POWER BI

Power BI is nothing but Power Business Intelligence and it is one of the

reporting tools designed and developed by Microsoft Corporation in 2013.

Before 2013, we have another reporting tool from Microsoft side is SSRS. There
are some drawbacks in SSRS. With this we can connect with only 2 data sources. One
is SQL Server and another one is Oracle.

It has another problem like having less no of visuals for building a report. To
overcome these drawbacks Microsoft introduced new tool called “POWER BI”.

It is easiest and simplest tool to build reports by using visuals to show the data
into a graphical representation and it is just like an Excel application.

The functions which are available in Excel, same kind of functions and options
are present in Power BI as well.

The main advantage of this tool is that it has all the options and icons in a single
page.

It has more than 200+ visuals to build a report and by using this tool we can
easily connect with different data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, Azure, Sales force,
IBM Netezza, Json, Text, PDF, Excel, Files etc.

Power BI has software in different ways like below

✓ Power BI Desktop
✓ Power BI Service

We need to install Power BI Desktop, because it is a development environment where

we can build our reports.

That means we need to build reports in our system and publish into the service.

Installing Power BI Desktop Software:

Go to Google and type “Download Power BI Desktop” and press the enter
button.

Page 1 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Now click on “Microsoft Power BI Desktop” option.

Click on “Download” option.

Select “PBIDesktopSetup.x64.exe” files and click on “Next”

Note: Here you have to select executable file according to your system type.

Right click on “This PC” or “My computer”. Then go to “Properties”. You will find
system type.

Page 2 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
My system Type is 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. So, I have
selected 64 bit executable file.

Go to downloads and click on “PBIDesktopSetup.x64.exe” file and click on “Next”

Next put tick mark in check box of license agreement and click on “Next”. Finally click
on “Finish” button

Page 3 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Note: Every month try to download latest software and install it. How you know
whether your software is latest one or not. Go to YouTube and type “Power bi April
2022 update”. Like this, then you can see the latest one. Click on “Subscribe” button.

Link for power bi desktop software:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=58494

Once installation is done, you can now open and see the below screen. Close the “Get
started” window.

For this we will discuss in later modules. If you close that window, you will see the first
page of the development environment. Here you can see bunch of Microsoft ribbons
like “File”, ”Home”, ”Insert”, ”Modeling”, ”View”, ”Help”.

If you want to work with Power BI, you will need the data right. So, for the first time
you have to load the sample data set. By default Microsoft itself will provide the sample
dataset.

Page 4 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
We will get four options in the centre part of the screen for the first time only. We need
to click on the “Try a sample dataset” option to load the sample data.

When you click on “Load sample data” we will get below screen and you have to
select particular data set and click on “Load” option. Automatically that data set will be
loaded into power BI and visible under the “fields” option.

If you expand the particular data source you will get column names.

Page 5 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Once data is loaded we will go to the left side tabs to build a report. In the left pane we
have 3 tabs.
• Report
• Data
• Model

Report tab: Whatever the data we have, with that data will build a report by using
different visuals. (Take any visual and design the report)

Data tab: Whatever the data set under field’s option that corresponding data will be
visible in the table format. At a time we can see only single data set data.

Model tab: To provide a relationship between data sets we will use model tab and we
can hide or unhide some columns whenever required.

Note: We can hide or unhide the columns either in “Model Tab” or “Data Tab”. To
minimize the memory usage, we will hide some columns. We can’t do in report tab.

We can’t hide or unhide the multiple columns in “Data” tab. Only we can do in Model
tab itself. But you can see the hidden columns in “Data” tab.

Note: For selecting multiple columns we have to use [ctrl+ select no of columns]

Sample Report

Page 6 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Take any one of the visual from visualizations section, select a dataset from right side,
and put some columns in x-axis and y-axis (Drag columns from the data set from the
fields section). Then you can see the sample visual.

