Power BI for Beginners

Power BI for
Beginners
T. SHAEEN, J. SCHELLINCK | SYSABEE | DATA ACTION LAB
P. BOILY | UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA | DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS IDLEWYLD ANALYTICS | DATA ACTION LAB

S. DAVIES | DAVHILL | DATA ACTION LAB

Instructor – Patrick Boily
Employment
§ Professor Math/Stat [‘19 – now, uOttawa]
§ President [‘16 – now, Idlewyld Analytics]
§ Manager and Senior Consultant [’12 – ‘19, CQADS, Carleton]
§ Public Service [’08 – ’12, ASFC | StatCan | TC | TPSGC]
§ 60+ uni course; 250+ workshop days

Projects
§ GAC; NWMO; CATSA; etc.
§ 40+ projects

Specialization
§ Data visualization; data cleaning (… unfortunately)
§ Application of wide breadth of techniques to all kinds of data
§ Mathematical/statistical modeling

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Instructor – Tristan Shaeen
Employment/Experience
§ AI Consultant [‘21 – now, Sysabee, AI Guides]
§ Instructor [‘21 – now, Data Action Lab]

Projects
§ Global Affairs Canada
§ Small and medium enterprises
§ Labour Market Information Council

Specialization
§ Statistical training
§ Data presentation and data storytelling

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Course Material
Course Webpage:
Data Visualization Course Notes:
https://data-action-lab.com/pbifb
https://www.practicedataviz.com

Contact Info:
Slack Workspace:
[email protected]
https://dspdi.slack.com
[email protected]

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Course Description
Organizations have, and continue to accumulate, masses of data from multiple sources. This
data, being largely unformatted, does not yield readily pertinent information. Microsoft tackled
this issue by adding data analytics tools to their Microsoft Office 365 suite.

Power BI, the latest addition to Office 365, enables users to aggregate and interpret massive
data in a user-friendly environment. With this data visualization tool, analysts build custom
data analysis and dashboards with scheduled automated updates: empowering managers’
decision making with accurate and intuitive real-time measures.

This fast-paced introductory course to Microsoft’s Power BI application covers key concepts
for delivering effective automated dashboards. This is a hands-on training session:
participants learn Power BI’s functionalities as they build an interactive report. Best practices
for data visualizations and dashboards are described and applied through examples.

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Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

§ understand the Power BI Solution workflow to properly use the different apps
§ build an interactive report in Power BI Desktop app
§ combine multiple data sources and create dynamic data visualizations
§ *use storytelling tools: bookmarks, spotlight, focus, tooltip, axis hierarchy
§ explore advanced functionalities to transform and enhance data with Power Query Editor
and measures in DAX

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 Sister Courses
DATA SCIENCE DATA VISUALIZATION AND INTRODUCTION TO
ESSENTIALS DASHBOARDS MACHINE LEARNING

1. Non-Technical 1. Data Viz Concepts 1. Statistical Learning

Aspects 2. Dashboarding 2. Classification
2. Data Science Basics 3. Storytelling with Data 3. Clustering
3. Data Preparation 4. Data Viz with ggplot2 4. Issues and Challenges
4. Data Engineering

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The Set-Up: Borealis Terraformers

Borealis Terraformers LLC is a terraforming company.

It does business, it transacts with consultants, it has employees, it pays them,

it delivers products, it records its transactions.

It also has projects (Major Capital MC, Minor Capital MIC, Operations and
Management O&M, and Salary SA), and departments.

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The Plan: Course Components
Participant Activities (PA): follow along with the instructors.

Instructor Demos (ID): sit back, relax, and take it all in.

Behind the Scenes (BS): a summary of what has been prepared for you.

Dashboard Discussions (DD): let’s talk about the dashboards.

Basic Notions (BN): non-Power BI stuff worth knowing about.

Exercises: take it one step further.

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The Plan: Important Documents
We will be exploring Power BI’s functionality by building a 6-page dashboard.

As we want to encourage you to play with the tool without fear that you will break it
(or what we have planned), we have prepared 8 Power BI dashboard files (PBIX), at
various stages of development, which you can load to re-enter the stream at any
moment.

