Module 1

Lesson 1
🟦 Opening (5 minutes)
“Good morning everyone! I hope you're all doing well today. Welcome to our very
first session on Business Intelligence, or what we often refer to as BI. This is an
exciting area of modern technology and business, and by the end of today’s class,
you’ll have a clear understanding of what BI is, why it matters, and where it fits into
the world of data and decision-making.
Now, I know some of you may have heard this term before—maybe in tech news or
on LinkedIn—but don't worry if you're starting fresh. That’s exactly what this course
is here for. We’re going to go step-by-step, and I’ll make sure to bring in relatable
examples to make the learning experience simple and enjoyable. You’re welcome to
unmute or type in the chat if you have questions at any point.
Let me also remind you: this course isn’t about learning to code. It’s about
understanding the value of BI in modern organizations—how it works, how it
supports decisions, and how different people contribute to a successful BI project.
So, let’s dive into our very first topic—understanding real-life Business Intelligence
scenarios.”

🟦 Business Intelligence Scenarios (25 minutes)

“To understand Business Intelligence, let’s imagine we’re a manager at a mid-sized
online clothing company. We sell across Canada, and we’ve noticed sales are strong
in summer but drop off dramatically in winter. Now, how do we make sense of that?
Is it because of our product mix, customer interest, or maybe delivery delays?
This is where BI comes in.
BI gives us tools to gather data, analyze patterns, and make better business
decisions.
One of the biggest reasons BI exists is because of the massive explosion of what we
call big data. Every time someone visits a website, posts on social media, or even
walks into a store with their phone’s GPS turned on—data is being collected. And it’s
not slowing down. Data is constantly being gathered and it’s growing at a rate that
no human could ever keep up with manually.
So companies use BI tools to make sense of all this data. And they do that in a few
key ways.”
“First, through reporting. Reporting is when data is extracted, formatted, and
shown in a way that helps people quickly understand what’s happening in their
business. A classic example would be a sales report showing performance across
different provinces. It doesn’t just show raw numbers—it presents charts,
summaries, and key metrics that support informed decisions.”
“Then we have analysis. Reporting gives us the 'what', but analysis goes deeper
into the 'why'. If our sales are down in January, analysis might help us discover that
it’s because of slower delivery times due to snowstorms in the Prairies, or that our
product ads weren’t shown as much that month. Analysis helps organizations
uncover trends and root causes.”
“And finally, a big part of BI is collaboration. Reports and dashboards mean very
little if they sit on one person’s desktop. BI encourages shared data—so everyone
from marketing to finance sees the same truth. And this reduces confusion,
duplication of effort, and ultimately drives better teamwork.”
“Here’s a quick question for all of you to think about. Can you think of one industry
or organization where BI could help in making better decisions? Just unmute and
share, or drop it in the chat.”
(Wait a moment, then say:)
“Great answers! Whether it’s healthcare, retail, education, or even public safety—BI
helps almost every sector today make smarter decisions.”

🟦 Trends in Business Intelligence (30 minutes)

“Let’s move now into something very interesting: Trends in BI. The way
organizations use data is changing fast.
Traditionally, businesses used to analyze data after the fact—looking at last
month’s sales or last year’s customer feedback. That’s useful, but in today's fast-
paced environment, decisions need to be immediate. So, the trend now is shifting
toward real-time analytics. This means getting alerts or updates the moment
something changes. For example, a shipping company could receive a real-time
alert if a delivery route is delayed due to weather, and instantly reroute the truck.
That’s the power of modern BI.
Another big trend is something called Self-Service BI. In the past, if a marketing
team wanted a report, they had to wait for the IT department to pull the data,
create the report, and send it. That could take days. But now, tools like Excel, Power
BI, and Tableau allow non-technical users to create their own charts and
dashboards. This means faster insights and quicker decisions. It also frees up IT to
focus on more complex work.”
“One more important trend is the adoption of BI tools across all sizes of
organizations. A decade ago, you needed a big budget and large IT teams to use
BI. Today, even small businesses—like a local restaurant or online boutique—can
use affordable tools to track customer behavior, popular items, or delivery zones.”
“And lastly, we have what’s called out-of-the-box solutions. These are ready-
made BI tools from companies like Microsoft, Tableau, Qlik, and more. They don’t
require building things from scratch and often come with templates, automation,
and integrations with other apps. However, some of these tools can have expensive
licenses or require training to use effectively.”
“Let me ask you all something: Has anyone here seen or used a tool like Power BI
or Tableau before? Even if it was just a dashboard screenshot or in a job ad?”
(Encourage brief discussion.)
“This tells us that even if you’re not building BI tools, understanding what they are
and how they work is a valuable professional skill.”

🟦 Business Intelligence Project Roles (20 minutes)

“Now let’s explore who does what in a BI project. Think of BI as a team sport—
different players bring different strengths to the game.
At the top, we have the Program Manager. This person oversees the entire BI
project—sets deadlines, manages the budget, communicates with stakeholders, and
ensures that the BI goals align with business needs.
Next, there’s the Data Architect. This is the person who designs how data will be
structured—how it flows from source systems like databases or websites into the BI
tools. They ensure the data is clean, organized, and connected properly.
Then we have the Technical Architect. This person makes sure that all the
hardware and software infrastructure is in place. If the company is using cloud BI,
for instance, this architect ensures that the cloud environment is secure, scalable,
and reliable.
And finally, we have the BI Developer. This person builds the actual dashboards,
visualizations, and reports. They understand both the technical side and the
business goals—so they know how to present the right data to the right users in the
most useful format.”
“Let’s do a short exercise here. Imagine your group is asked to build a BI dashboard
for a hospital trying to reduce emergency room wait times. Who would you need on
your team and what would each role contribute?”
(Wait for students to answer briefly.)
“Yes, exactly—every person plays a key role, and when they collaborate effectively,
the BI project delivers real value.”
🟦 Enterprise BI Data Models (25 minutes)
“We’ll finish today’s session by talking about Enterprise BI Data Models.
Now, I want you to imagine trying to build a skyscraper with no blueprint. Each
worker guesses where the beams should go, where to lay the bricks—it would be a
disaster.
That’s what happens when companies work with large volumes of data but no
structured data model. BI data models create a consistent view of data
elements and how they relate to each other. For example, if one team defines
‘active customer’ as someone who purchased in the last 90 days and another team
defines it as 180 days, then your reports will never match. A good BI model
eliminates this confusion.
Data models also use naming conventions and standards. For instance, instead
of calling one field ‘custID’ and another ‘CID’, everyone agrees on a single name like
‘Customer_ID’.
A proper BI model includes both logical models—which show the relationships
between different types of data—and physical models, which deal with how data
is actually stored in databases or warehouses.
And something called the semantic model adds meaning to the data. Let’s say
your system records “Status Code: 1”. Without the semantic model, it means
nothing. But with it, we know “1 = Active,” “2 = Inactive,” and so on. This allows
end users to work with meaningful labels instead of just numbers.”
“Quick question—why do you think it’s important to use standard names and
definitions across an organization? What could go wrong if people don’t?”
(Wait for input.)
“Exactly—if definitions differ between departments, you can’t trust your reports.
That’s why BI models are so critical.”

