Load Data in Power BI Desktop

The estimated time to complete the lab is 45 minutes.

In this lab you will commence apply transformations to each of the queries created in the previous lab. You will
then apply the queries to load each as a table to the data model.

In this lab you learn how to:

Apply various transformations

Apply queries to load them to the data model

Lab story

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

2. Load Data in Power BI Desktop

3. Design a Data Model in Power BI

4. Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 1

5. Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 2

6. Design a Report in Power BI Desktop, Part 1

7. Design a Report in Power BI Desktop, Part 2

8. Analyze Data with AI Visuals

9. Create a Power BI Dashboard

10. Enforce Row-Level Security

Exercise 1: Load Data

In this exercise you will apply transformations to each of the queries created in the previous lab.

Task 1: Get started

In this task you will setup the environment for the lab.

Important: If you are continuing on from the previous lab (and you completed that lab successfully), do not
complete this task; instead, continue from the next task.

1. To open the Power BI Desktop, on the taskbar, click the Microsoft Power BI Desktop shortcut.

2. To close the getting started window, at the top-left of the window, click X.

3. To open the starter Power BI Desktop file, click the File ribbon tab to open the backstage view.

4. Select Open Report.

 5. Click Browse Reports.

6. In the Open window, navigate to the D:\PL300\Labs\02-load-data-with-power-query-in-power-bi-

desktop\Starter folder.

7. Select the Sales Analysis file.

8. Click Open.

9. Close any informational windows that may open.

10. Notice the yellow warning message beneath the ribbon.

The message alerts you to the fact that the queries have not been applied to load as model tables. You’ll apply
the queries later in this lab.

11. To dismiss the warning message, at the right of the yellow warning message, click X.

12. To create a copy of the file, click the File ribbon tab to open the backstage view.

13. Select Save As.

14. If prompted to apply changes, click Apply Later.

15. In the Save As window, navigate to the D:\PL300\MySolution folder.

16. Click Save.

17. To open the Power Query Editor window, on the Home ribbon tab, from inside the Queries group, click
the Transform Data icon.
Task 2: Configure the Salesperson query

In this task you will configure the Salesperson query.

1. In the Power Query Editor window, in the Queries pane, select the DimEmployee query.

2. To rename the query, in the Query Settings pane (located at the right), in the Name box, replace the text
with Salesperson, and then press Enter.

The query name will determine the model table name. It’s recommended to define concise, yet friendly,
names.

3. In the Queries pane, verify that the query name has updated.

You’ll now filter the query rows to retrieve only employees who are salespeople.

4. To locate a specific column, on the Home ribbon tab, click the Manage Columns down-arrow, click the
Choose Columns down-arrow, and then select Go to Column.
 Tip: This technique is useful when a query contains many columns. If there’s not too many columns, you can
simply horizontally scroll to locate the column of interest.

5. In the Go to Column window, to order the list by column name, click the AZ sort button, and then select
Name.

6. Select the SalesPersonFlag column, and then click OK.

7. To filter the query, in the SalesPersonFlag column header, click the down-arrow, and then uncheck FALSE.

8. Click OK.

9. In the Query Settings pane, in the Applied Steps list, notice the addition of the Filtered Rows step.

Each transformation you create results in additional step logic. It’s possible to edit or delete steps. It’s also
possible to select a step to preview the query results at that stage of the query transformation.

10. To remove columns, on the Home ribbon tab, click the Manage Columns group, click the Choose
Columns icon.
11. In the Choose Columns window, to uncheck all columns, uncheck the (Select All Columns) item.

12. To include columns, check the following six columns:

EmployeeKey

EmployeeNationalIDAlternateKey

FirstName

LastName

Title

EmailAddress

13. Click OK.

14. In the Applied Steps list, notice the addition of another query step.

15. To create a single name column, first select the FirstName column header.

16. While pressing the Ctrl key, select the LastName column.

17. Right-click either of the select column headers, and then in the context menu, select Merge Columns.
 Many common transformations can be applied by right-clicking the column header, and then choosing them
from the context menu. Note, however, more transformations are available in the ribbon.

