Business Analytics and Data Visualization with Power BI

BUSINESS ANALYTICS AND

DATA VISUALIZATION WITH
POWER BI

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction to Business Analytics .............................................................................................. 5

What is Business Analytics? ...................................................................................................................... 5
Metrics ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Examples of Commonly Used Metrics .................................................................................................. 6
Types of Analytics ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Descriptive Analytics ............................................................................................................................. 8
Diagnostic Analytics .............................................................................................................................. 8
Predictive Analytics ............................................................................................................................... 9
Prescriptive Analytics ............................................................................................................................ 9
Business Analytics Continuum ............................................................................................................ 10
Data and Information.............................................................................................................................. 11
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING ................................................................................................................ 12
Chapter 2: General Enterprise Data Flow ................................................................................................... 13
How does data get transformed into information in an enterprise? ..................................................... 13
Data Sources ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Enterprise Data Warehouse ................................................................................................................ 14
Reporting Tools ................................................................................................................................... 15
3-Tier Architecture .................................................................................................................................. 16
Data Reliability ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Relational Databases and the Star Schema ............................................................................................ 19
The Star Schema.................................................................................................................................. 20
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING ................................................................................................................ 22
Business Analytics Applications/Tools .................................................................................................... 23
Analytics Using Spreadsheets ............................................................................................................. 23
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING ................................................................................................................ 42
Dedicated Business Analytics Tools ........................................................................................................ 44
Chapter 3: Statistics .................................................................................................................................... 45
Measures of Central Tendency ............................................................................................................... 45

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Mean ................................................................................................................................................... 45
Median ................................................................................................................................................ 45
Mode ................................................................................................................................................... 45
Measures of Dispersion .......................................................................................................................... 45
Range .................................................................................................................................................. 46
Mean Absolute Deviation ................................................................................................................... 46
Variance .............................................................................................................................................. 46
Standard Deviation ............................................................................................................................. 47
Quantiles ................................................................................................................................................. 47
Quartiles, Deciles, and Percentiles...................................................................................................... 47
Standard Score (z-score) ......................................................................................................................... 48
Coefficient of Variation ........................................................................................................................... 48
Skewness ................................................................................................................................................. 48
Correlation .............................................................................................................................................. 49
Chapter 4: Data Visualization...................................................................................................................... 50
Making information more easily digestible through Data Visualization ................................................ 50
Representing Data with Charts ............................................................................................................... 53
Bar/Column Charts.............................................................................................................................. 53
Line Charts .......................................................................................................................................... 55
Combination Column-Line Charts ....................................................................................................... 56
Pie Charts ............................................................................................................................................ 56
Scatter Charts ...................................................................................................................................... 57
Bubble Charts ...................................................................................................................................... 57
Data Visualization using Microsoft PowerBI ........................................................................................... 59
Ways to Access Microsoft PowerBI..................................................................................................... 59
Getting Started.................................................................................................................................... 61
Screenshot and Mobile Device Disclaimer.......................................................................................... 62
Setting up your account ...................................................................................................................... 62
Navigating the Interface ..................................................................................................................... 67
Creating the Workspace and Dataset ................................................................................................. 69
Quick Insights ...................................................................................................................................... 73
The Lineage View ................................................................................................................................ 74

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Creating a Report ................................................................................................................................ 75

Collaboration Options ........................................................................................................................... 108
Workspace Membership ................................................................................................................... 108
Dashboards ....................................................................................................................................... 110
Publishing Results ................................................................................................................................. 112
The Power BI Mobile App ................................................................................................................. 113
Exporting Reports ............................................................................................................................. 114
Generate a QR Code for the Report.................................................................................................. 116
The Shared With Me Tab .................................................................................................................. 117
Publishing with Apps ......................................................................................................................... 117
Mobile Layout ....................................................................................................................................... 119
Mobile Layout for Reports ................................................................................................................ 119
Mobile Layout for Dashboards.......................................................................................................... 121
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING: ............................................................................................................. 122
Chapter 5: Capstone Project ..................................................................................................................... 124
Additional Tips for Creating the Capstone ............................................................................................ 124
Visualize your (imaginary) client ....................................................................................................... 124
Put yourself in the shoes of your (imaginary) client ......................................................................... 124
Begin with the End in mind ............................................................................................................... 124
Three Years of Historical Data........................................................................................................... 124
Power BI Samples.............................................................................................................................. 124

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Business Analytics

Everyone makes decisions. A graduating Senior High School might want to decide on what college
to enroll to. He might choose to forego college for now and find a part-time job. He might even decide to
have a “gap” period to collect his thoughts and plan out his future more. Not every decision is as
potentially life-altering as the above example. A mother will be making groceries and is torn between two
milk brands. Which should she choose? An office worker has the choice to use Grab to hail a ride to work
or he can commute to work using public transportation. He might even opt for a taxi, whichever might
come first. Whichever he chooses would be the result of a quick opportunity cost analysis in his head: he
might go for Grab if he has an urgent meeting, for example.

Everyone makes decisions. This is doubly so for businesses. Businesses fail and prosper with the
decision making of its leaders. The question then becomes: How would the leaders make the best, most
sound decision? There was a time when managers and executives just went with decision-making using
their “gut feeling” based off their past experiences. Wouldn’t it be better when decisions are made based
off quantifiable parameters, supported by facts? This way, the ability to create decisions is always backed
by the company’s numbers: past, present, and projected future. This venture, while sound, is easier said
than done. A company in today’s internet-connected world generates tons of data daily. How do you make
sense of it all? What is relevant, and what is unnecessary noise? How do you cut the wheat from the chaff?
This is where Business Analytics comes in.

What is Business Analytics?

Business Analytics, or just analytics, is the use of data, information technology, statistical analysis,
quantitative methods, and mathematical or computer-based models to help managers gain improved
insight about their business operations and make better, fact-based decisions1. The term is often used
interchangeably with Business Intelligence. In some cases, Business Intelligence is used to refer to the
overall practice of data analysis in a business context, while Analytics refers to the deeper, more advanced
methods of analyzing data. Either way, it is a process that involves data, the tools to gather and interpret
it. In practice, the tool to properly disseminate the information to the key stakeholders is also included.

Business Analytics is primarily a decision-making tool. Some common decisions include:

1. Pricing Decisions
2. Decisions to target consumer segments (age, gender, etc.)
3. Merchandising Decisions (what brands, quantity to buy, etc)
4. Location Decisions (where to establish a new branch, for example)

And many others that affects a business’ operations, supply chain, distribution, finance, human resources,
and more2.

Business Analytics is used to gather data and churn it into actionable items to create strategic and tactical
decisions. Here are some uses of Business Analytics:
1. Measure the “Customer Service Level” of a distribution firm. It measures the company’s
ability to service their customers from the moment the sales order has been placed, up to the
moment the goods arrive at their doorstep.

1
James Evans, Introduction to Business Analytics, (Pearson Education, 2013), 3.
2
Evans, Intro to BA, 4

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2. Measure the “Overall Equipment Efficiency”. It measures the effectiveness of a production

line of machines.
3. Quantify the abilities of athletes to make a championship-ready team.

The above is a list of just some examples where data is taken and transformed into a measurable and
quantifiable markers with which to base strategies off. These measurable and quantifiable items are called
Metrics.

Metrics
As described in the previous section, Metrics are measures of quantitative assessment commonly
used for assessing, comparing, and tracking performance or production3. Simply put, it takes whatever
Measure in the organization’s data and applies calculations and comparisons to them. Measures, in turn,
are the raw numerical data. Any data item that can be subject to the four basic arithmetic operations is
considered a measure. This is an important distinction, as data can come in many forms, and even if a
piece of data is purely numerical, it does not automatically mean that it is a measure. For example,
Employee Codes can be purely numerical to denote hiring order. Even if it is purely numerical, it makes
no sense to add up Employee Numbers.

Metrics come in a wide range and can vary between companies and industries. There are some
that are industry standards, but more often than not, they are customized to an individual company’s
specific needs and outcomes. Executives, and managers, in particular, use them to create strategic and
tactical decisions in order to achieve their goals. Because a metric can come from nearly any data point in
an enterprise, its ability to state a quantifiable target, and the company’s position in relation to that target
at any given point in time is one of the most important characteristics a metric should have.

Generally, executives and managers seek to have a dashboard, where different Key Performance
Indicators are gathered in the same place. These are specific metrics that help measure a company’s
success. This helps simplify analysis and opens up discussions in strategy meetings by having a single
interactive page displaying all the relevant metrics.

Examples of Commonly Used Metrics

1. Sales vs. Targets – one of the most universal basic metrics. It simply shows the difference
between actual sales numbers against the target figure. If the Sales Figure is below the Target
Figure, then something needs to be done.

2. Current Period Sales vs. Previous Period Sales – used as a measure of sales over various
periods of time. Due to economic forces like inflation, Sales Figures are usually expected to
grow over time to counter act it, however, it still depends on the targets set during the
planning meeting usually done near the start of the company’s year. Examples include Year-
to-Date Sales vs. Year-to-Date Last Year Sales and Year-on-Year Sales Analysis.

3. Sales vs. Returns – when a product that has been sold is returned at an unsellable state (rat
bites, packaging is too deformed, water damaged, etc.) it will automatically count as a loss to

3
Julie Young, ‘Metrics’, Investopedia.com, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/metrics.asp, (accessed 6th May,
2019).

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the company. This metric will allow the company to monitor how much of the products sold
actually get delivered without issue to its customers. Too many returns on a particular product
make and model might point to a problem from the supplier/warehouse/delivery process or
too many returns from a particular customer might indicate a problem with that customer.
This is separate from the Returns vs Target Returns metric.

4. Sales vs. Invoice – for large companies, the sales process is more than just the face-to-face
exchange of money and goods between two parties. In this way, we can think of the Sales
numbers as the “expected sales” value, while the Invoice numbers are the “actual sales” value
that will count towards the company’s profits. There is usually a time difference between the
time an order is placed and the actual billing of said order. Because billing will only be counted
for actual goods/services delivered, there will be instances where only partial billing will be
done while the remaining goods/services will be delivered on a later date. This metric will
help keep track of those partial billings so that 100% fulfillment can be achieved.

5. Truck Utilization – distribution companies deliver products from their warehouse to their
clients. Using a truck for deliveries represent an expense in terms of labor, vehicle
maintenance, and fuel. Each truck has its own rated dimensions and maximum weight rating.
This metric will help maximize how each truck is used: making sure that it is close to full
capacity (in terms of dimensions and weight) and have routes that will serve the most
customers coming to and from the distribution center.

6. Customer Segmentation – knowing the customer is one of the quickest ways to expand a
business’ earning potential. This metric will enable the business to know which of their
customers make up the bulk of sales. Customers can be segmented by Gender, Age, Location,
Industry, etc. Knowing the customer segmentation and the performance of each segment will
help create a more focused marketing campaign.

7. Hiring Rates – Hiring Managers and Staff are usually evaluated at the rate they are able to
process applicants from initial interview to final contract signing. This metric will help them
monitor applicants and how they get past each stage of hiring to figure out if new hiring
practices should be relaxed or be more stringent.

8. Occupancy Rate – measures the rate at which rooms are reserved in Hotels. This helps the
management figure out just how much of their rooms are used by customers. At the same
time, if expressed as a function of time, it will help determine lean and peak seasons for the
business, which helps set expectations and help ease preparations when a sudden influx of
occupants appear.

9. Service Level Agreement – SLA’s are used in IT Support Organizations to keep track of support
tickets and team utilization. It gives an idea of how effective the organization is by getting the
number and kind of tickets (from low priority to show stopper) and the average response
time. Each kind of ticket has its own window wherein it will need to be solved. An effective

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organization is one where each kind of ticket is resolved within this window. Any misses will
open up discussion on what exactly happened and what will need to be done to avoid such
misses in the future.

10. Lead Summary – a marketing campaign will have different ways to generate leads when trying
to drum up interest on a product and/or brand awareness. Methods include internet ads,
television ads, print ads, on-premise events, etc. Knowing which method yields the most
responses will help focus company resources in the method with most impact.

These metrics will typically be expressed from the Top Level, that is, the total number for the
whole company. They can then be drilled down to multiple levels. For example, the Sales vs. Target Metric
can be drilled down to a Per Brand level to evaluate the performance of account managers, then drilled
down again to Per Item to see which items or SKU (Stock Keeping Unit, pronounced “skew”) are actually
turning a profit.

Types of Analytics
There are three types of Analytics. Each one attempts to answer key questions that a business
might encounter:

Descriptive Analytics
The starting point of doing analytics for businesses. It uses data to understand the past and
current business performance and make informed decisions4. The metric examples provided previously
all fall under Descriptive Analytics. It is the most common and most understood form of Business
Analytics.

Descriptive Analytics uses already-existing data from the enterprise. It collects and consolidates
data and transforms them into meaningful information displayed as charts and tables to monitor
performance. It is also the most reliable, as it uses data that is considered final and is already recorded
into the system. It answers the Question/Activity: “What has happened?”

Diagnostic Analytics
Diagnostic Analytics can be considered as the “Next Step” to Descriptive Analytics, in that after
finding out WHAT happened, further analysis is made to figuring out WHY it happened. It attempts to find
out the reasoning behind certain results.

Diagnostic analytics is usually performed using such techniques as data discovery, drill-down, data
mining, and correlations. In the discovery process, analysts identify the data sources that will help them
interpret the results. Drilling down involves focusing on a certain facet of the data or particular widget.

For example, you see the total sales report and your company is turning a profit. While you are
happy that there are profits, you are disappointed that the target profit projected earlier in the year was

4
Evans, Intro to BA, 6

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not met. You will have to then decide to investigate a little further. You look into the breakdown of the
figures by slicing and dicing the data. You look at the numbers for each department and product/service
that serve as revenue drivers. You look at expenses. You also look at the monthly break down of data and
try to see if there were any significant events that coincided with dips in sales or if the dips were normal
due to seasonality by consulting prior years’ data.

Predictive Analytics
Predictive Analytics analyzes past performance in an effort to predict the future by examining
historical data, detecting patterns or relationships in these data and then extrapolating these relationships
forward in time5. This is the next step in Analytics Implementation for an enterprise, and cannot exist
without Descriptive Analytics, because past data needs to exist first, before extrapolation can happen and
patterns emerge.

Statistical Methods are used extensively for data exploration in Prescriptive Analytics. Regression,
Correlation, and projection are used constantly in order to derive information from past data. An
insurance firm, for example, can use Predictive Analytics to find out how likely a new customer will file a
claim based on various factors such as Age, Gender, Preexisting Conditions, and the like. It can also
determine which factor has the biggest impact, and charge premiums accordingly.

Predictive Analytics aims to answer the question “What will happen?”

Prescriptive Analytics
Prescriptive Analytics uses optimization to identify the best alternatives to minimize or maximize
some objective6. In the real world, there are a lot of variables that are seemingly random that can have
an impact on the bottom line. For this reason, “What-if?” analyses are made in order to determine the
impact of these different variables, and by how much. However, because there are a lot variables, usually
greater than the ability of a human to process, it is considered the Holy Grail of analytics. Employing the
mathematical and Statistical methods in Predictive Analytics in conjunction with Machine Learning and
Artificial Intelligence will allow businesses to sift through inordinate amounts of data in addition to being
able to automatically make recommendations from the insight gained.

Prescriptive Analytics aims to answer the question “Out of all these alternatives, what should we
do?”

Various tools exist that cater to the different kinds of Analytics. Some tools are capable of serving
all kinds, while others specialize in one aspect. Usually they also come with a visualization aspect that will
help in the quick interpretation of results.

5
Evans, Intro to BA, 6
6
Evans, Intro to BA, 7

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Business Analytics Continuum

In terms of Business Analytics Capabilities, businesses will ALWAYS start with Descriptive
Analytics. Once enough data is in place, and enough people are comfortable with using Business Analytics,
it can then move on into Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics.