🟦 Wrap-Up & Recap (10 minutes)

“Alright everyone, let’s wrap up today’s session with a quick recap.
Today, we learned what Business Intelligence is and how it’s used to support
decisions in real-life business situations. We explored the massive impact of big
data, how reporting and analysis work, and why collaboration is crucial in BI. We
also looked at modern trends like real-time analytics and self-service tools. Then we
saw who does what in a BI project and how data models provide structure and
consistency.
Next class, we’ll go deeper into how data gets from its source into a BI tool—this is
where you’ll learn about the ETL process: Extract, Transform, Load.
I’m going to upload a small Excel file this evening with sample sales data. I’d love
for you to open it, explore it, and maybe try creating a basic chart for practice.

Lesson 2
Opening: Welcome & Overview (5 minutes)
"Hi everyone, and welcome back! I hope you’re all feeling good today and ready to
dive into something exciting and practical. In our last session, we got a clear picture
of what Business Intelligence is—how it helps businesses make data-driven
decisions, the kinds of tools used, and how dashboards and insights come together.
Today, we’re going deeper into how that data journey actually begins. The topic
is Data Analysis, and we’ll focus on the early stages of working with data—
before it becomes a beautiful dashboard. We’ll explore where data comes from, how
we extract it using queries, how we transform and clean it to make it useful, and
then how we start visualizing it to draw insights.
We’ll also finish today with a hands-on demonstration in Power BI Desktop. You’ll
see how a small dataset gets imported, cleaned, formatted, and enhanced—so you
can understand how these pieces fit together in real-world projects. So let’s begin
with the very first step in this entire process: understanding data sources."

🔹 Section 1: Understanding Data Sources (15 minutes)

"When we talk about data sources in Business Intelligence, what we really mean is:
where is the data stored before it comes into your dashboard? Think of this
as the original 'home' of the data. For some organizations, this might be a secure
SQL database that holds years of transactional data. For others, especially smaller
businesses, it could be an Excel spreadsheet where staff manually log customer
orders. Either way, the source is the starting point of the BI pipeline.
Now, in modern business environments, data is usually stored in three ways. The
first is on-premises, which refers to databases or servers that are physically
located inside the organization—like in a data center. These are managed by the
company's internal IT team. The second common option is cloud storage—
platforms like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud. These offer
flexibility, scalability, and secure access from anywhere. Finally, we have file-based
sources. This includes Excel, CSV, JSON, or XML files that are often stored locally or
shared via email or shared drives.
Traditionally, to move data from these sources into an analytical system, we use
something called the ETL process. This stands for Extract, Transform, Load. We
extract the data from its source, transform it into the correct format or structure,
and then load it into a system like Power BI or a data warehouse. What’s exciting
today is that tools like Power BI make this process easier—even for non-developers.
You can connect directly to cloud data, to on-premise servers, or just to files you
have on your desktop—and begin analysis almost immediately."
Ask the Class:
"Have any of you worked with or seen a data source in action—maybe at your part-
time job, internship, or even in school assignments? For example, have you ever
opened a sales file or managed something in Excel that held actual business
information?"
(Encourage sharing. If needed, provide an example: “For instance, a restaurant
manager might export weekly sales from their point-of-sale system to Excel—that’s
a data source too!”)

🔹 Section 2: What Are Queries? (25 minutes)

"After identifying the data source, the next task is to extract exactly what we
need. This is done using something called a query. Think of a query as a way to
ask your data a specific question, instead of taking everything. If you had access to
a giant warehouse full of files, a query is like a precise request—'Bring me only the
sales records for Ontario from the month of July.'
In Power BI, you have the option to import full tables or write custom queries
that filter and shape the data before it even arrives. This makes your work more
efficient and your visuals much faster to load. It’s also important for performance:
the less data you load unnecessarily, the lighter and faster your reports become.
In more technical environments like SQL Server, organizations often use something
called stored procedures. These are pre-built sets of queries written by database
administrators to perform repetitive tasks, like calculating monthly averages or
joining multiple datasets together. You don’t always have to write one from scratch
—sometimes your organization already has these procedures saved.
One of the most important concepts to grasp here is: Only bring what you need.
If your analysis only requires sales for this quarter, don’t import the last ten years—
it’s like copying an entire dictionary when you only need one definition.
Now, queries in Power BI can also perform transformations right as the data is
loaded. You can filter rows by date, rename confusing columns, merge tables
together, and even do calculations as the data enters the model. This is where
something called DAX comes into play. DAX, or Data Analysis Expressions, is a
formula language used in Power BI. It’s very similar to Excel formulas—so if you’ve
ever used =SUM(A1:A10), you’re halfway there. DAX helps you create new columns
or measures like profit margin, running totals, or customer lifetime value.
What makes DAX really powerful is that it works dynamically with your filters and
visuals. You can write a DAX expression to calculate sales by product category, and
it will automatically update depending on which category the user selects in the
dashboard."