18. In the Merge Columns window, in the Separator dropdown list, select Space.

19. In the New Column Name box, replace the text with Salesperson.

20. Click OK.

21. To rename the EmployeeNationalIDAlternateKey column, double-click the

EmployeeNationalIDAlternateKey column header.

22. Replace the text with EmployeeID, and then press Enter.

Important: When instructed to rename columns, it’s important that you rename them exactly as described.

23. Use the previous steps to rename the EmailAddress column to UPN.

UPN is an acronym for User Principal Name.

24. At the bottom-left, in the status bar, verify that the query has five columns and 18 rows.

Important: It’s important that you do not proceed if your query does not produce the correct result—it won’t
be possible to complete later labs. If the query columns or rows don’t match, refer back to the steps in this
task to fix any problems.

Task 3: Configure the SalespersonRegion query

In this task you will configure the SalespersonRegion query.

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

 2. In the Query Settings pane, rename the query to SalespersonRegion.

3. To remove the last two columns, first select the DimEmployee column header.

4. While pressing the Ctrl key, select the DimSalesTerritory column header.

5. Right-click either of the select column headers, and then in the context menu, select Remove Columns.

6. In the status bar, verify that the query has two columns and 39 rows.

Task 4: Configure the Product query

In this task you will configure the Product query.

Important: When detailed instructions have already been provided, the lab steps will now provide more concise
instructions. If you need the detailed instructions, you can refer back to the steps of previous tasks.

1. Select the DimProduct query.

2. Rename the query to Product.

3. Locate the FinishedGoodsFlag column, and then filter the column to retrieve products that are finished
goods (i.e. TRUE).

4. Remove all columns, except the following:

ProductKey

EnglishProductName
 StandardCost

Color

DimProductSubcategory

5. Notice that the DimProductSubcategory column represents a related table (it contains Value links).

6. In the DimProductSubcategory column header, at the right of the column name, click the expand button.

7. To uncheck all columns, uncheck the (Select All Columns) item.

8. Check the EnglishProductSubcategoryName and DimProductCategory columns.

By selecting these two columns, a transformation will be applied to join to the DimProductSubcategory
table, and then include these columns. The DimProductCategory column is, in fact, another related table in
the data source.

9. Uncheck the Use Original Column Name as Prefix checkbox.

Query column names must always be unique. If left checked, this checkbox would prefix each column with the
expanded column name (in this case DimProductSubcategory). Because it’s known that the selected column
names don’t collide with column names in the Product query, the option is deselected.

10. Click OK.

11. Notice that the transformation resulted in the addition of two columns, and that the
DimProductSubcategory column has been removed.

12. Expand the DimProductCategory column, and then introduce only the EnglishProductCategoryName
column.

13. Rename the following four columns:

EnglishProductName to Product

StandardCost to Standard Cost (include a space)

EnglishProductSubcategoryName to Subcategory

EnglishProductCategoryName to Category

14. In the status bar, verify that the query has six columns and 397 rows.
Task 5: Configure the Reseller query

In this task you will configure the Reseller query.

1. Select the DimReseller query.

2. Rename the query to Reseller.

3. Remove all columns, except the following:

ResellerKey

BusinessType

ResellerName

DimGeography

4. Expand the DimGeography column, to include only the following three columns:

City

StateProvinceName

EnglishCountryRegionName

5. In the Business Type column header, click the down-arrow, and then review the distinct column values,
and notice the incorrect spelling of warehouse.