Download PBIfB.zip from the course website, and unzip the file to an easily
accessible location on your hard drive, to which you will also download the course
datasets.

Step-by-step instructions for the PA and ID tasks are also available.

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The Plan: Course Outline
I. Power Query III. Exploration
1. Load Data (PA) 6. Basic Data Visualization Notions (BN)
2. Transform Data (PA) 7. Load PBIX – 1 (PA)
8. Make and Format a Bar Chart (PA)
II. Preparation 9. Make and Format a Donut Chart (ID)
3. Change Data Types (ID) 10. Create a Table to Store Measures (ID)
4. Link Fields with Data Models (ID) 11. DAX vs. M. vs. GUI (BN)
5. Create a Filter (BS) 12. Create Calculated Measures (ID/PA)
13. Make and Format a Donut Chart (ID)
14. Make and Format a Treemap (BS)

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The Plan: Course Outline
III. Exploration (cont.) IV. Situational Awareness
15. Create a Calculated Measure (BS) 24. Basic Dashboard Notions (BN)
16. Load and Explore PBIX – 2 (PA) 25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)
26. Load and Explore PBIX – 3 (PA)
17. Create a Calculated Column (BS)
27. Create a Calculated Column (ID)
18. Format Decimal Places (BS)
28. Make and Format a Table (BS)
19. Make and Format a Bar Chart (BS)
29. Make and Format a Column Chart (BS)
20. Make and Format a Line Chart (PA)
30. Load and Explore PBIX – 4 (PA)
21. Create a Calculated Measure (ID) 31. Make and Format a Bar Chart (PA)
22. Make and Format a Line Chart (ID) 32. Make Slicers (PA)
23. Exploring the Data (DD) 33. Load and Explore PBIX – 5 (PA)

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The Plan: Course Outline
IV. Situational Awareness (cont.) V. Storybook (cont.)
34. Make and Format Column Charts (ID) 42. Load and Explore PBIX – 7 (PA)
35. Load and Explore PBIX – 6 (PA) 43. Apply a Page Filter (PA)
36. Make and Format a Column Chart (PA) 44. Make and Format a Small Multiples Chart (PA)
37. Monitoring the Situation (DD) 45. Make and Format a Bar Chart (PA)
46. Annotate a Dashboard (ID)
V. Storybook 47. Load and Explore PBIX – 8 (PA)
38. Basic Storytelling With Data Notions (BN) 48. Convincing an Audience (DD)
39. Create a Calculated Column (ID)
VI. Miscellanea*
40. Make and Format Small Multiples (ID)
49. *Publish a Power BI Dashboard (BN)
41. Make and Format a Bar Chart (ID)
50. *Integrate R in Power BI (BN)

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The Tool: Power BI
Dashboarding tools are, for the most part, story-driven tools: Microsoft’s
Power BI is one such tool (download and install the latest version if this has
not been done yet).
Its learning curve (reasonably steep, as with all new tools) is attenuated
somewhat by its distinctly “Microsoft-ish” point-and-click functionality.
It allows dashboards to be easily published and distributed on the web
(either internally and/or externally).
But it does not play nicely with MacOS and Linux (there are workarounds).

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The Data: Borealis Terraformers
Let’s take a look at one dataset that we are going to use:
§ Data Set - Accounting.xlsx

Download it to your hard drive (you may

need to rename the file).
Code Description
O&M Operations and Maintenance
MC Major Capital
MIC Minor Capital
SA Salary
Tab – Journal Voucher Type Code Tab – Accounting Transactions

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The Data: Borealis Terraformers
Let’s take a look at another dataset that we are going to use:
§ Data Set - Projects.xlsx

Download this one to your hard drive too, in the same location (you may also
need to rename the file). Project FTE (- Group-
Code Date out + Level
PR001 01-Apr-18 2 AS-04
PR002 01-May-18 2 AS-05
PR003 01-Jun-18 2 ENG-01
PR004 01-Jul-18 4 PR-01
PR005 01-Aug-18 3 PA-03
PR006 01-Sep-18 2 AS-02
PR007 01-Oct-18 1 CR-03
PR008 01-Nov-18 3 FI-02
PR009 01-Dec-18 4 FO-03
PR010 01-Jan-19 2 CR-01
PR011 01-Feb-19 3 AS-03
Tab – Project Tombstone
Tab – Project FTE Count