In the above image, the graph to the left of the vertical dotted line is the domain of Descriptive
Analytics. It is the starting point of Business Analytics in an enterprise. Then, as the company’s capabilities
mature and more and more people start to use the Analytics tools afforded them, only then will they
move on to doing Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics. This does not mean that Descriptive Analytics is
going to be ignored. Descriptive Analytics will always have its place simply due to the reliability of the
information that can be gleaned from the company’s historical data.

The biggest issue facing the use of Business Analytics in an enterprise is adoption. Dedicated
Business Analytics tools cost additional investment in software, hardware, and human resources. All of
these mean additional costs for the enterprise. New tools also typically have a connotation where a lot of
technical expertise is needed to use them effectively. While not necessarily false, users tend to put up a
resistance to using them due to this. For this reason, most Business Analytics tools in the market stress
“Self Service BI.” The aim is to empower Business Users to create meaningful reports straight from their
enterprise data sources all without the help of the IT department, or at the very least, minimal
intervention from IT.

7
https://blogs.sap.com/2016/08/29/predictive-analytics-changing-the-game-for-sap-oem-partners/

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Data and Information

In this Information Age where everything and everyone is connected, data is one of the, if not the
most important resource a company can have. There are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day,
with the pace still increasing with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT)8. The amount is staggering,
and it is difficult to truly comprehend just how much of it is created through daily consumption at work
and during our leisure time. Some have even remarked that Data is the New Oil9. The analogy is made to
emphasize data’s importance to the digital frontier, much in the same way oil paved the way for much of
human progress during the industrial revolution.

Much like Oil, however, data by itself is useless. Because there is so much of it at any given time,
it takes skill to filter out the noise in order to derive insight that will benefit businesses to make informed
decisions. Data must be subject to different analysis methods so that information can be gleaned from it.
This information will then become the basis of an Action Plan that will make up the bulk of a business
strategy.

As an illustration of how Data gets transformed to Information for the benefit of the user, look no
further than Spotify. Spotify has a Weekly Discover Playlist that makes recommendations on what to listen
to based on your musical preferences. But how is the Discover Playlist built? The simple act of listening to
a song in Spotify generates a lot of data about you:

1. The title of the song

2. The artist
3. The genre
4. The artists and songs you search for

Just to name a few. All that data is then fed to an algorithm that collates and consolidates that data for
any given listening session and Spotify will generate a playlist that will contain new songs and artists, more
likely those you have never heard of before or only have passing familiarity with (which is the point of a
Discover Playlist) that is approximated from your tastes and listening habits. The moment you start using
Spotify is the moment you start producing data as a consumer.

In online shopping, whenever you browse for items you may want or put it in your shopping cart,
you will be shown what other people bought that are related to the item you are viewing. Sometimes,
bundles involving your item are shown, and in some cases, it will show a discounted bundle. These are
just some ways that companies nowadays use data to enhance the User Experience and increase their
own revenues at the same time.

8
Bernard Marr, ‘How Much Data Do We Create Every Day? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read’,
Forbes.com, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-
the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/#4451973260ba, (accessed 7th May, 2019).
9
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data

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CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

I. IDENTIFY THE TYPE OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS.

1. The CEO wants to understand the impact of an advertising campaign by comparing the current sales from
last year.
2. In a meeting, there was a review of business performance to find problems or areas of opportunity.
3. The manager wants to see the number and types of complaints resolve for the first quarter.
4. The sales agent sent a report classifying the customers into different segments.
5. A team of market researchers estimates the total revenue that will be generated thru the marketing
campaign executed by the company.
6. In the third quarter, the manager created a chart showing the possible movements of prices of their products
on the 4th quarter.
7. Sales manager created a technique that computes the demand for next year.
8. The company is developing a tool that helps to determine the best pricing to maximize revenue.
9. The broker uses software to define the optimal mix of investments in a stock portfolio.
10. The manager wants to know the amount to be deducted to the advertising expenses in order to increase
profit.

II. What are other examples of Metrics/KPI’s? What are they monitoring and how important are they
to a company’s success?

III. If you were an owner of a company/enterprise, how will you implement Business Analytics?

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Chapter 2: General Enterprise Data Flow

Now that a basic understanding of Business Analytics has been established, it is time to learn how
data actually travels inside an enterprise so that it can be transformed into useable information, and in
turn, actionable items.

Business Analytics implementation in an enterprise is not a venture that can be done alone. It is
a collaborative effort that involves multiple teams from multiple departments constantly communicating
with each other in order to figure out the information needed by the main stakeholders. Determining the
information is the starting point of an implementation, which will dictate which data will actually be
conducive for the desired analysis.

How does data get transformed into information in an enterprise?

The following is an illustration of a typical enterprise System Landscape:

Data Sources
An enterprise’s data needs grow bigger and bigger as the business scales up. Due to this, the
machines (servers and clients) bought to address data needs a few years ago might no longer be enough
to address the need today, yet they are system-critical that taking them offline even for a bit could create
an operational scenario where the business users won’t be able to transact, which makes the data for
reporting to the higher ups no longer accurate or no longer available. There are three main categories of
data sources in an Enterprise.

ERP Systems
In an ideal world, ALL of an enterprise’s data is fed into its ERP System and all reports are obtained
directly from it. However, the real world makes it difficult because in the end, ERP Systems are still just
machines, with their limited (not infinite) capacity and processing power. An ERP System might also not
be able to address an enterprise’s needs as the company grows larger. This means that the company will

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then have to procure a new ERP System, or upgrade its current one, which requires a significant
investment.

An ERP System makes extensive use of Master Data to help keep track of Business Partners and
Items. Usually the maintenance of these is assigned to key people, who will be the ones to manage the
creation of new Master Data or the updating of such. Lastly, when new equipment is bought or an existing
ERP System is upgraded, the company might need to schedule a little bit of down time to implement them.
The ERP System is unavailable at these times, so these will need to be scheduled ahead of time, and
concerned parties will need to be informed so they can work around it (adding System Memory, for
example, requires for the system to be shut down first before new Memory Modules can be installed).

Other Databases
Sometimes, due to geographical or cost constraints, a branch of the company might be physically
impossible to connect to the corporate network. This means that they can’t use the ERP System without
resorting to workarounds. One such workaround is to maintain a separate database that records all
transactions for the day. At the end of the day, the database will upload the collected data to the ERP
system.

In other instances, databases might be part of a legacy system that is still being used. It might be
integrated into a Business Process that is system-critical, and current Cost/Time/Technical constraints
mean that they can’t be assimilated to the ERP system just yet. In order to be able to decommission these
systems, the business process and the data they produce must be integrated to the ERP. If this is
impossible, then an Enterprise Data Warehouse will be required to consolidate their data. This will require
additional cost in time and manpower, as it is a project that will require specialized knowledge in both the
legacy system AND the ERP/EDW (This is an example of Data Migration).

Flat Files
As mentioned before, in a perfect world, all of an enterprise’s data is going to be present in the
ERP, for instant extraction and reporting. However, in reality, there is a process in place so that data within
it cannot be tampered with. Transactions will usually have an approval process to help keep out doubtful
and fraudulent records, while Master Data is managed by key employees. However, there are some
instances where a branch is in such a remote location that an internet connection is not available. This is
where Flat Files come in. Transactions for that branch will be recorded in a flat file, later to be sent to the
Head Office for processing and consolidation.

Flat files are usually Excel or delimited text files that business users create in order to make their
own reports when needed. Delimited text files are usually either tab-delimited or comma-separated
value (CSV) files. These files can still be opened in Excel, though tab-delimited files might need a few extra
steps before it can be read (though because they are text files, Notepad will also do). In order to keep an
accurate enterprise-wide report, these will have to be formatted in such a way that it can be uploaded
back into the ERP or Enterprise Data Warehouse.

Enterprise Data Warehouse

While the ERP system has some built-in reporting functionality, it is far from a complete solution.
The most obvious limitations are the fact that custom reports are difficult to create, and data visualization
capabilities are lacking, if present at all. What’s more, the reporting functionality will also consume system
memory in order to be processed. This can have an adverse impact on its ability to transact, especially if

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large, detailed reports (per customer or per item, or worse, both) are needed. An Enterprise Data
Warehouse is needed in order to work around these limitations.

The Enterprise Data Warehouse is built in order to consolidate the disparate data sources so that
only the data necessary for reporting will actually be used. Consolidating data is an important aspect of
Business Analytics, because first and foremost, above even facilitating data analysis, is concerned with
delivering “a single version of the truth”. That is, an accurate representation of the business, from any
view point. From an implementation standpoint, this will require the following:

1. New hardware that will become the server hosting the Data Warehouse. It must be connected
to the corporate network.
2. A dedicated project team from the Enterprise Side made up of Business Users.
3. A dedicated project team either from the Enterprise IT Team or an external organization who
will be responsible for setting up the environment.

Building an Enterprise Data Warehouse is a massive undertaking that can take weeks, months,
even years to complete, depending on how large the target scope is. In order to build an Enterprise Data
Warehouse:

1. The Business Users will need to determine the reports they want to derive from their data
sources.
2. The Business Users will then convene with the IT Team in order to iron out the technical
requirements (Blueprinting). This includes providing information on business processes and
where the data can be obtained. This could take a few days to a few weeks.
3. Once the IT Team has worked out the actual requirements needed by the Business Users, it is
time to implement the EDW to those specifications.
4. Testing will follow for data accuracy with the help of the Business Users.

Because it is on separate hardware, it usually follows a daily “load schedule” during off-peak
hours, usually midnight or very early morning, where the previous day’s transactions will be loaded into
it. It is scheduled during off-peak hours because those times are usually the ones where the ERP especially,
is not being used.

Note that the EDW is at its core a large database. If the scope starts becoming too large, it may
be advisable to create another one that will have its own purpose, but uses the same Data Sources.
Hardware may be powerful enough to host multiple Data Warehouses in the same machine. SAP Business
Warehouse is a tool to help build Data Warehouses, as is SAP Data Services. Note that the actual
implementation is highly technical, so the Business Users are not expected to actually help build the EDW,
rather the IT Team might defer to them occasionally to ensure correctness and accuracy, and clarify some
other things that did not come up during Blueprinting.

Reporting Tools
Once the Enterprise Data Warehouse has consolidated and sorted out the individual data
elements required by the Business Users, it is time to recombine them into a report that will then allow
analysis by the Business Users to help keep track of the status of the business. Because the Enterprise
Data Warehouse is essentially a large Database, it is likely that technical column names are still used
instead of more common, Business-friendly terms. For example, a database column that represents a

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Business Partner’s last name is called “INDIV_FNM” or some such. This doesn’t really make sense from
the Business User’s perspective, as the name doesn’t immediately make sense. To help alleviate this, a
Semantic Layer is set up as a sort of “translator” so that the Business User can immediately understand
what the data is, by allowing them to see technical terms as business terms.

One other bottleneck in reports creation and Data Analysis is the complexity of extracting data
from the EDW for analysis. It used to be that the Business User will have to request data from the IT Team.
This provides a lot of delays in information. For one, the actual extraction might take some time, and the
fact that the IT person may not be all that well-versed in Business Lingo, which will affect the quality of
data. If it’s wrong, he will have to re-extract the data. All of those delays, and that’s not even counting the
delays from having to wait for response E-mails!

One of the defining features today in Business Analytics Tools is what’s called Self-Service BI. In
addition to the Semantic Layer, reporting tools are created with an easy to understand interface (usually
drag-and-drop actions make up the majority of interactions) so that the Business User will be empowered
to create their own reports. It covers easy extraction from the Data Warehouse to Report Creation to
Publishing, without or with minimal help from IT. This helps with the timely flow of information, as reports
can be created in an instant by the Business User alone.

Another aspect of Business Intelligence is the quick dissemination of reports to their intended
audiences. It is for this reason that specialized tools also usually come with the ability to log in to a
platform where reports can be published. Examples of Reporting Tools (BA Tools, really) will be covered
in a future section10.

3-Tier Architecture
An enterprise does not only have one single landscape. An enterprise cannot depend on just one
because they need a contingency plan when something inevitably breaks. Imagine what will happen to
the enterprise if for example, an incorrect configuration was pushed into the system that caused it to
crash. Since there is no longer a system to transact to, the whole company’s data is at a standstill. To
prevent such an accident from occurring, companies will ideally have three of the landscapes:
Development (DEV), Quality Assurance (QAS, pronounced “kwas”) and Production (PRD, pronounced
“prod”, as in the first syllable).

PRD is the most critical of the three, as it contains “live data”. It is the system that is used in the
day-to-day transactions of the company. A lot of redundancies might be required for this landscape, as it
is needed for the proper function of the enterprise. As such, its physical hardware tends to be the most
powerful of the three. Downtime for it must be reduced as much as possible due to its operational
importance.

DEV, as its name states, is for development purposes. When a new report needs to be created or
a change in configuration needs to be made, it should be done here first. If the report runs (data is correct
and completes at a timely manner) or the configuration does not result in catastrophic failure, they will
be rolled up and applied/promoted to QAS. If everything is in order in QAS after further testing, that is
the only time they will finally be promoted to PRD.

10
Especially in the case of an external team creating a Business Analytics solution, they will provide sufficient training
and documentation to the Business Users and EDW Custodians, so the system can be maintained and used in their
absence.

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These three landscapes does not need to be aligned with regards to data. That is to say, the data
in PRD need not be present in DEV for development purposes. However, ideally, all reports, objects and
software configurations should match. This is because in a BA environment, as long as a report is properly
configured, it will be able to get the updated data as long as the “object” representing that data is present.
Also, promotion from PRD going back to QAS and DEV isn’t permitted.

Other enterprises has a 4th, off-premises landscape known as Disaster Recovery (DR). This is
essentially a copy of PRD that is placed separate from the other three landscapes. It will act as a
contingency when PRD becomes subject to catastrophic failure (usually through accidents and Acts of
God). As such, it is important to keep the data between these two aligned, to minimize downtime.

Data Reliability
The one inviolable rule when working with numbers and computers is this: “Garbage in, Garbage
Out”. Some people say “Numbers don’t lie”, but that is incomplete, because the veracity of the numbers
must be taken to task before calculations are made need to be considered before any definitive
statements can be made. This is a constant challenge with Analytics. As the data travels and transforms
through the enterprise, something might get lost or unintentionally changed, and tracking down these
anomalies will have significant impact on the correctness of the reports being produced. Because if one
item is inaccurate, are the other items that came with it also affected? It is for this reason that Clear
Communication is a must not just within the company, but with everyone involved in a Business Analytics
Project. Sometimes these can be easily traced, other times, not so much. The following are just some ways
inconsistencies can be introduced:

1. Inconsistent Terminology – A department might refer to an SKU as a “Product” and another

might refer to it as “Material”. This extends to more than just the labels. The “Product”
department might be using only the first 5 characters of the SKU’s Code for their reporting,
while the “Material” department might need the whole 20-character string for their own
reporting. In that case, both must be present and accounted for.

2. Rounding Errors and Truncation – Consider the number of decimal places a given piece of
numeric data has. As it travels from the Source to the EDW to the Reporting Tool, it will have
to be encoded into different formats. Potential side effects include Rounding Errors. This
could cause final numbers to deviate from the source.

As can be seen in the above example, simply rounding the Price column had a significant
enough effect that the displayed total has been changed. These are just for four items.
Imagine the impact if the whole ERP system was considered! Errors like these are usually given
special considerations if the discrepancies can be proven to be from rounding errors.

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Truncation will have the same effect (though more pronounced), however, instead of
rounding the number, decimal places are outright omitted:

Be careful how decimal places are considered.

3. NULLs and Zeroes – Null Values represent “nothing”. However, in computing, Nulls and
Zeroes are considered as different entities. This can have an impact on the evaluation of
conditional formulas and averages.