🔹 Section 3: Data Transformations – Why They Matter (20 minutes)

“Once the data is queried and extracted, it’s rarely ready to use right away. And
that’s where data transformation becomes critical. Transformation is the process
of taking messy or unstructured data and cleaning it, organizing it, and reshaping it
into a usable format. If you skip this step, you risk making decisions based on
flawed information.
Let’s say you get a file from the marketing team. You open it and immediately
notice inconsistencies: the 'Date' column uses several formats—some say '01-01-
2024', others spell out 'January 1, 2024'. The 'Customer Name' column is in all caps
for some rows, all lowercase for others. The revenue column has missing values. You
can’t build a reliable report with data in that state. This is where transformation
begins with data cleaning—fixing null values, removing duplicates, and ensuring
consistency in field entries.
Next comes formatting. This includes aligning text, changing date formats, and
ensuring all numbers are properly set as integers, decimals, or currency. It might
seem like a small detail, but formatting errors can cause major calculation mistakes
later on.
Another important part of transformation is key lookups. Often, you’ll have an ID—
like a product code or employee number—but you also want the readable name
associated with it. You can pull this information from another table and connect
them using relationships, which makes your report much more user-friendly.
Lastly, we have aggregations. Sometimes you don’t need to show every individual
transaction—you want to group or summarize the data. Maybe you want to show
'total monthly revenue' instead of every single order. These aggregations make your
visuals clearer and more focused."
Ask the Class:
“Why do you think skipping these transformations—especially cleaning—can be
dangerous in a business setting?”
(After answers, reinforce: “Exactly! If your input data is unreliable, your charts and
insights will be misleading. That’s why transformation is a non-negotiable step in
BI.”)

🔹 Section 4: Visualization – Turning Numbers into Insights (25 minutes)

“Once our data is clean and fully transformed, it’s finally ready for the fun part—
visualization. This is the stage where data becomes visible, dynamic, and easier to
interpret. Visualization is what turns columns and rows into charts, graphs, maps,
and dashboards. But it’s more than just decoration—it’s about enabling pattern
recognition.
Our brains are wired to detect trends visually much faster than through raw
numbers. You might not notice a dip in sales when scrolling through hundreds of
rows, but a single glance at a line chart with a downward slope makes it obvious.
That’s why visuals are so effective—they reveal clusters, trends, and outliers.
They also allow business users to make fast decisions. Think of a retail executive
looking at a dashboard showing daily sales per location. If one store is performing
far below average, they can investigate right away—without needing to open
spreadsheets or email staff for data.
Visualizations also make data accessible to non-technical users. Not everyone
has the skill or patience to work with pivot tables and filters. A well-built dashboard
allows a user to explore data simply by clicking or hovering over visuals. It creates a
layer of interaction that empowers everyone in the organization to benefit from data
insights.
And finally, good visualization reduces cognitive load. Instead of mentally
calculating totals or comparing long lists, your brain reads the visual representation
almost instantly. It saves time and reduces errors.”
Ask the Class:
"Can you recall a time—at work, in school, or in an app—when a chart helped you
understand something better than numbers ever could?"

🔹 Section 5: Demonstration – Importing Data in Power BI (20 minutes)

“Let’s now bring everything together with a short demonstration in Power BI
Desktop. Don’t worry if you’re seeing this for the first time—today is just about
showing how it flows.”
Step 1: Open Power BI Desktop
“Go ahead and launch Power BI Desktop on your computer. You’ll see a welcome
screen. Click ‘Get Data’ to begin.”
Step 2: Connect to a Data Source
“Choose ‘Excel’ as your data source. Then navigate to the sample Excel file I’ll
provide called ‘OnlineStoreOrders.xlsx’. Click ‘Open’.”
Step 3: Preview and Load Table
“You’ll see a navigator window listing all the sheets or tables in the file. Select
‘Orders’ and click ‘Transform Data’—this will take you to the Power Query Editor.”
Step 4: Remove Unnecessary Columns
“Once inside Power Query Editor, take a look at the columns. Let’s say we don’t
need the ‘Customer Notes’ column—right-click on that and choose ‘Remove’.”
Step 5: Format a Column
“Next, find the ‘Order Date’ column. If it’s not in Date format already, click on the
column header, go to ‘Data Type’ in the toolbar, and change it to ‘Date’.”
Step 6: Create a New Column Using DAX
“Click on the ‘Modeling’ tab and choose ‘New Column’. In the formula bar, type this:
TotalRevenue = Orders[Quantity] * Orders[UnitPrice]
Press Enter, and you’ll see a new column added to your dataset.”
“Once you’re done, click ‘Close & Apply’ to load your transformed data into Power
BI. You’ve just completed your first data import, transformation, and DAX
operation!”

🧠 Recap and Wrap-Up (10 minutes)

“Let’s quickly recap what we’ve covered today. We began by understanding where
data comes from and how it’s stored—in files, cloud systems, or on-prem databases.
Then we discussed queries as a way to bring in only the data we need, sometimes
enhanced with DAX. From there, we explored data transformations, where raw
data is cleaned, formatted, and prepared for analysis. Next, we covered
visualizations, the stage where data becomes accessible and insightful through
charts and dashboards. Finally, we walked through a hands-on demo in Power BI,
where we imported a dataset, cleaned it, and created a simple calculated column.
This entire workflow is foundational to everything you’ll do in Business Intelligence.
If you understand these steps, you’re already thinking like a data analyst.”
📌 Before Next Class:
“I’ll upload the dataset and step-by-step instructions from today’s demo. Please try
the steps on your own. Import the file, remove at least one column, format a column
correctly, and create a calculated column using DAX.

Lesson 3
🔷 Opening: Welcome & Session Overview (5 minutes)
“Good morning everyone! It’s so great to see you all back for Lesson 3. I hope
you’re feeling energized because this is where things get visual—literally. Until now,
we’ve focused on data sources, queries, and transformations. We’ve talked about
getting data into Power BI, cleaning it, and getting it ready for analysis.
But today, we move on to something that’s not only powerful but also enjoyable—
visualizing data.
Think of all the dashboards you’ve seen, whether on a fitness app, bank statement,
or company sales report. The power of those dashboards comes from strong,
thoughtful data visualizations. So today, we’ll learn how to present our data clearly,
meaningfully, and in a way that instantly communicates insights.
We’ll explore the most common types of visuals—charts, cards, maps, tables, and
tree maps—then talk about formatting them for maximum impact. And finally, we’ll
close with a short Power BI demonstration showing how to create and format
visuals.
Let’s begin with one of the most common visual elements in any BI dashboard: the
chart.”