Filters Pane:
In filters pane, we can filter the data based on the requirement. There are 5 filters in
this section. By default we have only 3 filters, and by selecting any visual we can see
rest of the 2 filters.
➢ Filters on this page-------------→Default
➢ Filters on all pages-------------→Default
➢ Filters on this visual
➢ Drill through--------------------→Default
➢ Drill-Down and Drill-Up

If we want to see the Drill Down filter we have to put multiple columns in x-axis.

If we want to see the drill through filter you can scroll down near the x-axis and y-axis
section.

Page 7 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Visualizations:
For representing the business data in the graphical or image format we will use
visualizations. It is difficult to understand the data by seeing that in a table format or
text format. But we can easily understand by preparing the reports in image (Visual)
format.
In Visualizations pane, we have 3 options
▪ Build visual
▪ Format Visual
▪ Analytics

In “Build visual” option we can select particular visual to create report where as if we
want to change the design part for the particular visual we can use “Format visual”
option, there you can add colors to the columns and background. Change header and
size of the text.

If you want to add further analysis to your visual, you have to use “Analytics” option.

Whatever the visuals we can see in the power bi window, those are called as default
visuals. If we want to get more visuals we have to click on the dots mentioned under
the default visuals. Then you will get 4 options. Those are
➢ Get more visuals
➢ Import a visual from a file
➢ Remove a visual
➢ Restore default visuals

Page 8 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Other than default visuals all the visuals are placed in the “Market Store”. Those
visuals are called custom visuals. If we want, we have to connect with the market store
and add that visual.

Get more visuals: It will ask the credentials. Once credentials supplied and click on
OK button, it will show you lot of custom visuals. From there itself you can select
required visual and add into the power BI.

Note: If you want to get more visuals, you have to connect with market store, for that
we require organization credentials. That means you have to supply organization mail
id and password. Personal mail id and password will not work here.

For practice purpose, I am creating a temporary mail id to work as an organization

mail.

Creating temporary mail id and password:

Go to “Google” and type “https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/” and press “Enter”

button in your keyboard. Then click on “Try free” option on the top right corner of the
window.

Page 9 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
A new window will be opened. There you have to provide your mail id. Right now, you
don’t have any mail id.

That’s why you have to create that mail id. For that again click on “New tab” in “Google
Chrome” and type “Tempail.com” and then press on “Enter” button in your keyboard.

Click on the random mail id displayed in the center part of the screen, automatically
that mail id will be copied and then paste that it in the “Power bi” sign up window. Click
on “Submit” button.

Page 10 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Another window will be opened. In that window, select “I got it from organization”
option and click on “Next”.

Enter the “First Name” and Last Name” and select the “Country/Region” from the
drop down menu. Select “India”.

Enter the phone number in “Business phone number” text box and enter the
password in “Create password” tab as desired. And again enter the password in
“Confirm password” option. Automatically, verification code will be sent to the
“Tempail.com” inbox.
Page 11 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Go to “Tempail.com” and copy the power bi verification code and paste it in the
“Verification” code text box in “Power Bi” sign up window.

Once verification code given, then click on “Next” button. And then click on “Sign in”
to confirm the details.

Then new window will be opened. Click on “Ask Later” option in that window. Again
new window will be opened. Click on “Yes” button.

Page 12 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
Finally click on “Get started” option in the window. Automatically it will login in to the
“Power BI Service”.

Note: If you want to work with “Power BI Service” then you can use the credentials
we have created just now. If you want to get more visuals from market store also, you
can use these credentials.

Navigation to get more visuals: Go to “Get more visuals” -> “Enter your Email
Address” that you have created earlier -> Click on “Continue” -> “Enter Password”
that you have generated earlier -> Click on “Sign in” -> Select required “Visual” ->
Click on “Add” option. You can see the custom visual in the “Power BI” window.

Page 13 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
If you click on “Add” symbol, then that visual will be automatically present in the power
BI desktop, or else if you click on “download Sample” option. That visual will be
downloaded in Power BI file format and it will show you how to use that visual.

Custom Visual: Other than default visuals are called custom visuals.

