incorporated with Live instructor-led training, Industry Use cases,
and hands-on live projects. This training program will make you an expert in Power
BI and help you to achieve your dream job.

If you still have queries regarding Power BI Architecture?

Got any questions? Leave a comment below and we will get back to you

Power BI Tutorial – A Complete

Guide on Introduction to Power BI
Welcome to the Power BI tutorial by DataFlair. Before we begin this journey of
learning a new BI technology called Microsoft Power BI, we must learn some
basics about it. In this introductory tutorial of Microsoft Power BI, we will give
you some interesting information and insights on this BI technology. We
request you to take some time out and explore this thoroughly as it will act as
a building block for learning Power BI technology.

We can confidently presume that not many of you here are not aware of
business intelligence and data visualization. Especially in today’s world, where
data is the Robin of every business and organization. And, without this Robin, there is
no Batman! Data is a treasure of knowledge and valuable information which is
used by the ones helming a business to make lucrative and effective decisions
at the right time.
“BI is about providing the right data at the right time to the right people so that
they can take the right decisions”
– Nic Smith with Microsoft BI Solutions Marketing

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Power BI Tutorial
Before diving into the Power BI introduction, let’s have a quick look at
Business intelligence (BI). It refers to taking raw data from a data source,
transforming it into usable data and utilizing it to make reports and
informative graphics for data analysis.

Graphically representing tabular data is known as data visualization. It

enables a user to visualize important information through charts, graphs, KPIs,
maps, etc. to attain valuable insights just by looking at them. Well Microsoft
Power BI is a tool having business intelligence and data visualization
capabilities.
Before we begin with this journey of learning a new BI technology called
Microsoft Power BI, we must learn some basics about it. We request you to
take some time out and explore this Power BI tutorial thoroughly as it will act
as a building block for learning Power BI technology.

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What is Power BI?

Power BI is a cloud-based business analysis and intelligence service by Microsoft. It
is a collection of business intelligence and data visualization tools such as
software services, apps and data connectors.
 

We can use the datasets imported in Power BI for data visualization and
analysis by making sharable reports, dashboards, and apps. Power BI is a
user-friendly tool offering impressive drag-and-drop features and self-service
capabilities.

Microsoft offers three types of Power BI platforms:

 Power BI Desktop (A desktop application)

 Power BI Service (SaaS i.e., Software as a Service)
 Power BI Mobile (For iOS and Android devices)
Also, we can deploy Power BI on both on-premise and on-cloud platforms.

In the image given below, have a look at the process flow in Power BI.

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Page 50 of 82
Why Power BI?
As we learned in the previous section of Power BI tutorial that, Power BI is an
umbrella term having several different kinds of services under its tutelage.

1. There is a cloud-based BI service called Power BI Services used to view

and share dashboards.
2. A desktop-based reporting interface known as Power BI Desktop.
3. Another useful service is Power BI Embedded that runs on an Azure
cloud platform and we can use it for report creation, ETL and data analysis.
Further, let us discuss a few points regarding why Power BI is an important
tool in today’s time and why do we need it.

 Real-time analysis in Power BI can be done by establishing direct

connections to the data sources. Also, it keeps data updated to the latest
second by data refreshing.
 You can use custom visualizations from a custom visuals gallery. Custom
visuals are divided into many options and categories.
 You can quickly search for important insights and datasets within your
data by using the Quick Insights option.
 Establish a live or non-live connection to on-premises data sources like
SQL Server, and use a secure channel to access data through data
gateways. This makes Power BI enterprise-ready as on-premises
connections make data transfer secure and the technology scalable and
reliable.
 You can connect to other services through Power BI such as SQL Server
Analysis Services (SSAS), Microsoft Excel, etc.
 Power BI is a new age software using the latest technologies such
as HTML 5.0, column store databases, cloud computing, mobile apps, etc.
This helps in keeping Power BI on the top and popular as it is constantly
getting updated with the latest features.
 

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History of Power BI
Power BI is a Microsoft’s product initially released on 11th July 2011. It was
originally designed and created by Ron George in 2010, who released it with
the name “Project Crescent”. Later in September of 2013, Microsoft changed
the name to Power BI and launched it for the public.
This release was a Power BI for Office 365 and had Microsoft Excel add-ins,
Power Pivot, Power View, Power Query in it. In later versions, Microsoft added
advanced features like natural language Q&A, enterprise-level data security
and connectivity, Power data gateways, etc.
Power BI’s first general public release was on July 24th, 2015. As of
2019, Power BI has been officially declared as one of the leading BI tools by
2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platform.
Power BI Features
There are some of the most important and interesting features of Power BI:

 Visualizations/ custom visualizations

 GetData (Data sources)/data connections
 Datasets
 Dashboards
 Filters
 Ad hoc analysis
 Reports/ ad hoc reporting
 Trend indicators
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
 Navigation pane
 Natural language Q & A box
 DAX functions and formula
 Office 365 app launcher
 Content packs
 Authoring interactive reports
You must learn about these features in detail from our separate tutorial on features
of  Power BI
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Power BI Components
Power BI is a business intelligence and data mining software suite which is a
collection of different kinds of services by Microsoft. These services play a
specific role and work in coordination with each other, to make Power BI
function as a whole. In this section of the Power BI tutorial, we will learn
about each of these Power BI services or components and their roles.

 Power Query: We use this service to access, search and transform data
from public or local/internal data sources.
 Power Pivot: This service provides tools to model data taken from the in-
memory data source to use it for analytics.
 Power View: This service has many tools to graphically represent data
using visuals and use them for analysis.
 Power Map: It comes with tools and capabilities to visualize Geo-spatial
data or information in the 3D model in a map. You can use these maps in a
Power BI report.
 Power BI Desktop: It is a companion development tool for Power View,
Power Query, and Power Pivot. You can import data from a data source,
prepare and transform it and use it in visualizations to create reports in
Power BI Desktop.
 Power BI Website: It is a web platform to view and share Power BI apps
or solutions. Using Power BI Website, you can create dashboards from
reports, share the dashboards with other Power BI users and slice and dice
data within a report.
 Power Service: The Power Service enables the sharing of workbooks and
data views with other users. The data gets refreshed at regular intervals
from the on-premises or/and cloud-based data sources.
 Power Q&A: Using the Power Q&A option, you can search for your data
or discover insights by entering queries in natural language. It instantly
understands your query and returns relevant results.
 Power BI Mobile apps: Business users view and interact with the reports
and dashboards published on a cloud service through mobile hosted Power

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 BI instances. Android, Windows and iOS mobile devices support the
Power BI mobile apps.
 Data Catalog: The Data Catalog option offers the capability to search
and reuse queries.
 Data Management Gateway: This component manages the periodic data
refreshes, data feed viewing and table exposing.
Power BI Architecture
To have a better understanding of Power BI, we can divide the architecture
into three parts or phases:

1. Data Integration
In Power BI, we can import data from different kinds of data sources in
different formats. In the data integration step, Power BI brings data together
(extracted) from different data sources and converts it into a standard format.