4. Incorrect Inputs – this is where the concept of “Garbage In, Garbage Out” is very apparent.
While ERP Systems usually have a built-in way to reject incorrect inputs (inputting letters in a
field that only accepts numbers), some legacy systems don’t have this functionality. Even
worse still are the “technically correct” inputs that get accepted but are gibberish (nonsense
data and fields left blank that shouldn’t be). Data cleanup to ensure consistency is a lot of
work, and should only be done as a last resort. The best way to avoid Garbage Inputs is to put
policies in place that will ensure correctness.
5. Outright Data Discrepancies - A company usually has some tactical decisions (particularly
marketing) where promos and bundles of their products and services will be joined together,
in order to take advantage of a gap in the market or a season, to increase sales. Since the
bundles consist of different products, it also has an impact on inventory. In other cases, a trial
run of a new product is made available to the market to test its viability. This situation means
that a new Item should be present in the ERP in order to reflect their numbers properly.
However, because they are a special case that had to be created quickly, they are for internal
use only for the departments responsible. These will have to be later pushed into the ERP in
order to get a more accurate reading on the enterprise as a whole.

Again, prevention is better than cure. It is always better to prevent an issue from arising in the first place,
rather than trying to fix it when it does show up.

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Relational Databases and the Star Schema

The Relational Model is the first data model that can be fully described mathematically. All data
(fields/columns) is represented in terms of tuples (rows/record), grouped into relations. It is the most
common way to store and access enterprise data, as it uses some form of Structured Query Language
(SQL).

The usage of primary and foreign keys denote relationships between tables. Data can be obtained
from multiple tables to produce one tuple of data by JOINing tables via their keys. SQL, initially pushed as
the standard language for relational databases, deviates from the relational model in several places. The
current ISO SQL standard doesn't mention the relational model or use relational terms or concepts.
However, it is possible to create a database conforming to the relational model using SQL if one does not
use certain SQL features.

Storing data obviously takes up space, and the more space needed to store data, the more
expensive it is for the enterprise to maintain (mainly, it will need to purchase additional hard drives and
other storage media). Take for example the following table:

Customer
Transaction ID Customer Name Product ID Product Description Amount
ID
000001 CUS0001 Huey Santiago PROD0001 BK Udon 250
000002 CUS0001 Huey Santiago PROD0001 BK Udon 250
000003 CUS0001 Huey Santiago PROD0001 BK Udon 250
000004 CUS0002 Diana Fajardo PROD0002 Spam Musubi 50
000005 CUS0002 Diana Fajardo PROD0003 Coke In Can 70
000006 CUS0002 Diana Fajardo PROD0004 Kakiage 60

Having to repeatedly state the Customer Name and Product Description after every transaction
will take up a lot of space. It is for this reason that these kinds of data are represented by an ID-Description
pair to make it easier to create relations and JOIN tables together to save space. The above table can then
be expressed as the following:

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Instead of just relying on one table to show all of the data, we break it down to three tables.
Please note that the names were arbitrarily assigned:

1. TXN – records all transactions that is encoded into the system.

2. CUS_MAS – stores all customer information.
3. PROD_MAS – stores all product information.

If we want to see the name of the customers who bought products, we only need to JOIN the TXN and
CUS_MAS tables. This saves space because we don’t have to show the customer names all the time in the
TXN Table, and allows for more flexible reporting.

The Star Schema

A schema or logical data model is a representation of the abstract structure of domain
information. It is often expressed as a diagram, and is used as foundation to designing database structures.
There are many different kinds of schemas, but the most-commonly used one in enterprise computing is
the Star Schema.

A Star Schema is the simplest approach used in designing enterprise datawarehouses. It is

comprised of a Fact Table (usually just one) referencing any number of Dimension Tables.

A Fact Table records measurements for a specific event. These are typically referred to as
Transaction Tables that contain very granular numeric data. In addition to this numeric data (typically

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amounts and quantities), it will also contain surrogate keys that define its relationships to many
Dimension Tables, which contain descriptive data. In an enterprise, an “event” can be any sale that occurs.
In other words, enterprise measures can be derived from the fact tables.

A Dimension Table by contrast will contain less records than Fact Tables. They don’t contain
transactions, rather, they contain descriptive information like Customer Information, Addresses, Date and
Time, etc. The data they contain are sometimes referred to as Master Data. In an enterprise, there will be
dedicated custodians for this kind of data because they should follow a strict process to add/edit them,
as they can change the view of the enterprise data.

Relationships in the schema (JOINing tables) is dictated by Keys within the tables. Keys ensure
that each row of data within the table is unique. These are typically “ID” columns that automatically
increment, the more rows are populated, using some sort of algorithm. They can consist of a single or
multiple columns, to ensure uniqueness. Keys can also be Primary or Foreign, depending on the context
or view. For example, in the figure below, think of each table as a building, and we are in F_SALES. In
F_SALES, there is the CUST_ID column, which is a part of F_SALES primary key. The same column name is
present in D_CUSTOMER. Since we are inside F_SALES, we can say that the CUST_ID column in
D_CUSTOMER is a foreign key, and vice-versa. It is important to note that what matters when JOINing
multiple tables is not the name of the columns, but rather their contents. For example, if CUST_ID in
F_SALES contains the “CUST1000” value, then that same value should also be in CUST_ID in
D_CUSTOMER. The names are kept similar so that the Database Administrators and designers will have
an easier time maintaining the RDBMS.

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CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

1. What are the three major components of the System Landscape?

2. How does data travel in an enterprise so that meaningful reports can be derived?

3. Why is an Enterprise Data Warehouse needed?

4. What reliability issues would you suspect if there are small numerical discrepancies from one
part of the System Landscape to another?

5. What other data reliability issues could arise in an enterprise?

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Business Analytics Applications/Tools

Business Analytics Applications are mainly concerned with the Reporting Tools part of the System
Landscape. Their main uses are the creation of reports, and the dissemination of such reports. The former
is a basic functionality, while the latter is a part of a suite of applications.

Analytics Using Spreadsheets

A Business Analytics tool, at its most basic, should be able to display data in tabular form and
enhance presentations with charts, graphs, and other visual elements. To this end, a simple Spreadsheet
application, like Microsoft Excel, can do the job. It is bare bones and lacks some of the user-friendly
features and automation found in dedicated Business Analytics tools, but offers other benefits:

1. Due to its ubiquity (Excel in particular), it can be expected to be present in almost any
corporate environment.
2. Even if it is a little “simplistic” compared to dedicated tools, it is very robust. Good reports
can be achieved with a bit of time and effort.
3. Familiarity with it will help facilitate easier communication with the IT Team when more
complex data is needed.
4. Dedicated Business Analytics Tools usually have a feature to export their data and/or results
into Excel, so that they can be subject to other analyses or offer interoperability between
tools, or if the intended recipient has no access to the dedicated tools.

Data visualization and analysis techniques will be discussed in detail on a later topic. This section will be
more concerned with walking through Spreadsheet Basics and some time-saving techniques.

Spreadsheet Basics – Workbooks and Worksheets

The main file of a Spreadsheet Application is known as the Workbook. When an “Excel File” is
mentioned, it is referring to the workbook. A workbook can contain multiple Worksheets. These are
individual “tabs” within the workbook that allows for multiple analyses in any one given file.

Spreadsheet Basics – Formulas and Cells

Spreadsheets work simply by encoding data in individual cells, then processing said data using
formulas.

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Data/Formula is input in the Formula Bar. Input can be triggered by either Double-clicking the Cell, or
Selecting the Cell then clicking on the Formula Bar, or Selecting the Cell and typing on the keyboard.

Spreadsheet Basics – Inputting and Propagating Formulas

A column or row of a spreadsheet typically uses a single, uniform formula for that whole row or
column (unless specifically for presentation purposes). Take for example a simple calculation to get the
Sales Amount:

Column A contains the Item Names, Column B their corresponding prices, and Column C their Quantities
Sold. To get the Total Amount in Column D, you simply need to multiply the cells in Column B with
Column C, resulting in the following formula for Cell D2:

Formulas always need to start with the equal sign. To minimize errors when creating formulas, once the
equal sign is typed, any cell selected with the mouse will automatically be added into the formula. Note
that Spreadsheets have built-in functionality to reject formulas that are syntactically incorrect. Also,
PEMDAS order of operations still apply. Now that we have a calculation for a cell in column D, it is time to
propagate the formula to the rest of Column D:

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To do this, Select Cell D2

Notice the small box on the lower right hand corner of the cell. Move the mouse cursor to it until it turns
into a small black cross, then double click. For as long as there is contiguous data on column C, the formula
will be propagated until a blank on Column C is encountered (the formula for Cell D3 will become B3*C3,
and so on).

Alternatively, Cell D2 can be copied, then select Cells D2 to D5, then paste. This can be a little tedious
though, if the data set is larger.

Excel is smart enough to retain correct cell references. If, for example, a new column of data has to be
input between columns B and C, the formula is automatically adjusted. Also note that cells on other
worksheets and other workbooks can be selected and used in formulas. A properly built Excel worksheet
can accommodate changes in data without having to re-create or change a formula.

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Spreadsheet Basics – Copying and Pasting Cells

When a cell is copied, everything about that cell is copied, with the most obvious aspect being the
Formula and the Formatting. However, there will be some instances where only the value of the cell is
needed (like when creating a “Summary” worksheet and you don’t want other people to see how a
number is derived, due to a proprietary/trade secret). In this case, a Paste Special functionality is available
in order to facilitate this.

Spreadsheet Basics – Functions

Functions allow for easier formulas and extends their abilities beyond just simple arithmetic.
These include simply getting sums, cumulative sums, conditional sums, averages, conditional statements,
and looking up values in a table among others. For Example, instead of adding each cell in column D
individually to get the sum, the SUM Function can be used. One benefit of this is that if a new row/s is
added between rows 2-5, it will be factored in to the total, as the cell references adjust automatically.

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Sometimes an auto-complete dropdown box appears when typing a formula:

A short description of what the function does also appears. As the formula is typed, more help text
appears that shows the syntax of the formula being typed.

Raw Data Sheet

Before working on data analysis, data should be extracted from its source first. When data is
extracted from a Database or ERP system through a query, the result will be Columnar Data, that is, data
comes in columns, with the very first row containing not data, but column names. It is best to leave this
sheet alone, and just do the analyses on separate worksheets. Also, this form of data is going to be the
most likely format when data needs to be uploaded back into the ERP or Database, because Tab-delimited
and Comma-separated Values text files also use this format.

The reason for keeping a separate worksheet for the Raw Data is simply for report reusability. If
the report layout is fixed and is expected to be delivered at set dates, a properly built workbook that uses
the appropriate formulas and functions will only need to update this worksheet, saving a lot of time
because the workbook will not have to be rebuilt every single time new/updated data is available.

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Conditional Statements
One of the most common situations that come up with data organization is grouping data. For
example, a company needs to segment its customers by the amount of spending to see which of them are
the biggest patrons. This information will then be used for promos, special offers, and the like.

At the moment, there are only two classifications: if a Customer is spending more than 50,000 he
is classified as a Top Spender, otherwise, he is a low spender. Doing this manually is tedious and error-

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prone, particularly when there are hundreds or thousands of records that need to be sorted out. To easily
do this, the IF-THEN-ELSE Construct is used. The IF-THEN-ELSE Construct tests a condition, then decides
on a course of action whether the condition is true or not.

Once the formula is set, it’s just a matter of propagating it (note that to denote and return words
and text values, the value if true/false should be inside quotations):

However, sometime in the future, as the business grows, there will be more and more customers
and further segmentation will be needed: if a customer spends less than 30,000 he will be a Low Spender.
Greater than 80,000 is a Top Spender. Anything not covered by the first two conditions will be Mid
Spenders. To do this, the formula from before will need to be changed and expanded. For more complex
conditions (two or more conditions resulting in different outcomes), the NESTED IF Construct is used. This
means that another IF-THEN-ELSE construct can be used in the Value if False part of the formula (note the
parentheses):

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Note that conditional statements are also integral to Dedicated Business Analytics tools. Their Syntax
might differ, but the base concept is the same: Test Condition, do one thing if true, do another thing if
false.

Lookup Values and Locking Cell References

Consider the previous example. Another column after Classification needs to be added to our
data. In addition to the Top/Mid/Low Spender classes, a numeric code needs to be assigned to them as
well: 10 for Top, 20 for Mid, 30 for Low. Another Nested If construct can be used, but in real life, these
classifications can eventually number in the tens, hundreds, and thousands. In addition, maintaining a
Nested If construct can be a grueling process, especially every time a new classification gets added. For a
bit of an easier time doing this, the VLOOKUP Function will be used:

Another table is created containing the classification and corresponding code (ideally the other
table is not in the same sheet as the raw data). Then the VLOOKUP Function is created on Cell D2:

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If the value is not found in the lookup table, the function returns an #N/A:

Unlike the previous example, however, the formula can’t be propagated without any changes:

What happened? Select Cell D3, and click on the formula bar:

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Because of the way the propagation works, even the references for the lookup table moved, and
it will only get worse the further down we go. To counteract this, the references of the Lookup Table must
be Locked In before the formula is propagated. To lock cell references and prevent them from moving
when a formula is propagated, simply add a $ sign to the cell reference in the formula:

The $ sign can be typed into the formula, or by pressing F4 on the keyboard to cycle through the
configuration when the cursor is on the cell reference.

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Then the formula can be propagated:

Depending on how the data is organized, HLOOKUP might be needed (Lookup Values in the table
horizontally). Another way is to use INDEX alongside the MATCH Function.

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Formula Evaluation
There are times when we are handed a large Excel File with huge, sprawling formulas. Sufficient
documentation about what formulas do what and in what order is hard to come by, and the only Expert
is on Leave. To help with figuring out what the formulas do, Excel has a built-in function known as Formula
Evaluation, under the Formulas Ribbon.

This functionality will let the user see step-by-step how a formula arrives to its final value for any given
cell.

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Notice how on each step, the underlined section gets evaluated first. That is how you can get an idea on
how the order of operation goes.

Rapid Prototyping
There are times when Business Users will need to ask IT for help when it comes to data, especially
if that data is unavailable. This is in addition to the creation of data that can be used to illustrate KPI’s on
new report prototypes. Other times still, report Proof-of-Concepts is needed by Managers. For these types
of activities, we will use all we learned from the previous sections.

First, decide on the type of data needed, then create a columnar format of this data, populating
the first row with the column names. Next, populate the columns. Text data like Customer Names and
Items (usually the lowest, most detailed data) usually also need to be grouped. Consider the following:

We will want to create a report prototype that will display the weekly Sales of each Item Group,
but will need to be able to drill down to the individual item level if need be. The Monthly Totals should
also be visible when needed. It has been decided that for the prototype, the months for the first Quarter
of the Year (January to March) will be enough, with each month having data for four weeks. For this
exercise, we will make 10 items. First, assign the weekly designation:

Next, assign the Month.

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Repeat this sequence, but increment it for each month.

Now we have all the data required for one Item, so assign an Item Code and an Item Name for
this block of data.

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Assign Sales Figures. To create a consistent random sales figure, uses the RANDBETWEEN
function. RANDBETWEEN selects a random integer between a stated low and high figure.

Propagating the formula will change the value in Cell F2. This is due to the RANDBETWEEN
function. Copy this whole block of Cells (B2 to F13) then paste below it, but assign different Item Codes
until we have 10 items. To lock in the values, copy the cells, then paste as value (this can be done last,
after making entries for all the items). It is important that no RANDBETWEEN formulas be left behind
when done. Using varying bottom and top values will allow for simulation of different sales figures.

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Next, assign an Item Group. This can be hard coded, but to simulate real life usage, where items
are seemingly grouped randomly at first glance, we will be creating a lookup table (although as illustrated
previously, Conditional Constructs can also be used).

Use RANDBETWEEN Function to make three groupings:

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Next, use the VLOOKUP Function to assign the item group in our main table:

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We now have a prototype for our RAW Data. Further analyses can then be done on other sheets
based off it. This data can be extended by adding more Item Codes (appended at the bottom), span more
months, and by adding more date/time dimensions such as Year and Day of Month. Other columns such
as a Customers Column will allow a simulation of transactions to show who bought what.

Macros and Add-ins

Macros are programming constructs that allow certain actions to be done automatically and
repeatedly. In Excel, macros can be recorded and/or programmed manually using the built-in developer
tools. The programming language used is VBA. To access the Macros, the Developer Ribbon must be
enabled. Add-ins are additional code that extends the functionality of Excel (some Business Analytics Tools
use Add-ins to allow smooth integration with Microsoft’s Office Suite). Note that for the purposes of this
course, Macros and Add-ins are not going to be discussed beyond this point. It is included here to illustrate
the fact that they are another option because they have a way different scope, and programming is an
altogether different skillset.

