Microsoft Power BI Sprint Sessions 2021

1.

Introduction to creating a basic report in Power BI Desktop

This session is designed for those people who wish to acquire the basic skills & knowledge to get started with Power BI Desktop.

You will learn about the key components of Power BI and how they work together.

You will learn how to create a simple report using data imported from an Excel workbook.

Delegates do not need any previous experience of Power BI but must have a basic understanding of PC’s, including familiarity with a keyboard and mouse.

A basic understanding of Excel would also be beneficial.

• Navigate the desktop environment.
• Import data from an Excel workbook.
• Perform basic data transformations in preparation for analysis.
• Apply the correct data types to the imported data.
• Remove unwanted columns.
• Merge & split columns.
• Understand the difference between format & data type.
• Build a basic report using the imported data from Excel.

2.

Creating dynamic reports using ‘measures’ and ‘calculated columns’

This session follows on from the first; you learn about the key steps associated with building a typical business report.

You will learn how to build ‘measures’ (calculations) and will be introduced to ‘calculated columns’, you will learn when to use one over the other.

You will also be introduced to some of the most common DAX functions and how and when to use them.

This session is designed for those people who already use Power BI but want to be more creative and dynamic when building business reports.

It is recommended that delegates have some experience of importing and working with files of different types.

• Import data from an Excel workbook.
• Review the quality of the imported data and remove unwanted records.
• Understand the difference between a ‘measure’ and a ‘calculated column’.
• Build some basic measures (calculation) & calculated columns that will be used in the report.
• Resize, group and format tiles to get the desired look and feel as well as being easy to read and interact with.
• Understand the difference between a standard table and a matrix and when to use one over the other.
• Make sure the report has clearly defined sections & boundaries which are aligned and balanced with other tiles.
• Create a title for the report so report consumers understand the purpose of the report.

3.

Maximise the Power BI Desktop report canvas

In this session you will learn some techniques that will help to maximise the report canvas, so information remains easy to read and avoids over-crowding & confusion.

This session is designed for those people who are confident in building reports but want to improve their design skills when it comes to presenting a range of information in a single report.

• Learn some tips & tricks that will help with page size and alignment options.
• Learn about the use of ‘buttons’ for hiding tiles and allowing the report consumer to choose the information they want to see and change how it is presented.
• Learn how to use ‘buttons’ to create a hidden slicer panel to aid the report consumer’s experience and save canvas space.

4.

Working with dates

Most reports include dates so information can be aggregated over various calendar periods, years, month & days for example. This session includes reporting at a calendar and financial year end.
In this session you will learn the importance of creating a dates table and how to connect it to the data model.

This session is designed to complement session 2 above but can also be run independently.
This session is designed for users who are confident at building Power BI reports, but want to extend their knowledge to working with dates and other calendar periods.

It would be helpful if the user had a basic understanding of how a data model works.

• What is a dates table & why you need one?
• Construct a dates table from scratch using a ‘M’ script provided.
• How to format and configure the dates table to ensure information is presented correctly.
• Make sure the dates table spans the period of the data in the data model.
• How to modify the dates table so you can easily report on periods such as, yesterday, today & tomorrow.

5.

An introduction to using DAX functions & expressions

In this session delegates will expand their knowledge of DAX. They will learn about important key principles of DAX which under-pin the creation of more dynamic and complex reports.

It is advisable that delegates have already completed the Creating dynamic reports using ‘measures’ and ‘calculated columns’ session before attempting this one.

Upon completion, delegates should be able to apply what they have learnt and build more complex and dynamic business reports & dashboards.

• Understand the difference between a measure and a calculated column and when to use one over the other.
• Learn about DAX object naming & syntax.
• Learn how to use a range of DAX functions to solve day-to-day reporting needs.
• Learn about DAX Time Intelligence functions and how to use them in financial reports.
• Learn how to report using a range of categorical calendar periods such as Year, Quarter, Month & Week.

6.

An introduction to the Power BI Service

The Power BI Service is sometimes referred to as Power BI online, it is a SaaS (Software as a Service) part of Power BI.

In the Power BI service, you can build reports, dashboards and apps and share them securely with your colleagues & business partners.

This session is for people will a good understanding of Power BI and the relationship between data and reports.

They should be familiar with the concept of building charts & tables either in Excel or other similar applications.

• Learn about the relationship between the Desktop & Service.
• Learn how to navigate the Service environment.
• Learn how to manipulate reports and create new ones from new & existing data sets.
• Learn how to build a dashboard using reports published to the Service.
• Learn how to share reports & dashboards with colleagues & partners.
• Learn how to analyse a data model in the Service and show the results directly in Excel as a pivot table.

7.

An Introduction to Advanced Analytics in Power BI Desktop (version Sept 21)

Learn about some of the advanced Power BI features available in the Power BI Desktop.

We often build reports to answer questions that are ‘a known unknown’. Such as what were the sales for last month? We know there were sales, but we don’t know what they were. The real value comes when Power BI reveals an answer to a question we didn’t think to ask, ‘an unknown unknown’. This can happen when you spot outliers in your data which could represent huge cost savings or highlight new margin opportunities.

It is advisable that you have already attended our Power BI Intermediate course, or you are an experienced Power BI user with a good knowledge of navigating the desktop environment and are confident when importing data and performing some simple transformations.

• How to focus on building reports that look for trends or patterns rather than just building a report in a certain way because it’s always been done that way.
• How to make better use of existing Power BI functionality which you either didn’t know was there or didn’t know how to use it.
• The reports you will build will differ from your normal reports. You are unlikely to publish them to a wide audience, but you are more likely to target them at a smaller group of people who are the decision makers and key influencers in the organisation.