 i

Mastering
Power BI
Build business intelligence applications powered
with DAX calculations, insightful
visualizations, advanced BI
techniques, and loads of data sources

2nd Edition

Chandraish Sinha

www.bpbonline.com
ii 
Second Revised and Updated Edition 2024

First Edition 2022

Copyright © BPB Publications, India

ISBN: 978-93-55517-166

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in
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The information contained in this book is true to correct and the best of author’s and publisher’s
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www.bpbonline.com
  iii

Dedicated to
Ishie
My daughter, who taught me that patience is a virtue
iv 

About the Author

Chandraish Sinha is the Founder and President of Ohio Computer Academy, a company
dedicated to providing IT education.

An enthusiastic IT trainer, Chandraish embodies his company’s motto: Inspire, Educate

and Evolve.

He is a Business Intelligence (BI) enthusiast and explorer, having successfully implemented

multiple large and medium-scale BI solutions. Over his 24-year career, Chandraish has
worked extensively with various BI and dashboarding applications, including Power BI,
Tableau, QlikView, Qlik Sense, IBM Cognos, Business Objects, and Actuate. His passion
lies in data, and he actively explores applications that offer enhanced data insights.
  v

About the Reviewers

v Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power BI and has an extensive background working with
SharePoint and the Power Platform. She is currently employed by TSinfo Technologies
as a Power Platform specialist for Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power
Virtual Agents. She is the author of the Microsoft Power Platform A Deep Dive book
and the co-author of the SharePoint Online Modern Experience Practical Guide book
(BPB Publications). Also, she has contributed a significant amount of time on technical
articles on the Power Platform to SPGuides.com and EnjoySharePoint.com. In addition
to traveling, she enjoys spending time with her family during her free time.

v Sriram Chaitanya Puvvada is a seasoned Business Intelligence and Data Engineering

Consultant with a rich professional history spanning over 9 years. His expertise extends
across various industry verticals, including SAP Retail, Pharma, Manufacturing, and
Transportation, with a remarkable track record of delivering projects for prestigious
clients globally.
Having served as a Solutions Architect, Project Manager, Scrum Master, and Product
Owner, Sriram is adept at leading diverse teams, both onshore and offshore, to
successful project outcomes. His proficiency encompasses a wide array of tools and
technologies such as Data Bricks, ADF, SAP BI, Power BI, Tableau, and more, enabling
him to implement and maintain BI analytical solutions effectively.
Sriram's dedication to excellence has been recognized through accolades like the Star
Employee award and commendations from prominent clients like Arriva Plc and
SEG Automotive. He is also known for his contribution as a Technical Content Writer
for Google Cloud Publications and his pivotal role in obtaining ISO certifications
for organizations. Sriram's commitment to delivering high-quality solutions within
schedule and budget constraints underscores his reputation as a valuable asset in the
field of Business Intelligence and Data Engineering.

v Vivek Menon M is an AI and Data Science professional with six years of experience
in the industry. In his independent career, he has worked in advanced areas of NLP,
Computer Vision, Generative AI, Data Analytics, Python, Machine Learning, etc., to
gain comprehensive knowledge and skills in the field. As an eloquent speaker, Vivek
frequently presents seminars, and workshops to share his insights and experience in
the field, thereby adding value to the broader AI community. He enjoys the natural
vi 
ability to break down even the most complex topics to make them understandable
and accommodative among listeners, strengths that make him a compelling and
authoritative speaker. Beyond a successful job, Vivek is a reader, a characteristic that
allows him to learn a wide range of subjects, from computational theories to classic
books. His diverse learning style allows him to mold an integrative approach to AI
implementations that foster success. He is also involved in mentoring activities for
young data scientists, reflecting that he is committed to educating and mentoring
young professionals to mold their future as suitable data science professionals.
  vii

Acknowledgement

I extend my sincere gratitude to all my readers who supported the first edition of Mastering
Power BI. Your feedback and responses guided me in crafting the second edition of this
book.

I am deeply appreciative of all my readers who have supported my various books and
motivated me to continue writing. I carefully consider each review and feedback provided,
and your encouragement fuels my passion for sharing knowledge.

A special thank you to Preeti, Vivek, and Sriram, the technical reviewers of this book, for
meticulously reviewing the entire manuscript and offering invaluable suggestions.