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After data is integrated into Power BI, it is stored in a common storage area
known as the staging area.
2. Data Processing
Once Power BI integrates and stores data at a secure place, the raw data
requires some processing. Several processing or cleansing operations
transform the raw data such as removing redundant values, etc. Later, we
apply relevant business rules on the processed data that transforms it
according to our business needs. This transformed data is loaded into the data
warehouses. This completes a full process of ETL.

3. Data Presentation
In this final phase, the processed data moves from the warehouse and goes
into the Power BI platforms like Power BI Desktop to create reports,
dashboards, and scorecards. Power BI offers a wide range of visualizations. We
can also import custom visualization from the marketplace. From the report
development platforms, we can publish the reports on the web or mobile apps
to share it with other business users.
Get a thorough understanding of Power BI Architecture
Users of Power BI
Power BI users are categorized into four sections according to the purpose of
the usage of Power BI. These four types of users are Analysts, Business users, IT
professionals and Developers. Let’s learn some more about them.
1. Analysts
Analysts use Power BI to develop reports, dashboards, data models and study
them to discover valuable insights in the data. Power BI offers a wide range of
data sources from which an analyst can extract data, make a common dataset,
cleanse and prepare that data to make reports and conduct analysis.
2. Business Users
The business users are the common users who study the reports and dashboards
available to share with them on the Power BI website or mobile app. Business users
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remain updated with the latest information which helps in taking important
decisions in time. They can also set an alert notification for any change or
abnormality in data (if occurs).
3. IT professionals
The IT professionals are mainly concerned with the scalability, availability, and
security of data. They also centrally manage all the Power BI services and users.
4. Developers
Developers are responsible for all the technical work. Their key roles are
to create custom visuals to be used in Power BI, embedding Power BI into other
applications, creating reports, etc.
 

Data Connections in Power BI

There are a plethora of data sources from which you can extract data into
Power BI. You can connect to data files on your local system, Excel files, Azure
SQL Database, Facebook, Google Analytics, Power BI datasets, etc.

You can connect to cloud-based sources, on-premises data sources using

gateways, online services, direct connections, etc. We have listed some
commonly used data sources below.

 File: Excel, Text/CSV, XML, PDF, JSON, Folder, SharePoint.

 Database: SQL Server database, Access database, Oracle database, SAP
HANA database, IBM, MySQL, Teradata, Impala, Amazon Redshift, Google
BigQuery, etc.
 Power BI: Power BI datasets and Power BI dataflows.
 Azure: Azure SQL, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Analysis Services,
Azure Data Lake, Azure Cosmos DB, etc.
 Online Services: Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Google Analytics, Adobe
Analytics, Dynamics 365, Facebook, GitHub, etc.
 Others: Python script, R script, Web, Spark, Hadoop File (HDFS),
ODBC, OLE DB, Active Directory, etc.

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Power BI Pricing
Now, we are sure you must have started liking Power BI after learning what all
it has to offer. And so, you would also want to know its pricing and licensing
costs. We will let you know about the prices of different versions with their
features in this Power BI tutorial. Microsoft has put out three pricing plans for
Power BI:

 The basic version, Power BI Desktop is free of cost and includes tools for

data visualization, data preparation, data modeling, data cleansing and
publishing reports to Power BI Service.
 Power BI Pro is available at a subscription price of $9.99 per user per
month. You can try a 60 days free trial before purchasing the subscription.
This plan for Power BI Pro includes tools for data collaboration, a 360
real-time view for dashboards, data governance, and the freedom to
publish reports anywhere.
 The Power BI Premium is available at a price of $4,995 per month for one
dedicated storage resource and cloud computing facility.
Companies using Power BI
Power BI is a relatively new business analytics software in the market and is
gaining popularity very fast. It has gathered a huge customer base worldwide
already and is rapidly expanding. Here is a list of a few big names that use
Power BI as their business analysis software:

 DELL
 Capgemini
 Nuevora
 Accenture
 Agile BI
 Data Bear

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Power BI Case Study on Rolls-Royce
In this section, we will briefly walk through a case study of Power BI. This will
help us understand the role of Power BI in a real-life scenario. The case in the
spotlight here is Rolls-Royce. This 20-year-old company needs no
introduction.
As of this year, it is making more than 13,000 engines for commercial aircraft
used around the world. This speaks for its massive and ever-increasing
customer base. Now let us move further and see the challenges the company
faced and how Power BI proved to be useful.

The problem
The most fundamental challenge of the company was to optimize maintenance
costs, operational costs, fuel expenses, etc. This is only possible when the
company can record, access, and analyze the data produced by all the systems
and equipment of the aircraft. With the advancing technology, the systems can
record more and more signals which are the data from different aircraft
sensors. This has resulted in a constant increase in data volumes. So, the
company needed a good data management and analysis system that filter
important signals or data and use them to generate insights.

In addition to this, Rolls-Royce launched a customer service and maintenance

model known as “TotalCare Services”. It was a very successful initiative that
involved engine maintenance services for the customer. For this also, the
company needed proper insights into data so that they can establish a bond
with their customers.

The change
Rolls-Royce chose the Microsoft Azure platform and Power BI to manage and
analyze terabytes of data coming from the engines and maintenance systems.
With the help of Microsoft Azure, the company was able to aggregate data
from varied locations and sources. And with the help of Microsoft Power BI,
they were able to carry out analysis on the extracted data.

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With Power BI, they designed and created dashboards and reports having
informative visuals and charts. Earlier, creating informative reports to gain
insights into data was time-consuming. But with Power BI, it is the easiest
step in the entire process. Thus, Power BI plays a crucial role in providing
valuable insights into data so that the company can focus on improving
operational efficiencies and establish long-lasting relationships with their
customers.

Summary
This brings our introductory tutorial on Microsoft Power BI to an end. We
hope it helped you lay a solid foundation about the technology. In the tutorials
to come, we will expand on more interesting topics and tools of Power BI.

Top Power BI Interview questions

– Door to Crack your Power BI
Interview [2019]
Having the perfect study material while preparing for an interview is a must.
And, your search for the best guide on Power BI interview questions ends
here. We have gathered the top Power BI interview questions for freshers and
experienced professionals.

These Power BI interview questions and answers by DataFlair are explained in

a very easy and reader-friendly language. Without any more delay, let’s dive
into the latest Power BI Interview questions and answers.