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 Expense
Date Category

Effective Journal
Date Voucher Type
Code

have a belong to an Code

Description

Amount
have an Transactions

Journal Director
Voucher Item Accounting
Amount Control Number

Director

Budget

belong to a is managed by a
O&M Budget

has a
Salary
Budget

Project
Major Cap
Budget
Project
Minor Cap Identifier
Budget
Project Name
FTE Budget
I. Power Query
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1. Load Data (PA)
We might want to “tweak” the data before loading it into
Power BI. We can accomplish this using the Power
Query Interface (see detailed instructions, p. 1).
1. Open Power BI.
2. Close the yellow “Hello” screen.
3. In the “Home” ribbon at the top of the Power BI screen, there
is a clickable region named “Get Data” – activate it to bring
up several data format options.
4. Among all the options, select “Excel”.
5. Click on Data Set - Accounting.xlsx, and select
“Open”.

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1. Load Data (PA)

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2. Transform Data (PA)
We do not need to transform data at the
source.
1. Click on the first TABLE (the one named
“Accounting_Transactions”) without
selecting the checkbox (yet) – this brings up a
display of the table (clicking on the other options
will bring up their displays);
2. Select the “Acounting_Transactions”
checkbox (don’t click on “Load” yet!);
3. We want to tweak the data before loading it, so we
edit the transformation by clicking on “Transform
Data”.

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2. Transform Data (PA)

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2. Transform Data (PA)
We proceed with the following steps to transform the data (see detailed
instructions, p. 1):
1. change the name of the table;
2. change the name of the “Accounting Effective Date” column to “Effective Date” and
“Journal Voucher Item Amount” to “Item Amount”;
3. remove the dates from March 2018 in the “Effective Date” column;
4. close and apply the transformation;
5. save the PBIX file;
6. retrieve the "Project_Tombstone" table from “Data Set – Projects.xlsx”.

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2. Transform Data (PA)

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II. Preparation
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3. Change Data Types (ID)

We proceed with the following steps (see the detailed instructions document):
1. go to the “Fields” pane and drop down on “Accounting Transactions”;
2. after clicking on “Item Amount” you will see that new options appear in the top Ribbon,
namely, “Column Tools”;
3. this is where we go to change the data type for “Item Amount” from a decimal value to
a currency; we also change “Effective Date” into a short date.

(see detailed instructions, p. 1)

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4. Link Fields with the Data Model (ID)

In the Model, the two tables are linked by the “Project Identifier” variable.

How did this happen?

We enter the “Data Model” view and remove the link. Now the two tables are
unlinked, meaning that they cannot “talk” to one another.

Here is how we would link them (see detailed instructions, p. 1).

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4. Link Fields with the Data Model (ID)

???

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4. Link Fields with the Data Model (ID)

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4. Link Fields with the Data Model (ID)

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5. Create a Filter (BS)

For the first part of this dashboard (Exploration 1, Exploration 2), we only use
the data from 2018.

We create a page filter by setting the “Effective Date” to 2018.

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III. Data Exploration
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6. Pre-Analysis Use (BN)
Data visualization can be used to set the stage for analysis:
§ detecting anomalous entries
invalid entries, missing values, outliers
§ shaping the data transformations
binning, standardization, Box-Cox transformations, PCA-like transformations
§ getting a sense for the data
data analysis as an art form, exploratory analysis
§ identifying hidden data structure
clustering, associations, patterns informing the next stage of analysis

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 Basic Notions

Data Visualization

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6. Exploration and Visualization (BN)
Using visualizations as a tool to
explore/understand the data
§ high level of interactivity
§ high level of detail
§ all aspects of data should be
represented (tables, columns,
calculations etc.)
§ no annotations or explanations
required

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7. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 1.pbix (tasks 1-5).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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8. Make and Format
a Bar Chart (PA)

We make a bar chart displaying the

sum of “Item Amount” for all 2018
project entries, by “Project Name”.

We also format the chart to have grey

bars.

(see detailed instructions, p. 2)

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9. Make and Format a Donut Chart (ID)

We can create other types of charts,

such as a donut chart.

