Living With Power BI

In our premium online learning course, increase your efficiency, create business insight and become your company’s data hero by learning the fundamentals of Power BI. You’ll start with learning the four Power BI elements and then it’s straight into creating a novice report, ideal for Power BI beginners, and move through easy, intermediate and advanced reports to complete four reports by the end of the course. During each report, you’ll see common mistakes made by rookie report developers, and understand how to fix them, as well as how to fix common report errors that arise when your datasets change. Along the way you’ll learn and practice Power BI theory through watching fun and colourful videos, and at course completion, you’ll have downloaded Living With Power BI’s accompanying E-book, as well as other materials, designed to support you in your first attempt at solo report creation.

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Pre – Report Learning

pre – report learning we lay the theoretical foundations of how Power BI works. We’ll discuss what Power BI is and how it works, as well as the difference between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Online and then go onto the four elements of Power BI that are used to create, show and refresh reports. They are:

• Power Query, which allows us to connect our Power BI files to a variety of data sources and then transform the structure of that data so that it’s easy to use in the Data Model.
• The Data Model which is where we link our datasets together, create new columns of data as well as create dynamic column totals called measures, using Power BI’s analytical code called DAX.
• The Report View where we present our data in beautiful, easy to understand visualisations (graphs and charts) and then…
• Finally publish the whole reports up on Power BI Online, so that others can delight in your report
  
  Once we’ve discussed the theory then we’ll open up Power BI and walk through the four elements in Power BI itself, and after that, it’s straight onto building our reports!
  
  Each report has at least four lessons structured to cover an introduction to the report that we’re about to write, each of the four Power BI elements and finally how to refresh a report and defeat common refreshing errors. Each lesson will then have from one to six topics which cover specific Power BI technical skills while each lesson is based on real life reports. For a list of the reports, lessons and topics, take a look at the bottom of this page, or look underneath for a summary of the reports.

Report 1 – Supplier Invoices

We start off with the novice report which you’ll be done and dusted with in around 2 hours. This report is all about turning a single CSV file filled with a list of supplier invoices into a simple Power BI report calculating total spend with suppliers, counting the amount of invoices and the average cost of an invoice. We’ll cover the most straightforward of report connections and dataset transformations in Power Query and then load the data to the Data Model, where we’ll understand how to create implicit measures (Power BI does it for us really if you ask it nicely). We then create a simple report using card visualisations and table visualisations to present our aggregations and then divide our aggregations by different dimensions such as Supplier Name, Location and Department. We then introduce the idea of filter context, which is fundamental to Power BI and which we’ll look at in every report. Once our report is created, we’ll learn how to change a supporting dataset and use the refresh button, so that our Power BI reports can be updated (literally) at the click of a button.

Once created, we publish the report online to our personal workspace and learn how to export the report to PDF, Powerpoint and Excel ready for those reviewers, not yet ready for Power BI, to interrogate.

Report 2 – Procurement Review

After the novice report, we move onto an easy report that practices and builds on the knowledge gained from the first report by creating a report that matches invoices to purchase orders. We build on our CSV connection knowledge from the first report to connect to a .xlsx report, which is slightly more complex than a CSV file connection which we also practice (you’ll be fine). In Power Query we then introduce the concepts of merging, which joins together two datasets, and removing columns and rows that we don’t need. In the Data Model we’ll develop the theme of implicit measures from Report 1 by creating explicit measures using DAX and look in more depth at the concept of filter context as well as introducing row context by creating calculated columns. In the Report View, we’ll bring in some slicers which are like buttons that your report reviewers can use to interact with the report as well as category charts, like pie charts. We’ll learn about the filter pane too and the publish our report to Power BI Online, where we’ll learn how to share a report with other people and bookmark particular views of data.

Report 3 – Spot the Difference

Into the intermediate report, but having completed the first two reports you’ll be well prepared. This report is all about comparing two sets of data against each other and spotting the differences. It’s based on a real life reconciliation work that every business will need to do.

To be able to identify differences between two reports we need to be able to match the two reports together somehow. In Excel, we would probably perform an XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP, and in Report 2 we use a merge. Those methods work if your two reports are at the same granularity (level of detail), but what do you do if the two reports are not at that same level of detail, so you can’t match row to row? In Power BI we can solve this problem using Relationships. Relationships are ways that tables of data can be linked together, and then data from those different tables can be used seamlessly together in visualisations. We also solve the age old problem of needing to add new data to a pre-existing file. In Excel world, someone will need to copy data from a new file and paste it into the old. In this report we go through folder connections, how they work and their pitfalls to consign the copy and paste shenanigans to the history books. We’ll also talk about how to create conditional columns (creating a column based on whether a statement is true or not) in both Power Query and the Data Model, as well as donut charts, stacked charts and line charts and the filter pane.