Lastly, I express my gratitude to BPB Publications for granting me this opportunity. Writing
a book involves the collaboration of many individuals, and I am thankful to everyone
involved for their support and assistance throughout this endeavor.
viii 

Preface

Welcome to the second edition of Mastering Power BI. Since the release of the first edition,
the world of data analytics has continued to evolve at a rapid pace. Power BI desktop
has introduced new tools, techniques, and features, reshaping the way we analyze and
visualize data. In this dynamic landscape, staying ahead requires not just keeping up with
the latest advancements, but also mastering the core principles that underpin them.

This book provides a comprehensive guide in unleashing the full potential of Power BI.
Whether you are a seasoned data professional or just beginning your journey into the
world of business intelligence, this book is designed to equip you with the knowledge and
skills needed to succeed.

In this second edition, we have updated and expanded upon the content of the first edition
to ensure it remains relevant and valuable in today's data-driven world. It incorporates
new features and functionalities of Power BI, explores advanced data transformation
techniques, covers Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), introduces the much-needed
Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts, and offers practical step-by-step exercises to illustrate
all the concepts.

Throughout the book, readers will find step-by-step instructions and hands-on exercises
designed to reinforce learning and empower them to tackle real-world challenges with
confidence. Whether you are building robust data models, creating visually stunning
reports and dashboards, or uncovering hidden data insights using AI, Mastering Power BI
will be your trusted companion on your journey to becoming a Power BI expert.

The primary challenge I faced in writing this book was the changes introduced by Power
BI. A few times, the look-and-feel of the application has changed. I have tried my best to
keep up with the changes but in case you find some discrepancies, remember the changes
are only in the interface not in the concepts.

With this book, you will gain the knowledge and skills to become a proficient Power BI
developer.

I invite you to explore the possibilities, and embark on a transformative journey with
Power BI. Let us unlock the full potential of your data together. I hope you will find this
book informative and helpful.
  ix

Chapter 1: Understanding the Basics – This chapter covers the basics of Business
Intelligence and explains all the important terms and definitions. It also explains the
different components of Power BI and what they do. It will assist you in installing the
Power BI desktop and provide an overview of the data tables used in the book.

Chapter 2: Connect and Shape – This chapter explains how Power BI connects to data
from disparate sources, such as database tables, XLS files, relational database and many
more. It also introduces you to Query Editor and describes how to use it to shape your
data.

Chapter 3: Advanced Data Transformations – In this chapter, we will cover advanced

data transformations in Power BI. It explains the data profiling techniques using Query
Editor and how to perform data transformations on text, numeric data, and dates. It also
covers the use data source parameters to manage data connections.

Chapter 4: Optimize Your Data Model – This chapter deals with creating and optimizing
a data model in Power BI. It covers relationships and how to create them in Power BI. It
also explains how to create joins by using merge and append functionalities.

Chapter 5: Data Analysis Expressions – This chapter explains DAX, which is essential for
any Power BI implementation. The chapter covers the concepts of calculated columns and
measures. Additionally, it explains all the main functions and shows how to implement
them.

Chapter 6: Visualizations in Power BI – Visualizations are essential as they assist in

understanding the data. This chapter covers all the visualizations available in Power BI
and explains when to use them.

Chapter 7: Drill Through and Drill Down Reports – This chapter covers how to get more
insights into the data by using the Drill through and drill down reports in Power BI. It also
elucidates how to create custom data hierarchies.

Chapter 8: Artificial Intelligence in Power BI – This chapter shows the importance of AI

and how it is used in Power BI. It explains the use of AI visuals to get better data insights.

Chapter 9: Power BI Service – This chapter describes the components of Power BI Service.
You will deploy the application created in the Power BI desktop to Power BI Service. This
chapter also teaches how to connect to data and create visualizations in Power BI Service.