(see detailed instructions document,

p. 2)

We will revisit this chart when we talk

about measures.

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10. Create a Table to Store Measures (ID)

Before we build a first measure, we

create a “_Measure” table in which
the measures can reside.

(see detailed instructions, p. 2)

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11. DAX vs. M vs. GUI (BN)

Power BI is really two products:

§ data is imported through Power Query, which is used to manipulate/transform the data
§ when ready, Power Query “pushes” the data into Power BI, for visualization and manipulations

Power Query uses the language “M” in the background; Power BI uses “DAX”.

Basic charts are created using the Power BI Graphic User Interface (GUI); for
more complicated/sophisticated things, we need to use M and/or DAX.

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11. DAX vs. M vs. GUI (BN)

What is M?
§ M is the data transformation engine in Power BI (prior to loading data into the model)
§ M contains commands to transform data and to return the results of the query and trans-
formations to the Power BI data model
§ normally, we use M Query to query data sources, clean, and load data
§ instead of bringing 3 tables into Power BI, say, we can remove unneeded columns and
merge the tables into a single table to load into the model (this reduces load and
improves performance, which is crucial for larger datasets)

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11. DAX vs. M vs. GUI (BN)

What is the Data Analysis eXpression (DAX) language?

§ DAX is the common language used by SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular, Power BI,
and Power Pivot in Excel
§ DAX is the analytical engine in Power BI
§ it is used once the data is loaded to create custom columns and tables (data) or
measures (functions)
§ it has some similarities to Excel functions, but much more powerful in general

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12. Create Calculated Measures (ID/PA)
Measures are introduced when we want to focus on a column’s categories.

For instance, we might want to create charts that focus on the various “Item
Amount” categories :
§ Total Major Capital
§ Total Minor Capital
§ Total Operations and Management
§ Total Salary

(see detailed instructions, pp. 2-3)

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13. Make and Format a Donut Chart (ID)
We can now achieve the same donut
chart as we had obtained when
dragging “Journal Voucher Type
Code” onto the “Legend” field.

The difference is that we can now re-

order the categories as needed and
use them for new measures/columns
(see detailed instructions, p. 3).

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 14. Make and Format a Treemap Chart (BS)

We can play around with the charts to

get a better understanding of the data.

For instance, we could create a

treemap showing the sum of “Item
Amount” transactions by director.

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15. Create a Calculated Measure (BS)
It could also be handy to have a way to report the large transaction values as
multiple of 1000$.

We created a calculated measure that does so: “Item Amount $k Measure”.

We will discuss measures further in a little while.

We create a new page for the dashboard, called “Exploration 2”, and we place
a page filter on it to ensure that we are only using 2018 transactions.

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16. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 2.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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17. Create a Calculated Column (BS)
We can also act on the entire column to create a new column: we will do so
with the same intent as the previous measure, “Item Amount $k”.

Note that:
§ “Item Amount $k Measure” is a measure residing in the “_Measures” table
§ “Item Amount $k” is a column residing in the “Accounting Transactions” table

While they ostensibly relate to the same idea (and are both calculated using
DAX formulas), they are emphatically different Power BI entities (more on
this later).

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18. Format Decimal Places (BS)

Power BI can format the data once it enters the model.

For instance, we can format the original “Item Amount” column and the
calculated column “Item Amount $k” (from the “Accounting Transactions”
table) so that they are displayed with 2 decimal places.

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19. Make and Format
a Bar Chart (BS)

We create a bar chart showing the sum of

“Item Amount $k” for each director.

This is equivalent to the treemap chart of

task 14 (except that the amounts are in
1000$ of dollars).

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20. Make and Format a Line Chart (PA)
For some variables (dates, geography),
we can create hierarchies.
We use such hierarchies to create a
line chart (see detailed instructions, p.
3).
Take some time to play around with the
hierarchies to drill down and up with the
time series graph to become familiar
with the concept.

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21. Create a Calculated Measure (ID)

There is a spike in the previous chart that seems like it would be worth
exploring in more detail.

To do so, we create a calculated measure (built from two measures), the

ratio of “Total Major Capital” to “Total Minor Capital”, denoted “Major Minor
Ratio” (see detailed instructions, p. 3).