🔷 Charts (20 minutes)

“Power BI offers a wide range of chart types—each with its own purpose and best
use case. And before we get into specifics, I want to emphasize something very
important: you don’t choose a chart just because it looks good. You choose it
because it communicates your message best.
Let’s start with the basics. Bar charts and column charts are probably the most
widely used. Bar charts are better for comparing items across categories—say, total
sales by region. Column charts work well when you want to track values over time.
Line charts are great when you’re interested in trends. For example, if we want to
track monthly revenue growth, a line chart helps us quickly spot increases or dips.
Add an area to that line and you get an area chart, which emphasizes the total
value—helpful when looking at cumulative metrics.
Power BI also allows you to combine charts. A line and column chart, for instance,
is helpful when comparing two related values—say, revenue (as columns) and profit
margin (as a line). You get the detail of both values and their movement over time.
Next, we have scatter and bubble charts. These are ideal for showing the
relationship between two or three variables. For example, if you’re analyzing
product price versus units sold, with bubble size representing profit, this type of
chart can uncover interesting clusters and outliers.
Funnel charts are perfect when showing stages in a process—like how many users
visit a website, add a product to cart, and actually make a purchase. As the name
suggests, values tend to narrow as you go down the funnel.
Then we have pie and donut charts. Now, here’s something to remember—these
look pretty, but they’re only effective for showing proportions when you have very
few categories. More than four or five, and your reader will struggle to interpret
them accurately.
You can also use slicers, which aren’t charts per se, but allow users to filter the
entire report based on category, date, or other fields. Finally, waterfall charts are
great for visualizing how a value changes step-by-step—like showing how revenue is
affected by costs, discounts, and returns.
Ask the Class:
“Have you seen any of these charts before in real life—maybe in a work setting, or
even just in your bank’s dashboard or a mobile app? Which type do you see most
often?”
(Encourage quick examples in the chat or by unmuting.)

🔷 Cards (15 minutes)

“Charts are excellent for showing patterns, but when you want to display a single,
important number, like total revenue, net profit, or customer satisfaction score,
cards are your best friend.
Power BI offers card visuals, which allow you to display just one value—like ‘Total
Sales = $234,000.’ It’s clean, fast, and gives your user a clear headline. These are
especially useful when you want to place key figures front and center on your
dashboard.
If you have more than one important number but still want a simple layout, you can
use a multi-row card. This allows you to display two or more values—like total
customers, total transactions, and average order value—all side by side.
There’s also the KPI visual—which stands for Key Performance Indicator. This one is
a little more advanced. It not only shows the main value, but it also shows how that
value is performing compared to a goal. For example, it could show ‘Sales: $75,000’
and underneath that, ‘Goal: $100,000’, along with a red or green indicator to show
progress.
In terms of placement, remember that most people read from top left to bottom
right. So it’s a good idea to place your most important cards or KPIs in the top-left
section of your report canvas.”
Mini-discussion:
“If you were building a dashboard for a retail store manager, what’s one KPI or card
you’d include right at the top?”
(Expected responses: Total Sales, Inventory Count, Foot Traffic)

🔷 Maps (15 minutes)

“Maps in Power BI are fantastic for visualizing geographic data. If your data includes
city names, countries, or postal codes, you can visualize it on a map—giving your
audience a more intuitive sense of location-based trends.
Power BI integrates with Bing Maps in the background. It reads your geographic
fields and places them automatically, using geocoding. For example, if you’re
analyzing sales by city, each city will appear as a bubble on the map. These are
known as map charts, and the size or color of the bubble can represent values like
revenue or volume.
There’s also something called a filled map chart, which colors entire regions—like
provinces or countries—based on a measure. The darker the shade, the higher the
value. These are often used to show things like population density, voter turnout, or
customer distribution.
These visuals are powerful because humans are great at associating data with
geography. A bar chart might tell you ‘Region B is underperforming’, but seeing it
shaded in pale blue on a map gives you faster recognition.”
Ask the Class:
“Where do you think maps would be especially useful? Can you think of a business
case where geography matters?”
(Students may suggest delivery logistics, marketing by location, COVID data
dashboards, etc.)

🔷 Tables (15 minutes)

“Now, while charts and maps are great for visual storytelling, sometimes you just
need to present raw numbers, and that’s where tables come in. In Power BI,
tables display data in a traditional rows-and-columns format, much like Excel.
Tables are especially useful when working with financial data, detailed reports,
or audit logs. However, they come with some limitations. Because there’s not
much visual styling involved, tables can be harder to read at a glance. Your user has
to scan every row and column to find what they’re looking for. So they’re best used
for small datasets or as a supporting element in your dashboard—not the star
of the show.
Also, tables tend to take up a lot of space. And unlike other visuals, they’re not
very interactive. For example, you can’t sort by total sales within a category directly
from the report viewer in many cases.
Still, if you’re working with numbers that your stakeholders will want to double-
check, like payroll, expenses, or transactions, a clean, structured table can be
essential."
Ask the Class:
“Have you ever had to go through raw numbers in Excel or a system report? Would
a table have been more helpful than a chart in that case?”

🔷 Tree Maps (15 minutes)

“Tree maps are one of the more visually engaging and unique visuals in Power BI.
Even though it’s called a 'tree', it doesn’t look like one. The idea comes from the
hierarchical structure of data—like branches and leaves.
In a tree map, data is represented using nested rectangles, where each
rectangle’s size and color correspond to a data value. For example, let’s say we’re
looking at product sales across multiple categories. Each top-level category could
be a rectangle, and inside each, you’d see subcategories like product types.
Tree maps are excellent when you want to compare parts to a whole, and they
make very efficient use of space. You don’t need to scroll or click around—
everything is visible at once. And since it flattens hierarchical data, you get a two-
layer view—for example, sales by country, and within that, by territory.
These visuals are not always perfect for precise comparisons, but they’re amazing
for spotting dominance or gaps in distribution.”
Ask the Class:
“Can you think of a dataset in real life that has a hierarchy like this—maybe
something with categories and subcategories?”
(Guide answers if needed: Inventory by Department → Product Line, or Regions →
Cities)

🔷 Formatting Charts (20 minutes)