6. Right-click the Business Type column header, and then select Replace Values.
 7. In the Replace Values window, configure the following values:

In the Value to Find box, enter Ware House

In the Replace With box, enter Warehouse

8. Click OK.

9. Rename the following four columns:

BusinessType to Business Type (include a space)

ResellerName to Reseller

StateProvinceName to State-Province

EnglishCountryRegionName to Country-Region

10. In the status bar, verify that the query has six columns and 701 rows.

Task 6: Configure the Region query

In this task you will configure the Region query.

1. Select the DimSalesTerritory query.

2. Rename the query to Region.

 3. Apply a filter to the SalesTerritoryAlternateKey column to remove the value 0 (zero).

4. Remove all columns, except the following:

SalesTerritoryKey

SalesTerritoryRegion

SalesTerritoryCountry

SalesTerritoryGroup

5. Rename the following three columns:

SalesTerritoryRegion to Region

SalesTerritoryCountry to Country

SalesTerritoryGroup to Group

6. In the status bar, verify that the query has four columns and 10 rows.

Task 7: Configure the Sales query

In this task you will configure the Sales query.

1. Select the FactResellerSales query.

2. Rename the query to Sales.

3. Remove all columns, except the following:

 SalesOrderNumber

OrderDate

ProductKey

ResellerKey

EmployeeKey

SalesTerritoryKey

OrderQuantity

UnitPrice

TotalProductCost

SalesAmount

DimProduct

You may recall in the Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop lab that a small percentage of FactResellerSales
rows had missing TotalProductCost values. The DimProduct column has been included to retrieve the
product standard cost column to assist fixing the missing values.

4. Expand the DimProduct column, uncheck all columns, and then include only the StandardCost column.

5. To create a custom column, on the Add Column ribbon tab, from inside the General group, click Custom
Column.

6. In the Custom Column window, in the New Column Name box, replace the text with Cost.

7. In the Custom Column Formula box, enter the following expression (after the equals symbol):

8. For your convenience, you can copy the expression from the D:\PL300\Labs\02-load-data-with-power-
query-in-power-bi-desktop\Assets\Snippets.txt file.

Power Query

Code  Copy

if [TotalProductCost] = null then [OrderQuantity] * [StandardCost] else [TotalProductCost]

This expression tests if the TotalProductCost value is missing. If it is, produces a value by multiplying the
OrderQuantity value by the StandardCost value; otherwise, it uses the existing TotalProductCost value.

1. Click OK.

2. Remove the following two columns:

 TotalProductCost

StandardCost

3. Rename the following three columns:

OrderQuantity to Quantity

UnitPrice to Unit Price (include a space)

SalesAmount to Sales

4. To modify the column data type, in the Quantity column header, at the left of the column name, click the
1.2 icon, and then select Whole Number.

Configuring the correct data type is important. When the column contains numeric value, it’s also important
to choose the correct type if you expect to perform mathematic calculations.

5. Modify the following three column data types to Fixed Decimal Number.

Unit Price

Sales

Cost

The fixed decimal number data type stores values with full precision, and so requires more storage space that
decimal number. It’s important to use the fixed decimal number type for financial values, or rates (like
exchange rates).

6. In the status bar, verify that the query has 10 columns and 999+ rows.

A maximum of 1000 rows will be loaded as preview data for each query.
Task 8: Configure the Targets query

In this task you will configure the Targets query.

1. Select the ResellerSalesTargets query.

2. Rename the query to Targets.

3. To unpivot the 12 month columns (M01-M12), first multi-select the Year and EmployeeID column
headers.

4. Right-click either of the select column headers, and then in the context menu, select Unpivot Other
Columns.

5. Notice that the column names now appear in the Attribute column, and the values appear in the Value
column.

6. Apply a filter to the Value column to remove hyphen (-) values.

You may recall that the hyphen character was used in the source CSV file to represent zero (0).

7. Rename the following two columns:

Attribute to MonthNumber (there is no space between the two words—it will be removed later)

Value to Target

You’ll now apply transformations to produce a date column. The date will be derived from the Year and
MonthNumber columns. You’ll create the column by using the Columns From Examples feature.
 8. To prepare the MonthNumber column values, right-click the MonthNumber column header, and then
select Replace Values.

