A Complete Introduction to Power BI

Over the course of the next few weeks we're going to be releasing a series of videos in our "Complete Introduction to" series.  The idea behind the series is to provide a comprehensive introduction to a variety of different data analysis and business intelligence tools and techniques so that business users can fully understand the tools available to them, and how they can work smarter not harder.

The first video for the series will introduce you to Microsoft Power BI.  

​One of the biggest selling points of Microsoft Power BI is that, because it's based on the Excel platform, the millions of Excel users working with data on a daily basis will find it easy to navigate and not be intimidated by this incredibly powerful tool. 

You will see how quickly and easily I produce an interactive report from an Excel spreadsheet using Microsoft Power BI.  An Excel spreadsheet of Sales data has been used as the source of the data, but data from many different sources such as databases, .csv and Web sources can just as easily be used.

​In the video you'll see how easy it is to format tables of data, perform more advanced functions, like cross filtering, and add visualisations, such as column charts, line graphs and pie graphs, resulting in a detailed, interactive sales report emerging in minutes!

The Microsoft Power BI Query Editor gives you a wide variety of options that allow you to transform, manipulate and prepare your data.  It allows for perform simple and advanced tasks such as:

• easily remove fields
• change data types
• filter data
• replace data

• merging data
• appending data
• grouping data
• adding new calculations
• pivoting and unpivoting data

A big component of Power BI is it's unique programming formula language called DAX but don't be put off because, as I said at the beginning, Power BI is based on Excel, so many of the DAX formulas are the same and when you start using Power BI you should find yourself picking it up very quickly. 

At the end of the video I show you how to publish the report into the Power BI Service.  The Power BI Service allows you to share the report to other users using a web browser, smartphones or tablets.  I also show how to create a dashboard in the Power BI Service which makes it easier to access your content through mobile devices. 

Last but not least, I demonstrate how to use natural language queries (Q&A) to ask questions of your data.  This powerful feature allows you to type in questions in a natural way and have Power BI provide the answers to them.  I can ask 'What is my total Sales?' or 'What is my Sales in Italy?'and take it even further by asking 'What is my Sales by Product Category in Italy as a Column graph?   This function fundamentally changes that way that users can interact and ask questions of their data. 

I hope that you enjoy this video and look forward to sharing the next one with you.  If you are looking for Power BI training, please have a look at our Power BI Master Class and Excel BI Boot Camp.