---

lab:
title: 'Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop'
module: '2 - Get Data in Power BI'
---

# Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop

**The estimated time to complete the lab is 45 minutes.**

This lab is one of many in a series of labs that was designed as a complete story
from data preparation to publication as reports and dashboards. You can complete
the labs in any order. However, if you intend to work through multiple labs, we
suggest you do them in the following order:

1. **Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop**

1. Load Data in Power BI Desktop
1. Design a Data Model in Power BI
1. Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop
1. Create Advanced DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop
1. Design a Report in Power BI Desktop
1. Enhance a Report in Power BI Desktop
1. Perform Data Analysis in Power BI
1. Create a Power BI Dashboard
1. Enforce Row-Level Security

## **Lab story**

This lab is designed to introduce you to Power BI Desktop application and how to
connect to data and how to use data preview techniques to understand the
characteristics and quality of the source data. The learning objectives are:

- Open Power BI Desktop

- Connect to source data
- Preview source data
- Use data preview techniques to better understand the data

## **Exercise 1: Prepare Data**

In this exercise, you'll create eight Power BI Desktop queries. Six queries will
source data from SQL Server, and two from CSV files.

### **Task 1: Get started with Power BI Desktop**

In this task, you start by opening a starter Power BI file (.pbix). The starter
file doesn't contain any data, but has been specially configured to help you
complete the lab. The following report-level settings have been disabled in the
starter file:

- Data Load > Import relationships from data sources on first load
- Data Load > Autodetect new relationships after data is loaded

*Note: While having these two options enabled can be helpful when developing a data
model, you disabled them earlier to support the lab experience. When you create
relationships in the **Load Data in Power BI Desktop** lab, you’ll learn why you're
adding each one.*

<br/>
1. Open Power BI Desktop.

![Power BI Desktop icon](Linked_image_Files/02-load-data-with-power-query-in-

power-bi-desktop_image1.png)

*Tip: By default, the Getting Started dialog box opens in front of Power BI
Desktop. You can choose to sign-in, and then close the pop-up.*

1. To open the starter Power BI Desktop file, select the **File > Open Report >
Browse Reports**.

1. In the **Open** window, navigate to the **D:\PL300\Labs\01-prepare-data-with-

power-query-in-power-bi-desktop\Starter** folder.

1. Select the **Sales Analysis** file.

1. Save a copy of the file with **Save As** in to the **D:\PL300\MySolution**

folder.

### **Task 2: Get data from SQL Server**

This task teaches you how to connect to a SQL Server database and import tables,
which create queries in Power Query.

1. On the **Home** ribbon tab, from inside the **Data** group, select **SQL
Server**.

![SQL Server Get Data icon](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-

query-in-power-bi-desktop_image11.png)

1. In the **SQL Server Database** window, in the **Server** box, enter

**localhost**, then select **OK**.

*Note: In this lab, you’ll connect to the SQL Server database by using
**localhost** because gateway data sources can't resolve **localhost**. This isn’t
a recommended practice when creating your own solutions.*

1. If prompted for credentials, in the **SQL Server Database** window, select **Use
my current credentials**, and then **Connect**.

1. In the **Navigator** window, at the left, expand the **AdventureWorksDW2020**

database.

*Note: The **AdventureWorksDW2020** database is based on the

**AdventureWorksDW2017** sample database. It has been modified to support the
learning objectives of the course labs.*

1. Select—but don’t check—the **DimEmployee** table

![AdventureWorksDW2020 database with DimEmployee indicated]

(Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-
desktop_image18.png)

1. In the right pane, notice a preview of the table data. The preview data allows
you to see the columns and a sample of rows.

1. To create queries, select the checkbox next to the following six tables:

- DimEmployee
 - DimEmployeeSalesTerritory
- DimProduct
- DimReseller
- DimSalesTerritory
- FactResellerSales

1. Complete this task by clicking **Transform Data**, which will open Power Query
Editor.
1. *This lab is only intended to connect to and profile the data, but not
**transform data**.*

### **Task 3: Preview Data in Power Query Editor**

This task introduces the Power Query Editor and allows you to review and profile
the data. This helps you determine how to clean and transform the data later.

1. In the **Power Query Editor** window, at the left, notice the **Queries** pane.
The **Queries** pane contains one query for each table you checked.

![List of loaded queries](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-query-

in-power-bi-desktop_image20.png)

1. Select the first query—**DimEmployee**.

*The **DimEmployee** table in the SQL Server database stores one row for each
employee. A subset of the rows from this table represents the salespeople, which
will be relevant to the model you’ll develop.*

1. At the bottom left corner of the status bar, some table statistics are provided—
the table has 33 columns, and 296 rows.

![Count of 33 columns, 296 rows](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-

power-query-in-power-bi-desktop_image22.png)

1. In the data preview pane, scroll horizontally to review all columns. Notice that
the last five columns contain **Table** or **Value** links.

*These five columns represent relationships to other tables in the database.

They can be used to join tables together. You’ll join tables in the **Load Data in
Power BI Desktop** lab.*

1. To assess column quality, on the **View** ribbon tab, from inside the **Data
Preview** group, check **Column Quality**. The column quality feature allows you to
easily determine the percentage of valid, error, or empty values found in columns.

