A Beginner's Guide to Learning Power BI the Right

Way

Analytics is a scorching hot topic today, which is scarcely surprising since we live in a
data-dominated age. Analytics deals with discovering, interpreting, and processing data.
But data and business analysts have a multitude of tools to choose from, and it can be
challenging trying to decide which is the best fit for which project.

Today we will do our part in helping make that decision easier by focusing on Power BI,
an analytics tool created by Microsoft.

Let’s get started with the basics of Power BI before understanding how to learn Power
BI.
What is Power BI?

When looking for the answer to “What is Power BI?”, we need to look no further than the
tool’s creator, Microsoft. The company defines Power BI as “…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.”

The BI stands for “business intelligence,” and the tool gives non-technical users all the
resources they need to aggregate, visualize, analyze, and share data. The business
world considers Power BI one of the best drag-and-drop tools available in the industry
today.

While we’re at it, we should define business intelligence. According to CIO, business
intelligence “…leverages software and services to transform data into actionable
insights that inform an organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions.” The
tools access and analyze relevant data, then offer findings via charts, reports, graphs,
summaries, maps, and dashboards, to provide users with accurate and detailed
intelligence regarding the state of the company.

In summary, business intelligence uses tools to take raw data and turn it into smart
plans and actions that can benefit a business on many different levels—Power BI is one
such tool. If you want to learn more about business intelligence, there are plenty of
business intelligence courses to choose from.

After going through about Power BI, you can begin learning Power BI by first
understanding about DAX.

What is DAX in Power BI? What is it Used For?

As you begin to learn Power BI, you will inevitably encounter the term “DAX.” It stands
for “Data Analysis Expressions,” and is a collection of constants, functions, and
operators developed by Microsoft and used in select BI and data visualization tools.
DAX is also called a function language because the full code resides inside the
functions.

DAX is used to manipulate data and helps you define the custom calculations used in
calculated fields and calculated columns, working with relational data, and performing
dynamic aggregation. Put differently, DAX enables users to create new information
from data that already exists in your model.

DAX uses some of the same functions as Excel, so if you are familiar with the latter, you
may find DAX easier to use. It offers a higher degree of flexibility, letting users create
formulas that are applied on a row-by-row basis.

Note that while DAX offers greater strength and flexibility to your data models, it runs
the risk of making them overly complicated. Also, DAX comes with a steep learning
curve, so be sure you want to work with it before committing.

Next, let us go ahead and learn Power BI by understanding its vast potential.

BI’s Vast Potential

Since Power BI is so versatile and packed with useful features, professionals in many
different roles use it, including:

● Administrators
● Professionals (accountants, sales professionals, marketers)
● Designers
● Developers

Power BI facilitates intelligent decision making, reducing the likelihood of failure, and
mitigating inherent risks. The data that BI processes is available for viewing and
interaction 24/7, anywhere you have mobile access. This convenient feature means that
users can pull, process, and share real-time data anytime, anywhere.
Data security is a big concern today, and Power BI lets users track and control data
usage, granting access only to those who should have it. No need to bother tech
support or other IT security elements in your business—the Power BI dashboard lets you
regulate usage efficiently and effectively. Power BI also offers the flexibility of storing
the data in Microsoft’s cloud, or safely behind your company’s firewall.

The bottom line, Power BI lets users view real-time data anytime and anyplace, create
reports based on that new information, and send off specific datasets to the appropriate
groups. Power BI uses the extremely popular Office 365 as its platform, which means
you can use the latter’s interface for fast and easy implementations.

Lastly, Power BI is scalable, so it can fit any organization and handle changes in size,
either a rapid business expansion or an unexpected downsizing.

In summary, here’s a list of Power BI’s advantages:

● It’s easy to use

● It lets you access over 70 data connectors
● It’s one of the most cost-effective, inexpensive solutions available
● It offers interactive visual dashboards
● It is easily accessible from anywhere
● It provides data sharing and collaboration
● It supports natural language search

How to Learn Power BI

Thanks to Power BI’s popularity, there are plenty of educational resources available to
aspiring professionals every aspect of the platform to learn Power BI beginning from the
basic information to Power BI interview questions. You can even review what you’ve
learned by practicing with this BI test.