9. In the Replace Values window, in the Value To Find box, enter M.

10. Click OK.

11. Modify the MonthNumber column data type to Whole Number.

12. On the Add Column ribbon tab, from inside the General group, click The Column From Examples icon.

13. Notice that the first row is for year 2017 and month number 7.

14. In the Column1 column, in the first grid cell, commence entering 7/1/2017, and then press Enter.

The virtual machine uses US regional settings, so this date is in fact July 1, 2017.

15. Notice that the grid cells update with predicted values.

The feature has accurately predicted that you are combining values from the Year and MonthNumber
columns.

16. Notice also the formula presented above the query grid.

17. To rename the new column, double-click the Merged column header.

18. Rename the column as TargetMonth.

19. To add the new column, click OK.

20. Remove the following columns:

Year

MonthNumber

21. Modify the following column data types:

Target as fixed decimal number

TargetMonth as date

22. To multiply the Target values by 1000, select the Target column header, and then on the Transform ribbon
tab, from inside the Number Column group, click Standard, and then select Multiply.

You may recall that the target values were stored as thousands.

23. In the Multiply window, in the Value box, enter 1000.

24. Click OK.

 25. In the status bar, verify that the query has three columns and 809 rows.

Task 9: Configure the ColorFormats query

In this task you will configure the ColorFormats query.

1. Select the ColorFormats query.

2. Notice that the first row contains the column names.

3. On the Home ribbon tab, from inside the Transform group, click Use First Row as Headers.

4. In the status bar, verify that the query has three columns and 10 rows.

Task 10: Update the Product query

In this task you will update the Product query by merging the ColorFormats query.

1. Select the Product query.

2. To merge the ColorFormats query, on the Home ribbon tab, click the Combine down-arrow, then click
Merge Queries.
 Merging queries allows integrating data, in this case from different data sources (SQL Server and a CSV file).

3. In the Merge window, in the Product query grid, select the Color column header.

4. Beneath the Product query grid, in the dropdown list, select the ColorFormats query.

5. In the ColorFormats query grid, select the Color column header.

6. When the Privacy Levels window opens, for each of the two data sources, in the corresponding dropdown
list, select Organizational.
 Privacy levels can be configured for data source to determine whether data can be shared between sources.
Setting each data source as Organizational allows them to share data, if necessary. Note that Private data
sources can never be shared with other data sources. It doesn’t mean that Private data cannot be shared; it
means that the Power Query engine cannot share data between the sources.

7. Click Save.

8. In the Merge window, use the default Join Kind - maintaining the selection of Left Outer and click OK.

9. Expand the ColorFormats column to include the following two columns:

Background Color Format

Font Color Format

10. In the status bar, verify that the query now has eight columns and 397 rows.

Task 11: Update the ColorFormats query

In this task you will update the ColorFormats to disable its load.

1. Select the ColorFormats query.

Exercise 1: Load
Data

2. In the Query Settings pane, click the All Properties link.

3. In the Query Properties window, uncheck the Enable Load To Report checkbox.

Disabling the load means it will not load as a table to the data model. This is done because the query was
merged with the Product query, which is enabled to load to the data model.

4. Click OK.

Task 12: Finish up

In this task you will complete the lab.

1. Verify that you have eight queries, correctly named as follows:

Salesperson

SalespersonRegion

Product

Reseller

Region

Sales

Targets

ColorFormats (which will not load to the data model)

2. To load the data model, on the File backstage view, select Close & Apply.

All load-enabled queries are now loaded to the data model.

3. In the Fields pane (located at the right), notice the seven tables loaded to the data model.

4. Save the Power BI Desktop file.

5. If you intend to start the next lab, leave Power BI Desktop open.

You’ll configure data model tables and relationships in the Model Data in Power BI Desktop lab.