In Power BI Online, we’ll learn how to create workspaces so that more than one team member can work on a report, as well as publishing reports to apps so that our reports can be neatly organised online.

Report 4 – A Logistical Analysis

In the fourth and final report, we put everything we’ve learnt into practice in reports 1 -3 and tackle an analytical report for a fictitious retailer. Our made up company imports goods into a country from different factories around the world, and it’s up to us to keep track of how much money we’ve spent on transport and compare it to our budget. Along the way we’ll need to identify particular journeys that have cost us more than we expected, and most importantly, to understand why.

We’ll be working a lot with percentages, comparing budget percentages to actual percentages and that means this is the report where we really delve into DAX. The DAX functions we’ll learn about (among others!) include CALCULATE, FILTER, ALL, ALLSELECTED and DIVIDE. We’ll discuss the idea of table functions vs scalar functions and use the CALENDAR table function to create a date table, which we will then use to manipulate our budget cost and actual cost table.

A significant question that most companies have to answer when sending out one type of report is whether to send one report that has all possible information to lots of people, or whether to create lots of reports tailored individually for their recipients. The first option takes less time but means that recipients may see information that the report developers don’t want them to see. The second option means information is more secure but takes a lot more time. Row Level Security in Power BI removes both these problems, filtering reports to only show information configured for a reviewer’s profile based on their email address. We go through RLS in this report!

Finally we’ll discuss setting up refresh schedules so that you can create reports that self update, check usage reports so that you know whether your reports are being used,

As well as new skills, this report will also practice most of the skills we’ve learned to date. To help you practice for going solo in your own work and creating your own reports , the videos will ask you to complete tasks that you already know how to do before continuing with the lessons. If you don’t know how to do a task then you can use your supporting workbooks, or wait for the video to continue!

Why choose to learn Power BI?

Learning Power BI can be a game-changer for your career, opening doors to in demand roles in data analysis, business intelligence, and strategic decision-making or opening up opportunities in your current role. Businesses across industries rely on Power BI to transform raw data into actionable insights, making professionals with these skills invaluable. Microsoft Power BI has consistently been recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms, reinforcing its dominance in the market and ensuring long-term relevance. With organizations prioritizing data-driven strategies, Power BI expertise can significantly boost earning potential, with salaries for skilled professionals often exceeding industry averages. Whether you’re looking to advance in your current role or pivot into a lucrative field, Power BI is a powerful tool to elevate your career trajectory. Due to the way that Power BI can drive efficiencies and uncover business insights, those who can use Power BI can command a premium of between 10% to 20%, while experienced report developers can earn up to £100k in the UK.

Perhaps this is a less formal answer, but there’s also a real feeling of fulfilment and pride that I get from building a complex report, particularly when it is designed well from start to finish and accomplishes what I set out to achieve. Also (and this is definitely a less formal answer!) being able to use Power BI, particularly if you are in departments where there aren’t many or any Power BI specialists can make you appear like some sort of wizard :-).

Do I have permanent access to the course? >

Yes, once paid for, you have permanent access to the course while the website continues to function!

I’m a complete beginner at Power BI. Can I still take the course? >

Absolutely! The course is designed for beginners and those who only have a smattering of Power BI knowledge, to take them from novice report writers to someone who is prepared to have a go at most reports that come their way!

What do I need to complete the course? >

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• A PC with Microsoft Excel downloaded. Please note that this course is specifically for PCs not Macs.
• A school or work email address as this is required for downloading Power BI desktop here
• Two screens is helpful, one on which to watch the training videos, and one on which to practice the reports
• While not absolutely necessary, familiarity with basic Excel files also helps as the data that we use to create our reports is stored in Excel files and CSV files. However, in each of the four reports, we open up each of the files that we will use to review the data, so even this familiarity isn’t absolutely required.
• The total run time of the course video is 18 hours. However, as you will follow along with the instructions on the video and there are exercises to complete in the videos, we would recommend leaving 20-22 hours to complete the course.

Are there course materials? How do I access them? >

Tes, the course is supported by course materials including Excel files, text files and PDF guides for each of the skills that we cover. These are available in the introductory lesson section of the course and full instructions on how to get these materials is included. In addition, at the end of the course, there are a number of file downloads at the end of the course to support you in your first attempts at building your own reports, including a complete ‘Living With Power BI E-Book’ that gives picture by picture instructions on how to complete each of the skills that the course covers, as well as templates for identifying reports for creation and setting up your own reports.

What is your refund policy for the course? >

TWe’re sure that you’ll really enjoy this course and find it incredibly useful. However if you would like to cancel your access to the course after paying, then please check our Terms and Conditions which comply with the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Our Terms and Conditions can be found here