For instance, you can start learning Power BI by taking 6 hours Power BI Basics course.

To sum it up, here’s a list of different methods you can employ whether you’re just
starting to learn Power BI, or you want to brush up/improve on your existing skillset.
 ● Microsoft’s guided learning resources
● Microsoft hosted webinars
● Visiting the official Power BI online community
● Microsoft’s uploaded training videos on YouTube
● Power BI’s development team’s blog
● Various online courses offered by different e-learning sites, companies, and
websites
● The Simplilearn method (more on this later!)

After having understood how to learn Power BI, let us next understand how to make use
of it.

How to Use Power BI

When trying to understand how to use Power BI, it’s best to start by getting acquainted
with the tool’s different elements. Power BI consists of:

● Power BI Desktop. The Windows desktop application

● Power BI Service. The online Software as a Service (SaaS)
● Mobile apps. These apps are designed for Android, iOS, and Windows mobile
devices
● Power BI Report Server. After you create your Power BI reports using Desktop,
you can publish them to an on-premises report server

Users connect to the desired data sources and build a report using Power BI Desktop.
Once the report is complete, users publish it to the Power BI service, allowing end-users
to view and interact with the information.

And let’s not forget that you have the option of using the Power BI Report Server if you’re
not ready for people outside of your company’s firewall to see the reports yet!

The beauty of Power BI is its ease of use, even by people who don’t consider
themselves to be very technologically proficient. As long as you have access to the data
sources, the dashboard, and a working network connection, you can use Power BI to
process the information, create the necessary reports, and send them off to the right
teams or individuals.

Once you gain proficiency by learning Power BI, it is important to look into the various
job opportunities for skilled individuals.

BI Job Opportunities

Thanks to Power BI’s versatility and ubiquity, there are a host of different relevant
positions available, including:

● Power BI Analyst
● Power BI Business Analyst
● Power BI Data Analyst
● Power BI Developer
● Power BI Software Engineer
● Senior Business Intelligence Analyst
● Senior Software Engineer

Many different industries use Power BI, including IT, healthcare, financial services,
insurance, staffing & recruiting, and computer software. Specific major companies that
use Power BI include:

● Adobe (USA)
● Conde Nast (USA)
● Dell (USA)
● Hospital Montfort (Canada)
● Kraft Heinz Co (USA)
● Meijer (USA)
● Nestle (China)
● Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (UK)

The average annual salary of a Power BI professional in India is ₹582,000.Glassdoor

reports that a Power BI developer in the United States earns an average of $81,514 a
year.
Do You Want a Career in Power BI?

You can engage in as much independent study and learning that you want. Still, when it
comes to showing a prospective employer that you’re the best-qualified candidate,
nothing beats certification. Simplilearn has just what you need, offering Power BI
certification + Power BI training through its Power BI certification training course. The
course is also offered as an elective in our PG in Data Analytics Program as well as our
Post Graduate Program in Business Analysis, both of which are provided in partnership
with Purdue University.

Simplilearn’s course helps you get the most out of Power BI, enabling you to solve
business problems and improve operations. The course allows you to master the
development of dashboards from published reports and glean better insight from your
data.

Whether you use Simplilearn’s self-paced learning option or choose their corporate
training plan, you get six hours of enriched learning, lifetime access to self-paced
learning resources, and, of course, an industry-recognized course completion certificate.
That certificate is your key to faster and better acceptance, helping you to stand out
from the field of candidates.

Businesses increasingly realize that they need actionable data to make smarter
decisions in today’s competitive commercial environment. That’s why, according to Zion
Market Research, the worldwide Business Intelligence market stood at $16.33 billion in
2015 and is expected to hit $26.50 billion by the end of 2021.

So don’t delay. Visit Simplilearn today and get your start in the exciting and rewarding
field of business intelligence!