Page 14 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
 Most of the times organization will not give permission to connect to the market
store. In that case developers will download all the visuals from the market store once
at a time and save it into the folder. From there itself we have to use those visuals. In
that case we need to go for import a visual from a file option.

Import a visual from a file: It is also one type of getting custom visual but first we
need to download a visual from a market store to the local system and there itself we
need to import to get that visual to the power BI.

Navigation: Go to -→Google--→Type “Power BI Visuals download” --→ Click on

“Get it now” option on the custom visual.

Link:https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps?product=power-bi-
visuals

Remove a Visual: We can’t remove the default visuals. We can only remove the
custom visuals. Why because the default visuals are stored in power BI itself. Those
are not stored in any other location. If we delete the default visual, we can’t get back
it again. That’s why default visuals will not be removed. We can remove multiple
custom visuals at a time by pressing on CTRL button.

Restore default visuals: Sometimes we don’t want to show default visuals to the
client to hide the process of building a report (That means what type of visuals we
have used to create a report). In that case we have to use “unpin this visual” option
by right clicking on the particular default visual. Then it will comes under custom visual
place.

Page 15 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
If we want to restore it back to the original place we need to click on the “Restore
default visuals” option. Then automatically these visuals will be placed in their
respective original places.

➔ If we want to take any visual to the development window, first double click on
any visual from the default visuals or custom visuals. Then drag the columns
from the selected dataset to the “columns” option under the visualization pane.
➔ Then you can see x-axis (Horizontal line), y-axis (Vertical Line), and legend
options.

Pages:
➔ Creating new page: Click on the ‘+’ button on the right side of the first page

➔ Creating duplicate page: Right click on the particular page select “duplicate
page” option

Page 16 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
 ➔ Renaming the page: Double click on the page or Right click on the page and
select “Rename page” option

➔ Delete a page: Click on the ‘X’ button available on the top right corner of the
page or Right click on the page and select “Delete page” option

➔ Hide a page: Right click on the page and select “Hide page” option

✓ Whenever modifications required, at that time take duplicate page and do the
modifications on that page.
✓ If you don’t want to show a particular page to the user after publishing the report
to the service then you can use “Hide page” option.
✓ If you want to publish a report click on “publish” option. Symbol show like below

Page 17 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
 ✓ In Power BI we have some options on the top of the file called “Ribbons” as
shown below

❖ File Ribbon:

New: Here new power bi file will be opened.

Open Report: Recently opened files will be visible here and file location along with
extension (.pbix)

Save: It will save the file after completion of the operation

Save as: It will ask the location where to save a file

Get data: It is useful to fetch data set from different data sources like SQL Server,
Oracle, Azure, IBM Netezza etc.

Import: It is useful to import any file from a particular location that means it is useful
for reference. It has below options
✓ Power BI template
✓ Power BI visual from file
✓ Power BI visual from AppSource
Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View (Components)

Power BI template: It is used for reference for the future requirement (Reusability)
For example we have created a report with 2021 year and exported as a template for
future use. That file may be imported in this option and will use this report for 2022
data. Automatically 2022 data will be pointed by the same visual.

Power BI visual from file: It is just like an “import a visual from a file” option (getting
custom visual from a file).

Power BI visual from AppSource: It is just like a “Get more visuals” option (getting
custom visual from market store)

Components of the Power BI:

Page 18 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju
 Power Query: It is nothing but transforming data. i.e cleansing data, removing
blank spaces. Etc.

Power Pivot: The process of getting data source from different place to the
power BI model.

Power View: After completion of preparing report and viewing that report is
called power view.

Export: It is nothing but exporting a power bi file into template form or in PDF form.

Power BI template-> creating a template for future use

Export to PDF-> We can share power bi file as PDF for the users

Publish: By using this option we can publish the generated report to the service for
sharing different users.

Options and Settings: Just like settings for the application. There are different
options to enable whenever required.

Get Started: First time power BI file will be opened and the recently used files visible
there and the default videos for the reports are available in this option.

Page 19 of 19
Prepared By Vijay Rama Raju