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1. The developer ribbon will allow access to Macros (this is not enabled by default).
2. Macros, at its most basic, will allow basic actions to be repeated via a custom keyboard
shortcut. Recording macros help with this.
3. Custom buttons were added. Whenever a button is pressed, the attached macro is executed.

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CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

For the following exercises, use the Excel Rapid Sample.xlsx workbook.

1. Create a copy of Sheet 2 and Rename it into “RAW DATA TX”

2. In the RAW DATA TX Work Sheet, Change “Item Group” column name to “Item Group Code”,
then add a Column Beside it. Name it Item “Group Name”.

3. Assign the following Item Group Names:

4. Add a new column beside Month. Name it Month Name and assign the correct values.
5. Create a new Worksheet. Name it “Summary”.
6. In the Summary Sheet, create tables that will display the following:
a. The total sales for each month
b. The Monthly total sales for each Item
c. The total sales for each Item Group
d. THE FORMULAS MUST BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE NEW INSERTED ROWS
AUTOMATICALLY

 BONUS POINT INCENTIVES:

o Add a single line of data for a new month at the bottom of RAW DATA TX for item
A100000:

o The totals for 6c should automatically reflect this change.

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o Add two charts that will show the contribution of each month to the total sales, and a
comparison of each product’s performance.

TIP: Use the other options in the HOME Ribbon to help with formatting

NOTE: The Bonus Incentives will use features that were intentionally NOT discussed in the previous
topics.

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Dedicated Business Analytics Tools

As good a tool Excel is, it has some shortcomings, two of which have huge operational implications
on data accuracy and timely reporting.

First, to get data into a spreadsheet will require a few intermediary steps until the data becomes
available. For example, something as simple as extracting data from ERP then pasting it to the Raw Data
sheet can present data accuracy concerns, because the extracted data (either as a text file or an Excel File)
could be tampered with prior to its input to the Raw Data Sheet.

Next, to get the report to its intended recipients with updated data. While updating a well-built
spreadsheet is just a simple case of pasting new data in the Raw Data Sheet, it will still require human
intervention. Not to mention, the report will have to be manually sent through e-mail as an attachment.
In case of an emergency, neither can be done because the resource/report developer is not available. He
may be on vacation or is currently handling a personal emergency.

Dedicated Business Analytics Tools answer these two concerns and offer much more additional
features. They typically make “Self Service BI” their main point. That is, to empower the Business User to
create their own reports from data directly obtained from the Enterprise sources.

There are a lot of vendors for Business Analytics solutions. Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, SAS, Tableau,
and the like are just some examples. Some offer a “full stack” solution, that is, they offer products across
the three layers: ERP, Data Warehousing, and Reporting (such as SAP and Microsoft). Others focus on a
specific area (such as Tableau). For this courseware, we will be having a chapter dedicated solely to
Microsoft Power BI.

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Chapter 3: Statistics
Statistics is the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities,
especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample. It is
used in almost all analyses in order to derive insights like projections (“considering our sales figures for
the past 10 years, what figures can we expect for the next 5?”) and how different sets of data affect each
other (“does age have an impact on IT certification pass rate?”).

Measures of Central Tendency

Central tendency (or measure of central tendency) is a central or typical value for a probability
distribution. It may also be called a center or location of the distribution. Colloquially, measures of central
tendency are often called averages. The term central tendency dates from the late 1920s.

The most common measures of central tendency are the arithmetic mean, the median, and the
mode. A middle tendency can be calculated for either a finite set of values or for a theoretical distribution,
such as the normal distribution. Occasionally authors use central tendency to denote "the tendency of
quantitative data to cluster around some central value."

Mean
The Arithmetic Mean is the sum of all measurements divided by the number of observations. In
other words, this simply an average of the data.

Median
The Median is the “midpoint” of our data that separates the upper and lower half of the data set.
The median and the mode are the only measures of central tendency that can be used for ordinal data, in
which values are ranked relative to each other but are not measured absolutely. For Manual Median
calculation, the data should be arranged from Lowest to Highest, then we take the data point that appears
in the middle. This is straightforward for datasets with odd-numbered items. For even-numbered data
sets, we take the average of the two middle items.

Mode
The Mode the most frequent value in the data set. This is the only central tendency measure that
can be used with nominal data, which have purely qualitative category assignments. For Mode, note that
the Excel function cannot resolve ties (that is, multiple items that appear the same amount of times as
each other). The data returned will be the first item it detects to have the most instances. There are ways
to resolve ties, but most will involve multiple functions and array formulas, which are out of the scope of
this course.

Measures of Dispersion
The central tendency of a distribution is typically contrasted with its dispersion or variability;
dispersion and central tendency are the often characterized properties of distributions. Analysis may
judge whether data has a strong or a weak central tendency based on its dispersion. Dispersion (also called
variability, scatter, or spread) is the extent to which a distribution is stretched or squeezed.

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Range
The Range is simply the difference between the smallest and largest data point in the set. Note
that it is very susceptible to outliers. For example, a 10-item data set where the smallest value is 1 and
the largest value is 1000. In this case, the range of this data set is 999, which is a bit misleading because
there are only 10 items in the data set. In these instances, we will need to use other measures of dispersion
to confirm and/or derive better findings.

For implementation in Microsoft Excel, there is no one function that will return the Range of
values for a given data set, so we use MAX() to get the largest data point and MIN() to get the smallest
data point and their difference will become the range.

Mean Absolute Deviation

The Mean Absolute Deviation is the average of the absolute deviations from a central point. It is
a summary statistic of statistical dispersion or variability. In simpler terms, on average, how far are the
data points from the mean (the Absolute Deviation from the Mean)? Take for example, two data sets:

 Set 1: {2,2,4,4}
 Set 2: {1,1,4,6}

They will have the same mean (3), but visualizing it on a number line will show us that the data
from Set 2 will seem to be more spread out compared to Set 1. In order to quantify this information, we
can use the Mean Absolute Deviation. There are three steps to calculate it:

1. Obtain the Mean.

2. Get the summation of the absolute value of the difference of each data point and the mean.
3. Divide the summation by the number of observations.

In the example above, Set 1 has a MAD of 1, while set 2 has a MAD of 2. With this, we can say that
Set 2 is more spread out due to the bigger Mean Absolute Deviation.

Variance
Variance is another way of measuring the spread between numbers in a data set. Similar to Mean
Absolute Deviation, it measures how far each number in the set is from the mean. To find the Variance of
a given data set:

1. Work out the Mean

2. Get the summation of the square of the difference of each data point and the mean.
3. Divide the summation by the number of observations

By itself, variance is not often useful because it does not have a unit, which makes it hard to
measure and compare. If for example, if you are looking at a data set of lengths in meters, the variance
will be expressed in meters squared, which is not a unit of distance. For a better illustration of dispersion,
the next measure can be used.

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Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation is simply the square root of the Variance. It is the most commonly used
measure to express dispersion. To find the Standard Deviation:

1. Work out the Mean

2. Get the summation of the square of the difference of each data point and the mean.
3. Divide the summation by the number of observations
4. Get the square root of the quotient.

If for example, the data set is composed of measurements of length in meters, the variance will
be expressed in meters squared (m2). However, because the standard deviation means getting the square
root of the variance, it is expressed in the same units as our data set, which gives us an easier time seeing
how spread out the numbers are.

In a normal distribution, we can expect 68% of the values to fall within one standard deviation
from the mean, 95% within two standard deviations, and 99.5% within 3 standard deviations. This is
known as the Empirical Rule.

Quantiles
Quantiles are cut points dividing the range of a probability distribution into continuous intervals
with equal probabilities, or dividing the observations in a sample in the same way. There is one fewer
quantile than the number of groups created.

Quartiles, Deciles, and Percentiles

Quartiles divide (cut) the data into 4 parts. Deciles cut into 10, while Percentiles divide into 1%
segments.

The first quartile is the median of the first half of the data set and marks the point at which 25%
of the data values are lower and 75% are higher. The third quartile is the median of the second half of the
data set and marks the point at which 25% of the data values are higher and 75% lower. Quartiles are
often used as a measure of spread of the data in what is called the interquartile range (IQR). The IQR is
simply the difference between the third quartile and first quartile. While on its own the IQR is not a very
useful measure, it can be useful when comparing the spread of two different data sets that measure the
same phenomenon.

One example of the use of deciles is in school awards or rankings. Students in the top 10% — or
highest decile – may be given an honor cord or some other recognition. If there are 578 students in a
graduating class, the top 10%, or 58 students, may be given the award. At the opposite end of the scale,
students who score in the bottom 10% or 20% on a standardized test may be given extra assistance to
help boost their scores.

Percentiles divide the data set into groupings of 1%. Standardized tests often report percentile
scores. These scores help compare students’ performances to that of their peers (often across a state or
country). The meaning of a percentile score is often misunderstood. A percentile score in this situation
reflects the percentage of students who scored at or above that particular group of students. For example,
students who receive a percentile ranking of 87 on a particular test received scores that were equal to or

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higher than 87% of students who took the test. For those who do not understand these scores, they often
mistake them for the score the student received on the test.

Note that because the Mean is the average of the data set, it also represents the 2-quantile,
because it separates the top half and the bottom half of the data. It’s also the 2nd Quartile, 5th Decile, or
50th Percentile.

Standard Score (z-score)

A z-score, or standard score, is a way of standardizing scores on the same scale by dividing a
score's deviation by the standard deviation in a data set. It measures the number of standard deviations
a given data point is from the mean. To calculate the z-score of a particular data point:

1. Obtain the difference of the data point and the mean.

2. Divide this difference by the standard deviation.

A z-score can be negative or positive. A negative z-score indicates a value less than the mean, and a
positive z-score indicates a value greater than the mean. The average of every z-score for a data set is
zero.

The Standard Score is used in conjunction with a Standard Normal Distribution table to calculate
probabilities. For example, Molly earned a score of 940 on a national achievement test. The mean test
score was 850 with a standard deviation of 100. What proportion of students had a higher score than
Molly? Calculating Molly’s standard score reveals that it is 0.9. Assuming a Standard Normal Distribution,
a standard score of 0.9 is equivalent to a probability of 0.816 in a Standard Normal Distribution Table. This
means that there are 18.4% (1-.816) of students who scored higher than Molly.

Coefficient of Variation
The coefficient of variation represents the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean, and it is a
useful statistic for comparing the degree of variation from one data series to another, even if the means
are drastically different from one another.

In finance, the coefficient of variation allows investors to determine how much volatility, or risk,
is assumed in comparison to the amount of return expected from investments. Ideally, if the coefficient
of variation formula should result in a lower ratio of the standard deviation to mean return, then the
better the risk-return trade-off. Note that if the expected return in the denominator is negative or zero,
the coefficient of variation could be misleading.

There is currently no Excel Function to directly take the Coefficient of Variation, however, there
are functions that will enable us to get the Mean and Standard Deviation, which in turn makes getting
their ratio trivial.

Skewness
Skewness refers to distortion or asymmetry in a symmetrical bell curve, or normal distribution, in
a set of data. If the curve is shifted to the left or to the right, it is said to be skewed. Distributions can

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exhibit right (positive) skewness or left (negative) skewness to varying degrees. Positive Skew means the
Mean is greater than the Median. Negative Skew means the Mean is less than the Median. Investors note
skewness when judging a return distribution because it considers the extremes of the data set rather than
focusing solely on the average.

Correlation
Correlation is a statistical measure that expresses the extent to which two variables are linearly
related (meaning they change together at a constant rate). It’s a common tool for describing simple
relationships without making a statement about cause and effect.

A correlation coefficient of +1 indicates a perfect positive correlation. As variable X increases,

variable Y increases. As variable X decreases, variable Y decreases. A correlation coefficient of -1 indicates
a perfect negative correlation. As variable X increases, variable Z decreases. As variable X decreases,
variable Z increases. A correlation coefficient near 0 indicates no correlation. When analyzing correlation,
we should expect that the value will fall between -1 and 1. A perfect correlation coefficient may indicate
some errors in the methodology or in the data gathered.

One thing to remember is that Correlation does not equal Causation. For example, when looking
at a scatter plot showing altitude and temperature, we can say that there is a relationship between
Temperature and Elevation. We can only say that the temperature gets lower as altitude rises, but not
high altitudes cause lower temperatures and vice-versa.

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Chapter 4: Data Visualization

Making information more easily digestible through Data Visualization
People are visual creatures. It has been found that the human brain can identify images in as little
as 13 milliseconds11. Not to mention, recalling information seems to be a whole lot easier if a reference
visual is attached to it. To illustrate this point, try out the following Exercise:

You were given the following data for GPU Sales:

In preparation for an upcoming marketing promotion, you are then tasked to determine the
following:

1. The brand with the highest sales and when

2. The brand with the lowest sales and when
3. The bottom 3 brands in terms of sales in February

How long did it take? Now determine the same from the following:

11
Anne Tafton, ‘In the Blink of an Eye’, MIT News Office, http://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116,
(accessed 28th May, 2019).

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How long did it take compared to before? And take note, the previous examples were just for 18
rows of data. A company needs way more than that for analysis!

It should then come to no surprise, that 90% of the information processed by the brain comes
from a visual source12. The ability to present data in a more digestible manner allows for better
engagement with the audience, and hold their attention. It also helps them recall information after the
presentation has been delivered. In fact, it has been found that Presentations using Visual Aids were
found to be 43% more persuasive than unaided ones13. As the internet-connected world expands, data
visualization will only become a more sought-after skill so that businesses can make more sense of the
tons upon tons of data they gather and generate every day.

In addition to persuasion and to help hasten analysis, visualizations also help in tracking business
statuses and determine strategies and tactics. For example, a business has four departments that directly
generate revenue. The year is almost over and the various stake holders are having a Strategic Planning
meeting for the next year. Each department’s revenue is then compared with their targets:

From the chart, we’ll see that the College and Public Departments has been able to achieve and
even exceed their targets while SHS and Corporate fell short. From here, it is easy to call for an
investigation on what exactly happened to them during the previous year in order to pin the root causes

12
http://www.t-sciences.com/news/humans-process-visual-data-better
13
Persuasion and the Role of Visual Presentation Support: The UM/3M Study, (D. R. Vogel, G. W. Dickson, and J. A.
Lehman, p.1

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on why the targets weren’t achieved. It is important, however, to keep in mind that the revenue of the
department is composed of multiple products and services. Because of this, the CEO of the company asked
to see the per product breakdown of the College Department:

Looking at the big picture, the College department was able to exceed their targets, but looking
into more detail, we can see that the BA and Other Certs products fell way short of their targets, and the
overall performance of the department was bolstered by the ERP and CCNA Products. This is
unsustainable in the long run, and the BA/Other Certs must be investigated to learn the root cause of their
performance. Strategies will then be formulated to play into the department’s strengths and to avoid the
weaknesses and pitfalls that led to poor performance. This is why when doing analyses, it is always
prudent to Question the Obvious. Things might not be as straight-forward and clear-cut on first glance,
and a different view might present itself upon deeper investigation.

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Representing Data with Charts

Using charts allows users to transform tabular data into a graphical representation. It makes
analyses easier to digest and helps retain audience’s attention. There are many different types of charts,
and not all of them are created equal. Some are more suited to display certain types of information
compared to others. For example, a chart best for monitoring trends over time might not be the best
choice to show contributions to a whole. The following are just some of the different charts that can be
used to display data:

Bar/Column Charts

Bar charts represent data using horizontal rectangles. They are invaluable for quickly conveying
a comparison between values of a series of data. In the above example, we can infer at least two
important pieces of information: which genre of movie generates the most revenue relative to other
genres (going by the size of the bar), and on which state relative to other states (going by the color of the
bar). Column charts convey the same information, only the orientation is different:

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Stacked Bar/Column charts display the contribution of each data point to the total value:

In the above example, the revenue is expressed as a 100% value for each genre, and shows the
contribution of each genre to the total.