Microsoft Power BI Interview

Questions and Answers
Here are the best Power BI interview questions and answers to boost your
interview preparation:

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Q.1. How would you define Power BI as a self-service solution?
Ans. Self-service business intelligence allows both technical as well as non-
technical users to work with data, create reports and analyze it to discover
important information. Power BI is also a self-service business intelligence
solution. Business users can use Power BI to gather, prepare, transform and
analyze data in their own ways. Self-service solutions like Power BI comes with
tools for data designing, modeling, preparation, filtering, visualization, etc. A
business user does not need technical knowledge to work on such self-service
software. Moreover, Power BI is a very user-friendly tool with attractive UI to
make intuitive reports and shareable dashboards.
Become a Power BI expert by completing 50+ tutorials of Microsoft Power BI
Q.2. Tell us about Microsoft self-service business intelligence solution. What are
its parts?
Ans. Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence allows business users
to create reports and dashboard, cleanse/transform data (ETL), create data models,
integrate data from different sources, do statistical analysis, predictive analysis,
geospatial data analysis, Big Data analysis, etc. The self-service BI solution is for
a range of users such as report consumers, report designers, data analysts, and
statisticians.
The Microsoft SSBI consists of two components:

 Power BI
 Excel BI Toolkit
Q.3. Explain the major concept of Power BI.
Ans. Power BI is a cloud-based, self-service business intelligence solution. It is
popularly used for data sharing and creating reports and dashboards. Power
BI is a user-friendly software that offers an attractive graphical user-interface with
intuitive visualizations. Business users can collect data from multiple data
sources at a time and work with it to create reports for analysis. Power BI has
on-premise, web-based, cloud-based as well as mobile platforms to share the
reports created for other users. The users you share these Power BI reports
and dashboards with can interact with it by filtering and using slicers
according to their needs. Thus, in a nutshell, Power BI is a business
intelligence platform based on the Microsoft cloud to create and share reports
for data analysis.
Q.4. What is Power BI Desktop?
Ans. Power BI Desktop is a Microsoft Windows desktop application for Power
BI. It is free of cost software which can be installed on any on-premise device
like a laptop or PC. The Power BI Desktop is loaded with tools and capabilities
to import, cleanse, design and model data. Also, it has many attractive as well as
interactive visualizations to represent data graphically in reports. The Power

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BI Desktop works in association with the Power BI Service. You can save the
reports/files that you create in Power BI or publish them on the Power BI
Workspace/site or with other business users.
Take a deep insight into Power BI Desktop
Q.5. What is Get Data in Power BI? Tell us about the data connections.
Ans. Get Data feature offers data connectivity to a number of different data
sources. The Get Data option is on the Menu bar of Power BI Desktop main
page. We can click on this option to connect our Power BI Desktop app with a
preferred data source.
You can connect to data files on your local system, Excel files, Azure SQL
Database, Facebook, Google Analytics, Power BI datasets, etc. You can connect to
cloud-based sources, on-premises data sources using gateways, online services,
direct connects, etc.
Some commonly used data sources are listed below:

File: Excel, Text/CSV, XML, PDF, JSON, Folder, SharePoint.

Database: SQL Server database, Access database, Oracle database, SAP HANA
database, IBM, MySQL, Teradata, Impala, Amazon Redshift, Google
BigQuery, etc.
Power BI: Power BI datasets, Power BI dataflows.
Azure: Azure SQL, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Analysis Services,
Azure Data Lake, Azure Cosmos DB, etc.
Online Services: Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics,
Dynamics 365, Facebook, GitHub, etc.
Others: Python script, R script, Web, Spark, Hadoop File (HDFS), ODBC, OLE
DB, Active Directory, etc.
Q.6. What are the building blocks of Power BI?
Ans. Power BI consists of some key components that can also be called its
building blocks. Five key components of Power BI are the Visualizations,
Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, and Tiles.
Visualizations: Visualization is the graphical way of representing the data.
Power BI offers a wide range of attractive visualizations. We can create reports
and dashboards using both simple or, complex visualizations as per our
requirement. In this way, we represent our data set graphically with charts,
tables, and maps. There is also a library available in Power BI for custom
visualizations.
Datasets: A dataset is a collection or a set of data gathered from different data
sources. In Power BI, we can connect to different data sources via the Get Data
feature and fetch data. There are many data sources from which we can get
data and create a dataset such as Excel, SQL Server, MySQL database, Azure,
Text/CSV, Oracle, PDF, Access, XML, JSON and many more.

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Reports: Reports in Power BI are a combination or collection of different kinds
of visualizations relevant to a particular business topic. A report is a graphical
and structured presentation of datasets having multiple pages. It used in the
analysis. Reports are informative and reveal important insights from the data.
We can easily share and publish reports created in Power BI with other users.
Dashboards: Dashboard is a collection of important visualizations taken from
a report. Dashboards are a single layer representation offering quick
information or insights into data. Typical dashboards in Power BI  are
composed of multiple visualizations as tiles. They are single pages from
reports (thus, single layer). Power BI dashboards are shareable as well as
printable.
Tiles: A tile is a single block containing a visualization in a Power BI
dashboard/report. Tiles segregate each informative visualization distinctively
to provide a clear view. These tiles can be adjusted as well as its size can be
changed. Also, they can be placed anywhere on the dashboard as per the user’s
convenience.
Note – The above Power BI interview question is mostly asked by interviewers.
Prepare it well.
Q.7. What are the filters in Power BI?
Ans. Filters in Power BI sort data based on criterions set by us. We can select
particular fields or values in a visualization/page/report and view filtered
information instantly. For example – if we have a dataset regarding the sales of
a clothing store. We can filter out the unnecessary information and view only
the data for the selected criterions. Like if we want information on sales in
India in the year 2019, we just need to put the filtering criterion as 2019 and
India from their respective fields. Power BI will immediately make changes
accordingly and only show the graphs and visuals specific to sales statistics in
India and in the year 2019.
Filters in Power BI can be applied on three levels; visualization, page and
report level.

