PL-300: Day 1

06 January 2025 10:02 AM

PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst

Learning Path 1: Get Started with Microsoft Data Analytics

Learning Path 2: Prepare Data in Power BI: Get Data in Power BI Desktop & Clean, Transform and Load Data in
Power BI
Learning Path 3: Model the Data: Create Data Models in Power BI Desktop & Implementing DAX
Learning Path 4: Analyze the data: Creating reports & Advanced Analysis
Learning Path 5: Manage the assets in Power BI

Theory + Demos + Lab (Hands on practice)

6th Jan to 10 Jan 2025: 9:30 am to 1:30 pm IST

Break Time: 11:30 am IST (tentatively) for 20 minutes

Learning Path 1: Get Started with Microsoft Data Analytics

Part 1: Introduction to Data Analytics

Data Analysis: It is the process of telling a story with the help of data. In Data Analysis, we study the data and
try to find out different patterns and trends from it, which helps us to analyze the current state of our
organization.

Types of Data Analysis: Data Analysis is of 5 types:

1. Descriptive Analysis: It is the type of Analysis in which we describe the current state of our organization.
2. Diagnostic Analysis (Advanced Analysis): In this type of analysis, we try to find out the reason behind the
problems.
3. Predictive Analysis: This is the type of analysis, in which we try to predict the events of future based on the
events of past, by studying the trends and patterns of the historical data.
4. Prescriptive Analysis: Using this type of analysis, we try to provide solutions to the problems that we are
facing in our organization.
5. Cognitive Analysis: This is the type of analysis which is used mostly by Data Scientists in ML application,
where the application keeps on learning continuously from the data itself.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Data Analyst: The following are the roles and responsibilities of a Data Analyst:

1. Prepare
2. Model
3. Visualize
4. Analyze
5. Manage

Part 2: Introduction to Power BI

Power BI: Power BI is a Business Intelligence tool, with the help of which we will be to analyze of data and find
out different insights from it. Based on the insights, we will be able to take important business decisions.

Components of Power BI: Power BI as 2 major components:

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Components of Power BI: Power BI as 2 major components:

1. Power BI Desktop: This is a free-to-download desktop based application for Windows OS based users. With
the help of this application, we can do a lot of things:
a. Extract the data from different data sources for analysis purposes
b. Clean and Transform the data depending upon our requirements
c. Build data models based on the cleaned data
d. Implement DAX to enhance the capabilities of our data model
e. Create reports with the help of visuals to analyze the data and find trends and patterns from it
f. Perform Advanced analysis
g. Publish reports to Power BI Service for management and sharing

2. Power BI Service: It is a web based SaaS application for users to share and manage their Power BI assets.
Unlike Power BI Desktop, it is not free to use, rather we need a paid license to use it. With the help of Power
BI Service, we can:
a. Organize the published reports in our workspaces
b. Create Dashboards based on the published reports
c. Share the reports and dashboards with other people.
d. Create Power BI Workspace Apps for sharing purposes
e. Set up auto-refreshing of the data in reports and dashboards
f. Set up row-level security (RLS) to manage the amount of data that people see in the reports

3. Power BI Mobile: It is a free-to-download mobile based application for Android, iOS and Windows phone
based users. People will sign in to their Power BI Service account only in this application and using this , they
will be able to view the reports and dashboards that have been shared with them through Power BI Service.

Learning Path 2: Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop

Part 1: Load Data in Power BI Desktop

Connectors in Power BI: Connectors are basically APIs, which are used to connect to the data sources and
extract the data from them. In Power BI we are having hundreds of connectors to connect with many different
data sources and extract the data from them

Method to connect with different types of data sources:

1. Choose the connector the type of data source that you want to extract the data from
2. Provide the location of the data (Method to provide the location may vary with different connectors)
3. Fulfil the authentication requirements
4. Select the data that you want to extract from the data source

Data Connectivity Modes:

Import Mode: In case of import mode, a local copy of the data is stored in the pbix file. Due to this, if the data
at the source gets updated, then those changes are not reflected in the pbix file.
When to use import mode:
Import mode should be used in 2 cases:
1. When the size of data is small
2. When the data is not getting updated regularly

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Direct Query Mode: Here the data is not stored in the pbix file at all, rather only the metadata is stored. The
pbix file reads the data from the source in near real time, so if there are any changes to the data at the source,
those changes are reflected in the pbix file as well.
When to use Direct Query mode:
DQ mode should be used when:
1. When the size of data is big
2. When the data at the source is getting updated regularly

Errors while extracting the data from data sources

Some common errors that we can get while extracting the data from data sources:
1. Query Timeout: The data source was not able to respond to Power BI's request for extracting the data from
it
2. Timeout Expired: We get this error when we have extracted more data from the data source than we are
allowed to
3. Could not find data formatted as a table: This error is specific to excel files. Power BI returns this error,
when it cannot find data in the form of rows and columns in the excel file, from which it wanted to extract
the data.
4. Could not find file
5. There was an error in loading the data due to an error in a previous table:
6. Data Type Error: This type of error is returned when Power BI is not able to identify the data type of any
column or value in the data. Due of this, that column or the value can return a blank value.