![Column Quality selection in ribbon](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-

power-query-in-power-bi-desktop_image23.png)

1. Notice that the **Position** column has 94% empty (null) rows.

![Column quality showing 94% empty rows](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-

with-power-query-in-power-bi-desktop_image24.png)

1. To assess column distribution, on the **View** ribbon tab, from inside the
**Data Preview** group, check **Column Distribution**.

1. Review the **Position** column again, and notice that there are four distinct
values, and one unique value.
1. Review the column distribution for the **EmployeeKey** column—there are 296
distinct values, and 296 unique values.

*When the distinct and unique counts are the same, it means the column contains
unique values. When modeling, it’s important that some model tables have unique
columns. These unique columns can be used to create one-to-many relationships,
which you'll do in the **Model Data in Power BI Desktop** lab.*

![Column distribution showing 296 distinct, 296 unique values]

(Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-
desktop_image26.png)

1. In the **Queries** pane, select the **DimEmployeeSalesTerritory** query.

*The **DimEmployeeSalesTerritory** table stores one row for each employee and
the sales territory regions they manage. The table supports relating many regions
to a single employee. Some employees manage one, two, or possibly more regions.
When you model this data, you’ll need to define a many-to-many relationship.*

1. In the **Queries** pane, select the **DimProduct** query. The **DimProduct**

table contains one row per product sold by the company.

1. Horizontally scroll to reveal the last columns. Notice the

**DimProductSubcategory** column.

*When you add transformations to this query in the **Load Data in Power BI
Desktop** lab, you’ll use the **DimProductSubcategory** column to join tables.*

1. In the **Queries** pane, select the **DimReseller** query.

*The **DimReseller** table contains one row per reseller. Resellers sell,
distribute, or value add to the Adventure Works products.*

1. To view column values, on the **View** ribbon tab, from inside the **Data
Preview** group, check **Column Profile**.

1. Select the **BusinessType** column header, and notice the new pane beneath the
data preview pane.

1. Review the column statistics and value distribution in the data preview pane.

*Notice the data quality issue: there are two labels for warehouse
(**Warehouse**, and the misspelled **Ware House**).*

![Value distribution for the BusinessType column](Linked_image_Files/01-

prepare-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-desktop_image31.png)

1. Hover the cursor over the **Ware House** bar, and notice that there are five
rows with this value.

*You’ll apply a transformation to relabel these five rows in the **Load Data in
Power BI Desktop** lab.*

1. In the **Queries** pane, select the **DimSalesTerritory** query.

*The **DimSalesTerritory** table contains one row per sales region, including
**Corporate HQ** (headquarters). Regions are assigned to a country, and countries
are assigned to groups. In the **Model Data in Power BI Desktop** lab, you’ll
create a hierarchy to support analysis at region, country, or group level.*
1. In the **Queries** pane, select the **FactResellerSales** query.

*The **FactResellerSales** table contains one row per sales order line—a sales
order contains one or more line items.*

1. Review the column quality for the **TotalProductCost** column, and notice that
8% of the rows are empty.

*Missing **TotalProductCost** column values is a data quality issue. To address

the issue, in the **Load Data in Power BI Desktop** lab, you’ll apply
transformations to fill in missing values by using the product standard cost, which
is stored in the related **DimProduct** table.*

### **Task 4: Get data from a CSV file**

In this task, you'll create a new query based on CSV files.

1. To add a new query, in the **Power Query Editor** window, on the **Home** ribbon
tab, from inside the **New Query** group, select the **New Source** down-arrow, and
then select **Text/CSV**.

1. In the **Open** window, navigate to the **D:\PL300\Resources** folder, and

select the **ResellerSalesTargets.csv** file. Select **Open**.

1. In the **ResellerSalesTargets.csv** window, review the preview data. Select

**OK**.

1. In the **Queries** pane, notice the addition of the **ResellerSalesTargets**

query.

*The **ResellerSalesTargets** CSV file contains one row per salesperson, per
year. Each row records 12 monthly sales targets (expressed in thousands). The
business year for the Adventure Works company commences on July 1.*

1. Notice that no column contains empty values. When there isn’t a monthly sales
target, a hyphen character is stored instead.

1. Review the icons in each column header, to the left of the column name. The
icons represent the column data type. **123** is whole number, and **ABC** is text.

![Picture 74](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-
desktop_image38.png)

1. Repeat the steps to create a query based on the **D:\PL300\Resources\

ColorFormats.csv** file.

*The **ColorFormats** CSV file contains one row per product color. Each row
records the HEX codes to format background and font colors.*

*You should now have two new queries, **ResellerSalesTargets** and

**ColorFormats**.*


### **Task 5: Finish up**

In this task, you'll complete the lab.

1. On the **View** ribbon tab, from inside the **Data Preview** group, uncheck the
three data preview options that were previously enabled in this lab:

- Column quality
- Column distribution
- Column profile

![Picture 76](Linked_image_Files/01-prepare-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-
desktop_image40.png)

1. **Save** the Power BI Desktop file. When prompted to apply the pending changes,
select **Apply Later**.

*Tip: Applying the queries will load their data to the data model. You’re not
ready to do that, as there are many transformations that must be applied first.*