 Visualization-level filter: These filters are applied directly on individual

visualizations. We can apply them on both data and calculation conditions
used within a visualization.
 Page-level filter: Page-level filters are applied on a particular page within
a report. As we know, reports consist of more than one pages. We can
apply certain filter conditions on a selected page within a report. Each
page in a report can have a different set of filter conditions applied to it.
 Report-level filter: Such filters are applied to the entire report. They are
applied to every visualization and every page of a report.
Time to master the concept of Power BI Filters
Q.8. Discuss about the Content Packs in Power BI.
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Ans. The Power BI content packs are packages or pre-build solutions that
contain several Power BI objects. The content packs might contain Power BI
objects such as reports, dashboards, datasets, Excel workbooks, etc. A user can
deploy their data/objects to the content packs and share them with others in
an organization. Content packs are shared and accessed via the Power BI site
(Workspace). You can share them with individual users or a whole group of
users. Thus, content packs make a standardized way of reporting for an
organization. Business users can update the data in content packs by
republishing them on-site and view live dashboards and interactive reports.
Generally, there are two types of content packs; the service provider content
packs and user-created content packs. The service providers such as Google
Analytics, Marketo or Salesforce, etc. provide pre-built content packs.
Whereas, the others are those that the users create and share within an
organization.
Q.9. What are the visualizations in Power BI?
Ans. Visualizations are the visual representation of data. Power BI offers a
wide range of attractive visualizations. We can create reports and dashboards
using both simple as well as complex visualizations to represent the data set.
There is also a library available for custom visualizations. We can format and
customize the visualizations as per your liking and edit every detail from the
appearance to the data labels finely.
In Power BI, we can create visualizations such as, Bar charts, Column charts,
Line chart, Area chart, Stacked area chart, Ribbon chart, Waterfall chart, Scatter
chart, Pie chart, Donut chart, Treemap chart, Map, Funnel chart, Gauge chart,
Cards, KPI, Slicer, Table, Matrix, R script visual, Python visual, etc.
Q.10. What are reports in Power BI?
Ans. Reports in Power BI are a combination and collection of different kinds of
visualizations relevant to a particular business topic. A report is a graphical
and structured presentation of datasets used in the analysis. Reports are
informative and reveal important insights from the data. Users can easily
share and publish reports created in Power BI with other users via Power BI
Desktop and Power BI website, cloud-based platforms and mobile platforms.
Learn to apply Filters in Power BI Reports
Q.11. What do you understand by dashboards in Power BI?
Ans. A Power BI dashboard is a canvas on which we can bring together
different elements or visualizations to represent datasets. A dashboard gives
us a graphical overview of the story that lies in the detailed BI report. It
contains all the important elements from a report. A dashboard is always a
single page whereas a report can be many pages long. The designers create a
dashboard and publish it on Power BI sharing platforms and consumers use
the dashboards from there. A consumer cannot make changes in a dashboard.

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Rather, they use the dashboard for analytical purposes like getting a quick
insight into their business, making an important decision based on the
information given on a dashboard, etc.
Q.12. What do you understand by Power BI Service?
Ans. Power BI is a cloud-based business analytics solution and provides
services regarding the same. The cloud-based BI services include sharing and
viewing Power BI reports and dashboards on cloud-based platforms such as a
Power BI website (Workspace). One can access a Power BI report of their
interest, for analysis on the Power BI site using a work email.
Power BI Service is a web-based platform from where you can share reports
made on Power BI Desktop, collaborate with other users, and create
dashboards. Power BI Service is available in three versions; a free version, Pro
version, and a Premium version. Power BI Service is also referred by names
such as, “Power BI.com”, “Power BI Workspace”, “Power BI Site” and “Power
BI Web Portal”.
Q.13. Tell us about the Excel BI Toolkit.
Ans. As we know, Excel BI toolkit is the other half of the Microsoft self-service
BI (one half being Power BI). This toolkit is composed of Excel and a few more
add-ins such as Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View, Power Map. All the tools
in the Excel BI toolkit serve a special purpose like importing, modeling,
preparing and visualizing data. Generally, the tools are used to create reports
by consolidating data from multiple data sources and to model the datasets.
Excel and other add-ins can be used independently or along with each other to
optimize BI capabilities of the toolkit.
Q.14. How many versions of Power BI are available as of now? How are they
different?
Ans. There are presently (2019) three versions or editions of Power BI i.e.
Power BI Desktop, Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium.
Power BI Desktop: Power BI Desktop is a free of cost development, authoring
and publishing tool of Microsoft Power BI. It is a user interaction platform
from where users can connect to multiple data sources, transform and clean data,
visualize and create reports.
Power BI Pro: Power BI Pro is a modern self-service BI having advanced
features for collaboration, publishing, report sharing, and ad hoc analysis. It costs
$9.99 per month per user.
Power BI Premium: Power BI Premium is an enterprise BI solution with
features and tools for advanced analytics, big data support, on-premises and cloud
reporting, etc. It also provides dedicated cloud computing and storage facilities.
It costs $4,995 per month (per instance of dedicated cloud compute and storage
resource).

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Note – The above question is the favorite Power BI interview question of most of the
interviewers. Learn it thoroughly. 
Q.15. What are some of the key features and capabilities of Power BI?
Ans. The key features of Power BI are as follows:
 Customizable dashboards
 Datasets
 Reports
 Tiles
 Get Data
 Navigation pane
 Q&A Question Box
 Help & feedback buttons
 Ad Hoc reporting
 Ad Hoc analysis
 Row-level security
 Mobile device compatibility
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
 Trend indicators
 Interactive reports authoring
 Complete reporting & data visualization tools
Dive deep into the Features of Power BI
Q.16. What are the key components of Power BI?
Ans. Power BI is a business suite that includes several technologies that work
together to deliver outstanding business intelligence solutions. Microsoft
Power BI technology consists of a group of components such as:
 Power Query (for data mash-up and transformation)
 Power BI Desktop (a companion development tool)
 Power BI Mobile (for Android, iOS, Windows phones)
 Power Pivot (for in-memory tabular data modeling)
 Power View (for viewing data visualizations)
 Power Map (for visualizing 3D geo-spatial data)
 Power Q&A (for natural language Q&A)
Q.17. What do you know about the views in Power BI Desktop?
Ans. In Power BI Desktop, you can view your dataset in three types of views.
You will find the three view options on the left vertical pane of the Power BI
Desktop:
 Report view: In the report view, we have an empty canvas where we can
create a report using data from our datasets. We can make a report of
multiple pages and add visualizations in them. So, report view is all about
designing your report for data analysis.
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 Data view: In the data view, we can view and format the data tables in
our data set.
 Model view: In the model view, we can make data models by establishing
relationships between data tables. These associations make the reports
more interactive and responsive.
Q.18. Where is the Power BI data stored?
Ans. All the data that we import in Power BI from different data sources get
stored in either of the two tables in a data warehouse; Fact
tables and Dimension tables. The fact tables are the central/main table of a
start schema which contains all the measure (quantitative data) values. It has
primary keys and all the dimension tables are linked to the fact table. The fact
table is not usually normalized.
While a dimension table is a table in a database which contains all the
attribute values (information about data) for the data stored in fact table.
Every dimension table in a star schema is linked to a fact table.

Q.19. What is row-level security? How is it used in Power BI?

Ans. The row-level security is applied to the individual rows of a data table and
restricts users from viewing and accessing the entire dataset. With row-level
security applied, users can view only a selected section of data. We can apply
row-level security by setting roles and rules in Power BI Desktop or by using
the username() function. The username() function will only show the data to a
particular user.
However, we need a Power BI Pro subscription to use the row-level security
capabilities.

Q.20. Tell us about the Excel add-ins for Power BI.