“Now that we’ve looked at various types of visuals, let’s talk about how to format
them effectively. Because even the best chart type can fail to communicate if it’s
poorly formatted.
Power BI gives you a ton of formatting options for each visual. You can change font
size, color, and style; show or hide the axis, labels, and titles; and adjust the
chart size and position. One key rule: always make sure your chart is readable
without explanation. Titles should be clear, labels should not overlap, and colors
should be meaningful.
You can also use shapes and text boxes to organize the layout. For example, placing
a rectangle behind three visuals can help group them together. Or you can use a
title text box to label each section of your dashboard. You might also upload a
company logo, background image, or add hyperlink buttons.
Power BI even lets you add reference lines to a chart—for example, a goal line
showing the sales target. These are great for providing visual context.
Another great feature is tooltips—small popups that appear when a user hovers
over a chart element. You can add extra fields to the tooltip pane to enrich your
charts with more information without crowding the canvas.
Remember, your job as a BI designer is to guide the user’s eye and deliver
insights—not just data.”
🔷 Demonstration: Visualizing Data with Power BI (20 minutes)
“For this part, let’s bring everything together in a quick Power BI demo. I’ll show you
how to create a few visuals and format them for clarity.”
Step 1: Open Power BI and Load Dataset
“Let’s open the same dataset we used last time—our sample
‘OnlineStoreOrders.xlsx’. Load it into Power BI using Get Data > Excel.”
Step 2: Create a Card
“In the Visualizations pane, click on the Card icon. Drag ‘Total Sales’ into the Values
area. Now you’ll see a big number—clean, clear, and powerful.”
Step 3: Add a Bar Chart
“Now choose the Bar Chart icon. Drag ‘Region’ to Axis and ‘Total Sales’ to Values.
You’ll instantly see sales by region.”
Step 4: Add a Map
“Click on the Map visual. Drag ‘City’ into Location and ‘Sales’ into Size. Now you’ve
got a geographic view of where your revenue is coming from.”
Step 5: Apply Basic Formatting
“Click on each visual and go to the Format pane. Change titles, turn on data labels,
adjust font sizes, and choose colors. Try to match a common color palette—for
example, use blue for actuals and red for goals.”
Once the visuals are placed and formatted, take a step back and ask yourself: Does
this report tell a clear story? That’s the goal of data visualization.”

🔷 Wrap-Up and Recap (10 minutes)

“Today, we took a deep dive into one of the most visible and impactful parts of BI—
visualization. We explored common visuals like charts, cards, maps, tables, and tree
maps. We discussed when to use them and how to make sure they tell a clear story.
Then we covered how formatting plays a huge role in making a dashboard clean and
understandable. And finally, we saw all of this come together in a short Power BI
demonstration.
Your assignment for next class is to choose any three visuals from today—create
them in Power BI using the sample data, and apply at least one formatting option to
each

Lesson 4
[Slide 1: Introduction to Lesson 4 – 10 mins]
We're now moving into Lesson 4: Overview of Self-Service BI.
Now, before we dive into the content, I want to ask you something simple—but
important. Have you ever tried to make a personal decision using Excel data?
Maybe tracking your monthly expenses? Maybe summarizing exam scores? Maybe
using filters in Google Sheets to find patterns? If you've done that, even on a small
scale, congratulations—you’ve already had a taste of Self-Service BI.
What we’re doing today is scaling that up. We're going to explore how professionals
—without being IT developers or data engineers—can work directly with data,
explore patterns, and even create visual dashboards that help others make
informed decisions. This shift is changing how businesses operate—especially now
when decisions can’t wait weeks for a report from IT.
Here’s what we’ll cover: the explosion of data and how it impacts business users,
the limitations of traditional enterprise BI systems, and the shift to self-service BI—
why it happened, and how it's empowering users. We’ll also do a live walkthrough in
Power BI and have a discussion session before wrapping up with a short
assignment.”

🌐 [Slide 2: Data Explosion – 20 mins]

“Let’s begin with the term you’ve likely heard thrown around a lot—Big Data. It’s
everywhere—news articles, tech blogs, even pop culture. But what does it really
mean?
Big Data is a term we use for data that is too large, too fast, and too complex
to be handled using traditional tools. We’re not just talking about spreadsheets
anymore. Today, everything generates data: mobile phones, smartwatches, cars,
refrigerators, online platforms—even your Google searches. Every tap, swipe, or
scroll is creating data somewhere.
Now this leads us to the Five Vs of Big Data, which help define its unique nature:
 Volume refers to the enormous amount of data generated—think terabytes
and petabytes.
 Variety covers all the different forms of data—structured tables,
unstructured text, images, videos, log files, etc.
 Velocity is the speed at which data is generated and needs to be processed
—sometimes in milliseconds.
 Variability means that data is unpredictable and may come in irregular
intervals or formats.
 Veracity points to how trustworthy or accurate that data is. Not all data is
reliable, especially when it’s coming from unknown sources.
Let’s make this more real. Imagine a brand launches a new sneaker line. Millions of
people visit the website, some make purchases, others tweet about it, post on
Instagram, leave reviews on Amazon. All that is data—and it comes in fast, from
different platforms, in different formats. That’s Big Data.
Now, contrast this with traditional Business Intelligence data, which is structured
and lives in a data warehouse. It’s clean, well-organized, and used for standard
reports and KPIs. BI data is ideal when you know what questions you want to ask.
But Big Data helps when you want to discover new patterns, relationships, or even
predict future trends.
Here’s a question for the class: Can anyone think of an example in your life or job
where you’ve encountered big volumes or multiple types of data?”
👉 (Pause and encourage sharing. If they’re silent, give examples like YouTube
analytics, POS data from retail, or sensor data in smart homes.)
“Excellent. This explosion in data is one reason why business users need more
flexible, real-time tools to work with it. That brings us to the next topic.”

🧩 [Slide 3: Limitations of Managed Enterprise BI – 15 mins]

“Let’s talk about traditional BI systems—also called Managed Enterprise BI. This
model was the standard for years. It worked like this: the business user needed
data, so they submitted a request to the IT or data team. IT would gather the
requirements, write a SQL script, maybe schedule it to run weekly, build a report in
Crystal Reports or SSRS... and eventually send it over—maybe in a week or more.
The problem? It’s too slow for today’s business environment. We live in a
world where decisions need to be made today—not next month. Business units can’t
afford to wait for long development cycles.
The main limitations include:
 Time delays due to IT backlogs
 Budget constraints—BI developers cost money
 Developer cost—not just in money but also time and resources
 Lack of business context—IT might not fully understand what HR or Sales
actually needs
 And lastly, changing requirements—by the time the report is ready, the
business question may have changed.
Let’s have a quick chat: Have you ever had to wait on a report, chart, or data
access from someone else—maybe IT or your manager? What did that delay
cause?”
👉 (Let a few students share.)
“These pain points are why businesses started looking for a new approach—one
where business users could answer their own questions. Enter: self-service BI.”