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Line Charts

Line Charts provide a useful means for displaying data over time14. You may put more than one
line in the chart to monitor multiple data sets in the same time frame. Be sure to do so sparingly because
it can make the chart look cluttered, and defeat the purpose of simplifying data analysis.

14
Evans, Intro to BA, 56

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Combination Column-Line Charts

The Combination Column-Line Chart combines the properties of both line charts and column
charts. They allow for analyzing trends and comparisons at the same time. The most common usage is
to monitor sales performance over time. In the example above, the target is expressed as a line chart
while the revenue is expressed as a column chart. If the column exceeds the line chart, then the
performance was great because the target was surpassed.

Pie Charts
For any given set of data, we are usually interested in finding out the relative proportion of each
data source to the total15. For this Pie Charts are used. This is done by expressing the total as a circle, then
partitioning it into different slices. The bigger the slice, the greater the contribution to the whole.

Be very particular with the data being analyzed when using a pie chart. If there are too many
slices, it will look cluttered, and you will also have to factor data labels if necessary.

15
Evans, Intro to BA, 56

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Scatter Charts
Scatter Charts show the relationship between two variables. To construct a scatter chart, we
need observations that consist of pairs of variables (numeric data points)16. For example, a college student
will have different grades per semester per subject, midterms and finals, in particular. The chart will show
if the grade for the midterms is an indication of the grade in the finals.

Bubble Charts
Bubble Charts are a type of scatter chart, in which the size of the data marker corresponds to
the value of a third variable. It is a way to plot three variables in two dimensions. 17

16
Evans, Intro to BA, 58
17
Evans, Intro to BA, 59

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There are many other kinds of charts used for analyses. Some charts even use geographical data
so that any of the other kinds are laid out on a map to see a quick summary for the different regions used
by the business. Some of these charts will be seen in the later topic, which is the hands-on activity on how
to use SAP Lumira.

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Data Visualization using Microsoft PowerBI

Microsoft Power BI is a Self-Service BI Solution developed by Microsoft. It was first released in
2011 and is now one of the premier BI Solutions in the world, implemented across over 35,000 companies
all over the world spanning multiple different industries. It offers a lot of flexibility of access to report
creation, data analysis, and report publication.

It is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn your
unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. Whether your data
is a simple Microsoft Excel workbook, or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data
warehouses, Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize (or discover) what's
important, and share that with anyone or everyone.

Ways to Access Microsoft PowerBI

There are multiple ways to use Power BI:

1. Power BI Desktop – the application is installed in the local machine, either by using a dedicated
installer or downloading from the Microsoft Store. It offers some advanced utilities such as data
clean up, data modelling, and other advanced analysis options (such as the usage of DAX functions
to enable more advanced Statistical Analysis) and the like. All of these on top of the ability to
create and publish reports.

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2. Power BI Service – the application is accessed via the Power BI Portal. The user will need to log
on using his/her account and from there access the report creator. It is cloud-based, so for as long
as the user has an internet connection, he can access his work through a web browser (even
mobile devices). This is also where the main collaborative functions, such as Workspaces are
found.

3. Power BI Mobile App – a free-to-download app (available in both iOS and Android platforms)
where the user can log in using the same account he uses for Power BI Service. This mobile app
is one of the main ways users can consume (not create) published reports. This will allow

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managers and other employees of an enterprise to be able to check up on different reports even
if their computer is unreachable.

For this courseware, we will be using Power BI Service and the Mobile App.

Getting Started
In order to start using Power BI Service and its collaboration options, you will need a Power BI
Account with a Pro License (this should have already been provided via e-mail). For a Power BI Business
user, there are 5 building blocks they will need to get familiar with. These are:

1. Visualizations – a type of chart built in Power BI.

2. Data Sets – a container of data. These can come from a variety of sources, including files and
databases.
3. Reports – one or more pages of interactive visuals, text, and graphics. A single page is often
dedicated to answering a central area of interest.
4. Dashboards – a single page that uses visualizations to tell a story. It contains much of the
same elements as a Report. However, t is different from a Report in that the single page can
contain visuals from different separate reports. This allows different key areas from different
reports to be much more easily seen in a single page.
5. Apps – a way to bundle and share related dashboards and reports together.

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Collectively, these building blocks are referred to as Content. Report creation in Power BI Service
usually has the following workflow:

A typical workflow will usually involve all the building blocks. A designer
(yellow boxes) collects data from a dataset and creates a report. After
which, the designer will publish the findings via creation of dashboards and
apps so that the business user (black box) can take action.

It is important to note that designer and business user in this context refer
to roles as seen from Power BI. The designer is responsible for the creation
of content and the business user is responsible for its consumption and
analysis. In most cases, the business user relates requirements to the
designer so that the report can be built to certain specifications. In some
cases, employees in an organization are trained on how to use Power BI so
that said employees can act as BOTH designer and business user. This allows the enterprise to
save up a bit on licensure expenses.

Screenshot and Mobile Device Disclaimer

Please note that because Power BI is under continuous development by Microsoft so that new
features will be implemented, there might be some discrepancies with the screenshots and there might
not be an exact match with what can be seen on-screen. The screenshots are taken using Google Chrome
web browser, so when following along, it would be best to use it on the user’s end as well (be it on a
computer or mobile device). Also, please note that the user experience was designed for usage with a
computer’s web browser in mind. There will be some differences in usability when Power BI Service is
accessed via the browser on a mobile device. If a mobile device will be used for creating reports, it will
have to be used in landscape mode, and please note that for almost all mobile devices, right-click is
mapped to the tap-and-hold gesture, with the right-click menu appearing after the user lets go of the
screen.

Setting up your account

# Activity Expected Outcome
1 Check your e-mail for the
message about your Power BI
Account

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2 Open your browser and go to the

following link:
https://powerbi.microsoft.com

Click on “Power BI Service” and

log in using your credentials

2.1 For Mobile Users, click on the

button with three horizontal lines
then select “Power BI Service”
and log in using your credentials.

2.2 It is also advisable to request the

desktop version of the site. Go to
the browser settings and turn on
Desktop site.

Notes:

This is to try and make the on-screen elements adjust

automatically.

The exact name and location of this option might change

depending on the make and model of the device, the browser
used, and the version of the browser.

3 After supplying your username

and password, you will encounter
this message. Click on Next.

Notes:

The next steps will involve using both the browser and the
Authenticator App.

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4 You will be redirected to the

“Keep your account secure” page.

On your mobile phone, download

and install Microsoft’s
Authenticator App.

After the app is installed in your

phone, click next on the web
browser.

Notes:

The bottom screenshot is from Google Play Store. The phone

used for the screenshot already has Authenticator installed,
which is why there is no “install” option.

If you are having trouble finding the app, simply search for
“Microsoft Authenticator”, without the quotes.

5 In the Authenticator App, click on

the three dots on the upper right
hand corner of the screen, then
set up a “Work or School”
Account, then click Next on the
browser.

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6 You will be presented with a QR

code on the browser.

On the Authenticator App, select

“Scan a QR Code”. Scan the QR
Code on the screen, then once
the scan is complete, click Next
on the browser.

6.1 If you can’t scan the QR Code for

any reason, there should be an
option to enter the code
manually at the bottom of the
Authenticator App.

You will then be prompted to

manually type a Code and URL.

The Code and URL can be found in

the Web Browser, by clicking the
Can’t Scan Image? Button.

Click Next on the browser when

you are done inputting the code
and URL.

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7 You will then be testing the sign

in. Approve the sign in on the
mobile app in order to get the
following screenshot.

Click on Next

8 Click on Done

9 If an error is encountered, simply

restart the browser, then try
logging in again.

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Navigating the Interface

Logging In
# Activity Expected Outcome
1 Launch your web browser

Notes:

Majority of log in steps are a repeat of the initial account setup

process in the previous section. Ignore this section if you are
already logged in.

2 Go to the following link:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com

Click on “Power BI Service” and log

in using your credentials

2.1 For Mobile Users, click on the

button with three horizontal lines
then select “Power BI Service” and
log in using your credentials.

2.2 It is also advisable to request the

desktop version of the site. Go to
the browser settings and turn on
Desktop site.

Notes:

This is to try and make the on-screen elements adjust

automatically.

The exact name and location of this option might change

depending on the make and model of the device, the browser
used, and the version of the browser.

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3 After logging in, you should be

redirected to the Home Page on a
new browser tab.

Note: what you see on your screen will differ from the
screenshot here. If it is the first time you logged in, you will not
see any Favorites + frequents entries, for example.

4 Click on the button with three

horizontal lines to show what each
button in the Navigation Pane is
for

The Navigation Pane contains the following options:

1. Home – the default screen that appears after logging in. It contains the following sections:
a. Content that you have Favorited and access frequently
b. Basic Tips on how to get started using Power BI
c. A list of the various content you have access to
d. Recommended Apps
2. Favorites – you can put a star on certain content to tag it as a Favorite. Any content that is tagged
as such will appear here.
3. Recent – contains the different content that has been recently accessed.
4. Create – allows the user to start making reports and other content.
5. Datasets – contains the different datasets that the user has access to.
6. Scorecards – allows the measurement of achievements towards goals and subgoals. This is out of
the scope of this courseware.
7. Apps – contains the different Apps that the user has access to.
8. Shared with me – contains the different reports and dashboards that you are granted access to
by other users.

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9. Deployment Pipelines – allows for the management of content creation and deployment. This is
out of the scope of this courseware.
10. Learn – a central hub for Power BI Training. Allows the user to access the technical documentation
for Power BI.
11. Workspaces – contains all the different Workspaces the user has access to. Including the ones
they created themselves or assigned to them by other users.
12. My Workspace – a personal workspace for the user. Any content created here can only be
accessed by the user and no one else.

We will now begin creating some content in Power BI Service. Please note that for all screenshots from
this point on, the Navigation Pane will be collapsed.

Creating the Workspace and Dataset

# Activity Expected Outcome
5 In the Navigation Pane, select
Workspaces then click on Create a
Workspace. The Create a
Workspace Panel should appear on
the right side of the screen.

My Workspace can be accessed by clicking on the topmost

option.

The workspace feature will require a PRO License. Accounts

given to students will have a PRO License attached. Power BI has
many different licensing schemes that are out of the scope of the
discussion in this courseware.

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6 Give the Workspace a name and

description. You can add an image
to represent this workspace if you
want. Click Save

The Workspace is a place for multiple users to collaborate with each other. All content inside a
workspace can be interacted with by all the different users that are granted access to it. The kind of
interaction users have available to them will depend on the kind of membership that has been granted to
them by the Workspace Creator. We will discuss how to add users and membership at a later topic.

It is also important to note that Naming Conventions will play an important part in managing
workspaces and content. This will help the user have an idea of what and when a piece of content,
particularly reports, are sorted. A common convention is to use affixes in addition to the descriptive title
of a report. For example, a “Sales Report” is being used by the Department Manager. If the manager wants
to have a separate versions of the “Sales Report” for different periods of time and specific products, the
report name can be the following:

<Date Created>_Sales Report_<Product Name>

With <Date Created> following the YYYY-MM-DD format. We will now create the dataset
that will be the basis of our Sample Report.

# Activity Expected Outcome

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7 In the Workspace, click on New

then click on Dataset

8 There are multiple options for

getting data. Under Files, click on
Get.

Note: for the purpose of this courseware, we will be using Files

as the data source.

9 Click on Local File. A new window

should open

10 Navigate to the Sales Data

MicroOctagon Hub Sample.xlsx
file and click on Open.

Click on the Import button on the

left to finalize the creation of the
Dataset.

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11 Back in the Workspace, there

should be the Dataset, represented
by an orange cylinder icon .

By default, a blank Dashboard

(represented by a gauge icon

) will also be created.

File Considerations
There are two main file options when using a File as a Dataset: CSV Files (*.csv) and Excel Files
(*.xlsx). CSV Files are basically text files that can be opened in Spreadsheet applications like Microsoft
Excel. For the both of them, they should exhibit the following properties so that they can be used as a
dataset in Power BI:

1. The very first row of data should be the column name

2. The data should be columnar. That is, data should be a vertical table.

In order to create a CSV File, create it in Excel first, then save it as a CSV file:

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There are many CSV options, so make sure to select Comma Delimited. Note that a CSV file is
NOT an Excel File, and as such, formulas and formatting will not be saved. To use an Excel File as a dataset,
after creating the file, highlight all of the data that should be included in the analysis, hit CTRL+T to show
the Create Table Dialog, make sure that My Table has Headers is checked then click on OK and save the
file.

You will not be asked what to import (2nd pic of Step 10 in the table above) if a CSV file is used as
a dataset. Try making a CSV version of Sales Data MicroOctagon Hub Sample.xlsx.

Quick Insights
Even before creating our own reports based off the data contained in the dataset, we can
immediately glean some information about our data. This is done by getting Quick Insights.

# Activity Expected Outcome

12 Hover the mouse on the Sales
Data MicroOctagon Hub Sample
dataset. Click on the More
Options Button, then select Get
Quick Insights.

A message should appear near

the upper right-hand side of the
screen.

Once Ready, click on View

Insights.

Power BI will be looking through the data to try and find

interesting trends and patterns. This can take a while,
depending on the size of the dataset.

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13 You will be shown a page showing

a partial analysis of the dataset.
Note that there is a scroll bar to
the right, meaning there are
more insights than just the four
visuals in the screenshot.

Not only does Power BI create the visuals, it also creates a

worded explanation regarding its analysis.

14 Hovering your Mouse over the

visuals will also let you see the
tooltip that will display additional
information

Question/Activity: Answer: 83.54%

1. Laptops are responsible
for what percent of the
profit?
Question/Activity: Answer: MSI and ASUS
2. Which brands have the
most variance per item?
Question/Activity: Answer: COR-KEY-5985 and COR-HEA-5380
3. Which items from Corsair
bring in the most profit?

The Lineage View

As teams collaborate and more content is created inside a workspace, it can be a daunting task to
keep track of which datasets affect which reports and dashboards. Luckily, there is an option to see this
exact information in Power BI Service by using the Lineage View.

# Activity Expected Outcome

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15 Hover the mouse on the Sales

Data MicroOctagon Hub Sample
dataset. Click on the More
Options Button, then select
View Lineage.

16 The user will be shown a list of

all other content that will be
impacted.

17 Other content, such as the

dashboard can be accessed
directly as well from this view.

It is a little bare at the moment, because the workspace

isn’t shared yet and there is only one dataset, but the
lineage can quickly become a sprawl. Especially when
reports start getting made.

Creating a Report
Reports are collections of visualized data. It is the main way of conveying information and analysis
of datasets. The following section will walk through the Report Creation Interface and how to use certain
Visualization types.

# Activity Expected Outcome

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18 Hover the mouse on the Sales

Data MicroOctagon Hub Sample
dataset. Click on the More
Options Button, then select
Create report.

19 The Report Creation Interface

should appear.

The Report Creation Interface

Before proceeding with the creation of the sample report, here is a short description of the
interface and its elements:

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1. Menu Bar – save the report using the File option, and the ability to change how the report is
being viewed, along with allowing the user to insert some other elements in the report such
as text boxes and editing how the different visualizations interact with each other.
2. Report Canvas – this is where visualizations are laid out and formatted.
3. Filters Pane – sets options on limiting the displayed data in the report.
4. Visualizations Pane – contains two parts: The first one is where the user can select
visualizations to put into the Report Canvas. The bottom part is where the properties of the
selected visualizations can be changed. This bottom part is context-sensitive (options change
depending on the selected Visualization). It can contain up to three tabs: Fields, Format, and
Analytics.
5. Fields Pane – contains all the data fields that were in the dataset. Power BI automatically
assigns the field names as they appear in the top row of the data source.
6. Page Options – allows to add, delete, rename, and duplicate pages.
7. Workspace Link – allows the user to quickly go access the currently selected workspace.

The report creation process is as follows:

1. Select the visualization by clicking on the desired type in the Visualizations Pane.
2. Select data to be included in the visualization by ticking the checkbox in the Fields Pane. If
the user needs more control over the order of fields, drag and drop the Field from the Fields
Pane to the Field Tab of the Visualizations Pane.
3. Resize and format the visualization.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 until all desired visualizations are complete. Be sure to save often!
5. Publish the Report.

