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Learn Power BI Total XP 32

DS Power BI

Introduction to Power BI - Tool

Business intelligence (BI) is a powerful tool that includes the strategies and
technologies used by businesses to collect, store, analyze, and visualize data to gain
insights that inform better business decisions. It's essentially the process of turning raw
data into actionable information.

For example, the GIF specifies how we can see our total sales by month and segment in the form
of Visuals.

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What is BI?
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Overview of Business Intelligence (BI) and related tools

Business intelligence (BI) is the art of turning raw business data into actionable insights.
It helps you to Uncover hidden trends and patterns, Make data-driven decisions, Boost
efficiency and performance, and Gain a competitive edge in the business. The top BI
Tools available in the market are:

1. Power BI

2. Tableau

3. Looker

4. Sisense and much more.

Introduction to Power BI and its components

Power BI is a business intelligence tool that helps you to turn your data into insights. With
Power BI, you can create interactive reports and dashboards that visualize your data in a way
that's easy to understand. Key components of Power BI are:

Power BI Desktop: A desktop application for creating and editing Power BI reports
and dashboards.

Power BI Service: A cloud-based service for sharing and collaborating on Power

BI reports and dashboards.

Power BI Mobile: Mobile apps for viewing Power BI reports and dashboards on
smartphones and tablets.

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Understanding the Power BI interface and navigation

The Power BI interface has three views and three panes in its interface.

The three main views available in Power BI are:

Report View is where you create and edit your reports and dashboards.

Table View is where you can view and edit the data in your Power BI model.

Model View is where you can view and edit the structure of your Power BI model.

The three main panes available in Power BI are:

The Filter pane allows you to filter your data to focus on the specific information you need.

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The Visualizations pane contains all the different types of visualizations you can use in Power
BI.

The Data pane contains all of the fields in your Power BI model. You can drag and drop fields
from the Data pane onto the canvas to create visualizations.

Getting started with Power BI Desktop

Importing and connecting data sources

Importing data sources in Power BI refers to the process of bringing data into Power BI
from various sources. This involves connecting to data sources, such as Excel files, CSV
files, SQL databases, and much more, and then connecting the data to Power BI for
analysis and visualization.

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Data loading in Power BI

Data Loading in Power BI refers to the process of importing or connecting data from various sources into

Power BI for analysis and visualization. It involves either fetching data directly into Power BI reports and
dashboards or connecting to data sources in real-time. Data loading is a crucial step in Power BI, as it sets

the foundation for data modeling, analysis, and creating visualizations. It supports a wide range of data

sources, including cloud-based services, databases, and flat files.

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Power Query Editor

Aggregation functions in Power Query are tools that enable the summarization or
consolidation of data within a dataset. These functions help compute statistical measures
like sum, average, count, Divide, etc., on specific columns or groups of data, providing
valuable insights and summaries for analysis.

For example: You use the add feature under the standard function from the add column
tab to add a new column to increase the column value by 20.

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What is Power Query Editor

Power Query Editor is a data transformation tool in Microsoft Excel and Power BI, that
lets you connect to various data sources, and clean, reshape, and prepare data before
using it for analysis.

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Add Columns (Power BI)

The "Add Columns" feature in Power Query is a functionality that allows users to add
new columns to their data. These new columns can be based on existing data in the
query, or they can be entirely new data inputs. This feature is useful for creating
calculated columns, such as those that result from mathematical operations, or for
transforming and manipulating data in various ways to suit specific analysis needs.

For example, if you have a dataset with two columns, 'Price' and 'Quantity', you might
use the "Add Columns" feature to create a new column called 'Total', which is the product
of 'Price' and 'Quantity'. This would be done by adding a custom column with a formula
like

Basic Transformation on data loaded and Power Query

UI
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Power Query offers various basic transformations to clean, manipulate, and reshape data.
Some of these include:

1. Filtering: Removing rows or columns based on specific criteria.

2. Sorting: Rearranging rows based on certain column values.

3. Renaming: Changing the names of columns or tables.

4. Splitting & Merging: Dividing a column into multiple columns or combining

columns.