Part 2: Clean, Transform and Load Data in Power BI Desktop

Power Query Editor: It is the inbuilt data cleaning and transformation tool which is available in Power BI
Desktop.
For using this tool to clean the data, we do not need to have any kind of technical experience, because this is a
GUI based tool

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PL-300: Day 2
07 January 2025 11:53 AM

Learning Path 3: Model Data in Power BI Desktop

Part 1: Data Modelling

Primary Key: This is the unique identifier column of a table. It is having certain properties:
1. There can be no duplicate values in this column
2. It cannot have null values in it
3. There can be only a single primary key column in a table.

Foreign Key: The column of one table, which refers to the Primary Key column of another table, is called the
Foreign Key column. The FK column also has some properties:
1. We can have duplicate values in the FK column
2. The FK column can have null or blank values in it
3. One table can have multiple FK columns in it

Fact Table: Any table, which is storing transactional data in it, is called a Fact table.

Dimension Table: The tables which store detailed information about one specific business entity only in them
and support the Fact table, by providing it with that information, are known as dimension tables.

Relationship between tables: It is a connection that is created based on the PK and FK columns of two tables,
which allows the data to flow between them. There are certain terms related to the relationships that we have
seen:
1. Active / Inactive relationships
2. Cardinality
3. Cross Filter Direction

Data Model: It is the structure that is created when we create relationships between multiple tables which have
been extracted in a Power BI file.

Types of Data Models: There are two types of data models:

1. Data model having a Star Schema

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2. Data model having a Snowflake Schema

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PL-300: Day 3
08 January 2025 09:52 AM

Learning Path 3, Part 2: Implementing DAX in Data Models

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX): It is a library of pre-defined functions and operators, using which we can create
our own custom formulae, which help us to extract even that data from the data model which is not already
present in it.

With the help of DAX, we can create 3 types of calculated entities:

1. Calculated Measures: These are single aggregated values, which are calculated based on a formula. There are
some properties of DAX measures as well:
a. Mostly measures are created on the Fact table
b. The values of measures are not saved anywhere in the table, rather they are calculated on the fly.
c. Measures do not increase the size of the pbix file, and hence do not decrease its performance.
d. We can create measures on demand
e. Measures can be based on filters
f. One measure can directly use another measure inside it

2. Calculated Columns: These are entire columns which are created based on a DAX formula. The properties of
calculated columns are:
a. They can be created on any table, based on the requirement.
b. The values of calculated columns are actually stored in the table and the pbix file, hence they decrease the
performance.
c. The value of the DAX formula, is calculated for every single row of the table.

3. Calculated Tables: These are entire tables which are created based on a DAX formula. The properties of
calculated tables are:
a. The tables also increase the size of the power bi file and hence decrease the performance

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PL-300: Day 4
09 January 2025 11:34 AM

Learning Path 4: Create Reports in Power BI Desktop

Report: It is a collection of visuals over multiple pages. With the help of the report, we can visualize our data
on different types of visuals, according to our requirements and we can find out different insights from it.

Points to be taken care of while creating reports:

1. We should be familiar with the purpose of the report, only then we will be able to put relevant data on it
2. Special requirements from the report like color blind friendly theme, screen reader, etc.
3. Color Schema needs to be taken care of
4. Proper orientation of the visuals
5. The report pages should not be cluttered with too much information

Process of creating a report:

1. We should be familiar with the requirements of the report
2. Extract the data, clean and transform it, create data models based on the data, and in the end implement
DAX to enhance the capabilities of the data model according to the requirements of the report
3. Choose which information we want to display on the report page
4. Choose the proper visualization to show whatever we want to
5. Populate the visualization with the data
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for displaying more data in the report

Types of visualizations available in Power BI

Some of the visualizations available in Power BI for our use are;

1. Table / Matrix Visuals: They are used for displaying detailed data in a 2-D (row and column) format
2. Bar / Column Charts: They are used for displaying the values of data which is distributed across multiple
categories
3. Pie / Donut Charts: They are used for displaying the percentage distribution of data across different
categories
4. Line / Area Charts: They are used for showing the trend of data with respect to a period of time
5. Map Visuals: They are used to display the geographical data on a map
6. Scatter Chart: This visual can be used for multiple purposes:
a. It can be used to compare multiple data values with each other at the same time
b. It can also be used for find out the correlation between 2 data fields
c. It can also be used to find out clusters in the data
d. We can also use it for finding out outliers in the data
e. We also use it for performing time-series analysis on our data
7. Card Visual: It is used for displaying a single aggregated value of data
8. Slicer Visual: It is used for filtering the data from all the visuals on the current report page
9. KPI Visual: It is used to keep a track of the performance with respect to the targets / goals
10. Power BI also has some advanced analysis visuals like Decomposition Tree, Key Influencers, Q&A Visual

Apart from these listed visuals, there are many other visuals as well which are available in Power BI

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