🧠 [Slide 4: Self-Service BI Trend – 20 mins]

“Self-Service BI gives business users the ability to pull, analyze, and visualize data
without needing to depend on technical experts. This shift empowers users to
explore trends, test hypotheses, and share insights all on their own.
What changed?
A few things happened at once:
 Tools like Excel added Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power View—which
gave business users more capability.
 Cloud-based tools like Power BI, Tableau, and Qlik became affordable and
user-friendly.
 Organizations realized that if they empower employees with data access,
they respond quicker, adapt faster, and make better decisions.
Self-service BI isn’t about eliminating IT—it’s about freeing IT from minor reporting
tasks so they can focus on high-value projects.
Let me give you an example. A sales manager notices a dip in monthly
performance. Instead of waiting 10 days for a custom report, she opens Power BI,
filters sales by product and region, and sees that two reps in one region have
missed targets. She takes immediate action. That’s the power of real-time self-
service insight.”

🧪 Live Demo in Power BI – 25 mins

“Now let’s switch gears and look at how easy it is to get started with Self-Service BI.
I’ll walk you through a basic Power BI flow.
We’ll work with a fictional ‘Sales by Region’ Excel file. Follow along or just watch.
Step 1: Launch Power BI Desktop.
Once it's open, click on ‘Get Data’ → Select ‘Excel’ → Choose the file → Click ‘Load’.
Step 2: Preview and clean the data.
You'll see a list of tables. Let’s say we pick the ‘Orders’ sheet. In the Query Editor,
we can remove unnecessary columns like ‘Order ID’ or ‘Shipping Mode’.
Step 3: Format data.
If a date column looks like text, we can right-click → Change Type → Date. We can
rename fields too—make ‘Region’ into ‘Sales Region’ for clarity.
Step 4: Create a KPI card.
On the report view, click the ‘Card’ visual and drag ‘Revenue’ into the value field.
That’s your KPI card showing total sales.
Step 5: Add a bar chart.
Drag ‘Product Category’ to Axis, and ‘Revenue’ to Values. You now have a revenue-
by-category chart.
Step 6: Add a map.
Drag ‘Region’ to the map visual and drop ‘Revenue’ into size/color. It auto-populates
a geo-based sales heatmap.
In under 5 minutes, you’ve built a dashboard.”
👉 (Encourage students to try this at home later with a simple dataset.)

🧠 Breakout Activity – 15 mins

“Okay class, time to apply what we’ve learned. Let’s go into breakout rooms of 3
people each. Discuss these two prompts:
1. In your experience or setting, how could self-service BI improve operations?
2. What risks do you think exist if everyone has access to build reports?
Each group should take 10 minutes to discuss and 5 minutes to summarize your
answer in 2-3 points. We’ll present once we’re back.”
👉 (Rejoin and call on each group to present briefly. Reinforce answers.)

🧩 Final Wrap-up and Assignment – 15 mins

“To wrap up, let’s review the main ideas from today:
We live in a world of massive, fast-moving data. Traditional BI systems—while
structured and secure—can be too slow for today’s needs. Self-Service BI tools
empower non-technical users to make data-driven decisions faster and more
efficiently.
But this shift also requires training, governance, and responsibility. The goal isn’t
just access—it’s correct, secure, and meaningful use of data.
Before our next class, I’d like each of you to download Power BI Desktop. I’ll upload
a simple Excel dataset for you later today. Your task is to:
 Import the data,
 Remove one column,
 Format one column (like converting text to date),
  Create one KPI card and one bar chart.

Lesson 5
👩‍🏫 [Slide 1: Introduction – Considerations for Self-Service BI]
“Good morning everyone, and welcome back! I’m glad to see you all here for Lesson
5, where we’ll be discussing something essential to every organization that uses
Self-Service BI tools. The title of today's session is ‘Considerations for Self-Service
BI’ and what we’re really doing is learning about the guardrails—what organizations
must be mindful of when allowing users to work with data on their own.
You see, while Self-Service BI is exciting—it empowers business users to create their
own reports and dashboards—it also comes with serious responsibilities. In today’s
lesson, we’ll explore four critical considerations: data access, data reliability, user
expertise, and the role of data stewards. We’re going to take time with each one,
and as always, we’ll include your thoughts, a small demonstration, and group
discussion. By the end, you’ll understand not only the what, but also the why behind
these concepts.”
🧭 “To warm up, let me ask you something: how many of you have worked with
Power BI, Tableau, or Excel to generate your own report—without involving IT?”
(Pause for hands or comments.) “Perfect. Then you’ve experienced self-service BI in
action. Today, we’re going to unpack what needs to happen behind the scenes for
that freedom to actually work well across a whole organization.”

🌐 [Slide 2: Data Access]

“We begin with data access. One of the most appealing parts of Self-Service BI is
that it allows users to connect directly to a wide variety of data sources. This
includes on-premises databases such as SQL Servers housed within the
organization’s infrastructure, local files like Excel spreadsheets saved on desktops,
cloud-based storage systems like Azure or AWS, and even public datasets you might
download from a government open data portal.
Now, while that access opens the door to innovation, it also creates complexity.
Let’s think about control. With enterprise systems like an on-premise database,
access is tightly managed. Permissions are set by IT, and security is enforced at the
system level. So, if you’re pulling data from those systems, there’s usually good
oversight. But when someone downloads data and saves it to their desktop—or
worse, emails it to five people—the ability to control access is gone. You can’t track
who has it, who modified it, or whether it's even the latest version.
Cloud systems offer more flexibility. Many users now host their own datasets in
shared folders or cloud databases like SharePoint, Dropbox, or Google Drive. These
tools allow collaboration, but the risk is that without proper data governance
policies, sensitive or confidential data might be accessed by the wrong person.
And then there’s public data. It’s openly available and incredibly useful in certain
contexts—say for trend analysis or benchmarking—but it’s not under anyone’s
control. This means anyone can use it, but you don’t get to define how accurate or
timely it is.
On top of that, when multiple users start running independent, one-time queries
from these data sources, it can generate excess traffic. Imagine a server handling
hundreds of such requests—performance slows down, and IT gets flooded with
complaints. So the freedom of access must be supported by a framework to keep
data secure and systems performing well.”
🧠 “Here’s a quick scenario for you to think about: What happens if someone in the
marketing department accesses old product data for a campaign analysis, while
another person in finance uses updated numbers from a secure cloud repository?
Both create reports that look valid, but the numbers don’t match. What are the
consequences?” (Pause for responses.) “Exactly—confusion, miscommunication,
and bad decisions. That’s why data access must be structured with clear ownership
and control.”