Ans. The Excel BI Toolkit for Microsoft self-service BI has got a number of
add-ins:
 Power Query for data mash-up and transformation.
 Power View for viewing data visualizations.
 Power Pivot for in-memory tabular data modeling.
 Power Map for visualizing 3D geo-spatial data.
Q.21. What is the difference between Power BI Premium and Power BI Pro?
Ans. Both Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium are paid services providing
advanced data analysis capabilities. However, there are some basic differences
between the two:
Features Power BI Pro Power BI Premium 

On-premise reporting using Power BI Report Server  No Yes

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 Compute processing environment Shared  Dedicated

Incremental data refresh No Yes

Share published reports  Yes No

Use paginated reports in Power BI No Yes

Data set size (max) 1GB 10GB

Maximum allowed storage 10 GB per user  100TB

Cloud service Yes Yes

Data security and encryption  Yes Yes

Create visualizations, reports, dashboards Yes Yes

Big Data preparation and ETL  Yes Yes

Power BI library access and custom visuals SDK Yes Yes

Data connectors for cloud and on-premise sources  Yes  Yes

Analyze data in Microsoft Excel  Yes  Yes

Content embedding in SaaS apps like SharePoint, Teams, etc.   Yes Yes

Mobile compatibility  Yes  Yes 

Pricing  $9.99 per month per user $4,995 per month per instance

Note – You can’t afford to miss the above question. It’s a very popular Power BI
interview question.
Q.22. In what ways and for what basic purposes can you use Power BI?
Ans. There are a number of ways and purposes by which you can utilize Power
BI:
Connecting to data: The first thing to do when we start off with working on
Power BI Desktop is to connect to a data source and fetch data. With the Get
Data option in Power BI Desktop, we can select and connect to a data source
from a long list of available data sources.
Transform and clean data: As soon as we connect to a data source, we can
transform and clean the data. We can transform and clean our data with an in-
built Power Query Editor. In the Power Query Editor, we can rename the table,

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change the data type, removing or adding columns, applying filters, and combining
data from multiple sources.
Creating visualizations: Once our data is transformed and loaded into the
Power BI Desktop, we can create visualizations using the data model. We will
get a set of visualizations in the visualizations pane given on the top right.
Creating reports: Power BI Desktop offers the perfect set of tools to create
informative and attractive reports. A report is a collection of visualizations
that together give an informative account and insight on the imported data. A
Power BI report can consist of one or more than one pages.
Sharing reports: After creating a report in Power BI Desktop, we can use the
Publish option to share it with others. To Publish a report to Power BI Service
having Power BI license is necessary. We can share the report at any location
of Power BI Service such as your personal workspace, team workspace, or
elsewhere.
Q.23. Can you briefly explain the working of Power BI?
Ans. To have a better understanding of Power BI, its working is divided into
three parts or phases.
1. Data Integration
In Power BI, data can be imported from different kinds of data sources in
different formats. In the data integration step, data is brought together
(extracted) from different data sources and converted into a standard format.
After data is integrated, it is kept in a common storage area known as
the staging area.
2. Data Processing
Once the data is integrated and stored at a place, it requires some processing.
The raw data is transformed by performing several processing or cleansing
operations on it such as removing redundant values etc. Relevant business
rules are applied to the processed data transforming it according to the
business needs. This transformed data is loaded into the Data Warehouses.
This completes a full process of ETL.

3. Data Presentation
In this final phase, the processed data is taken from the warehouse into the
Power BI platforms like Power BI Desktop to create reports, dashboards, and
scorecards. Power BI offers a wide range of visualizations. You can also import
custom visualization from the Marketplace. From the report development
platforms, the reports are published on the web or mobile apps to share it with
other business users.
Q.24. What are Custom visuals in Power BI?
Ans. Custom visuals are customized visualizations like charts, KPIs, etc. that
are created by developers from scratch using custom visuals SDK. Power BI
offers a rich library of custom visuals which you can select, import and use in
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your Power BI report. Developers use JavaScript libraries such as  jQuery, D3, R-
language scripts, etc. to create custom visuals. Once a custom visual is ready, it
is tested and debugged. Then they are packaged in a .pbiviz file and shared
within an organization or uploaded on AppSource as an open-source data
visualization. From the AppSource, any Power BI user (author) can import the
custom visual to use it in their report.
Generally, Power BI custom visuals are divided into three categories based on
the way they are deployed:

 Custom visual files

 Organizational visuals
 Marketplace visuals
Get a thorough understanding of Custom Visuals in Power BI
Q.25. What are the KPIs in Power BI?
Ans. KPIs are the Key Performance Indicators. The KPIs evaluates an
organization’s performance in different areas by evaluating values and
measurable goals. A KPI always has a base value or measure which is
evaluated against a target value. That is, comparing the actual performance
with the target. You can evaluate the performances in an analysis just by
seeing the KPI as they graphically represent the evaluation. Thus, KPIs will
show whether the goals you have set are met or not.
Don’t forget to check the Power BI KPI
Q.26. What are Slicers in Power BI?
Ans. Slicers in Power BI are visual filters that are present in the report page.
The slicers let us sort and filter information on a packed report. Unlike filters,
slicers are present as a visual on the report and we can select values on it while
we are analyzing the data in the report. For instance, if we have a sales
analysis report, you can make a slicer for years. From that slicer, we can select
the year for which we want to see the sales metrics such as 2017, 2018, 2019,
etc. The report visuals will automatically and instantly change to show the
information for the selected year.
Take a deep dive into Power BI Slicers
Q.27. How is the pricing scheme of Power BI laid out?
Ans. Microsoft has put out three pricing plans for Power BI.
For the basic version, Power BI Desktop is free of cost and includes tools for
data visualization, data preparation, data modeling, data cleansing and
publishing reports to Power BI Service.
Power BI Pro is available at a subscription price of $9.99 per user per month.
You can try 60 days free trial before purchasing the subscription. This plan for
Power BI Pro includes tools for data collaboration, a 360 real-time view for
dashboards, data governance, and freedom to publish reports anywhere.

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The Power BI Premium is available at a price of $4,995 per month for one
dedicated storage resource and cloud computing facility.
Q.28. What is Power BI Q&A?
Ans. Using Power Q&A option, you can search for your data or discover
insights by entering queries in natural language. It instantly understands your
query and returns relevant results.
Q.29. How can we categorize the users in Power BI?
Ans. There are mainly four types of users as per their purpose of usage of
Power BI. These four types of users are Analysts, Business users, IT professionals
and Developers. Let’s learn some more about them.
Analysts: Analysts use Power BI to develop reports, dashboards, data models
and study them to discover valuable insights in the data. Power BI offers a
wide range of data sources from which an analyst can extract data, make a
common dataset, cleanse and prepare that data to make reports and conduct analysis.
Business users: The business users are the common users who study the
reports and dashboards shared with them on Power BI website or mobile app.
Business users remain updated with the latest information which helps in
taking an important decision in time.
IT professionals: The IT professionals are mainly concerned with the technical
and managerial aspects like scalability, availability, and security of data. They
also centrally manage all the Power BI services and users.
Developers: Developers are involved in technical work. Their key roles are
to create custom visuals to be used in Power BI, embedding Power BI into other
applications, creating reports, etc.
Note – The interviewers can frame the above-mentioned Power BI interview question
in a tricky manner. So, answer it smartly.
Q.30. How are a Power BI dashboard and a report different from each other?
Ans. Let us run through some quick points to make the difference between a
dashboard and a report clear.
Capability Dashboard Report

Pages Consists of one page only.   Can be of one or more pages.