Chapter 10: Securing Your Application – We have introduced the concept of Row-level
security (RLS). It is essential to secure the data to prevent unauthorized access and users
see only the data they are authorized to view.
x 

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  xi

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xii 

Table of Contents

1. Understanding the Basics...................................................................................................... 1

Introduction........................................................................................................................ 1
Structure.............................................................................................................................. 1
Objectives........................................................................................................................... 2
Understanding business intelligence............................................................................. 2
Advantages of BI system............................................................................................... 2
Components of BI.......................................................................................................... 3
Data sets........................................................................................................................ 3
Extract, Transform, and Load....................................................................................... 3
Data warehouse............................................................................................................. 3
Data mart...................................................................................................................... 4
Data model.................................................................................................................... 5
Concepts of the star and snowflake schema.................................................................. 7
Star schema................................................................................................................... 7
Snowflake schema.......................................................................................................... 8
Key performance indicator ............................................................................................. 9
Visualization................................................................................................................. 9
Dashboard.................................................................................................................... 10
Power BI as a business intelligence application......................................................... 10
Functions of Power BI ................................................................................................ 11
Power BI components.................................................................................................. 11
Power BI environment................................................................................................ 13
Different users of Power BI............................................................................................ 14
Power BI desktop developer......................................................................................... 14
Power BI analyst......................................................................................................... 15
Power User.................................................................................................................. 15
Executive user............................................................................................................. 16
Power BI licensing........................................................................................................... 16
Installation of Power BI desktop .................................................................................. 17
Installation.................................................................................................................. 17
Configuring Power BI desktop options and settings................................................... 18
Power BI desktop interface............................................................................................ 21
  xiii

Development life cycle in Power BI desktop.............................................................. 23

Initiate a Power BI implementation as a developer..................................................... 24
Overview of the data used in this book....................................................................... 25
Power BI development setup for learning................................................................... 26
Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 27
Questions.......................................................................................................................... 27
Answers....................................................................................................................... 28

2. Connect and Shape............................................................................................................... 29

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 29
Structure............................................................................................................................ 29
Objectives......................................................................................................................... 30
Data connections in Power BI........................................................................................ 30
Connecting to data.......................................................................................................... 38
Connecting to database tables..................................................................................... 38
Loading the table......................................................................................................... 38
Understanding Power Query Editor............................................................................ 40
Verifying the loaded query.......................................................................................... 44
Changing the default summarization......................................................................... 44
Changing the display format of the numbers.............................................................. 45
Review your model...................................................................................................... 46
Loading customers and products tables...................................................................... 47
Verifying the loaded query.......................................................................................... 49
Changing the default summarization for the Products table...................................... 49
Review your model...................................................................................................... 50
Loading data from an Excel file................................................................................... 50
Loading Category data from an Excel file................................................................... 50
Loading multiple CSV files from a folder.................................................................... 52
Loading data from MS SQL server............................................................................... 54
Import and DirectQuery............................................................................................. 54
Creating static table in Power BI................................................................................ 56
The need for a static table in the model....................................................................... 57
Review the data model................................................................................................. 59
Bonus section................................................................................................................... 60
Connecting to web data source.................................................................................... 60
xiv 
Loading data from SharePoint..................................................................................... 62
Connecting to SharePoint using ODataFeed............................................................. 63
Connecting to the SharePoint Lists using the SharePoint connector......................... 65
Useful transformations using Query Editor.............................................................. 70
Applying Group By to CustomerSales_Report........................................................... 75
Group By to calculate Total by Customer................................................................... 76
Advanced group by to calculate totals........................................................................ 77
Creating a Column in Query Editor........................................................................... 78
Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 79
Questions.......................................................................................................................... 80
Answers....................................................................................................................... 80

3. Advanced Data Transformations........................................................................................ 81

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 81
Structure............................................................................................................................ 81
Objectives......................................................................................................................... 82
Data profiling using Query Editor................................................................................ 82
Data profiling.............................................................................................................. 82
Data profiling options in Query Editor...................................................................... 83
Performing data profiling on a table........................................................................... 84
Validating Column quality......................................................................................... 86
Understanding the errors reported by Column quality.............................................. 87
Validating column distribution.................................................................................. 89
Caution before taking Query Editor suggestion......................................................... 90
Validating column profile............................................................................................ 90
Data transformation on text data.................................................................................. 91
Trim leading and trailing spaces................................................................................. 92
Delimiter option to create a new column.................................................................... 93
Using the Merge Columns option............................................................................... 94
Data transformation on Numeric Data........................................................................ 95
The statistics option.................................................................................................... 95
The standard option.................................................................................................... 96
Data transformation on Dates....................................................................................... 97
The gear symbol in applied steps................................................................................. 98
Utilizing Data Source parameters............................................................................... 100
Using a parameter to change the data source........................................................... 100
  xv

Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 102
Questions........................................................................................................................ 103
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 103

4. Optimize Your Data Model............................................................................................... 105

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 105
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 105
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 106
Introduction to data modeling.................................................................................... 106
Best practices of data modeling................................................................................. 106
Review and create relationships................................................................................. 107
Establishing relationships......................................................................................... 107
Review the loaded tables.............................................................................................. 108
Review the orders and products relationship............................................................ 109
Manually linking orders and customers table.......................................................... 110
Manually linking products and category tables........................................................ 112
Manually linking orders and sales tables.................................................................. 112
Review the data model............................................................................................... 112
About model explorer in model view......................................................................... 113
Combining queries in Power BI.................................................................................. 114
Combining queries using joins.................................................................................. 114
Joins........................................................................................................................... 115
Loading OrderDetails.xlsx ....................................................................................... 115
Left outer join............................................................................................................ 116
Right outer join......................................................................................................... 118
Full outer join........................................................................................................... 119
Left anti..................................................................................................................... 119
Right anti.................................................................................................................. 120
Handling Multiple Fact tables.................................................................................. 120
Combining queries using append.............................................................................. 120
Append records from NewCustomers table to Customers ....................................... 121
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 123
Questions........................................................................................................................ 123
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 124
xvi 
5. Data Analysis Expressions................................................................................................ 125
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 125
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 125
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 126
Introduction to DAX..................................................................................................... 126
DAX functions.......................................................................................................... 126
Overview of DAX functions..................................................................................... 127
Calculated columns and measures............................................................................. 128
Calculated columns................................................................................................... 128
Exercise 1.................................................................................................................. 129
Verify the Unit Price calculation.............................................................................. 130
Exercise 2.................................................................................................................. 131
Calculated measure................................................................................................... 132
Exercise 3.................................................................................................................. 133
Quick measures......................................................................................................... 134
Creating a quick measure.......................................................................................... 135
Exercise 4.................................................................................................................. 136
Mathematical functions................................................................................................ 138
Sum........................................................................................................................... 138
Exercise 5.................................................................................................................. 138
SumX........................................................................................................................ 139
SumX versus Sum.................................................................................................... 140
Using SumX............................................................................................................. 140
Exercise 6.................................................................................................................. 140
Count functions............................................................................................................. 141
Count......................................................................................................................... 141
Exercise 7.................................................................................................................. 141
CountA...................................................................................................................... 142
Exercise 8.................................................................................................................. 142
Using Count and CountA......................................................................................... 143
CountX...................................................................................................................... 145
CountAX................................................................................................................... 145
CountBlank............................................................................................................... 145
CountRows................................................................................................................ 145
Information functions................................................................................................... 146
  xvii

ISERROR.................................................................................................................. 146
Exercise 9.................................................................................................................. 146
USERNAME............................................................................................................ 146
Exercise 10................................................................................................................ 146
LOOKUPVALUE...................................................................................................... 147
LOOKUPVALUE: SalesPerson_Location and Sales Person.................................... 147
Hiding the redundant tables..................................................................................... 148
Logical functions........................................................................................................... 150
IF............................................................................................................................... 150
Exercise 11................................................................................................................. 150
And............................................................................................................................ 151
Exercise 12................................................................................................................ 151
Switch........................................................................................................................ 152
Exercise 13................................................................................................................ 152
Filter functions............................................................................................................... 153
Filter.......................................................................................................................... 153
Calculate.................................................................................................................... 153
Exercise 14................................................................................................................ 154
CalculateTable........................................................................................................... 154
Exercise 15................................................................................................................ 155
Optional example...................................................................................................... 155
ALL............................................................................................................................ 156
Exercise 16................................................................................................................ 156
Related....................................................................................................................... 157
Exercise 17................................................................................................................ 157
RelatedTable............................................................................................................... 159
Values........................................................................................................................ 159
Exercise 18................................................................................................................ 159
Date and time functions............................................................................................... 160
Calendar.................................................................................................................... 160
Exercise 19................................................................................................................ 160
DateDiff..................................................................................................................... 161
Exercise 20................................................................................................................ 161
Variables in DAX expressions...................................................................................... 162
VAR statement........................................................................................................... 162
xviii 
Exercise 21................................................................................................................ 163
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 164
Questions........................................................................................................................ 164
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 164

6. Visualizations in Power BI................................................................................................ 165

