About the Tutorial
Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from
different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides
multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on
Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are
used by business users to consume data and build BI reports.
This tutorial covers all the important concepts in Power BI and provides a foundational
understanding on how to use Power BI.
This tutorial has been prepared for beginners to help them understand the basic concepts
of Power BI. This tutorial will give you enough understanding on Power BI, from where
you can take yourself to a higher level of expertise.
Audience
Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should be familiar with Microsoft Excel, data
modeling, and have some knowledge of DAX language.
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Power BI
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Table of Contents
Power BI
About the Tutorial ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. i
Audience …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. i
Prerequisites ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. i
Copyright & Disclaimer ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ii
1. POWER BI ─ INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………. 1
2. POWER BI ─ INSTALLATION STEPS …………………………………………………………………………….. 2
3. POWER BI ─ ARCHITECTURE …………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
4. POWER BI ─ SUPPORTED DATA SOURCES ………………………………………………………………….. 7
5. POWER BI ─ COMPARISON WITH OTHER BI TOOLS ……………………………………………………. 16
Power BI vs Tableau ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
Power BI vs SSRS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17
6. POWER BI ─ DATA MODELING ……………………………………………………………………………….. 19
Using Data Modeling and Navigation ………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
Creating Calculated Columns …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23
Creating Calculated Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
Managing Time-Based Data …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 28
7. POWER BI ─ DASHBOARD OPTIONS ………………………………………………………………………… 30
Exploring Different Datasets ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30
Creating Dashboards ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31
Sharing Dashboards ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
Tiles in Dashboard …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35
Data Gateway ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 36
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8. POWER BI ─ VISUALIZATION OPTIONS …………………………………………………………………….. 39
Creating Simple Visualizations …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 39
Creating Map Visualizations …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 40
Using Combination Charts ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 42
Using Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 43
Modify Colors in Charts …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 45
Adding Shapes, Images and Text box ………………………………………………………………………………………… 48
Styling Reports ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 50
Duplicating Reports ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 51
9. POWER BI ─ EXCEL INTEGRATION …………………………………………………………………………… 53
Using Excel Data…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 53
Importing xls Files ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 54
10. POWER BI ─ SHARING POWER BI DASHBOARDS ………………………………………………………… 55
Using Power BI Desktop for Report Sharing ……………………………………………………………………………….. 55
Printing Power BI Dashboards ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 56
Export Options ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 57
Publishing Report to Web ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
Using Content Pack ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 61
Editing Content Pack ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 63
11. POWER BI ─ DAX BASICS IN POWER BI …………………………………………………………………….. 64
DAX Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 64
DAX Functions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 64
DAX Calculation Types ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 66
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12. POWER BI ─ ADMINISTRATION ROLE ………………………………………………………………………. 69
Purchasing ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 69
REST API ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 71
Security ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 72
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1. Power BI ─ Introduction
Power BI
Power BI is a Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool that converts data from
different data sources to interactive dashboards and BI reports. Power BI suite provides
multiple software, connector, and services – Power BI desktop, Power BI service based on
Saas, and mobile Power BI apps available for different platforms. These set of services are
used by business users to consume data and build BI reports.
Power BI desktop app is used to create reports, while Power BI Services (Software as a
Service – SaaS) is used to publish the reports, and Power BI mobile app is used to view
the reports and dashboards.
Power BI Desktop is available in both 32- and 64-bit versions. To download the latest
version, you can use the following link –
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/
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2. Power BI ─ Installation Steps
Power BI
To check the system requirements, installation files detail, users have to navigate to
“Advanced download options”. Following are the system requirements to download Power
BI tool –
Supported Operating Systems
Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2,
Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft Power BI Desktop requires Internet Explorer 9 or higher
Microsoft Power BI Desktop is available for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) platforms
Users can select a language in which they want to install Power BI and following files are
available for download.
This is the link to directly download Power BI files – https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/download/details.aspx?id=45331
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Power BI
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PBIDesktop_x64.msi shows a 64-bit OS file. Select the file you want to install as per OS
type and click Next. Save the installation file on the local drive.