Can have data tiles from one or more datasets or

Data sources It has a single dataset per report.
reports.

Can perform filtering, slicing and

Filtering Cannot perform filtering or slicing. 
highlighting. 

Set alerts Enables you to set alerts for emails.  No option for setting alerts. 

Featured reports  Enables you to set only one dashboard as a No option to create a featured dashboard.

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 featured dashboard.

Accessing dataset tables Does not allow viewing or accessing underlying Provides the option for viewing dataset
and fields datasets tables and fields.  tables, fields and values. 

Advanced Power BI Interview

Questions and Answers [2019]
After completing the first part of Power BI interview questions, let’s move ahead
with the advanced Power BI interview questions and answers. This Power BI
interview preparation guide covers a bit complex interview questions and
answers of Power BI.
I assure you that after the completion of both parts of Power BI interview
questions and answers, you will not require any other kind of preparation
material. So, let’s quickly wrap up your interview preparation with some
Microsoft Power BI Interview Questions and Answers.

Top Power BI Interview

Questions and Answers
Here are the Power BI interview questions and answers for experienced
professionals to take your preparation to the next level:

Q.1. What is SSRS? How is it different from Power BI?

Ans. SSRS stands for SQL Service Reporting Service. It is a server-based
reporting generating platform. SSRS is a part of Microsoft’s SQL Server suite.
It is similar to Power BI in a lot of ways, but it is more of a conventional tool.
SSRS is mainly used for enterprise visualization of data and generating, viewing
and sharing reports. It has a programming interface with an integrated set of
processing components. SSRS has less graphical, drag and drop features and
more programming-based tools for the report making. Due to this, users need
to put in more manual efforts.
Here are some basic differences between Power BI and SSRS:

 Power BI is free, SSRS requires SQL Server license. However, you

require purchasing Power BI Premium license for Power BI Report Server.

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 Power BI cloud-based while SSRS is server-based.
 Power BI is more modern and graphical whereas, SSRS is conventional
and programming based. SSRS requires manual effort and time to create
reports and do analysis.
 We can use data from the cloud in Power BI. With SSRS, we can only
use on-premise data.
 Power BI now has Cortana integrated for AI-based natural language,
Q&A about your data and reports in Power BI. SSRS does not have this
feature.
 In SSRS, you need to purchase a license, define requirements and scope,
customize your software, deploy, develop reports in a coding interface, schedule
data refreshes, etc.
 Power BI has a graphical interface with the drag-and-drop capability to
create reports. You can work with unstructured data, use modern rendering,
publish, integrate and collaborate easily across platforms.
Check out a dedicated article on Power BI vs SSRS and find out the differences in
detail
Q.2. What are paginated reports?
Ans. A paginated report is an organized, document style page to page report.
Paginated reports are saved as paged documents where we can expand the
document vertically and horizontally to view the complete data. These reports
are pixel-perfect with a fixed layout. They can be the best options when we
want to print a report from a PDF or Word file. The extension used for
paginated files are .RDL.
Q.3. What are ‘Measures’ in Power BI? How can we create them?
Ans. Measures are formulas that are calculated to yield results of complex
queries (specific to the purpose and values it is used for). Generally, measures
are used in aggregational calculations such as sum, average, minimum value,
maximum value, counts, etc. The resultant values are in RAM storage because
measures are used relatively and may have different values when used in
different scenarios and contexts.
Measures  in Power BI are used to create advanced solutions and models for
data analysis and reporting. They perform real-time calculations based on
your interactions with data on your report.
We can create new measure fields for analyzing in Power BI Desktop easily.
We can also create a new measure field using New measure option and select
this option in two ways:
 One, by right-clicking on the table’s name in which we wish to add the
measure field and select New measure.
 Second, by going to the Modeling tab and clicking on New
measure option.

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Then in the formula bar, we need to enter the name of our measure and write
the expression for the measure.

Q.4. What do you understand by the Power BI Gateway?

Ans. Power BI Gateway is a software that is used to access data situated in an
on-premises network from the cloud. Gateways act as a gatekeeper for the on-
premises data source. If anyone needs to access on-premises data from a cloud
or web-based app, the request goes through the gateway. All the connection
requests are attended by the gateway and access is granted based on the user’s
authentication and requirements.
Gateways do not transfer data from the on-premises source to the client
platform. It only connects that platform directly to the on-premises data
source for the clients to directly access data from it. Gateways are used to
facilitate connections between a single data source or multiple data source to
the on-premises data source.

Don’t forget to check – Types and Working of Power BI Gateway

Q.5. What is Bidirectional cross-filtering in Power BI?
Ans. The bidirectional cross-filtering feature enables a free flow of filtering
conditions between data tables. In Power BI, some data models are simple,
with a star schema type association. Whereas some data models are complex
having tables with many to many relationships. Thus, by using the
bidirectional cross-filtering feature, a modeler can let the filtering conditions
be applied on both sides of a relationship or association. The filters have a
certain direction and can be applied to values in different tables according to
the relationship that the tables share with each other. Bidirectional cross-
filtering gives a lot of flexibility to the data modelers to create models and
apply filtering conditions on data tables with many to many relationships.
Q.6. What is Power BI Designer?
Ans. Power BI Designer is a stand-alone companion application of Power BI. It
consists of Power Query, Power Pivot and Power View, all together in one
application. Power BI Designer is used to create Power BI reports and other
elements and to work with data. We can download Power BI Designer from
the Power BI Site. The reports created in Power BI Designer can be later
published on the Power BI Service.
Q.7. What is DAX in Power BI?
Ans. DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is a formula language with
such expressions or formulas that are used for data analysis and calculations.
These expressions are a combination of functions, operators, and constants. The
expression is evaluated as one formula that yields appropriate results (value or
values). With the help of the DAX language, analysts can discover new ways to
calculate data values they have and come up with fresh insights. Power BI

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Desktop offers a library having about 200 DAX functions to perform complex
calculations.
DAX formula syntax and sample formula:

A. Name of the new measure

B. An operator indicating the start of the DAX formula and equating the two
sides
C. DAX function
D. The parenthesis (). Used to enclose and define arguments.
E. Reference table name
F. Reference column name
G. Another operator

A sample DAX formula is:

ProjectedSales2019=SUM(Sales[TotalSales2018])*1.08
This DAX formula commands the system to calculate the product of the sum
of TotalSales2018 and 1.08 (8% increase) and store the value in a new field or
column known as ProjectedSales2019.