5. Appending & Merging Tables: Combining multiple tables either by stacking them
(appending) or by joining based on a common column (merging).

6. Data Type Conversion: Changing the data type of columns (e.g., from text to
numbers).

7. Grouping & Aggregating: Grouping data based on specific columns and

performing calculations within those groups (e.g., sum, average).

These basic transformations in Power Query help in preparing and shaping data for
analysis or reporting purposes.

Data Modeling in Power BI

Data modeling is the process of structuring and organizing your data to create meaningful
relationships between different data tables within your Power BI file. It is crucial for creating
interactive and insightful reports and dashboards it’s like building a blueprint for your data.

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Understanding tables, columns, and relationships

Tables:

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Understanding of Fact tables and Dimension tables

Fact Table: This table contains the quantitative data for analysis. It usually has two types
of columns: measures and foreign keys to the dimension tables. Measures are the data
points that are being analyzed, like sales amounts, quantities, or temperatures. Foreign
keys are references to dimension tables.

Example: Imagine a table with sales data. It might include columns for the number of
items sold, total sales amount, and references (foreign keys) to other tables like the time
of sale, location of sale, and product details.

Dimension Table: This table is about the context of the data. It includes descriptive
attributes or fields that are typically textual fields. These tables help to categorize,
segment, and describe data in the fact table.

Example: A product dimension table might include details about each product, like the
product name, category, size, color, and other attributes. This information helps in
analyzing the sales data from the fact table by different product characteristics.

Joins (Power BI)

Cardinality refers to the relationship between tables in a data model and defines how
the values in one table relate to the values in another. Cardinality is expressed in terms of
one-to-one (1:1), one-to-many (1:N), many-to-many (N:N) relationships, and Many-to-
one (N:1).

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One-to-One (1:1): Each record in one table is related to only one record in another
table, and vice versa.

One-to-Many (1:N): Each record in one table can be related to multiple records in
another table, but each record in the second table is related to only one record in
the first table.

Many-to-Many (N:N): Records in both tables can be related to multiple records in

the other table, creating a many-to-many relationship. This type of relationship is
often implemented using a bridge table.

Many-to-One (N:1): Multiple rows in one table can be linked or associated with a
single row in another table.

Basics of DAX
DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a formula language used in Power BI for creating custom calculations

and data analysis. DAX formulas are similar to Excel formulas but are designed to work with relational data
and perform dynamic aggregation. A basic DAX formula syntax includes a function, and its arguments, and

often works in context with the data model.

Example: To calculate the total sales, the DAX formula could be: Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount]) Here,

SUM is the DAX function, and Sales[Amount] refers to the 'Amount' column in the 'Sales' table. This

formula sums up the values in the 'Amount' column.

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Understanding DAX syntax and functions

Power BI DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a formula language used in Power BI for
creating custom calculations and analyses. DAX is designed to work with data, allowing
users to build new measures and calculated columns from existing data. It's similar to
Excel formulas but is more powerful and designed for working with large datasets in a
relational context.

Syntax: DAX formulas typically start with an equal sign (), followed by a function name,
and then its arguments within parentheses. Arguments can be columns, measures, values,
or other DAX expressions.

Example:Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

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Different type of DAX

DAX functions in Power BI can be categorized into several types, each serving different purposes in data
analysis Like:

Aggregation Functions: Used for statistical calculations like sum, average, min, max.

Example: Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

Time Intelligence Functions: For time-based data calculations like year-to-date, month-to-date.

Example: Sales YTD = TOTALYTD(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Dates[Date])

Logical Functions: Include conditional logic.

Example: High Sales = IF(SUM(Sales[Amount]) > 100000, "High", "Low")

Filter Functions: Used to filter data.

Example: Filtered Sales = CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Sales[Region] = "North")

Each type of DAX function plays a specific role in data manipulation and analysis, contributing to the
versatility of Power BI in handling diverse data scenarios.

