Business Intelligence with Power BI

Course Overview

The Business Intelligence with Power BI training course is designed to give participants a thorough understanding of Business Intelligence (BI) concepts while equipping them with practical skills to use Power BI for data visualization, analysis, and reporting. As a leading BI tool, Power BI allows users to connect, transform, and visualize data in impactful ways that support informed business decision-making. Through hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to create interactive reports and dashboards that bring data to life, making Power BI an indispensable tool for data-driven organizations.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Understand core BI concepts and the importance of data-driven decision-making
• Navigate the Power BI interface and utilize its features for data transformation and visualization
• Import and clean data from multiple sources to prepare it for analysis
• Create interactive and visually engaging dashboards and reports
• Apply DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) to enhance analytical capabilities within Power BI
• Share insights and collaborate effectively using Power BI Service and Power BI Mobile
• Understand and implement data security and governance within Power BI

Designed for

This training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

• Business analysts, data analysts, and data scientists who want to leverage BI tools for enhanced analytics
• Professionals from various industries who work with data and seek to improve their data reporting skills
• Decision-makers who wish to create data-driven strategies for their organization
• IT and finance professionals responsible for creating or managing reports and dashboards
• Anyone interested in improving data visualization and storytelling skills with Power BI

Learning Methods

This training course will utilise a variety of proven adult learning techniques to ensure maximum understanding, comprehension and retention of the information presented. This includes an interactive mixture of lecture-led learning & group discussions.

Day One: Introduction to Business Intelligence and Power BI Fundamentals

• Overview of Business Intelligence and its role in decision-making
• Introduction to Power BI components: Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, and Power BI Mobile
• Power BI interface and navigation basics
• Connecting to data sources (Excel, SQL Server, web sources, etc.)
• Data import techniques and understanding data types
• Hands-on: Setting up Power BI Desktop and importing sample datasets

Day Two: Data Transformation and Preparation Using Power Query

• Introduction to Power Query and its ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) functions
• Data cleaning techniques: handling missing data, removing duplicates, filtering
• Data transformation: merging, appending, pivoting, and unpivoting data
• Creating calculated columns and tables for enhanced analysis
• Practical exercise: Transforming raw data into a structured format using Power Query

Day Three: Data Modeling and DAX Basics

• Importance of data modeling and relationships in BI
• Creating and managing data relationships in Power BI
• Introduction to DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) and its functions
• Calculated columns vs. measures
• Essential DAX functions: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, CALCULATE, and FILTER
• Building hierarchies and creating time intelligence in Power BI
• Hands-on practice: Developing a data model and applying basic DAX expressions

Day Four: Visualizing Data with Power BI

• Choosing the right visual for data representation: tables, charts, maps, and gauges
• Customizing visuals and formatting options for impactful storytelling
• Interactive features: slicers, filters, and drill-through for dynamic reporting
• Creating interactive dashboards with KPI indicators and scorecards
• Best practices for designing intuitive and effective reports
• Hands-on session: Building a fully interactive dashboard using sample data

Day Five: Publishing, Sharing, and Power BI Service

• Publishing reports to the Power BI Service and setting up workspaces
• Understanding and managing user roles and permissions
• Creating and managing datasets, reports, and dashboards in the cloud
• Introduction to Power BI Mobile for on-the-go access to reports
• Collaboration and sharing options: sharing dashboards, embedding, and export options
• Data security and governance in Power BI: Row-level security, data refresh, and scheduling
• Hands-on exercise: Publishing a report and sharing it with stakeholders