You must definitely complete the Power BI DAX before proceeding ahead

Q.8. What is Power Query? Which language is used in the Power Query?
Ans. Power Query is an Excel add-on. It is a self-service ETL tool (Extract,
Transform and Load) which is used to import data, transform, shape/clean data
and load it for analysis. Power Query provides an interactive user interface to
manage and work with data. We can import data from multiple data sources
such as Big Data, files, databases, social media, etc. We can join data from
different sources and make one single dataset. Also, we can transform the data
by adding, removing and shaping our datasets as per our requirement.
The programming language used in Power Query Editor is known as M-code.
It is easy to learn case sensitive language.
Q.9. What are some key points about DAX usage in Power BI?
Ans. Some key points about DAX:
 DAX is a functional language. That means, its complete code is always a
function.

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 An executable DAX expression generally contains conditional statements,
nested functions, value references, etc.
 DAX formulas have two primary data types; Numeric and Non-
numeric or Others. The numeric data type includes integers, decimals,
currency, etc. And, the non-numeric consists of strings and binary objects.
 DAX expressions are evaluated in an inward to outward fashion. That is,
it starts from the innermost function going to the outermost one at the
very last. We should formulate our DAX expressions in proper order so
that the system reads it properly.
 We can use values of mixed data types as inputs in a DAX formula. Data
type conversion will take place automatically during execution of the
formula.
Q.10. Which table functions will you use to group data in Power BI?
Ans. There are two main DAX functions which we can use to group data in
Power BI; SUMMARIZE() and SUMMARIZECOLUMNS:
 The SUMMARIZE function is used to group data by columns.
 The SUMMARIZECOLUMNS function is generally used in Power BI
to group data by columns, expressions, and tables.
Q.11. What are query parameters? What are Power BI Templates?
Ans. Query parameters are the parameters which we can use as/in queries in
Power BI query editor. We can create new parameters in Power BI Desktop and
later use them in queries, data models and reports. Query parameters contain a
selected set of data values from the entire dataset.
Power BI Templates are data-less PBIX files, that is, empty Power BI templates
in which we can use our data. Such PBIX files are exported as template files
(PBIT) via share options or emails so that others can import their data into
them without having to create a template.
Q.12. Explain the Power Pivot. How is it useful for Power BI?
Ans. Power Pivot is an Excel add-in which is used to collect data from multiple
data sources, create datasets and use that data for analysis and drawing insights for
business and decision making. We can perform a lot of activities in Power Pivot:
 Import millions of rows of data into a single Excel workbook.
 Create relationships between heterogeneous data tables and rows.
 Create calculated columns and measures by using queries and formula.
 Build PivotCharts and PivotTables.
The charts and tables created in Power Pivot can be used in Power BI for
further analysis and report making.

Q.13. What is a Power Pivot data model? Which analytics engine used in Power
Pivot?

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Ans. The data models are the relationships formed between different data
tables to structure the information properly. A data model will have defined
data types, columns, associations, tables, relations, etc. The data models in the
Power Pivot only support single direction relationships that are one-to-many
and calculated columns rather than calculated tables in Power BI.
Power Pivot currently uses the SSAS in-memory Vertipaq compression engine.
The data models are stored in the in-memory of the client computer.
Q.14. How many active relationships can we have between two tables in Power
Pivot data model?
Ans. We can have more than one relationship between tables in a Power Pivot
data model. But there can be only one active relationship at a time in the data
model between two tables. While one of the many relationships are active, the
other relationships remain in an inactive state. In the Power Pivot data model,
active relationships are indicated by a continuous line and inactive
relationships by dotted lines.
Q.15. Tell us about “Query folding” in Power Query.
Ans. Query folding is the process of converting or translating the code in
Power Query Editor into SQL. Query folding is needed when codes or queries
are getting executed by the source database instead of the client machine. This
happens when there are limited resources on the client machine. It also helps
in performance optimization and scaling.
Q.16. What do you know about the transformation in Power Query Editor?
Ans. The Power Query Editor enables us to import data from multiple sources
and transform it in many ways as per our requirements. Some general data
transformation practices in Power Query Editor are:
 Change data types of columns.
 Rename columns.
 Replace values.
 Fix errors in Any Column group.
 Working with the nested data in Structured Column groups.
 Add custom columns, conditional columns, add measures, etc.
 Run R Queries directly on Power BI Query Editor by using Run R Script
function.
Q.17. Why should we use SQL code in Power Query editor?
Ans. It is good to use SQL codes in Power Query editor along with M-code
when we need to explain complex logic or want to add some additional
processes in the query. SQL statements simplify the M function and pass on a
bug-free, an easy-to-read query to the source database from the client
machine.
Q.18. Can you tell us why do we need Power Query when we already have Power
Pivot to import data?

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Ans. Power Query is a self-service Excel add-in, which is used to import data
from different sources, transform or manipulate it and then load it into Excel. It is a
typical ETL tool which is loaded with functionalities and tools to extract,
transform and load data from different kinds of data sources to create single
datasets. Whereas Power Pivot is also an Excel add-in, but it does not focus on
data transformation and preparation. Rather, Power Pivot is more
about loading data, creating data models and visualizing the data to gain important
business insights. In Power Query, you can connect to many different data
sources and manipulate the data instantly before loading it to any other
platform.
Q.19. What do you know about the Power Map?
Ans. Power Map is also an Excel add-in whose outputs we can use in Power BI.
Power Map has the tools to visualize geo-coded data in maps. We can create 3-
D visuals with heat maps, bubbles, columns on Bing maps. We can also use time-
stamped data points on the map.
Q.20. What are the different types of data refreshes in Power BI?
In Power BI, data of published reports can be refreshed in four ways; Package
refresh, Model refresh, Tile refresh, and Visual container refresh.
 Package refresh – The package refresh will refresh the report by
updating the data from SharePoint Online or OneDrive. Package
refreshing does not refresh data from the source but from its cloud
location.
 Model or Data refresh – This type of refreshing refreshes data in a report
from its original data source. Model or data refresh is done within the
Power BI Service with the help of gateway permission for on-premises
data sources. This method uses Refresh now, or Schedule refresh options.
 Tile refresh – Tile refresh refreshes the cache data of all the tiles on a
dashboard. It occurs in every 15 minutes automatically. If it does not
happen, we can select the Refresh dashboard tiles option from
the ellipses(…) icon on the dashboard.
 Visual container refresh – This refresh refreshes the cache of all the
visuals containers of a Power BI report.
Wait a minute! Have you checked – Power BI Dashboard Tutorial
Q.21. What are the calculated columns in Power BI?
Ans. A calculated column is a query or DAX formula generated column in a
data table. Each value in a calculated column is calculated while the code is
computed by the system. The values are a result of the evaluated and
calculated DAX formula. The values of a calculated column are not
compressed and hence take up more space in memory than other data values.
Q.22. How can we use a gateway for Power BI?