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Create basic calculated columns & measures

A Power BI measure is a dynamic calculation or aggregation performed on the data in a
dataset. It is created using the DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) language and allows
users to define custom calculations based on the values in the dataset. Measures are
typically used in Power BI reports and dashboards to provide users with meaningful
insights and key performance indicators (KPIs).

For Example: Suppose you have a Sales table in your Power BI dataset, and you want to
create a measure to calculate the total sales amount. The DAX expression for this
measure would be. TotalSales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])

A Power BI calculated column is a column added to a table in a Power BI dataset, and its
values are determined by a DAX formula. Unlike measures, calculated columns are
computed and stored in the dataset, taking up space, and their values are static.
Calculated columns are useful when you need to perform calculations that depend on the
row context and create a new column based on the existing data.

For Example: Suppose you want to create a custom column to track customer response
from sales then The DAX expression for this measure would be. Sales[CustomerCategory]
:= IF(Sales[TotalSale] > 100, "High Spender", "Regular Customer")
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Advanced DAX
Advanced DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) functions in Power BI are sophisticated
formulas used to perform complex data manipulations and calculations. These functions
are essential for deeper data analysis, enabling the creation of dynamic reports and
dashboards in Power BI.

For Example, The CALCULATE DAX function Changes the context in which a data
expression is evaluated.

Syntax: CALCULATE(expression, filter1, filter2, ...)

Example: CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Sales[Region] = "North America") -

Sums sales amount only for the North America region.

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Creating Basic Charts

Power BI offers various visualization tools like Bar charts, Column charts, Pie charts,
and Tables, each serving different purposes in data presentation and analysis

Bar Chart: A bar chart in Power BI is a horizontal graphical representation of data. It uses
bars to show comparisons among categories. One axis shows the specific categories
being compared, and the other axis represents a measured value.

Example: You can use a Bar chart to compare the total sales of different products across
a horizontal axis, making it easy to see which product is the best or least seller.

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Column Chart: A column chart is similar to a bar chart but displays data in vertical
columns. It's useful for showing data changes over a period or for illustrating
comparisons among items.

Example: A Column chart could be used to show monthly revenue for a year, with each
column representing a different month, making it easy to track revenue trends over time.

Pie Chart: A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic divided into slices to illustrate
numerical proportions. Each slice represents a category's contribution to the whole.

Example: To display the market share of different companies within an industry, a Pie
chart can be used, with each slice representing a company's share of the total market.

Tables: Tables in Power BI are a grid that displays data in rows and columns. They are
best for detailed data views and for cases where it is important to display numbers
precisely.

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Example: A table can be used to list detailed sales data, including columns for product
name, sales amount, sales region, and quantity sold, providing a comprehensive view of
the sales data.

Power BI offers various visualization tools like Bar charts, Column charts, Pie charts,
and Tables, each serving different purposes in data presentation and analysis

Bar Chart: A bar chart in Power BI is a horizontal graphical representation of data. It uses
bars to show comparisons among categories. One axis shows the specific categories
being compared, and the other axis represents a measured value.

Example: You can use a Bar chart to compare the total sales of different products across
a horizontal axis, making it easy to see which product is the best or least seller.

Column Chart: A column chart is similar to a bar chart but displays data in vertical
columns. It's useful for showing data changes over a period or for illustrating

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comparisons among items.

Example: A Column chart could be used to show monthly revenue for a year, with each
column representing a different month, making it easy to track revenue trends over time.

Pie Chart: A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic divided into slices to illustrate
numerical proportions. Each slice represents a category's contribution to the whole.

Example: To display the market share of different companies within an industry, a Pie
chart can be used, with each slice representing a company's share of the total market.

Tables: Tables in Power BI are a grid that displays data in rows and columns. They are
best for detailed data views and for cases where it is important to display numbers
precisely.

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Example: A table can be used to list detailed sales data, including columns for product
name, sales amount, sales region, and quantity sold, providing a comprehensive view of
the sales data.

Data Visualization and Reporting

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