📊 [Slide 3: Data Reliability]

“Now, let’s turn our attention to the next big concern—data reliability. This is
perhaps the most overlooked area when rolling out self-service BI. Everyone wants
data, but how often do we stop and ask—is this data even trustworthy?
Reliable data is more than just accurate—it should be complete, consistent, and fit
for its intended use. For example, let’s say you’re building a dashboard showing
customer feedback scores. If the dataset contains missing values, inconsistent date
formats, or duplicated records, your analysis becomes misleading. Worse, if errors
are not apparent right away, people might make confident decisions based on false
assumptions.
When we talk about data reliability, we’re also talking about context. Data needs to
be relevant. If you’re pulling customer data from 2021 for a decision about this
quarter’s campaign, you might get the wrong picture. And fields must be densely
populated. A report where 70% of fields are blank can hardly be trusted.
Risk assessment also comes into play here. Before using any dataset, ask yourself:
Will this data impact an important business decision? Could it influence a policy? If
so, is the risk of inaccuracy high, medium, or low? In high-stakes situations—say,
analyzing safety data in a factory—you can’t afford to work with unverified
information.
Another useful habit is to question the data source itself. Where did it come from?
How frequently is it updated? Who owns the dataset? How is it connected to your
tool? Is the structure standardized or does it vary every time? These are the kinds of
questions data analysts need to start with—not at the end, but before diving into
the numbers.”
🧪 “Later today, I’ll share a sample dataset. I’ll ask you to do a quick quality check—
find inconsistencies, missing values, or outliers. It’ll help you see just how often
even simple datasets can be unreliable.”

👨‍💻 [Slide 4: User Expertise]

“Let’s move on to user expertise. One of the promises of self-service BI is that you
don’t need to be a data engineer to use it. That’s true—but it doesn’t mean you can
jump in without any knowledge at all.
These tools are designed to be low-code or no-code. But to use them effectively,
users need to know three basic things. First, how to access and load data—where it
is stored and how to connect to it securely. Second, how to prepare the data—that
means cleaning it, filtering out errors, combining datasets, and removing duplicates.
And third, how to present it—using the right types of visuals for the data story
you’re trying to tell.
Think about this. If someone builds a report and uses a pie chart to compare 10
regions, the result is confusing. Or if they show gross revenue without deducting
taxes or returns, that’s misleading. These things happen not out of malice, but due
to lack of expertise.
Self-service BI only works well when users have at least a foundational
understanding of the data lifecycle—from extraction to visualization. That’s why
many organizations now offer internal BI training or certification before employees
are given access to tools like Power BI or Tableau.”
🧠 “Here’s a question for you all: If you were designing a short training program for
new employees to use self-service BI tools, what are the top three things you would
teach them first?” (Pause for responses.) “Exactly! Start with how to get the data,
how to clean it, and how to visualize it responsibly.”

📋 [Slide 5: Data Stewards]

“Finally, we have the often-invisible heroes of the data world—data stewards.
As more users gain access to data, someone must be responsible for making sure
that data is consistent, clean, and well-governed. That’s the job of a data steward.
They act as a bridge between business teams and IT. Unlike developers who focus
on building infrastructure, stewards focus on the meaning and usage of data within
the business context.
They make sure people are using the right definitions. For example, what counts as
a ‘new customer’? What’s included in ‘net sales’? These definitions must be
standard across teams. Stewards also manage the data catalog, handle naming
conventions, and support metadata accuracy.
To do this well, they need to understand business needs, have strong
documentation skills, and a grasp of data models and relational systems. Many
stewards come from business backgrounds, not IT. But with the rise of big data,
their role now includes new challenges—especially as data becomes more complex,
high-volume, and real-time.”
🧠 “Let me ask you—do you think each department in an organization should have its
own data steward, or should there be one centralized team?” (Pause for responses
and encourage a short debate.) “That’s a great point—having decentralized
stewards brings business-specific expertise, but a central team ensures
consistency.”

💬 [Breakout Activity – 15 mins]

“Alright everyone, now I’d like to shift into our breakout session. You’ll be working in
groups of three or four. I want you to think through these two prompts:
First—what happens if organizations don’t pay attention to data access, reliability,
user expertise, or stewardship? What kinds of issues will arise?
Second—what’s one policy or strategy a company could put in place to manage
these risks without killing the freedom and agility that self-service BI offers?
Use the shared Google Doc link I’ve posted in the chat to write your responses. We’ll
regroup in 15 minutes and hear what you came up with.”
👉 (After 15 minutes, guide the discussion and encourage group feedback.)

🧩 [Wrap-Up – Summary & Assignment]

“To summarize our session today: Self-Service BI can truly transform how
organizations use data—but only if it’s managed wisely. Data access must be
controlled but flexible. Data must be clean and reliable before it’s used. Users need
some level of skill and understanding, and data stewards must ensure that data is
used consistently and responsibly.
Think of self-service BI as a highway—it gives you speed, but you still need road
signs, seatbelts, and lanes. Today, we’ve talked about those lanes.

Lesson 6
👩‍🏫 [Introduction – 5 minutes]
Welcome to Lesson 6 of our Self-Service BI series. So far, we’ve discussed what Self-
Service BI is, why it’s become essential, and the considerations businesses must
take into account before empowering users with it. Today, we’re moving into
something very practical: the actual tools provided by Microsoft that support self-
service BI.
Now, Microsoft has built an ecosystem of tools that, when combined, give us the full
power to analyze, visualize, and share data without having to write complex code or
rely heavily on IT. In this session, we’ll cover the four key Microsoft tools used for
Self-Service BI:
 SQL Server Reporting Services
 Excel (with Power Tools)
 SharePoint Server
 Power BI Desktop
By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a much clearer idea of what each tool does,
when to use them, and how they all work together.”

