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Microsoft Power BI For Dummies
Cheat Sheet
By: Jack A, Hyman Updated: 03-01-2022 From The Book: Microsoft Power BI For Dummies
Microsoft Power BI For Microsoft Power BI is an enterprise-class data analyics and business intelligence
Dummies platform that users connect to for data analysis, visualization, collaboration, and
distribution, The platform takes @ unified, scalable approach to business intelligence that
‘enables users to gain deeper data insights while using virally any data source
available. With Power Bl, you can access tools to suppor the entre data analysis
Wecycle — trom imparting to transformation to visualization and collaboration.
Power BI, as par ofthe Microsoft Power Platform, is complementary to its sister
application of Power Apps (for no-cadellow-code application development), Power
‘Automate (for worklow development), and Power Virtual Agents (for chalbots.). Each of
those applications works well with one another. Strong integration opportunities also
‘oxist between Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint) and Dynamics
365,
When you'te looking o realize the value of your data using Microsoft applications, oF
‘even third-party applications, Power BI can provide the insights you and your
‘organization look for at speed and scale.
Getting to know the Power BI versions
\When you want to select the version of Power Bl that’s right for you, it might become a
bit perplexing. That's because several versions of Power Bl are available — some fee,
‘some not $0 free.
When referring to free versus paid, you should always associate this with Power BI
‘Services, the online platform for Power Bl, Power Bl Desktop is always fre. Let's start
with the licensing models:
Version Description
Power BI Services Fr
‘A.user can access cantent in My Workspace.
Power BI Services Pro | A user can publish content to other workspaces, share
dashboards, and subscribe to dashboards and reports.
Users can share only with users who have a Pro or
Premium license.Power BI Services ‘Auser can publish content to ather workspaces, share
Premium Pay-per-User | dashboards, and subscribe lo dashboards and reports
Users can share with users who have a Pro or Premium
license. The main difference here is the number of
refreshes and capacity allotted atthe user level. This
‘option is intended for individual users with big data-
oriented sets,
Power Bi Services Tthas the same features as Pay-per-User, except that
Premium Pay-per- the scale and size ofthe storage repository and refresh
Capacity rate are even higher than the pay-per-user model.
may gata litte confusing because some ofthe products adverlised are free and
‘others require licensing. The versions of Power BI where production-ready data can be
‘exposed to users include Free, Pro, Premium, Mobile, Embedded, and Report Server.
Here's a description of each one:
Product | Description
Version
Desktop | The free desklop version af Power Bl allows a user to author reports
and data analytics inputs without publishing them to the Internet. If you
‘want to collaborate or share Desklop oulput, you need the Pro or
Premium version,
Free Considered the entry-level fee Cloud version, it lets you author and
store reports online versus the desktop. The only drawback is its
limited storage capacity and no opportunities for collaboration.
Pro In the entry-level paid version of Power Bl, you gota larger storage
allocation and the ability to collaborate with Pro licensed users,
Premium | The enterprise paid version comes in two editions: per user and
capacity. Per-user licensing is intended for those with big data
aspirations who also need massive storage scale without the global
dlistrbution requirements. Capacity is useful for an enterprise that
Intends to have many users. There is one catch with Capacty
licensing: You also need to obtain Pro licenses, What you're paying for
Is the storage and securty — which is the ler feature.
Mobile | Intended to be a complementary product to manage reports,
dashboards, and KPIs on the go, it offers limited, if any, authoring
capabilities. Your abilty o collaborate on mobile varies depending on
your license authorization
Embedded | This isa way to integrate real-time reports on publi or private-facing
products using the Power Bl API service in Microsoft Azure
Report | This server-based Power Bl products intended to produce reporting
Server _| output offline, Users store their reports on a server, nat online
Power BI Deskiop and Power Bl Free cost nothing,
but you have ile to no opportunities for
collaboration. If you want to collaborate, you need to
Remember purchase at least a Power BI Pro license,The basics of how to import and transform data in Power BI
‘Whether you're using Power BI Desktop or Power Bl Services, you want to know the
various ways to import data so that you can produce visualzations, reports, dashboards,
‘and KPIs after the madaling and transformation activities are complete,
‘You can use one of four storage modes in Power BI:
Direct Import: You can import the data locally, which allows for data caching
When you ingest the model, a user can employ all Desktop features available with
Power Bl
Directauery: You can create a connection tothe data source. In this mode, the
data isn't cached. Instead, tho source must be queried each time a data call is
made, Most data sources support Directuery. When you're looking fora choice
for big data, consider DirectQuery. However, if you require flexibility, steer clear
Live Conneetion: You can ingest data from the SQL Server Analysis Services in
‘connection with Power BI Desktop or Power BI Services, Live Connection
supports calculation-based activites that occur within a data model
Composite Models: When you need to combine the best of Direct Import and
DirectQuery or fulfill the requirement to connect to several DirectOuery
‘connections, the composite model is one to consider.
Regardless of the method you choose, the import process starts in Power BI Desktop
when you goto the Home tab. You'll find various ways to ingest data. The bulk of your
data sources can be found using the Get Data contextual menu in the Data area of the
Ribbons Home tab, shown below.
Gb a0go & a
It you want to avoid using Power Bl Desktop altogether and import an existing data set
you have or perhaps even ereate one online, you ean cary out this task in one of three
ways — Power BI gives you that option.
‘Sart by licking the Create icon (the plus sign [+] on the navigation bar along the left
side; see the following figure), and then either create @ new dataset online (using the
Paste Manually Enter Data option) or publish an existing dataset to Power BI Services
(using the Pick a Published Dataset option.)Power BI
Learning your visualization options
You've gone ahead and transformed and modeled the data in Power BI. Perhaps you
didn't use Power BI to complete the data cleansing and transformation process, Sl,
you have a large dataset that you want to visualize. Your endgame isto bring any sort of
dataset into Power Bl Services to create reports, dashboards, and perhaps a few KPIs.