Let’s create a sample report to get familiar with the interface and the creation process.

Creating our First Report

# Activity Expected Outcome
20 First, we want to see a
comparison of the different
Brands in terms of Profits.

In the Visualizations Pane,

select Stacked Column Chart.

The Chart Template should

appear in the canvas

The top row of visualizations contain variations of the

Column Chart Visualization

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21 In the Fields Pane, tick the

checkbox on the Brand and
Profit to automatically add them
to the Fields Tab of the bottom
portion of the Visualizations
pane.

The Visualization in the Canvas

should automatically update.

Once again, note that the bottom part of the Visualization

Pane is context-sensitive: the options available to you will
differ depending on the selected visualization

Notice how Power BI automatically assigned a title to the

visualization

Similar to Quick Insights, hovering your mouse for a second

or two over the visualization (the bars in this case) will
display a tooltip containing more detailed information.

22 Resize the Visualization by

dragging it from the bottom
right corner (your cursor should
change appearance).

You will sometimes see dotted red lines while resizing and
moving visualizations around. This helps in getting the
proper alignment of the report’s visual elements.

23 Question/Activity: Answer:
We want the bar representation By ticking the Month Field.
to be further broken down by
month. How will you do this?

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24 Next, we want to see another

visualization. This time, we want
to see the contribution of each
Region to the Net Sales.

Click on any white space outside

of the visualization and select
Pie Chart from the
Visualizations Pane.

A new visualization should

appear beside the Bar Chart.
25 In the Fields Pane, drag and drop
the Region Field from the Fields
Pane to the Legend portion of
the Fields Tab, and the Net Sales
Field to the Values portion.

The Visualization in the Canvas

should automatically update.

This is essentially the same thing as ticking the check

boxes, but gives more control to the user on how exactly
each field in the Visualization is used and in what order.
You can also drag and drop Fields into the Chart Template
that appears when you first select a Visualization Type.

26 The report as it is displays data

for the whole year. We want a
way to modify it so that we can
see the data on a desired month
range.

Click on any white space outside

of the visualization and select
Slicer from the Visualizations
Pane.

27 Add the Month Field to the

slicer, then move it to the
bottom portion of the report
and resize it.

You can now drag either of the

knobs or type in the month
range to change the displayed
data.

Slicers are a kind of Filter. There will be a more detailed

discussion on Filters on a later topic.

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28 Question/Activity: Answer:
What is the Net Sales for the 62.15 Million, which accounts for 19.18% of all sales for that
Davao Region during the first period.
quarter (Months 1 to 3)?
29 Add a page to the report.

Click on the Yellow Plus icon

near the bottom of the

screen.

30 Next, we want to see how our

Profits are trending over the
course of the year.

In the Visualizations Pane,

select Line Chart.

31 Add Profit and Date Sold Fields.

Resize the Line Chart so it will

take up the majority of the page.

32 Before we go any further, save

the report. There are multiple
ways to do so.

1. Press Ctrl + S on the

keyboard
2. Go to File > Save
3. Press the Save Button

Give it a file name.

Keep Naming Conventions in mind. Also, note that when

opening the report from the workspace, it will default into
the Reading View. In order to keep working on the report,
you must click the Edit button on the menu bar.

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The Format Tab of the Visualization Pane

The Format Tab (represented by the Paint Roller icon) allows
the user to change how a visualization looks like in the report. Its
contents is context-sensitive; that is, it will change depending on what
visualization is selected. If no visualization is selected, then it will be
referring to the Report Canvas instead.

There are a multitude of options available for the user to

change, with each of them being rolled up into different categories
within that visualization. For example, if your report requires you to
show the daily trend over a whole year period (as is the case in our line chart), then it might be good to
add Zoom Sliders so the user of the report has the option of narrowing down the displayed data without
having to depend on Slicers and filtering:

Formatting reports usually takes up a lot of time, especially if they will be published for public
consumption. The Format Tab gives the user very fine control on how the overall report will end up
looking like. In some visualizations, like the Matrix and Table Visualizations, they offer an additional tool
for analysis in the form of Conditional Formatting. More on this later.

Generally, using the format tab involves toggling an option on or off, then clicking
on the down arrow on the category to bring up additional controls. The following are
some of the common options that are used:

1. Legend – affects whether the Legend is shown, and where it is placed in the visualization.
2. Title – allows the user to change the auto-generated visualization title.
3. Data Colors – allows the user to change the color scheme of the data selected by Power BI.
4. Data Labels – affects whether the Data Labels are shown in the visualization, how it is placed,
and the kind of information shown.

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5. Border – affects whether the border of the visualization is shown or not and how it will
appear. Using this is very helpful because it can more easily show where visualizations start
or end.
6. Shadow – same concept as the Border, but appears fancier, as it adds a shaded effect on the
edge of the visualization.

The Analytics Tab of the Visualization Pane

The Analytics Tab (represented by the magnifying glass icon)
gives the user additional tools to help in the analysis of data. It allows
for the creation of additional data markers to denote information that is
not found within the data.

Like the other tabs, this is context-sensitive, and navigating and

using it is almost the same as using the Format Tab. As you can see, for
Stacked Bar Charts there is only one option, Pie Charts have no options at
all, and Line Charts have quite the plethora of options including
Forecasting and Finding Anomalies.

The next portion of the activities will be on using these options,

particularly the Forecasting capability for Line Charts.

# Activity Expected Outcome

33 We want to see which Brands
are performing better than the
average.

In Page 1 of the report, select

the Profit by Brand
Visualization then in the
Visualization Pane, change its
type to Clustered Bar Chart

34 Remove the Month Legend by

going to the Fields Tab of the
Visualization Pane then pressing
on the “x”.

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35 In the Analytics Tab, expand the

Average Line option by clicking
on the down arrow.

Click on Add

Turn on the Data Label, then

change the Display Units into
Millions.

Feel free to change the other properties as well.

36 Notice the change in the Profit

by Brand visualization.

37 Question/Activity: Answer:
What happens when you change The Average line changes from 12.99M to 11.92M. That is to
the Slicer to cover the months of say, the line changes Dynamically, depending on the data
April to June (Months 4 to 6)? displayed.

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38 Next, we want to see where our

profits will possibly be for the
next three months.

Go to Page 2 of the report,

where the Line Chart is located.
Select it, then In the Analytics
Tab, expand the Forecast
Option.

Click on Add. This will enable the

properties that will allow us to
add a Forecast on the
visualization.

39 Because we want to see the

forecast for the next three
months and the data we are
looking at is daily data, set the
Forecast length to 90.

Change the Seasonality to 30,

then click on Apply.

To make the data more visible,

go to the Format Tab, and
enable the Zoom Slider.

Feel free to change the properties of both the Forecast and

Zoom Slider. Change the values in the Forecast properties
and see what happens to the visualization.

Power BI uses a proprietary Exponential Smoothing

method to create forecasts.

40 You should now be able to much

more easily see the details of the
forecast by using the zoom slider
on the x-axis.

Note that you will need to have a time-based dimension on

the x-axis of the visualization in order to be able to use the
Forecasting functionality.

Data distributions tend to follow a pattern. Any values in the data that fall away from this pattern
is referred to as an “Anomaly”. Power BI has a built-in algorithm that can help the user find these

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anomalies, and even provide potential explanations to them. These can then be added to the report if
the anomaly is judged to be particularly egregious, and attention must be called to it.

# Activity Expected Outcome

40 Duplicate Page 2 of the report
and resize the line chart to make
it a bit smaller. Rename the page
to Page 3. Make sure that the
Zoom Slider is set in such a way
that the totality of the data is
present.

41 While the line chart is selected,

go to the Analytics tab and
remove the Forecast by clicking
on the X. Forecasts and
Anomaly Detection cannot be
enabled at the same time in the
same visualization.

Expand the Find Anomalies

option, then click on Add. This
should enable the properties for
Anomaly Detection.
42 Before changing any of the
properties, look at the line chart.
There should be now additional
markers in it that denote which
values are deemed anomalous.

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43 Clicking on any of these markers

should open a new pane called
the Anomalies Pane between
Filters and Visualizations.

Scrolling down on the list will

show a list of possible
explanations for the anomaly,
each of which will be rated by its
strength. The down/up arrow to
the right can be used to
expand/collapse each
explanation.

44 The accompanying visualizations

for each explanation can be
added to the report by clicking
on Add to report.

Once the Anomaly is added, it is treated as just another

visualization in the page, and therefore, it will have its own
set of formatting options. The original line chart can even
be deleted and the anomaly visualization will be
unaffected.

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45 Question/Activity: Answer:
What happens if you increase It will make the algorithm more sensitive, resulting in the
the Sensitivity property from 70 detection of more anomalies.
to 90?

The Q&A Visualization

Sometimes, we have an idea on what kind of information we want in our report but we are not
quite sure how to express it in a visual way. The Q&A Visualization allows the user to ask the data some
questions, using some suggestions from Power BI, or by using Natural Language. Using this visualization
can allow the user find other avenues of data analysis.

# Activity Expected Outcome

46 Add a new page to the report. In
the Visualizations Pane, click on
Q&A. Resize it, and click Show
all Suggestions.

47 The list of Power BI’s

suggestions should be displayed.
Find average net sale for each
region. This will change the
visualization displayed into a bar
chart.

If you are not satisfied with the

resulting visual, you can just
remove the question from the
text box and start over.

If you are satisfied with the

result, you can permanently
convert it into that visualization
type by pressing the button
near the upper right corner of
the visual.

Note that the Q&A Visualization itself has its own options
for its Format Tab. If you like the resulting visualization
and want to change some aspects of its display, make sure
to convert it first. Otherwise you will only see formatting
options for the Q&A Visual itself.

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48 Add another Q&A Visualization.

We will be asking it a natural
language question this time.

In the text box, type in “Profit

versus target by month line and
column chart” (without the
quotes). As you type in the
question, you should see the
displayed visualization change
to reflect what Power BI thinks is
what is being asked.

Because it uses AI and Machine Learning, it might not

show the exact results you are expecting to see. If that is
the case, try rewording the question. It might take some
time getting used to, but the Q&A visualization is a great
little tool to know and have.

49 Question/Activity: Answer:
You want to add a Bar Chart Answers may vary, but “profit by brand and month stacked bar
visualization that shows the chart” can be used.
total Profit but segmented by
month. What do you type in the
Q&A text box to achieve this?

Text Boxes and the Smart Narrative Visualization

Some reports will be published for consumption by people other than members of the enterprise;
like infographics that will be used as marketing materials. Because these reports will need to be printed
on a physical page, obviously, that means its intended audience will not have access to the additional tools
within Power BI such as tooltips to help facilitate analysis. These kinds of reports will require worded
explanations to make them easier to read and interpret. In Power BI, these can be done using Text Boxes.

# Activity Expected Outcome

50 Duplicate Page 1 of the report,
rename it to Page 5, and resize
the Bar and Pie charts so that
there will be enough space to
add text boxes.

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51 On the top of the Menu Bar,

click on Text Box. The blank
space in the canvas will be
populated by a text box. Resize
it so that it becomes smaller.

Inputting text is all just a matter

of clicking on the text box and
typing in the worded
explanation. Whenever you
want to edit text boxes, an
additional menu will appear on
the text box element.
52 These textboxes can be input
with dynamic text that changes
certain Values when the data is
filtered.

Type in The Total Profit form

MicroOctagon Hub is then click
on + Value.
53 This will open up the extended
menu where you can input the
dynamic text.

Getting Dynamic Values works a

little bit like the Q&A
visualization, but instead it is
limited to just displaying text as
opposed to a wider array of
visualizations.

In the How would you calculate

this value field, type in Total
Profit then click on Save.
54 When reviewing the text while
editing the report, any piece of
dynamic text is going to be
highlighted.

Feel free to tinker with the formatting properties and the

kinds of text that you can produce. Again, if it doesn’t
produce the exact value you wanted, you might want to
try and reword your expression.

55 Question/Activity: Answer:
In addition to the Total Profit,
you want to add an explanation
that will show which brand has
Most Net Sales Brand: What Brand has the Highest Amount of
the highest Net Sales and by
Net Sales

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how much. How do you phrase

it using text boxes? Most Net Sales Value: highest net sales by brand

Hint: two additional Values must be created. The preview

of the value might also not show the final correct value
until after it is saved.

56 Question/Activity: Answer:
What happens when you change The worded explanation will automatically change values to
the Month coverage from April reflect the new set of data being considered due to the change
to June to July to September? in Month coverage.
57 It is a good practice to give
descriptive names to Values
(Standard Naming Conventions
cans help with this). This is
because for any given text box,
you can Review the different
Values you created, and will
make it easier to know which
Value serves which purpose.

58 The Review Tab will allow you to

add, edit, and delete Values that
you have created.

Power BI can also automatically create a summarized worded explanation for certain
visualizations. This is done by using the Summarize function in certain visualizations’ right-click menu, or
by converting visualizations into a Smart Narrative text box. Note that while these are two different
methods, they will both end up creating a Smart Narrative text box.

# Activity Expected Outcome

59 Still on page 5 of the report,
select the bar chart, right click
on it then click on Summarize.

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60 A Smart Narrative Text Box

should appear on the report
canvas, taking up the remaining
space. Resize this new text box.

61 Let’s inspect the Text Box. Select

it from the Report Canvas. The
worded explanation was
automatically generated,
including the different Values
necessary to convey the
message.

Notice the icon. This means

that the current filter and data
set cannot produce a value. This
will only appear when the text
box is selected, and is invisible
when just viewing the report.
62 Clicking on the Review Tab and
toggling the Show auto-
generated values option will
show the list of Values that were
automatically created.

The next method will be used in

an exercise question.

Clicking on the pencil icon will show the statements used

to create them. These auto-generated Values can be a
helpful tool in figuring out how you can create other
narratives of your own in the future. Note that because
Smart Narrative is a Text Box, you can keep adding
explanations and Values of your own to expand on what
was auto-generated.

63 Question/Activity: Answer:
Create a Smart Narrative for the
Pie Chart, by using the Smart
Narrative visualization from the
Visualization Pane.

Hint:
The Smart Narrative Visualization converts the selected
Visualization into a Smart Narrative Textbox. We want to
preserve the current Pie Chart in the page.

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Card and Table/Matrix Visualizations and Numeric Aggregation

There are some cases where we want to put a focus on Numeric Data. For example, we want to
put an emphasis on a single number of importance in a Dashboard, or when we want to show the
quantitative comparisons. For showing Totals or single numbers of importance, we can use the Card
Visualization for quantitative comparisons, we can use the Table (single category) or Matrix (multiple
categories) Visualization.

# Activity Expected Outcome

64 Create a new page in the report.
Name it Page 6. We want to see
the Total of Profit and monitor
its value.

In the Visualizations Pane, add a

Card visualization.

Add the Profit Field in the visual.

65 By now you may have noticed

the downward arrow in the
Fields Tab for the different fields
in the visualization.

This allows us to change the

Aggregation of numeric fields
(how each individual values are
combined and shown). These
include basic statistical
functions like standard
deviation, variance, and
median.

Use this option as you see fit, depending on the needs of

the report and the kind of information you want to convey.
Feel free to experiment with the formatting options
available.

66 Next, we want to see the Profit

and Target of each Item Group.
We will be using the Table
Visualization so that the values
will be displayed.

Click on any white space in the

Report Canvas, then in the
Visualizations Pane, click on
Table.

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67 Add the Item Group, Profit, and

Target fields.

Try experimenting with how the visualization behaves if

you add more fields. Typically, you use Tables to much
more easily compare different measures against a single
category, like the one in this example.

You can also drag and drop the different fields in the
Values portion of the Fields Tab to rearrange the ordering
of the table’s columns

68 Question/Activity: Answer:
The Table is currently sorted in Find the Sort By option and make sure that Profit is selected
ascending order by item group. and that the sort order is descending
Change it so that the table is
arranged such that the highest
profit is displayed first?