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 165
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 165
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 166
Review the data model................................................................................................. 166
Understanding visualization....................................................................................... 166
Introduction to Power BI reports................................................................................ 167
Creating a report....................................................................................................... 167
Standardizing report development............................................................................. 171
Report themes............................................................................................................ 171
Applying built-in theme............................................................................................ 171
Creating and using templates................................................................................... 173
Power BI desktop projects ........................................................................................ 174
Creating multi-page reports using visualizations.................................................... 174
Remove any pages or visualizations.......................................................................... 175
Creating visualizations............................................................................................. 175
Card........................................................................................................................... 175
Exercise 1.................................................................................................................. 176
Copy/paste a visual................................................................................................... 177
Bar and column chart................................................................................................ 179
Exercise 2.................................................................................................................. 179
Filters and slicers........................................................................................................... 181
Line and area chart.................................................................................................... 185
Exercise 3.................................................................................................................. 186
Line and stacked column chart.................................................................................. 188
Exercise 4.................................................................................................................. 188
Ribbon chart.............................................................................................................. 189
Exercise 5.................................................................................................................. 189
Waterfall, funnel, and scatter charts......................................................................... 191
Exercise 6.................................................................................................................. 191
Scatter chart.............................................................................................................. 192
  xix

Exercise 7.................................................................................................................. 192

Pie, donut, and treemap charts................................................................................. 195
Exercise 8.................................................................................................................. 195
Treemap..................................................................................................................... 196
Exercise 9.................................................................................................................. 196
Highlighting and Cross filtering............................................................................... 197
Exercise 10 ............................................................................................................... 197
Map........................................................................................................................... 198
Exercise 11................................................................................................................. 199
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 201
Questions........................................................................................................................ 201
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 202

7. Drill Through and Drill Down Reports......................................................................... 203

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 203
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 203
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 204
Drill through report in Power BI ................................................................................ 204
Creating a drill-through report................................................................................. 204
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 205
Performing drill through action................................................................................ 206
Drill down report in Power BI .................................................................................... 207
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 208
Creating custom hierarchy........................................................................................... 209
Creating a location hierarchy.................................................................................... 209
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 209
Changing the levels of hierarchy............................................................................... 210
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 211
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 212
Questions........................................................................................................................ 212
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 212

8. Artificial Intelligence in Power BI................................................................................... 213

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 213
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 213
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 214
xx 
Artificial Intelligence in Power BI .............................................................................. 214
Why AI visuals are used............................................................................................... 214
AI visuals in Power BI desktop................................................................................... 215
Preparing the application for AI............................................................................... 215
Insights using Analyze option.................................................................................. 216
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 216
Key influencers visual............................................................................................... 218
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 218
Explanation of key influencer visualization.............................................................. 219
Decomposition tree visual......................................................................................... 220
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 220
Performing manual analysis using decomposition tree............................................ 222
Performing AI suggested analysis using decomposition tree................................... 222
Q&A Visual............................................................................................................... 224
Exercise..................................................................................................................... 225
Narrative visual............................................................................................................. 226
Working of smart narrative....................................................................................... 226
Exercise .................................................................................................................... 226
AI in Query Editor........................................................................................................ 228
Text Analytics and Vision......................................................................................... 228
Azure Machine Learning.......................................................................................... 228
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 229
Questions........................................................................................................................ 229
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 229

9. Power BI Service.................................................................................................................. 231

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 231
Structure ......................................................................................................................... 231
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 232
Understanding the Power BI service.......................................................................... 232
Power BI service workflow........................................................................................ 232
Power BI service interface......................................................................................... 232
Foundational elements of Power BI Service.............................................................. 234
Publishing reports from the Power BI desktop......................................................... 235
Visualizations in Power BI Service............................................................................. 237
  xxi

Creating a dashboard.................................................................................................... 238

Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 241
Questions........................................................................................................................ 241
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 241

10. Securing Your Application................................................................................................ 243

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 243
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 243
Objectives....................................................................................................................... 244
Row-level security in Power BI................................................................................... 244
Implementing Row-Level Security............................................................................. 244
Exercise...................................................................................................................... 244
Configure RLS in Power BI service............................................................................. 249
Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 251
Questions........................................................................................................................ 252
Answers.......................................................................................................................... 252

Index...............................................................................................................................253-258
xxii 
 Understanding the Basics  1

