SPECIALIZED APPLICATION SOFTWARE

In today’s digital age, specialized application software has become a cornerstone of

productivity and innovation across industries. Unlike general-purpose software, specialized
applications are designed to perform specific tasks tailored to the unique needs of
professionals, organizations, and creative individuals. These tools empower users to achieve
precision, efficiency, and creativity in their work, transforming complex processes into
manageable solutions.
Specialized application software includes tools tailored for specific tasks, such as
graphic design, multimedia editing, customer relationship management (CRM), and learning
management systems (LMS). These tools are designed to solve specific challenges, improve
accuracy, streamline tasks, and produce high-quality results.
Whether you're a graphic designer, teacher, marketer, or business leader, learning to
use these applications can help you excel in your field. This handout provides an overview of
key types of specialized application software, their main features, and how they are used in
different professions. By mastering these tools, you can work more efficiently, seize new
opportunities, and stay competitive in today's technology-driven world.

LESSON 1: POWER BI
What is Power BI?
Power BI is a business intelligence (BI) tool by Microsoft that enables users to connect to
various data sources, visualize data, and share insights across an organization. Power BI 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. Your
data might be an Excel spreadsheet, or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid
data warehouses. Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize and
discover what's important, and share that with anyone or everyone you want.

THE PARTS OF POWER BI

Power BI consists of several elements that all work together, starting with these
three basics:
 A Windows desktop application called Power BI Desktop.
 An online software as a service (SaaS) service called the Power BI service.
 Power BI Mobile apps for Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

These three elements—Power BI Desktop, the service, and the mobile apps—are
designed to let you create, share, and consume business insights in the way that
serves you and your role most effectively.
Beyond those three, Power BI also features two other elements:
 Power BI Report Builder, for creating paginated reports to share in the Power BI
service. Read more about paginated reports later in this article.
 Power BI Report Server, an on-premises report server where you can publish
your Power BI reports, after creating them in Power BI Desktop.
POWER BI COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONALITIES
1. Power BI Desktop - helps non-profits connect and visualize data from sources
like fundraising platforms, donor databases, and financial systems. It creates
interactive dashboards and reports to track donations, fundraising success,
program impact, and more, supporting your mission with actionable insights.
The key activities carried out in Power BI Desktop are
 Connecting with your data
 Data cleansing and transformation
 Creating data models
 Creating reports.
2. Power BI Service (Power BI Online) - is a cloud-based platform that
enables non-profit organizations to share and collaborate on reports and
dashboards. It allows you to publish your Power BI reports securely and
share them with stakeholders such as board members, donors, and
volunteers. Power BI Service also provides the ability to schedule data
refresh, ensuring that your reports are always up to date. Additionally,
you can use features like Q&A to allow stakeholders to ask natural
language questions about your data and receive instant answers.

3. Power BI Mobile - allows non-profit professionals to access their reports

and dashboards on mobile devices while on the go. This can be
particularly useful for staff members who are working in the field,
attending events, or visiting project sites. With Power BI Mobile, you can
monitor real-time data, track progress, and make informed decisions
based on the latest insights, ensuring that you stay connected to your
organization's data no matter where you are.

4. Power BI Report Server - is an on-premises solution that allows organizations

to host and distribute Power BI reports within their own network infrastructure. It
offers similar capabilities to Power BI Service, but the reports and data remain
within the organization's environment, providing more control and security.
5. Power BI Gateway - for non-profit organizations that have on-premises
data sources or databases, Power BI Gateway enables secure connectivity
and data refresh between Power BI Service and the organization's internal
systems. This ensures that you can incorporate data from your donor
management systems, CRM software, or other internal databases into
your Power BI reports and dashboards, providing a comprehensive view of
your organization's operations and performance.

6. Power BI Embedded - allows non-profit organizations to embed Power

BI reports and dashboards directly into their websites or applications.
Power BI Embedded allows you to include or embed Power BI reports and
dashboards in your own applications (Websites, Portals, CRMs, etc). In
addition, it maintains the features of visual analysis and its powerful
functionalities. Mainly for software providers, developers or companies
that wish to embed reports and dashboards in applications, portals,
websites. This feature can be leveraged to provide interactive data
 visualizations to your website visitors, donors, or program beneficiaries.
You can create customized dashboards that highlight your organization's
impact, showcase donor contributions, or visualize program outcomes,
enhancing transparency and engagement with your stakeholders.

CORE FEATURES OF POWER BI

1. Data Connectivity
 Connects to a variety of data sources, including Excel, SQL Server, cloud
services (Azure, Google Analytics), and more.
 Supports real-time streaming data for up-to-date insights.
2. Data Transformation
 Use Power Query to clean, reshape, and transform data.
 Perform tasks like removing duplicates, merging datasets, and creating
calculated columns.
3. Data Visualization
 Offers a wide range of visualization options: bar charts, line graphs, maps,
scatter plots, and more.
 Create custom visuals for specific needs.
4. Interactive Dashboards
 Drill-down capabilities and slicers for filtering data.
 Interactive tools for exploring insights.
5. AI Integration
 Built-in artificial intelligence features for predictive analytics and natural
language querying.
BENEFITS OF USING POWER BI
1. User-Friendly Interface
 Drag-and-drop functionality for creating reports.
 Intuitive design tools for quick setup.
2. Collaboration and Sharing
 Share reports securely with team members.
 Schedule data refreshes to ensure accuracy.
3. Scalability
 Suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises.
4. Cost-Effectiveness
 Affordable licensing options.
COMMON USE CASES
1. Sales Analytics
 Monitor sales trends, performance metrics, and forecasts.
2. Customer Insights
 Analyze customer behavior and preferences.
3. Financial Reporting
 Track financial performance and budgeting.
4. Supply Chain Management
 Visualize inventory levels and logistics efficiency.
GET STARTED WITH POWER BI
1. Download Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft website.
2. Connect to your data source (Excel, database, etc.).
3. Create visualizations and customize your dashboard.
4. Publish your report to Power BI Service for sharing.
INSTALL AND RUN POWER BI DESKTOP
To download Power BI Desktop, go to the Power BI Desktop download page and
select Download Free. Or for download options, select See download or language
options.
You can also download Power BI Desktop from the Power BI service. Select the
Download icon in the top menu bar, and then select Power BI Desktop.

The first time Power BI Desktop starts, it displays the Welcome screen.
From the Welcome screen, you can Get data, see Recent sources, open recent
reports, Open other reports, or select other links. Select the close icon to close
the Welcome screen.

Along the left side of Power BI Desktop are icons for the three Power BI Desktop
views: Report, Data, and Model, from top to bottom. The current view is indicated by
the yellow bar along the left, and you can change views by selecting any of the
icons.
If you're using keyboard navigation, press Ctrl + F6 to move focus to that section of
buttons in the window.

Report view is the default view.

Power BI Desktop also includes the Power Query Editor, which opens in a
separate window. In Power Query Editor, you can build queries and transform
data, then load the refined data model into Power BI Desktop to create reports.
For more information, visit: Power BI Official Website