‘You can create reports and KPI's using Power BI Desktop and then publish them to a
Power BI workspace. Alternatively, you can produce visualizations directly from your
dataset in Power Bl Services. Ether way, your end goal is to produce a type of report
that's shareable (assuming that i's more than just you accessing the report).
In any of these scenarios, you stat with accessing a report. In Power BI Desktop,
visualizing your data all happens on the Reports tab. (See the folowing figure.)
Reports tab
Ityou go the Power BI Services route rather than
ork with Desktop, you'd create a new report in a
Remember workspace,
‘Assuming that you have associated a dataset to a report, you have fields in the Fields
pane, visualization options in the Visualizations pane, and the ability to craft your report
in the Filters pane,
‘You can fier fields (as shown for the tor Recipients) when the dataset has hundreds
‘of fields. You tighten your queries in the Fiters pane.Power Bl includes more than 20 out-of-the-box visualization options, Many more can be
downloaded from the Microsoft website. The visualization options run the gamut from
bar charts, ple charts, treemaps, tables, KPIs, and matrixes,
Visualizations 7
a Feitore dela ds
Know the nuts and bolts of DAX for Power BI
‘You can accomplish 95 percent of your work using the low-cade, no-code capabilites
Integrated into one ofthe versions of Power BI. Al times, however, you may require a
‘granular manipulation of data or a deeper dive into your data,
When you want to make sophisticated calculations wit ite tono effort using &
structured approach, turn to the syntax language Data Analysis Expressions (AX).
DAX consists of formulas and expressions used for data manipulation in data analysis,
tools such as Power BI. Functions, formulas, constants, and operators are used as part
‘of DAX to create expressions that are easily entered using the editor tools in Power
‘Query, which isthe data transformation utity within the Power BI suite, (See the
following figure.)I you've ever used Microsoft Excel formulas and
caleulations, you sean natice that DAX Is merely an
advanced version with sophisticated data
manipulation capabilites targeted at business
Tp
inteligence and data modeling tools.
DAX combines three fundamental concepts: syntax, context, and functions. Each ime
you use the Power Query editor, you need to apply specific rules to create formulaic
‘expressions to create more precise calculations or manipulate datasets. So, what are
‘syntax, context, and functions exactly?
Syntax refers to the components within the formula you make. It's the language
used inthe formula, such as the command, sign, operators, column or row, or
tables. In other words, syntax is the programmatic structure,
Context refers to the target row incorporated into the formula for retrieval or
calculation. You naed to know two types tobe literate in Power BI DAX: row and
fiter context
Functions refer to the predefined and known commands in a system. These are
the commands that are readily used to manipulate data without having to craft
‘extended coding samples, More than 250 functions are available for DAX in Power
BI, which is well bayond what other Microsoft solutions offer.
Be consistent wth your naming conventions and
data formatting. Otherwise, it can become overly
Tp ‘complex to update your DAX formulas.
Look for these Power BI service-only features
Power BI Deskiog is useful when you want to work through datasets on your own, The
‘second that you want to share and collaborate with others, you need to begin publishing
your work from the Desktop to Power Bl Services, the online platform for Power Bl
‘The main reason you use the online version isto allow others to view your deliverables.
‘That can be accomplished using the Power BI Services Free version, When you decide,
though, to allow users to share and collaborate in Power BI, you need to leverage the
workspace.
Power BI has two types of workspaces: a project workspace and a personal workspace.
‘The Power BI workspace contains all content specific to an app. When designers create
‘an app, they bundle all the content assets necessary for use and deployment. The
content might include anything from datasets, dashboards, and reportsFrom Category
General Data Science
‘Whereas the project workspace is intended for sharing and collaboration using a
ccotaboration scheme with others, My Workspace is similar to Power BI Desktop. The
only dliference is that you control your self-created assets in My Workspace. In contrast,
project workspaces can also be managed by others.
You need to have the correct type of license to
‘access another user's workspace for collaboration
Remember ‘and sharing.
“The workspace isn't the only feature that makes Power BI Services worth the
investment. You get prebuilt reporting capabilities, including several that leverage
Microsofts impressive artifical inteligence infastructur:
‘Access management: Control who has access to which reports, dashboards, and
datasets within a workspace.
Create mobile-ready Power BI apps: Packages content specific to your project in
‘an app. Content may include reports, dashboards, and datasets
Quick Insights: A cloud-only Power Bl solution helps you analyze datasets and
find patterns, trends, and outliers.
‘Analyze in Excel: f your data isa bit too complex to deal within Power Bl and
you want to review a smaller subset with a familar business productivity tool,
Power BI integrates with Excel to allow an analyst to view and interact with their
data using PivotTables, charls, and slicers,
Usage metrics reports: Treat this one as a status check on how your content is
viewed or shared across platforms.
Paginated reports: A bultn, online-only option that allows users to create print
{tiendly reports for sharing and distribution. These reports are static because
they/te fixed for print-ready presentation.
Data lineage: Want to know what data sources are used for what reports and
datasets? If you want an upstream and downstream review of your data, data
lineage offers 2 360-degree view of your data chronology.
About This Art
le
‘This article Is from the book: Microsoft Power B Far Dummies
‘About the book author: Jack Hyman is Chief Executive Officer of HyerTek, an IT
consulting frm specializing in Microsoft's business platforms. He is Associate Professor
in the Computer Information Sciences depariment atthe University of the Cumberlands,
He has writen several books in the For Dummies series, as well as certification study
{uides forthe Microsoft Azure technology
This article can be found in the category: General Dala ScienceLaws and Raguiatons You Sv
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