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22. Make and Format a Line Chart (ID)

We create a new line chart displaying

the “Major Minor Ratio” by Month,
using the “Effective Date” hierarchy
(see detailed instructions, p. 3).

This “sombrero” shape is unexpected…

might it be worth monitoring the
situation further?

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23. Exploring the Data (DD)

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23. Exploring the Data (DD)

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 1. Continue exploring the dashboard. Can you
find anything interesting in the data?
2. Make and format the donut chart of task 13
using measures.
Exercises
Data Exploration
3. Make and format the treemap chart of task 14.
4. Create the calculated measure of task 15.
5. Create the calculated column of task 17.
6. Format to decimal places as in task 18.
7. Create new charts to help you explore the
2018 data.

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IV. Situational
Awareness
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 [Wexler, Shaffer, Cotgreave, The Big Book of Dashboards]

24. Dashboards (BN)

A dashboard is any visual display of data used to monitor conditions and/or
facilitate understanding.

Examples:
§ interactive display that allows people to explore motor insurance claims by city, province,
driver age, etc.
§ PDF showing key audit metrics that gets e-mailed to a Department’s DG on a weekly basis.
§ wall-mounted screen that shows call centre statistics in real-time.
§ mobile app that allow hospital administrators to review wait times on an hourly- and daily-
basis for the current year and the previous year.

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 24. Defining Context (BN)

Seconds Minutes Fraction of Hour Hours

Infographics/Data Viz
Dashboards
Reports and Exploration
Data Art

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24. Situational Awareness (BN)

Using visualizations as a tool to provide

a snapshot of the data
§ medium level of interactivity
§ not “scripted” but well organized (e.g.,
categorized)
§ summary data should be represented
§ anomalies are highlighted
§ often used for internal presentations

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25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)

In Excel, we add a calculation to a cell. In Power BI a calculation can “live” in

one of three places (not including in Power Query – more on that in another
course). We can do calculations that create:
1. a new column of data (a calculated column)
2. a new data value calculated solely to be used in a visualization (a calculated measure)
3. a new data table (a calculated table).

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25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)
Calculated Columns are:
§ additional data columns added to an existing data table
§ evaluated for each row in the table, immediately after “Enter” is hit to complete the formula
§ saved back into the model, therefore they take up space (with 1M data rows, a calculated column
adds 1M new data points).

Calculated Measures are:

§ evaluated only when used in a visual or when the visual is rendered (function)
§ not “saved” anywhere (aside from the cache)
§ preferred to calculated columns, but there are trade-offs with performance (report runtime vs. pre-
processed), storage space, and the type of expressions that can be used.

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25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)
When do we use calculated columns over measures? Sometimes either is an
option, but in most situations the computation needs determine the choice.

A calculated column is used to do the following:

§ place the calculated results in a slicer, or in the axis of a chart, or use the result as a filter
condition in a DAX query;
§ define an expression that is strictly bound to the current row (for example, “Cost * Volume”
does not work on an average or on a sum of two or more columns);
§ categorize text or numbers (for example, a range of values for a measure, a range of
customer ages, such as 0–18, 18–25, etc.).

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25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)

Typically, measures is used whenever a resulting calculation needs to be

displayed in the values area in the plot area of a chart:
§ for instance, in calculating the cost percentage on a certain selection of data;
§ they can use data from many different tables and therefore don’t “belong” to a table in the
same way a calculated column is;
§ it is good practice to create a separate “home” for our measures (“_Measures”).

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25. Measures vs. Columns (BN)
Total Amount = sum('Accounting Transactions'[Item Amount])

§ the measure’s name is “Total Amount”.

§ the operator “=” indicates the beginning of the formula; when calculated, it returns a result
§ the function (in this case “sum”) contains one argument, contained in the parentheses “( )”
§ the table from which we are taking the data is found before the brackets “[ ]”; in this case it is
'Accounting Transactions’.
§ note that as the table name contains two words, it placed inside single quotations ‘ ’. If the table
name only had one word, it would not, i.e. Accounting_Transactions[Item Amount]
§ the referenced column from the table is placed inside the “[ ]”; such as [Item Amount]

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26. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 3.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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27. Create a Calculated Column (ID)
We can use DAX to apply logical operations.