Chapter 1
Understanding the
Basics

Introduction
Welcome to the foundational chapter of Mastering Power BI — a comprehensive guide
designed to empower you with the skills and insights needed to harness the full potential
of Power BI. We will build a solid understanding of the basics, laying the groundwork for
your mastery of this powerful business intelligence tool.
In this chapter, we will learn about the basics of Power BI. Power BI is growing in popularity
due to the functionality it provides to the business users. The chapter will cover the basics of
Power BI as a Business Intelligence application. It will start with the Business Intelligence
(BI) fundamentals and explain the terms and technologies in the BI paradigm. You will
learn about Star Schema, Snowflake schema, and gain more understanding on Dimensions
and Facts the building blocks of any BI application.
We will learn about Power BI and understand how it works. This chapter is important as
it will lay the foundation of all the subsequent chapters in this book.

Structure
In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:
• Understanding business intelligence
• Concepts of the star and snowflake schema
2  Mastering Power BI

• Key performance indicator

• Power BI as a business intelligence application
• Different users of Power BI
• Power BI licensing
• Installation of Power BI Desktop
• Power BI Desktop Interface
• Development life cycle in Power BI desktop

Objectives
Understanding the concepts of business intelligence is a key to success in Power BI.
After completing this chapter, you will be able to explain BI and its terminology, like the
star schema, and the snowflake schema. You will also be able to differentiate between
the dimension and fact tables, which is the key to designing powerful data models and
visualizations. You will also learn what is Power BI and how it works.

Understanding business intelligence

Before defining the term BI, let us understand the terms data and information. In the
world of Information Technology (IT), data can be anything – text, numbers, or images in
a digital format. The data is raw, unorganized, or arbitrary, but should be in a format that
is understandable to a computer system. Once loaded, the data is transformed, processed,
and interpreted by the system to produce meaningful and contextual information.
In the business world, data and information are closely related and thus used
interchangeably.
BI relates to the set of technologies and techniques that collect and categorize an
organization's data and present meaningful information in a format that helps make better
decisions. The BI applications allow the developers to collect vast amount of data from
diverse sources, transform the data according to the business requirements, and present it
in a visual format like tables and charts. BI does not make decisions for an enterprise, but
eases the analysis of data to arrive at actionable results.

Advantages of BI system
An enterprise can drive huge benefits by implementing a BI System, which is as follows:
• Data management: BI system facilitates the collection of data from diverse sources.
This data is stored in an enterprise-wide data warehouse or a data mart. Since the
data is centrally stored, it helps in producing a single version of the truth.
 Understanding the Basics  3

• Information broadcasting: The information is delivered in a visual format that is

understandable to the users. It helps in the quick delivery of information in the
form of interactive dashboards, tables, charts, and maps. The users can get to the
data faster and collaborate with the information.
• Secure delivery: BI System also supports secure information delivery, that is, the
data is contextual and is delivered on a need-to-know basis. The visualizations
can be developed that display the different data based on the organization's role
or organization structure.
• Adhoc analysis: The business users can use the self-service BI applications
to perform their own data analysis. This will reduce the dependency on the IT
technical team.

Components of BI
Before plunging into a BI application like Power BI, it is important to learn about some of
the BI components.

Data sets
The core use of a BI application is to enhance the understanding of data. Data can come
from disparate sources. It can be sourced from legacy systems, relational database, cloud,
or from various file-based applications, such as Excel, CSV, or flat files. The data can be
unstructured, such as emails or webpages.

Extract, Transform, and Load

Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) is a process of data integration and is used to combine
disparate data arriving from multiple sources such as Excel, CSV, RDBMS, ERP, and so
on. In an ETL process, the data is extracted from the source, transformed to aggregate or
to implement business rules, and then loaded into the target system. The data loaded in
the target system is used for analysis. The ETL process is used to build a data warehouse.

