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Learn Power BI
Learn Power BI

Learn Power BI: A beginner's guide to developing interactive business intelligence solutions using Microsoft Power BI

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Profile Icon Greg Deckler
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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5 (8 Ratings)
Paperback Sep 2019 362 pages 1st Edition
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Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Greg Deckler
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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5 (8 Ratings)
Paperback Sep 2019 362 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Can$39.99 Can$44.99
Paperback
Can$55.99
Subscription
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eBook
Can$39.99 Can$44.99
Paperback
Can$55.99
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Learn Power BI

Introduction to Business Intelligence and Power BI

Power BI is a powerful ecosystem of business intelligence tools and technologies from Microsoft. But what exactly is business intelligence, anyway? Simply stated, business intelligence is all about leveraging data in order to make better decisions. This can take many forms and is not necessarily restricted to just business. We use data in our personal lives to make better decisions as well. For example, if we are remodeling a bathroom, we get multiple quotes from different firms. The prices and details in these quotes are pieces of data that allow us to make an informed decision in terms of which company to choose. We may also research these firms online. This is more data that ultimately supports our decision.

In this chapter, we will explore the key fundamental concepts of business intelligence, as well as why business intelligence...

Key concepts of business intelligence

Business intelligence, in the context of organizations, revolves around making better decisions about your business. Unlike the example in the introduction, organizations are not generally concerned with bathrooms, but rather with what can make their business more effective, efficient, and profitable. The businesses that provided those quotes on bathroom remodeling need to answer questions such as the following:

  • How can the business attract new customers?
  • How can the business retain more customers?
  • Who are the competitors and how do they compare?
  • What is driving profitability?
  • Where can expenses be diminished?

There are endless questions that businesses need to answer every day, and these businesses need data coupled with business intelligence tools and techniques in order to answer these questions and make effective operational and strategic...

The Power BI ecosystem

While Power BI is often classified as a visualization tool, the reality is that Power BI is not a single tool but rather a collection of interrelated tools and services that form a complete business intelligence ecosystem of its own. This ecosystem spans the entire business intelligence spectrum, from data sources to modeling, analysis, and visualization. In addition, this ecosystem includes components that are specific to Power BI itself but also to other Microsoft technologies that interoperate with Power BI, as well as third-party integrations. This interoperation with other Microsoft tools and technologies as well as third-parties makes Power BI a formidable business intelligence platform whose value far exceeds that of more siloed business intelligence tools in the market.

While the Power BI ecosystem is vast and complex, this ecosystem can be broken...

Power BI licensing

There are a number of ways to license Power BI technology, including the following:

  • Power BI Free
  • Power BI Pro
  • Power BI Premium
  • Power BI Embedded
  • Power BI Report Server

Power BI Free

Power BI Desktop is free to download, install, and use. In addition to simply sharing Power BI files (.pbix), which are the files that are created by the Power BI Desktop program, Microsoft provides a free method of using Power BI Service so that you can publish and share reports via a featured called Publish to web. Publish to web creates a web browser link or URL to a report that's published in the Power BI Service. While this URL is long and cryptic and these reports are not indexed by search engines, anyone with the...

Power BI Desktop and Service

After learning about the entire breadth and depth of the Power BI ecosystem and licensing, you may be wondering how on earth a single book can possibly cover everything there is to know about Power BI. The short answer is that it isn't possible. Entire books exist dedicated to just a single topic, including Power Query, DAX, and Power BI Embedded, alone. Even books that claim to be complete references to Power BI inevitably leave out some components of the entire Power BI ecosystem. Thus, this book is intended for those who wish to learn the basic, core components of the Power BI ecosystem, namely the following:

  • Power BI Desktop:
    • Power Query
    • DAX
  • Power BI Service:
    • On-premises data gateway

Learning about these core technologies and, while doing so, learning how to build and share reports with meaningful business intelligence insights means...

Summary

In this chapter, we were introduced to business intelligence and its key concepts. Then, we took a broad look at the Power BI ecosystem. Finally, we explored some more specific capabilities of the Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service.

In the next chapter, we will get Power BI Desktop installed, explore its interface, and familiarize ourselves with some of its functionality.