Take a simple scenario in which we flag any transactions for which “Item
Amount” is over $100,000. We create a calculated column as follows:
§ if the “Item Amount” is equal to or greater then $100,000, then we add the word “Check”
§ otherwise, we leave the value in the new column blank

(see the detailed instructions, p. 4)

Note that there is no filter on Effective Date year from this point on.

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28. Make and Format a Table (BS)
Visuals can also include tables.

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29. Make and Format a Column Chart (BS)
There are enough transactions in the dataset to produce a daily bar chart
time series (note the necessary scroller).

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30. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 4.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22, 27-29).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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31. Make and Format a Bar Chart (PA)

We create a bar chart that uses the

“Check amount” calculated column,
for the various JVTC (see detailed
instructions, p. 4).

Do you notice anything surprising?

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32. Make Slicers (PA)

We create a “Director” slicer and a “Journal

Voucher Type Code” slicer for the “Monitoring 2”
page (see detailed instructions, p. 4).

The “Check amount” irregularity from the previous

bar chart suggests that it could be useful to
monitor transactions in the Minor Capital (MIC)
regime (especially for director C. Power).

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33. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 5.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22, 27-29, 31-32).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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34. Make and Format Column Charts (ID)
We can compute various statistics for each of the directors: # transactions,
average/standard deviation of “Item Amount”, etc. (see detailed instructions,
pp. 4-5). Note that C. Power has outlying behaviour.

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35. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 6.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22, 27-29, 31-32, 34).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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36. Make and Format a Column Chart (PA)

We can compute various statistics for

each of the directors: maximum “Item
Amount”, in this case (see detailed
instructions, p. 5).

Note that C. Power again has outlying

behaviour.

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37. Monitoring the Situation (DD)

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37. Monitoring the Situation (DD)

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 1. Continue exploring the dashboard. Can you
find anything interesting in the data?
Exercises
2. Make and format the table of task 28.
Situational Awareness

3. Make and format the column chart of task 29.

4. Create new charts, using calculated measures

and columns as necessary, to help you monitor
the situation in the dataset.

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V. Storybook
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 [C. Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data]

38. Evolving a Chart (BN)

1. Change graph type (trope)

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 [Based on C. Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data]

38. Evolving a Chart (BN)

2. Remove border and gridlines 3. Remove markers

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 [Based on C. Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data]

38. Evolving a Chart (BN)

4. Clean-up axis labels and legend 5. Colour code the lines

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 [Based on C. Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data]

38. Evolving a Chart (BN)

Lag in Tickets Processed Since May Layoffs
6. Tell the story

We have not been able to keep up

with tickets received since two
employees were let go in May

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38. Storytelling with Data (BN)

Using visualizations as a tool to explain

the data and communicate the story
§ low level of interactivity
§ low level of detail
§ key aspects of data should be represented
§ annotations and explanations drive the
“story”

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39. Create a Calculated Column (ID)

When we were monitoring the situation, we realized that there was a potential
issue with C. Power transactions:
§ gigantic 820,000$ transactions coded as Minor Capital late in the data
§ small average transaction value
§ small standard deviation value

We create a “Power” calculated column (identifying all transactions assigned

to this director) to assist with storytelling (see detailed instructions, p. 5).

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40. Make and Format Small Multiples (ID)
We use this calculated measure to
display a bar chart small multiple,
displaying the total minor capital for
each day of the month, for each
director separately, with a different
colour for C. Power (see detailed
instructions, p. 5).
The profiles for 5 of the 7 directors
show high daily transaction volumes,
but there is an anomaly!

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41. Make and Format a Bar Chart (ID)
The last panel is empty; we create a
visual that showcases the frequency of
individual “Item Amount” values (see
detailed instruction, pp. 5-6).

All values are unique, except for 8200$,

which appears in 64 transactions by …
C. Power – the game is afoot!

(this is easier to spot with a chart filter).

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42. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 7.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22, 27-29, 31-
32, 34, 39-41).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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43. Apply a Page Filter (PA)

So we have discovered that small Minor Capital transactions (<10,000$) are

highly unusual in this dataset.

