Introducing Microsoft Power Bi

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Introducing Microsoft Power BI enables you to evaluate when and how to use Power BI. Get inspired to improve business processes in your company by leveraging the available analytical and collaborative features of this environment. Be sure to watch for the publication of Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo's upcoming retail book, Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel (ISBN 9781509302765). Go to the book's page at the Microsoft Press Store here for more details:http://aka.ms/analyzingdata/details. Learn more about Power BI at https://powerbi.microsoft.com/.

This book is meant to serve as an introductory guide which will take you from the point of having zero or very little knowledge about Power BI, to the point where you can comfortably produce reports and dashboards that provide useful organizational insights.

Analyze company data quickly and easily using Microsoft’s powerful data tools. Learn to build scalable and robust data models, clean and combine different data sources effectively, and create compelling and professional visuals. Beginning Power BI is a hands-on, activity-based guide that takes you through the process of analyzing your data using the tools that that encompass the core of Microsoft’s self-service BI offering. Starting with Power Query, you will learn how to get data from a variety of sources, and see just how easy it is to clean and shape the data prior to importing it into a data model. Using Power BI tabular and the Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), you will learn to create robust scalable data models which will serve as the foundation of your data analysis. From there you will enter the world of compelling interactive visualizations to analyze and gain insight into your data. You will wrap up your Power BI journey by learning how to package and share your reports and dashboards with your colleagues. Author Dan Clark takes you through each topic using step-by-step activities and plenty of screen shots to help familiarize you with the tools. This third edition covers the new and evolving features in the Power BI platform and new chapters on data flows and composite models. This book is your hands-on guide to quick, reliable, and valuable data insight. What You Will Learn Simplify data discovery, association, and cleansingBuild solid analytical data models Create robust interactive data presentations Combine analytical and geographic data in map-based visualizations Publish and share dashboards and reports Who This Book Is For Business analysts, database administrators, developers, and other professionals looking to better understand and communicate with data

Renowned DAX experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo teach you how to design data models for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. How can you use Excel and Power BI to gain real insights into your information? As you examine your data, how do you write a formula that provides the numbers you need? The answers to both of these questions lie with the data model. This book introduces the basic techniques for shaping data models in Excel and Power BI. It’s meant for readers who are new to data modeling as well as for experienced data modelers looking for tips from the experts. If you want to use Power BI or Excel to analyze data, the many real-world examples in this book will help you look at your reports in a different way–like experienced data modelers do. As you’ll soon see, with the right data model, the correct answer is always a simple one! By reading this book, you will: • Gain an understanding of the basics of data modeling, including tables, relationships, and keys • Familiarize yourself with star schemas, snowflakes, and common modeling techniques • Learn the importance of granularity • Discover how to use multiple fact tables, like sales and purchases, in a complex data model • Manage calendar-related calculations by using date tables • Track historical attributes, like previous addresses of customers or manager assignments • Use snapshots to compute quantity on hand • Work with multiple currencies in the most efficient way • Analyze events that have durations, including overlapping durations • Learn what data model you need to answer your specific business questions About This Book • For Excel and Power BI users who want to exploit the full power of their favorite tools • For BI professionals seeking new ideas for modeling data

Analyze your company’s data quickly and easily using Microsoft’s latest tools. You will learn to build scalable and robust data models to work from, clean and combine different data sources effectively, and create compelling visualizations and share them with your colleagues. Author Dan Clark takes you through each topic using step-by-step activities and plenty of screen shots to help familiarize you with the tools. This second edition includes new material on advanced uses of Power Query, along with the latest user guidance on the evolving Power BI platform. Beginning Power BI is your hands-on guide to quick, reliable, and valuable data insight. What You'll Learn Simplify data discovery, association, and cleansing Build solid analytical data models Create robust interactive data presentations Combine analytical and geographic data in map-based visualizations Publish and share dashboards and reports Who This Book Is For Business analysts, database administrators, developers, and other professionals looking to better understand and communicate with data

This comprehensive and authoritative guide will teach you the DAX language for business intelligence, data modeling, and analytics. Leading Microsoft BI consultants Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari help you master everything from table functions through advanced code and model optimization. You’ll learn exactly what happens under the hood when you run a DAX expression, how DAX behaves differently from other languages, and how to use this knowledge to write fast, robust code. If you want to leverage all of DAX’s remarkable power and flexibility, this no-compromise “deep dive” is exactly what you need. Perform powerful data analysis with DAX for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel, and Power BI Master core DAX concepts, including calculated columns, measures, and error handling Understand evaluation contexts and the CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions Perform time-based calculations: YTD, MTD, previous year, working days, and more Work with expanded tables, complex functions, and elaborate DAX expressions Perform calculations over hierarchies, including parent/child hierarchies Use DAX to express diverse and unusual relationships Measure DAX query performance with SQL Server Profiler and DAX Studio

Prepare for Microsoft Exam 70-778–and help demonstrate your real-world mastery of Power BI data analysis and visualization. Designed for experienced BI professionals and data analysts ready to advance their status, Exam Ref focuses on the critical thinking and decision-making acumen needed for success at the MCSA level. Focus on the expertise measured by these objectives: Consume and transform data by using Power BI Desktop Model and visualize data Configure dashboards, reports, and apps in the Power BI Service This Microsoft Exam Ref: Organizes its coverage by exam objectives Features strategic, what-if scenarios to challenge you Assumes you have experience consuming and transforming data, modeling and visualizing data, and configuring dashboards using Excel and Power BI

Your hands-on guide to building effective Power BI dashboards Expand your expertise–and teach yourself how to create world-class Power BI business analysis dashboards that bring data to life for better decision-making. If you’re an experienced business intelligence professional or manager, you’ll get all the guidance, examples, and code you need to succeed–even if you’ve never used Power BI before. Successfully design, architect, and implement Power BI in your organization Take full advantage of any Microsoft Power BI platform, including Power BI Premium Make upfront decisions that position your Power BI project for success Build rich, live dashboards to monitor crucial data from across your organization Aggregate data and data elements from numerous internal and external data sources Develop dynamic visualizations, including charts, maps, and graphs Bring data to life with stunning interactive reports Ensure dashboard security and compliance Drive user adoption through effective training