Technical requirements

The following are some requirements to successfully complete the instructions in this chapter:

  • You will need a connection to the internet.
  • You will need Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2.
  • Microsoft Power BI Desktop requires Internet Explorer 10 or higher.
  • Microsoft Power BI Desktop is available for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) platforms.

Downloading and installing Power BI Desktop

There are actually three different versions of the Power BI Desktop application. Each version has its own method(s) for downloading and installing. The three versions of the Power BI Desktop are as follows:

  • Power BI Desktop (the trusted Microsoft Store app)
  • Power BI Desktop (MSI)
  • Power BI Desktop (Report Server Edition)

Power BI Desktop (the trusted Microsoft Store app)

Power BI Desktop (the trusted Microsoft Store app) is the preferred Power BI Desktop application to install and use. Microsoft recommends this version of the Power BI Desktop as it is specifically built for use on 64-bit, Windows 10 and keeps itself updated automatically.

Note that the Power BI Desktop Trusted Microsoft...
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Key benefits

  • Create effective storytelling reports by implementing simple-to-intermediate Power BI features
  • Develop powerful analytical models to extract key insights for changing business needs
  • Build, publish, and share impressive dashboards for your organization

Description

To succeed in today's transforming business world, organizations need business intelligence capabilities to make smarter decisions faster than ever before. This Power BI book is an entry-level guide that will get you up and running with data modeling, visualization, and analytical techniques from scratch. You'll find this book handy if you want to get well-versed with the extensive Power BI ecosystem. You'll start by covering the basics of business intelligence and installing Power BI. You'll then learn the wide range of Power BI features to unlock business insights. As you progress, the book will take you through how to use Power Query to ingest, cleanse, and shape your data, and use Power BI DAX to create simple to complex calculations. You'll also be able to add a variety of interactive visualizations to your reports to bring your data to life. Finally, you'll gain hands-on experience in creating visually stunning reports that speak to business decision makers, and see how you can securely share these reports and collaborate with others. By the end of this book, you'll be ready to create simple, yet effective, BI reports and dashboards using the latest features of Power BI.

Who is this book for?

If you’re an IT manager, data analyst, or BI user new to using Power BI for solving business intelligence problems, this book is for you. You’ll also find this book useful if you want to migrate from other BI tools to create powerful and interactive dashboards. No experience of working with Power BI is expected.

What you will learn

  • Explore the different features of Power BI to create interactive dashboards
  • Use the Query Editor to import and transform data
  • Perform simple and complex DAX calculations to enhance analysis
  • Discover business insights and tell a story with your data using Power BI
  • Explore data and learn to manage datasets, dataflows, and data gateways
  • Use workspaces to collaborate with others and publish your reports

Product Details

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Publication date : Sep 13, 2019
Length: 362 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781838644482
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Product Details

Publication date : Sep 13, 2019
Length: 362 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781838644482
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

14 Chapters
Section 1: The Basics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Introduction to Business Intelligence and Power BI Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 2: The Desktop Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Up and Running with Power BI Desktop Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Connecting and Shaping Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Data Models and Calculations Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Unlocking Insights Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating the Final Report Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 3: The Service Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Publishing and Sharing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Reports in the Service Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Understanding Dashboards, Apps, and Security Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Data Gateways and Refreshing Datasets Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5
(8 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 0%
3 star 12.5%
2 star 25%
1 star 12.5%
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Cynthia D. Berry Mar 04, 2024
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Na
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Cameron Havens Mar 30, 2022
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great content that is a great intersection of in-depth content and easy-to-understand concepts! Highly recommended.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Imke Feldmann Jan 21, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is a great introduction into the Power BI universe.It is structured as a walkthrough of the major features and comes with a lot of exercise files that allow you to follow along the practical examples.But if you are in hurry and want to get an overview quickly, you can simply skip the exercises and still get a good understanding what makes Power BI so special and what to watch out when starting to create solutions.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Raul Dec 08, 2024
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Excellent starter Power BI book. It covers all the fundamentals of Power BI desktop and Power BI services. I loved the way DAX was explained and the dataset used for practice.
Subscriber review Packt
Mankind Oct 20, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
So far after Chapter 2, details of the book do not seem to match up well with the book examples, as if nobody actually reviewed the material checking for accuracy. Reviewers did not seem to thoroughly go through the book and work through the examples for accuracy.I am able to work through the examples, but needed to use my own curiosity with the program on many of the examples to accomplish the goal.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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