🧩 [Part 1: SQL Server Reporting Services – 20 minutes]

“Let’s begin with SQL Server Reporting Services, or SSRS. Now, this tool is part of
the broader SQL Server family and is actually the foundational reporting engine in
the Microsoft BI stack. Imagine SSRS as the bridge between databases and reports.
It’s often used in organizations that need formal, repeatable, and highly structured
reports.
SSRS is typically installed on a dedicated server and secured using enterprise-grade
technologies like Windows Authentication or Active Directory. This means access is
tightly controlled, which is great for environments with strict data governance.
There are two kinds of users in SSRS: developers and business users. Developers
typically use Report Designer within Visual Studio to create complex, pixel-perfect
reports. On the other hand, business users who may not have a technical
background can use something called Report Builder, which is a simpler, more
guided interface.
Now, one of the coolest features of SSRS is data caching. Once a report is
generated, the data can be stored on the server, so future views load much faster.
Also, users can subscribe to reports to receive them at scheduled times—like every
Monday at 9 AM via email.
📢 Question to Students:
"Have any of you received automated reports by email in a previous job or
internship? Maybe sales reports, shift reports, or error logs?”
👉 [Encourage answers. Add a comment: “Those are likely built using SSRS or a
similar enterprise tool.”]
📊 [Part 2: Excel and Power Tools – 25 minutes]
“Let’s now move into a tool you all know very well—Microsoft Excel. But we’re not
just talking about basic spreadsheets and SUM formulas here. We’re talking about
Excel with Power Tools. This is where things get really exciting.
Microsoft has added four major Power Tools to Excel that transformed it into a full-
fledged Self-Service BI platform:
First, we have Power Pivot. Power Pivot allows you to work with extremely large
datasets—millions of rows. You can build data models, define relationships between
tables, and create calculated columns and KPIs using DAX, which is a powerful
formula language.
Next is Power Query. You may know this as ‘Get & Transform’ in newer versions of
Excel. It allows you to import data from multiple sources—local files, databases,
cloud storage, or even Hadoop. And then you can transform the data, merge
columns, remove duplicates, apply filters—all without writing a single line of code.
Then there’s Power View, which is used to create interactive visualizations like
charts, maps, and slicers. It’s perfect for exploring trends and patterns visually.
And finally, Power Map, which lets you take geographic data and literally plot it in
3D on a globe. This is great for sales by region or mapping incidents across cities.
📌 Live Prompt (No Demo Needed):
“Think of a scenario where Excel Power Tools would help. Maybe you’re a store
manager analyzing weekly sales. You could import POS data using Power Query,
model customer behavior with Power Pivot, and create a regional heat map using
Power Map—all within Excel.”
💬 Group Activity Prompt (10 minutes – Breakout):
"Split into breakout rooms of 3. Discuss how Power Tools in Excel could enhance
decision-making in one of the following settings: Retail, Education, or Healthcare.
Share your key takeaway when we return."
👉 [Back in Main Room: Invite 1 person from each group to share. Summarize that
Excel remains the most familiar and accessible BI tool for many business users.]

🧠 [Part 3: SharePoint Server – 20 minutes]

“Let’s talk about SharePoint Server, which you might not think of as a BI tool at first
—but it absolutely plays a huge role.
At its core, SharePoint is a collaboration and content management system. But
when integrated with tools like Excel Services and SQL Server, it becomes a
powerful BI platform. Business users can publish and share workbooks, dashboards,
and even automate data refreshes within SharePoint.
A special feature is the Business Intelligence Center, which provides a central hub
where organizations can store connections, reports, KPIs, scorecards, and
dashboards. This keeps everything in one place and ensures that everyone is
working with consistent and up-to-date data.
Power Pivot for SharePoint allows server-side processing of Power Pivot models. This
means Excel files using Power Pivot can be refreshed automatically in the
background without needing to open the file.
Another tool under SharePoint is PerformancePoint, which helps in creating
scorecards and dashboards. So even if you’re not a developer, you can contribute to
performance monitoring using drag-and-drop tools.
📢 Engagement Prompt:
“How many of you have seen or used SharePoint at your workplace or internship?
What was your experience—easy or confusing?”
👉 [Acknowledge all responses. Clarify that while SharePoint can seem complex, it’s
the backbone for secure collaboration in many large companies.]

💻 [Part 4: Power BI Desktop – 25 minutes]

“Now we come to the crown jewel of Microsoft’s Self-Service BI lineup—Power BI
Desktop. This is the tool that combines all the strengths of Excel Power Tools but
with a modern, sleek interface.
Power BI Desktop allows you to connect to dozens of data sources, including Excel,
text files, databases, APIs, and SaaS platforms like Salesforce or Google Analytics.
Once connected, you can clean and transform the data using a Query Editor that’s
nearly identical to Power Query in Excel.
After that, you can start building Reports—these are essentially pages where you
add visuals like bar charts, maps, cards, and slicers. And these visuals are
interactive. Click one and watch the others adjust automatically.
Then you build Dashboards, which are collections of visuals across multiple
reports, designed for monitoring business metrics.
Power BI also offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, so users can view their
dashboards on the go. One particularly smart feature is Q&A, which allows you to
type natural language questions like “What were the top 3 products by sales last
month?” and Power BI answers with a chart.
📢 Mini Task (Optional – No Demo Required):
“Let’s imagine you’re working for a nonprofit. You’ve got donation data, campaign
spending, and volunteer hours. What kinds of dashboards might you build in Power
BI?”
👉 [Encourage 2-3 students to share ideas. Praise creative responses.]
📤 [Live Demonstration – 10 minutes]
“Let me now walk you through a quick demonstration of how to publish a report
from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service.”
Steps (Narrate as You Do):
1. Open Power BI Desktop and load a dataset (use sample sales data).
2. Create a simple report: a bar chart showing sales by region and a KPI card
showing total revenue.
3. Click on ‘File’ > ‘Publish’ > ‘To Power BI Service.’
4. Sign into your Microsoft account if needed.
5. Choose your workspace and hit ‘Publish.’
6. Once published, open the browser and view the report in Power BI Service.
7. Show how it can be shared with team members or embedded in a website.
👏 “That’s it! You’ve just published a fully interactive report to the cloud—something
that used to take developers weeks.”

🧩 [Wrap-Up & Discussion – 15 minutes]

“To wrap up our session, let’s quickly reflect on what we’ve learned today.
Microsoft provides an integrated set of tools that make self-service BI accessible to
both technical and non-technical users. SSRS handles structured reporting. Excel
Power Tools support advanced modeling and transformation. SharePoint enables
collaboration and governance. And Power BI Desktop makes stunning visuals
accessible to everyone.