Hint: The option to do so can be found in the Visualization

itself, and not in the different tabs of the Visualization
Pane.

This is the first time this option is brought up. This exercise
is meant to encourage exploring the interface in greater
detail.

.
69 Question/Activity: Answer:
We need another table that will In the Visualizations Pane, click on Matrix. Once the visual is
allow us to see and compare the added, add the Sales Person Field to the Rows, Month to the
Profit generated by each of the Columns, and Profit to the Values.
company’s Sales People per
Month. How do we create this
chart? Also rearrange Page 6 as
seen in the expected outcome.

Hint: Use the Matrix Visualization. Whereas tables are

commonly used to compare multiple values on a single
category, Matrixes are used to compare values across
multiple categories

This is the first time this option is brought up. This exercise
is meant to encourage exploring the interface in greater
detail.

70 Question/Activity: Answer:
What happens if you add the The Sales Person will have a + sign to its left, denoting that it is
Region field to the Rows of the now collapsible/expandable to show/hide the Sales of that
Matrix, under the Sales Person particular Sales Person per Region.
field?

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Conditional Formatting
Highlighting values in a table when they reach certain thresholds is a quick way to analyze data.
Having values highlighted in this way is an easy method of being able to quickly analyze data “at-a-glance”.
In Power BI, these options can be found in the Formatting Tab of the Visualizations Pane.

# Activity Expected Outcome

71 Still on Page 6, select the Matrix
visualization from the Report
Canvas and go to the
Formatting Tab. Expand the
Conditional Formatting options.

There are multiple options for

Conditional Formatting. We will
focus on the Background
Option.

Note that Conditional Formatting is only available for the

Table and Matrix Visualizations.

72 Select the field where the

Conditional Format should be
applied (in this case only Profit is
available). Toggle the
Background color option to add
the conditional format.

The color scheme of the

visualization should update.
Lighter colors mean lower
values, while darker colors mean
higher values.

For Matrix Visualizations, you can only select fields that

are used as values in the visual.

73 The default color scheme is blue.

To change the color and/or
other properties of the
Conditional Format, in the
Formatting Tab, click on
Advanced Controls.

Change the colors for the

Lowest and Highest Values. The
end result will be displayed in
the preview.

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74 If the color you want is not

present, just click in the choices,
click on More Colors and use the
interface to set your desired
color. Use the slider to select a
hue and the click on a spot in the
palette to select the shade.

Once you have selected the

colors, click OK to set them.

Take note of the Hexadecimal and RGB values if you want

to easily reproduce the exact colors.

75 The colors of the Matrix should

update.

The above method is the automatic way of adding conditional formats. That is, we let Power BI
decide what is “low” and what is “high” and everything in between (AKA formatting by Color Scale). This
might not be applicable in every situation because the enterprise usually have their own ways of judging
values. That is to say, they have their own rules on how they classify values.

# Activity Expected Outcome

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76 In the Table Visualization, we

can see that Laptops represent
a disproportionately large value
compared to the item groups.
Add a Slicer into the report
canvas, format it to be
horizontal orientation, and use
it to select all item groups
other than Laptop.

Use the CTRL+Click method to select multiple categories

in the slicer

77 Still on Page 6, select the Table

visualization from the Report
Canvas and go to the
Formatting Tab. Expand the
Conditional Formatting options.
78 Select the Profit field then
Toggle the Background color
option to add the conditional
format.

Click on Advanced Controls

For Table Visualizations, because there is only the Value

field, you have to select which one you will apply
Conditional Formatting to. Unlike Matrix, you can also
apply Conditional Formats to non-numeric values.

79 In the Advanced Controls

window, change the Format By
option from Color Scale to Rules.
This will display the rule editor
near the bottom half of the
screen.

For this exercise, we will make the following rules to

denote what are low, medium and high profits:
1. Low: belongs to the bottom 33% of the
values
2. Medium: belongs to the values between
33% and 66%
3. High: Above 66%

80 Create the first rule, then click

on OK to see the results.

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81 Go back to the Advanced

controls and click on the
button. Create the
rest of the rules.

Click on OK to apply the

conditional format.

82 Question/Activity: Answer:
Use Conditional Formatting to Repeat Step 78, but instead of
format the rest of the fields so Profit select the other fields.
that each row follows the same
color. Repeat Steps 79-81, but change
the Based on Field option to be
Hint: In the Advanced Controls, you can change the field
the conditional format will be based on, then it’s basically Profit.
just repeating steps 79-81.

83 Question/Activity: Answer:
What happens when you include The table will now only show Green and Red, because the
all item groups in the coverage inclusion of Laptops made it such that no item group falls into
of the data? the 33% to 66% of values.

Hint: Click twice on any button in the slicer to ensure that

the data selection includes all item groups.

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The Filters Pane

A Filter allows the user to limit the data being displayed in the report. There are
three elements by which a user can apply a filter: the visualization only, on the whole
page (all visualizations in that page are affected), or on the whole report (all pages are
affected).

Throughout this courseware so far, we have applied the usage of Slicers. Think of
Slicers as filters that are applied to the whole page, but is used to provide interactivity
by allowing the viewer of the report to dynamically change the data coverage in real
time. These ones in the Filter Pane however, are static. However they come with more
options on how data is evaluated than Slicers, so they are still very useful. Note that
fields that are not displayed in the visualization can still be used as Filters.

# Activity Expected Outcome

84 Add a new page to the report.
Name it Page 7.

In this new report, create a

Stacked Column Chart with the
Sales Person and Profit Fields

85 The included fields in the

visualization will automatically
populate the Filters on this
Visual section.

The filters themselves can be

clicked to show the options
available for editing.

The kind of Filtering options will depend on whether the

field is numeric or alphanumeric.

86 In the Filter Pane, under Filters

on this Page, add the Item
Group field by dragging and
dropping it from the Fields
Pane.

Let us now try filtering by the

Item Group.

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87 For filters using fields that are

not present in the visualization
(the filter is placed as a page or
report filter), there are two
options for the filter type: Basic
and Advanced.

Basic Filtering uses Checkboxes

to denote which categories are
going to be included. Select all
items except Laptops.

89 Advanced Filtering options give

a lot more control over the way
data will be treated (operators).
This way, the user will have a
lot of additional options when it
comes to filtering.

Because we excluded laptops already using basic

filtering, switching to Advanced filters reproduces that
filter.

90 Question/Activity: Answer:
Still on page 7, make the Change the operators to “is greater
column chart just show sales than” then specify the value to be
people who sold more than 2000000. Click Apply Filter.
2,000,000 in Profit. This is on
top on our laptop restriction.
The field is already under Filters on this Visual.

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Rankings
One of the quickest ways to decide on what areas to focus on is to know the top and bottom
performers based on different KPI’s or Metrics. This allows the analyst to quickly zoom in on areas of
improvement, and see which parts of the business is performing nicely. In Power BI, Rankings can be
implemented on a per-visualization basis using filtering options.

# Activity Expected Outcome

91 Under Filters on this visual,
expand Sales Person, and select
Top N as the filter type. This
will update the editable
options.

The Top N visualization only appears for dimensions.

92 Under Show Items, input 5 in

the text box, then under By
value drag and drop the Profits
field into it. Next, click Apply
Filter.

Because we had to drag and drop the Profits field, this

means that we can rank visuals according to different
measures, not just by the ones in the visualization
already. The aggregation of the value can also be
changed to further modify the basis of ranking.

93 Question/Activity: Answer:
Change the ranking so that the Because there the Bottom 5 Sales People were excluded by
Bottom 5 Sales People our Profit Filter. This means that none of those people had a
according to Profit will be profit greater than 2,000,00
shown. The result will be blank.
Why is this? Because conflicts in filter conditions result in a blank visualization, it is best to keep filtering simple. 0.

94 Question/Activity: Answer:
How do we solve this so that Clear the Profits filter by clicking on the eraser icon.
the bottom 5 performers can be
seen?

Hint: there are additional options pertaining to the filter

itself when editing them: . These can be found

in the Filters Pane.

Working with Hierarchies

A hierarchy is a logical grouping of data. It allows for the organization of data in an orderly manner
befitting of the needs of the enterprise. For example, a multi-national corporation arranges its data by

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geography to better focus on the peculiarities for each region, so as to avoid a “one size fits all” analysis
and take various other environmental factors in mind. A hierarchy may looks something like this:

Generally, the lower you go on the hierarchy, the more detailed and granular the data can get,
and vice-versa. In Power BI, hierarchies are created when adding multiple dimensions in certain options
in the Fields Tab. This is best used when creating an interactive dashboard to include as many perspective
views using the same chart but on different dimensions (referred to drilling up or down), allowing the
user to condense a lot more information in one visualization. Remember that hierarchies are a logical
grouping/organization of data. They don’t have to follow the above example completely.

# Activity Expected Outcome

95 Add a new page in the report.
Name it Page 8.

Add a Stacked Column Bar

visualization. Under the Axis
field, add the Brand, Item
Group, and Sales Person fields.
Under Values, add Profit.

96 Near the top part of the

visualization, there will be
additional options available.
Click on the single down arrow.

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97 The down arrow should now be

highlighted and change color.
This is the indicator that drill
down mode is turned on. Click
it again if you want to disable
drill down.
98 To start drilling down on the
data, simply click on a bar. Click
on the MSI bar.

What happened?
1. The title of the visualization changed.
2. The categories in the Y-Axis changed.
3. The up arrow is no longer greyed out,
indicating that the current view is not the
top hierarchy level.
4. A brand Filter was added in the Filters for
this visualization.

99 Click on the Laptop Bar.

What happened?
1. The title of the visualization changed
again.
2. The categories in the Y-Axis changed again.
3. An Item Group Filter was added in the
Filters for this visualization.
Clicking on the Up Arrow allows you to go up one level in
the hierarchy. This will also remove the filter that was
added by drilling down.

100
There are additional options
available when drilling down.

Go back to the top level of the

hierarchy (the Brands must be
in the Y-Axis) then click the
button with two parallel down-
arrows.

101
Question/Activity: Answer:
What happened to the chart? The Y-axis changed from Brands to Item Groups.
The Title of the chart changed.
102
Question/Activity: Answer:
Is this behavior different from Yes it is different behavior. Unlike the initial activity, there was
our initial drill down activity? no Brand filter that got added to the visualization.
103
Let’s try and see what the final
option for drilling down is.

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Go back to the top level of the

hierarchy, then click on the
forked downward arrows.

104
Question/Activity: Answer:
What happened to the chart? The Y-axis changed from Brands to the combination of item
groups and each brand that sells items from those groups.
105
Question/Activity: Answer:
Is this behavior different from Yes it is different behavior. While they both don’t add a filter
our previous drill down activity? to the visualization and they both go down to the next level in
the hierarchy, this one combines categories from the different
levels, resulting in more bars of data.

Setting up Interactivity
Over the course of the previous activities, we have seen Power BI’s ability to give a good
interactive experience to the report user: Slicers allow the user to change data coverage in real time, and
Drill Downs allow the user to create different perspectives on the same data. Being able to change how
and what data is displayed in visualizations allow the user to develop sleek reports that allows for great
analysis and presentation without having to rely on a lot of pages and a lot of charts. For this section, we
will look into how to tweak the interactivity between visualizations. Note: by default, all visualizations
inside a report page can interact with each other.

# Activity Expected Outcome

106
Let’s go back to Page 1 of our
report.

Click on the ASUS bar. Notice

what happens on the Pie Chart.

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107
While holding down the CTRL
key on the keyboard, select the
Acer and Lenovo bar. Notice
what happens on the Pie Chart.

Revert to the initial version of

the page (all brands selected).

This simple setup allows the user to highlight the sections of the Pie Chart that refer to the
different brands in the Bar Chart. The reverse is also true. Selecting different slices of the pie will highlight
the profits on those specific regions in the Bar Chart:

There is another option for displaying data other than highlighting between visualizations. It is
also possible to Filter instead of highlight. Interactions between visualizations can even be disabled
altogether. This is achieved by Editing Interactions.

# Activity Expected Outcome

108
In the Menu Bar, select Visual
Interactions and toggle Edit
Interactions.
109
Select the Bar Chart by clicking
on any white space inside the
visualization.

A new set of controls (usually in

the upper left hand corner)
should appear on the other
visualizations in the page.

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110
There are three options for the
Pie Chart:

1. - Filter

2. - Highlight

3. - None. The
selected visualization
will not impact this
visual.
Click on the Filter Option.

The options are usually these three, but will differ

depending on the selected visualization and possible
interactions with the others in the page.
111
Select ASUS in the Bar Chart

112
Question/Activity: Answer:
What happened to the data in The pie chart was filtered according to the ASUS brand, as
the Pie Chart? evidenced by the reduced numbers on the data labels.
However, no actual filter was created in the Filters Pane.
113
Go to Page 8 and add a Net
Sales by Region Pie Chart
beside the Bar Chart.

114
On the Bar Chart, make sure
that it is set to the highest level
in the hierarchy (Brands on the
Y-Axis) and that Drill Down is
turned on.

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115
Double Check that the Bar
Chart highlights data in the Pie
Chart.

116
Select the ASUS bar.

117
Question/Activity: Answer:
What happened to the Pie The pie chart was filtered (as can be seen in its Filter Pane
Chart? when selecting the pie chart) even when the interactivity is
set to be highlighting.
118
In the Menu Bar, click Visual
Interactions and Turn off Edit
Interactions.

When using Drill Downs, it will override the interactivity settings. If this is not the kind of
interaction that is needed, then it is possible to turn this option off by selecting Visual Interactions and
turning off Drilling filters other visuals.

This will essentially set interactivity between a Drill Down visual and other visualizations in the page to
None.

Other Types of Visualizations

If the kind of visualization required is not present in the Visualizations Pane, then other Power BI
users and Developers might be able to help you find it.

# Activity Expected Outcome

118
In the Visualizations Pane, click
on Get more visuals button
then click on Get more visuals

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119
A new window will open that
will display a list of the different
available apps. You can search
for the visualization you want
by using the Search function or
by browsing through the
different categories.

Click on Add to include your

desired visual in the list. In this
example, let’s add the Bullet
Chart.

This will cause Power BI to

download/import the added
visualization.
120
Once done, the visualization
will appear beneath the list of
default visualizations.

This is just for demonstrating the option to get custom

visualizations. Using the Bullet Chart is not part of the
courseware.

121
If the visualization is no longer
needed, it can be removed.

In the Visualizations Pane, click

on Get more visuals button
then click on Remove a visual
122
A new window containing all
the downloaded/imported
visuals. Select the ones to
remove, then click Remove

Click Remove from the

confirmation window.

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123
There should be no additional
visualization types underneath
the default ones.

Note: While it is possible to develop custom visualization

templates for Power BI, it requires technical and
programming knowledge. As such, their creation is not
covered here.

Collaboration Options
Power BI Service allows the members of an enterprise to collaborate in the creation of content.
Workspace Memberships set what different users can do to the content inside the workspace, while
Dashboards allow visualizations from different Insights and Reports in the same workspace to be joined
in the same page for easier monitoring.

Workspace Membership
# Activity Expected Outcome
124
Go back to the Workspace you
created way back in Step 6,
then on the menus near the
upper right-hand corner of the
screen, click on Access

125
Enter the email addresses of
the people who you want to
have access to the workspace.

Power BI also has an auto-

complete function so you can
select the e-mail address of
people within your
organization.
126
After adding the e-mail
addresses, assign the type of
membership they will have.

Note that the exact people you can add might not match
with what can be seen on the screenshot.

There are four membership types, which dictate what the member can and can’t do (referred to
as Permissions) to the workspace itself and its contents. There is a lot of information to consider about
the technicalities present with membership and permissions, but generally, these are what each type
means:

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1. Admin – has the highest level of permissions regarding that workspace. Admins can create
new, modify, and delete content within the workspace. They can also do tasks pertaining to
the management of the Workspace itself, including adding new people and setting their
membership type (including other admins), and update and delete the workspace itself. The
creator of a workspace is automatically counted as its administrator. Essentially, they are the
Top Manager of the workspace.
2. Member – has the second-highest level of permissions. They can do almost everything the
Admins can do, with few exceptions. They cannot:
a. Update or Delete the workspace itself
b. Add or Remove other people with the Member type (they can only add people with
lower membership)
3. Contributor – has the third-highest level of permissions. They can only do actions that pertain
to the creation and removal of content within the workspace. They cannot add other users in
the workspace and cannot perform any managerial duties pertaining to the workspace and
its contents (such as adding other people).
4. Viewer – the lowest level of permissions. Can only view and interact with the content in the
workspace. That is to say, they can consume reports, but not make new ones.