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Ans. You will be ready to use the data gateway in Power BI by following the
four steps given below:
1. Install a gateway in your system.
2. Add users to the gateway who need to access data from on-premises
data sources.
3. Connect to on-premises data sources. This step is important because
this is how users can use data from on-premises data sources for data
analysis and report generation.
4. Refresh on-premises data to keep the data in reports and dashboards up
to date.
Q.23. What is an Advanced editor in Power BI?
Ans. An Advanced Editor is an editor within the Power Query Editor. It is used
to view the M-code for any query. The Advanced Editor is generally used to
check the syntax of a query that will be run in the editor.
We can access the Advanced Editor from the Home or View tab in Power
Query Editor. We can select a query from the list of queries and work with it in
the Advanced editor window and analyze the code step by step.
Q.24. In what ways can you shape or organize data in Power BI?
Ans. There are three common data shaping techniques in Power BI:
 Removing the columns and rows from a data table.
 Adding indexes for the data tables.
 Applying a Sort Order on the values of a data table.
Q.25. How can we refresh Power BI reports after publishing them to the cloud?
Ans. We can refresh the Power BI reports after they are published on the cloud
using gateways. If we want to refresh the data of a report published on
SharePoint, then Data Management Gateway is used. And if the report is
published on the Power BI website then Power BI Personal Gateway is used
for data refreshing.
Q.26. Can we map geographic data into Power BI Reports? If yes, then how?
Ans. Yes, we can map the geographic data into Power BI reports in several
ways. Power BI has integration with Bing Maps which provides the coordinates of
locations on the map by default. This process is known as geocoding and the users
don’t need to manually provide longitude and latitude coordinates. You can
use the map charts and filled map charts in Power BI to use the geographic
data in Power BI reports and dashboards.
Do you know – How to apply Filters in Power BI Reports
Q.27. What is z-order in Power BI?
Ans. The z-order in Power BI is referred to the strategy or order of
arrangement of different elements on a Power BI report. The z-order helps us
in properly arranging all the elements in a report such as visualizations, tables,
slicers, etc. The Arrange option in Power BI helps us arrange or place report

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elements in z-order. Using that option, we can bring objects on front, send them
to back, and layer the visualizations, according to our need. So, in a nutshell, z-
order is the order of arranging or layering multiple objects and visual elements in a
report on top of each other. Z-order is also applied when we are using shapes to
enhance the design of a report.
Q.28. What are the important prerequisites for connecting Power BI to a
database in Azure SQL Database?
Ans. In order to establish a secure connection of Power BI and Azure SQL
Database, there is one important prerequisite. Before we make an attempt to
connect to an Azure SQL Database, we should configure the firewall settings to
allow remote connections. If firewall settings are not set up, we cannot have a
stable and secure connection to Azure SQL Database.
Q.29. What are the prerequisites of installing a gateway in your system?
Ans. The following requirements are necessary for installing a gateway in our
systems:
 .NET 4.5 Framework
 Windows 7 (64-bit version)/ Windows Server 2008 R2 or later
 8 core CPU
 8 GB memory
 Windows 2012 R2 (64-bit)
Q.30. Can we use Power BI on mobile devices?
Ans. Yes, we can use Power BI on mobile devices. Power BI has mobile
compatible apps for Android devices, iOS devices, and Windows 10 devices. We
can download the Power BI app for a preferred device from app stores such as
Google Play, Microsoft Store or Apple App Store.

Data Visualization

If your primary objective is Data Visualization, then Tableau is the most

preferred choice. Tableau is the best tool when it comes to Data Visualization
whereas Power BI focuses more on predictive modeling and reporting.

Deployment

Tableau has more flexible deployment options compared to Power BI. Power
BI is available only as SaaS model whereas Tableau has got both on-

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premises and cloud options. If for some obvious reasons your business policy
doesn’t allow for SaaS then Power BI is out of the picture. Though expensive
due to its flexible deployment and licensing options, Tableau is the winner
here.

User Interface

Tableau has a slick user interface which enables the user to create
customized dashboard easily. Power BI has a more intuitive interface and is
much simpler to learn than tableau. It’s due to the simplicity and ease of use,
why business users prefer Power BI.

Scrolling is a problem in power BI and no issue in table au

Data point limit in power BI

 Max points: 3,500

 Tableau v Power BI
The War of Words Heats Up
This week Tableau has come out on the offensive against Power BI with a presentation
entitled “10 ways Power BI Falls Short”. Aimed at educating IT and procurement executives,

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the presentation seeks to explain why companies should spend $999 or more for a Tableau
desktop license when Power BI is available for free.
In essence, Tableau’s points are that:
• Power BI limits data visualizations to only 3,500 data points so outliers can be lost when
working with large data sets.
• Many of the simplest calculations in Power BI require you to know DAX.
• There’s limited built-in trends and no forecasting (using R within Power BI might address
some of this concern, but users would need to learn/know R and it’s no longer a point-and-
click platform)
• Users can’t “slice and dice” data by more than two categories.
• Power BI has limited capabilities to customise and format popup content leading to
misinterpretations of data.
• Power BI can’t group data on the fly so you will have lots of prep work to do.
• You can’t download other people’s dashboards to use as a starting point for additional
anlaysis.
• There is noway in Power BI to tell a narrative with your data – no equivalent of Tableau’s
Story Points.
• There is no facility to input data into Power BI so you can’t answer “what-if” questions.

Power BI Hits Back

According to Computer World, Amir Netz, Technical Fellow and Chief Architect of Microsoft
Business Intelligence, gave a quick reponse to Tableau’s criticisms. “If you compare any
two products, you will always find some capabilities that one product has, and the other is
lacking. That said, I was really encouraged when I saw Tableau’s list of differentiators.
Tableau had to dig very deep in order to find some differentiators. What they are showing
are not really features, but selective differences in the behavior of some features. And even
with that list — a few of these gaps have been closed, and many others are in the works.”
In addition to Netz’s response, Microsoft also produced their own list, highlighting the
advantages of Power BI over Tableau.
• Out-of-the-box content packs for dozens of data providers, making it easy for business
users to connect to data.
• Dashboards that collect important visualizations from reports into what Netz called a
“higher-level view”.
• Natural-language queries to explore data and create new visualizations.
• Enterprise-class Saas BI, including connecting to on-premise data.
• A data engine Microsoft says is 10 to 100 times faster than Tableau’s.

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• Community-created custom visualizations that use an open visualization platform
(Tableau’s platform, Netz pointed out, is closed and proprietary).
• Native integration with Cortana, Excel and real-time data feeds.
• Automated quick insights.
• Integrated ETL (extract, transform and load) tool.
• A data model that supports large numbers of tables and more complex relationships
between tables. Tableau does not support more than trivial data models.

Competition is the Consumer’s Friend

Tableau’s list of Power BI’s failings have, of course, given Microsoft a neat to-do list – and
vice versa. As Microsoft seek to keep up their frenetic release rate for Power BI, and
Tableau seek to defend their No 1 positon in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, hopefully the
consumer can only benefit.

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