Data warehouse
A data warehouse is a process of managing large amounts of data in an organization. It is
designed to assist in the BI tasks, especially in analytics. Given a large amount of historical
data, a data warehouse enables faster data query and analysis. A typical data warehouse
contains historical data, which is derived from a variety of sources, such as operational or
transactional databases.
A data warehouse works as a central repository of the aggregated data from multiple
sources and provides an organization with a single version of truth. Since it contains
historical records, it empowers the data scientists and data analysts in improved decision
making and predictive analysis.
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A typical data warehouse contains the following:

• A relational database to store and manage the data. This relational database is
created in any of the applications, such as Oracle, SQL Server, or db2, and so on.
• An ETL process to extract data from the multiple sources, transform, and aggregate
the data according to the organizational needs and load the data in the data
warehouse.
• Data analysis and visualization applications, such as Power BI to assist in the
analysis of the data.
The data warehouse is a core component of a BI implementation.

Data mart
Data mart is similar to the data warehouse but contains only the specific business data
within an organization. A data warehouse is a central repository of an enterprise-wide
data, while a data mart contains the subset of data pertaining to a specific business or user
function. Data warehouse and the data marts are used for reporting and analysis. A data
mart can be sourced from a data warehouse.
A typical data warehousing environment is shown in the following figure:

Figure 1.1: Data warehousing environment

The preceding Figure 1.1 shows how the data warehouse and the data marts are created,
and are explained in words as follows:
• An ETL process is the run process to extract the data from the various operational
or transactional databases or tables.
• This data is stored in the staging tables.
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• A different ETL process is created to extract and transform this data, which is
loaded in the data warehouse database.
• From the data warehouse, separate business or user specific data marts are created.
A data warehouse is typically created for the reporting and analytical needs of the
organization. It helps in the data analyses by reducing the number of tables and joining
the ones that are atypical of an operational database.

Data model
A data model displays how the different data entities are related in a data warehouse
environment. It presents a pictorial format, showing different tables and the relationships
between them. In BI, a data model represents the organization's data and should be
designed for faster data access. It should contain all the data categories, hierarchies, and
filters. The most popular data model used in a data warehouse is the dimensional model,
which is also called the star schema. The two types of tables in a star schema are the
dimension table and the fact table. Let us have a look at them briefly:
• Dimensions and facts: Dimension and facts tables are the main ingredients of
any BI implementation. These tables are used to form the star or the snowflake
schemas, which are designed as part of building a data warehouse or a data mart.
• Dimension table: The dimension tables contain the descriptive or qualitative
attributes of the data. For example, the customer dimension may contain
information about the customer, such as the name, address, contact number, and
so on. The dimension fields usually contain the characters or the textual type of
data. The dimension tables are constructed from the operational or transactional
relational database. The dimension tables contain the primary key with the
respective foreign key in the fact table. A dimension table provides context to a
fact table.
There are different types of dimension tables. Some of the commonly used ones are as
follows:
• Slowly Changing dimensions (SCD): It is a dimension table where the row of the
data in the table varies with time. It is used to track the current and historical data.
SCD is implemented in the following three ways:
• Type1: In type1 SCD, the existing row of data is simply overwritten. No history
is maintained, and the existing data is lost. For example, consider the following
employee record:

EmpID EmpName Department

101 John Administration

Table 1.1: Employee record
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If employee John changes his department to HR, no history will be maintained.

The record will simply be overwritten, as shown in the following table:

EmpID EmpName Department

101 John HR
Table 1.2: Employee changes department

o Type2: The type2 SCD keeps the complete history of the data by creating a new
record with the Start date and the End date. Only one record will be active at a
time. This is the most popular way of storing the historical data. For example,
consider the following employee record:

EmpID EmpName Department Start_Date End_Date Active

101 John Admin 01-15-2010 12-31-9999 Y

Table 1.3: Employee history with active indicator

If employee John moves to a new department, HR, a new record will be added to
keep the history:

EmpID EmpName Department Start_Date End_Date Active

101 John Admin 01-15-2010 03-31-2019 N
101 John HR 01-15-2010 12-31-9999 Y
Table 1.4: Employee history with only one department Active

o Type3: In type3 SCD, the history of the data is maintained by using the Current_
Value and the New_Value columns. It is cumbersome to maintain the history, as
it is limited by the number of columns needed to store the historical data. This
technique is not frequently used. For example, consider the following employee
record:

EmpID EmpName Department Current_Value Previous_Value

101 John Admin Admin Admin
Table 1.5: Employee history using current and previous value columns

If employee John moves to a new department, HR, the history is maintained by

putting the new department under the Current_Value column:

EmpID EmpName Department Current_Value Previous_Value

101 John Admin HR Admin
Table 1.6: Employee record with changed current value