Clicking on the Learn More link above will direct you to the technical documentation for
Workspace Memberships if more details are needed. Typically, the management of the Power BI
environment in the enterprise is relegated to a specific department, usually as an additional function of
the IT Department, or a specific subgroup within the IT Department. Business Users and Analysts will at
least be Contributors, while C-level executives and Management are Viewers.

# Activity Expected Outcome

128
After setting the desired
membership type (in this case,
Contributor), click on Add.

129
Near the bottom of the Access
Pane, you will see all members
of the workspace.

Admin users can change the

permission level of the member
after he or she is added. They
can also remove their
membership entirely.

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Dashboards
A dashboard is a single interactive page containing all the important information (KPI’s) that a
company must monitor. Generally speaking, something is called a “dashboard” for as long as a page is
used to display different KPI’s and it is interactive. In Power BI, Dashboards allow users to create a
centralized method of monitoring the business. Power BI Dashboards consist of visualizations (if a
visualization is inside a dashboard, it is referred to as a tile) from reports within the workspace. Its main
advantage over reports is that because any visualization in any report within the workspace can be used,
multiple KPI’s from different datasets can be combined in one page. Reports on the other hand, can only
display data from the dataset it is based on.

The inverse is also true. It is not possible to filter data and slice and dice visualizations in the
Dashboard. This is why Dashboards are used for monitoring the business. If deeper analysis is required,
that is when the detailed report is consulted. However, if the functionality is required, whole report pages
can be pinned to dashboards as a live tile.

# Activity Expected Outcome

130
Open the report that was
created during this activity.

Reports open in Reading View by default. The report will

need to be edited, click on the Edit button. Dashboards
are also why per-visual filtering is very valuable.

131
Select the Profit by Brand Bar
Chart and look at the items on
its upper right hand corner.

132

Press on the pin icon.

Slicers will not have this icon.

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133
A new window will appear.
Select New dashboard, name it
Our First Dashboard, then click
on Pin.

134
A message will appear near the
upper right hand corner of the
screen. Click on Go to
dashboard.
135
Dashboards created this way
will by default have a Q&A
element in the upper left hand
corner of the screen. This
allows the user to glean
additional insight to the data if
what they are looking for is not
currently present in the
dashboard.

The pinned visual from step 133

is also present. Clicking the
pinned visual will redirect the
user to the actual report.

136
Pin the following visuals into
Our First Dashboard:
1. The Line Chart in Page 2
2. The Matrix Visual in
Page 6
Go to Our First Dashboard to
see the results.

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137
Back in the Workspace, view
the Insights created from the
Dataset.

138
Question/Activity: Answer:
Can you add Insights to Insights can be added to dashboards because they count as
Dashboards? Why or why not? visualizations. However, when they are added to the
Dashboard, they lose the worded explanation and clicking on
a pinned insight does nothing.
139
Pay attention to the lower right
corner of a tile when hovering
the mouse over it. Dragging and
dropping from this icon will
allow for resizing tiles.
Dragging and Dropping tiles
around allows for rearranging
the layout of the dashboard as
well.

140
Question/Activity: Answer:
How do you pin an entire report When editing a report, make sure that no visualization is
page into the dashboard? selected, then in the menu bar, select Pin to Dashboard.

Hint: the option can be found only while editing the

report. This activity aims to make you explore the
interface on your own.
141
Question/Activity: Answer:
Is interactivity preserved when Yes, interactivity is preserved. However, it only applies to the
the page is pinned to the pinned page. The other tiles in the dashboard is unaffected.
dashboard?

Hint: This activity aims to make you explore the interface

on your own.

Publishing Results
Business Analytics is not just concerned with the analysis of data. As discussed in previous
chapters, it is also concerned with the delivery of the results of the analysis, so that only the right people
with the right privileges would be able to see them. This is called Publishing. Generally, publishing a
report means “making it available” for its intended audience.

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There are multiple ways to publish reports and dashboards in Power BI. Some of the methods will
be discussed in the upcoming activities, but in order for the recipients to be able to consume these
content, they typically have to be a Member of the Workspace the content is found in with at least Viewer
Permissions. Individual Reports can also be exported as files to work around this restriction.

The Power BI Mobile App

In today’s fast-paced world, business users might not have their computers with them 100% of
the time. If they need to see an update about the business and the metrics they are monitoring, they need
a way to access these content without having to depend on their computer. Luckily, mobile phones in
recent years have become an integral part of the personal computing space. With these s, business users
can get access to apps that provide additional capabilities to their phones. It is no surprise that enterprises
also developed apps for their own use to help run the business.

The Microsoft Power BI Mobile App allows the user to sign in using their account and retain access
to reports, dashboards, and other apps that allow them to monitor the business for as long as they have
an internet connection. The Microsoft Power BI Mobile App is available to download for free in the Google
Play Store (for Android devices) and Apple App Store (for iOS devices). Please note that the mobile app is
mainly used for consumption of content. Creating reports, dashboards, and apps are still done through
the web browser.

In order to use the mobile app, users will have to download it first
and sign in. The sign in process is similar to the process for web
browsers, so that process will no longer be shown here. Near the
bottom of the interface of the app is a condensed version of the
browser’s Navigation Pane.

The Home Tab

The Home Tab is where the user can quickly access the Power BI Content that
is available to him or her. It contains two subtabs: Quick access and Activity. Quick
access contains all reports and dashboards that the user frequently and/or has
recently accessed. The Activity tab shows a history of all the things that were done on
content the user has access to (like if certain apps were updated, etc.) The bell icon
contains notifications and the magnifying glass icon allows the user to search for
content. Both are on the upper right hand corner of the Home Tab. It is essentially a
stripped-down version of the Home Page of the browser interface.

The Favorites Tab

The Favorites Tab contains all of the content that you have set as a Favorite. This allows the user
to directly access those pieces of content in a centralized location instead of having to manually browse
through and remember which workspaces they are located in.

To add content into the Favorites tab, simply click on the star icon. For the Browser interface, the
star icon only appears if the cursor is hovering above content that can be favorited (mainly Reports and
dashboards).

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The Workspaces Tab

The Workspaces Tab contains all the workspaces that the user
has created or has access to. Clicking on a workspace will show its
contents. The main difference with this view from the browser view is
that only reports and dashboards are visible from the mobile app. This
means that other content, such as datasets aren’t accessible through
the mobile app.

The More Pages Tab

The More Pages tab contains less-frequently used options:
Recents show a more detailed list (compared to the recents section of
the Home Tab) of the most recently accessed content; Shared with me
contains all content that has been shared to the user; Samples contain
sample reports from Microsoft; and finally, Scanner brings up the
built-in QR Code Scanner to allow for quick access to reports that are
being shared via a QR Code (more on this on a later topic)

Exporting Reports
This option will create either a PDF or Power Point file that serves as a snapshot of the report.
This means What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) and as such, any interactivity is lost in the resulting
file. Use this option if the intended audience does not have access to Power BI (download the file and e-
mail as an attachment). Make sure that any filters and slicers are set to their proper values for your
intended audience before exporting.

# Activity Expected Outcome

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142
Open the Test report that was
created in the previous steps.
This will open it in Reading
View.

The Export option is only available in Reading View.

143
On the Menu Bar, click on
Export, then select PDF.

144
A new window should open,
containing the different options
before exporting.

Click on Export. A message will

appear on the upper right hand
corner of the Menu bar.

145
Wait for the Export process to
finish, and a new window will
open. This will prompt you to
save the resulting file. Give it a
name, and save it to the
Desktop. Clicking on Save will
initiate the download of the
file.

The default file name is whatever the name of the report

that is being exported.

The exported file can be saved to your preferred location.

Desktop is just used here to make it easier to locate for
this activity.

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146
Check on the Desktop if the file
is there and open the file.

Exporting to a Powerpoint File pretty much follows the

same steps.

Generate a QR Code for the Report

This option will allow the user to create a QR Code that can be given to others. The QR Code will
allow those other users to be able to directly access the report by scanning it. The person who will scan
this code will need to be signed in to Power BI and require at least Viewer Permission to the Workspace
containing the report.

# Activity Expected Outcome

147
Still on the report, enter Edit
Mode.

148
Near the upper right hand
corner of the report, click on
the More Options button, and
select Generate QR Code

149
A new window will appear. The
QR code itself can be scanned
here.

Click on Download and save the

file to your desktop. We can
now send this file to people in
the organization.

150
Question/Activity: Answer:

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Scan the QR Code you The user is directly shown the contents of the report.
generated using the mobile
app. What happens?
151
Question/Activity: Answer:
Add a new, blank page to the The user is directly shown the contents of the report, and the
report and save it. After about a additional page is visible. This means that the QR Code refers
minute, scan your QR Code to the report itself, and any changes to it is still captured.
again. What happens?

Do NOT generate a new QR Code. Scan the old one. This is

why we saved the resulting code in Step 149.

The Shared With Me Tab

As long as a user is given membership to a Workspace, all content within that workspace (Reports
and Dashboards) can be seen from this tab.

Publishing with Apps

The Admin Members of the workspace can create and update an App based on the contents of
the workspace. Apps are an easy way to roll up the contents of the workspace into a single, centralized
location for ease of access. The Admin Members can select which Dashboards and Reports are included
in the app. Viewing Apps requires Workspace membership.

# Activity Expected Outcome

152
Go to the workspace that was
created in Step 6 of this
workshop. Near the upper right
hand corner of the screen, click
on the Create app button.

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153
Give the app a name. By
default, it will have the same
name as the Workspace. For
this activity, name it Our First
App.

Give the app a description.

An image can also be uploaded

to make the app easier to
recognize.

Click on Publish App after

completing the settings.
154
A new window should show up.
Click on Publish.

155
Click on Go to app

156
The dashboards and report in
the workspace can be seen on
the left side of the app. The
report can be expanded to
show the exact page.

157
Question/Activity: Question/Activity:
The Sales Data MicroOctagon Under the Include in app column, make sure that it is set to
Hub dashboard is blank. How No for the Sales Data MicroOctagon Hub dashboard. Then
do we remove it from the app? press on the Update app button. Then click on Update app
again. There might be a delay before the app is updated.
Hint: Look closely at the workspace list. This serves as the
activity on how to update an app.

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158
Like individual dashboards and
reports, apps can be accessed
via the mobile app.

159
Members of the workspace can
individually add the app to their
account by going to Apps from
the Navigation Pane, then
clicking Get more Apps from
Microsoft AppSource then
finally going to the
Organizational apps tab.

Mobile Layout
As noted near the beginning of this chapter, Power BI was designed with computer screens in
mind. This means that the interfaces tend to be used much more easily if the screen is wider than it is tall
(landscape mode). This stands in stark contrast to mobile devices, especially with mobile phones, which
have screens that are taller than they are wide to facilitate usage with one hand. For Reports and
Dashboards, Power BI allows for the creation of a Mobile Layout to make the display much more user-
friendly for mobile device users.

Please note that Reports, Dashboards, and Apps can still be viewed as normal in the Power BI
Mobile app, even without the Mobile Layout. This simply serves as a “Quality of Life” feature that
improves the usability of the content across different types of devices.

Mobile Layout for Reports

# Activity Expected Outcome
160
Open the Test Report, and go
to Edit Mode.

On the Menu Bar, there should

be a button for Mobile Layout.

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161
The Mobile Layout Formatter
will appear.

To create a mobile layout,

simply drag and drop the
visualizations from the Page
Visuals Pane to the Mobile
Canvas.

162
Add the Slicer at the topmost
portion of the screen, followed
by the Bar Chart, then the Pie
Chart.

163
Near the bottom of the screen
is the list of pages. Go to Page 4
and create a mobile layout for
that page as well.

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165
Save the report.

To start editing the report again

(adding new pages and visuals),
just click on Web Layout.
166
Question/Activity: Answer:
Using the Power BI Mobile App, Yes, interactivity is preserved without issue.
go to the workspace where the
report belongs and refresh the
list. Open the report. Is
interactivity preserved?

167
Question/Activity: Question/Activity:
Still on Page 1, want to see the Turn the mobile device sideways / activate landscape mode.
original layout of the report as
it was created in the browser.
How do we change the display?
168
Return the mobile device to
portrait mode.
169
Question/Activity: Question/Activity:
Go to Page 2. Were you No. Because mobile layouts were defined only for Pages 1 and
immediately able to see the 4 of the report, any pages without a mobile layout will need to
report? have the device on landscape mode to view its contents.

Mobile Layout for Dashboards

# Activity Expected Outcome

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170
From the Workspace using the
Web Browser Interface, open
Our First Dashboard.

In the Menu Bar, click Edit then

Mobile Layout.

171
The Mobile Layout Formatter
should appear.

172
Question/Activity: Answer:
Did you have to create a Mobile No. The layout was automatically created.
Layout from scratch?
173
Question/Activity: Answer:
The pie chart is no longer Hover to the visualization, then click on the “unpin” button on
needed for the mobile layout. its upper right hand corner.
How can it be removed?
174
Question/Activity: Answer:
Access the dashboard using the Similar to the reports: turn the device sideways / enable
mobile app. How can the landscape mode
original layout as created in the
Browser be shown?

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

MicroOctagon Hub approached you to develop a report using their data. They want to be able to
more accurately analyze the profit levels of their company for any given month, so that they can easily
see what are the top Brands, Items, and Sales People in their organization. They also want to see the
actual numbers of their Net Sales, Total Cost of Sales, and Profits. With these in mind, they gave you a
template of what they want the end result of the report to look like:

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 Business Analytics and Data Visualization with Power BI

They also have the following interactivity requirements:

1. The Top 3 Brands By Profit Chart should filter out all the other visualizations in the
page.
2. The Top 3 Items By Profit and Top 5 Sales People charts should highlight the values
on the other charts.
3. MicroOctagon Hub has noticed that their Laptops make up a huge portion of their
profits already. They want those data points excluded from the report to see which
other aspect of the business they should focus on.

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 Business Analytics and Data Visualization with Power BI

Chapter 5: Capstone Project

Using everything we have learned so far, prepare a presentation that analyzes the data of an
enterprise.

1. Use Rapid Prototyping to create a worksheet that will be used as the dataset (or sets).
2. Use Microsoft Power BI to enrich the dataset (if needed), create visualizations for Analysis,
and compose a data story.
3. Do a 3-5 minute presentation of your Business Analysis. You will then be asked questions
based on your presentation.

Additional Tips for Creating the Capstone

Visualize your (imaginary) client
Ask yourself the following questions: What it their company name? What is the nature of their
products and services? How large is the enterprise? Do they span multiple geographic locations? Are they
a local or international company? And the like. This will give you a rough idea of what their data might
look like.

Put yourself in the shoes of your (imaginary) client

As an enterprise, ask the following questions: What kind of information do they need to keep
track? What metrics do they need to see so that they can get an idea of how the business is performing?
Do we need to see the revenue per product on a geographical Map? Do I need to see the same information
for the last 3 years? Etc. This drills down on what kind of data is needed in greater detail.

Begin with the End in mind

In conjunction with the previous two tips, visualizing the final look and feel of the Story will help
you make informed decisions on what kind of data needs to be included in the workbook, because certain
chart types are more conducive to different kinds of information, which will help immensely in the Rapid
Prototyping process of the Workbooks.

Three Years of Historical Data

To ensure that a deep analysis can be made, prototype for at least three years’ worth of Historical
Data. Although highly unlikely, do note that Excel Files (.xlsx) has a limit of around 1M rows.

Power BI Samples
Check out some of the Sample Reports from the Power BI Mobile App. This can help you formulate
the formatting and KPI’s that you may want to include in your presentation.

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