We apply a page filter to “Storybook 2” so that the corresponding charts are all
affected by a 10,000$ “Item Amount” limit (see detailed instructions, p. 6).

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44. Make and Format Small Multiples (PA)
The odd nature of C. Power’s small regime
transactions (<10,000$) is clear from the
small multiple storytelling bar chart: the
unusual transactions take place regularly
(1st, 15th of every month) and no other
director has even a fraction of the # of
small transactions.

Cart him off to jail!

(see detailed instructions, p. 6)

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45. Make and Format a Bar Chart (PA)

The last panel is empty; we create a

visual that showcases the frequency
of daily “Item Amount” transactions,
with an emphasis on C. Power’s
contribution to the overall profile (see
detailed instruction, p. 6).

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46. Annotate a Bar Chart (BN)

The best data stories are combinations of text and visuals.

Power BI is not necessarily the greatest tool for that last step (although it can
do some of it, it does not do so naturally); don’t hesitate to use other tools as
needed.

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47. Load a PBIX File (PA)
Load and explore PBIFB – 8.pbix (tasks 1-5, 8-10, 12-15, 17-22, 27-29, 31-
32, 34, 39-41, 43-46).
1. Go to “Transform Data” in the “Home” Ribbon.
2. Click on “Data Source Settings”.
3. Highlight one of the data files.
4. Click on “Change Source”.
5. Click on “Browse” and navigate to the corresponding file’s location on your system.
6. Repeat for the other file.
7. Press “Close”.
8. Apply changes from the yellow warning message.

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48. Convincing an Audience (DD)

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48. Convincing an Audience (DD)

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Exercises
1. Annotate the storybooks of tasks 48.
Storybook

2. Create new storybooks for the data, and

annotate them.

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VI. Miscellanea*
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49. Publish a Power BI Dashboard (BN)

Once the dashboard is created, it can be “published” it to a website as an

iFrame (a webpage inside a webpage).

This allows audiences to fully interact with the dashboard without the need to
install Power BI on their computers.

The dashboard can be published publicly, or to pushed to other organization

members (individuals with a shared Office 365 and/or Azure environments).

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49. Publish a Power BI Dashboard (BN)
This can be done by logging into Power BI using a valid Microsoft credential
(the IT department can determine if the regular windows login will work).

After hitting the “Publish” button, Power BI will ask to save the
dashboard to a workspace (like an online folder).

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49. Publish a Power BI Dashboard (BN)
The next step is login to the online Power BI
workspace.

IT Departments can provide guidelines to share the

dashboard internally to an organization.

To publish to a public website (disclaimer ALL public

links are searchable), the Power BI workspace needs to
have this functionality enabled.

Navigate to the dashboard in the workspace, click on

“File” and then “Embed Report” and finally “Publish to
web (public)”.
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49. Publish a Power BI Dashboard (ID)
At this point, the iFrame link can be copied and embedded into the HTML of
the website of interest. The end user will then be able to see the (publicly
available) dashboard on the website and interact with it as needed.

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 [https://www.sumproduct.com/blog/article/power-bi-tips/power-bi-custom-visuals-box-and-whisker-chart]

50. Integrate R in Power BI (BN)

The programming languages R and Python can
be used for data wrangling and visualizations.*
Ensure that you have R downloaded onto your
system and point PowerBI at your R
installation.
Even beginners may require a visual that is not
easily accessible through Power BI. To create
an R chart, click on the ‘R’ button under the
“Visualizations” panel.
[*Guy in a Cube does a great introductory video.]

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References
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106
References
P. Boily, S. Davies, J. Schellinck, The Practice of Data Visualization. Data Action
Lab, 2022.
P. Boily, J. Schellinck, Data Understanding, Data Analysis, and Data Science.
Data Action Lab, 2022.
A. Saxton, P. Leblanc. Guy in a Cube. Guy in a Cube, LLC, 2022.
M. Russo, A. Ferrari, D. Perilli. sqlbi. SQLBI, 2022.
N.B. The Microsoft resources found under the help ribbon in PowerBI can also be very helpful. There
are links for guided learning, training videos, documentation, support, a blog, and community.

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