A Complete Guide on How to Learn Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is the most efficient tool in the market to make data-driven business decisions. According to a ResearchGate study, BI helps businesses to support strategic decisions.

Whether you are a novice data analyst or business intelligence professional, learning Power BI will surely add value to your career.

Now, you might have these questions in your mind:

Don’t worry; we have covered the answers to your above questions in this guide. Check this in-depth article to know how to learn Power BI in 6 easy steps. So, let’s begin.

How to Learn Power BI from Scratch in 2022 in 6 Easy Steps?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you learn the Microsoft Power BI service.

1. Understand Power BI and Get Familiar with the Interface

Before learning about all the advanced capabilities of Power BI service, you must first understand and familiarize yourself with the interface of Power BI.

Once the software is ready to launch, start learning about the different elements of the Power BI interface. Know the difference between Power BI report vs dashboard to get a proper understanding of the interface and its works. In addition, if you have any previous experience with Microsoft Excel, then it massively helps with understanding the interface in detail. Because the Power BI interface is of kind of similar to Excel.

Use the Power BI interface guide available on the official Microsoft website, or go through a free YouTube video.

Here is an interesting fact: Power BI software is free to download on Windows. But, if you are using Linux or macOS, you need a virtual machine to access the Power BI service.

2. Learn Fundamentals of Data Preparation and Data Model

Once you familiarize yourself with the user interface of the Power BI business analytics tool, it is time to learn about data preparation and create data models. As the name suggests, data preparation involves locating and preparing the raw data for import. Collecting relevant data in a single centralized place makes it easy to connect with the Power BI service. First, you need to clean and organize the data so it becomes easy to import. Lastly, import your data from the source using the relevant connectors.

Now the second step is data modelling. Learning various data models and their use cases is very important for you to properly select one when required. Secondly, you need to understand the Power query editor to know about data modelling. However, if you are a new learner, choose a course from the list below about data models.

3. Learn Data Transformation to Validate Business Data

Learning data transformation makes it easier to understand and analyze the imported data. You can clean the data even before importing it to Power BI.

However, if you are importing unorganized data into Power BI, there are two ways to clean them up.

• The first method is an automatic process that transforms a massive amount of data for use in the data warehouse. But this method requires the ETL system that may be unavailable to independent Power BI beginners.
• The second step is free but challenging as you need to do it manually. To begin with, analyze the imported data to ensure all the headings and calculated columns look as per syntax. Also, look for error symbols and null values to locate problems in the data set.

  Next, check and set the data types for the variables. This will prevent any errors during the data processing stage.

Finally, ensure all the headers and column names are unique. If they are the same for different data sets, it can cause problems during the data processing stage. If you transform data using the manual method, it will help you to get clear Power BI fundamentals. This way, you make the most from this BI tool.

4. Create Data Visualization to Utilize Data Properly

As you have clean datasets, you should focus on creating data visualization using ReportView. However, it is better to take easy data sets to practice building the visualizations as a beginner. For creating good Power BI reports, you need to opt for online courses on Power BI. The courses you opt for should also have a few challenging data sets to prepare you for complex analytics.

After all, the techniques you learn through the online courses will culminate in creating elaborate reports and visualizations for your peers. Your stakeholders will also heavily rely on your reports before making important decisions. Therefore, it is crucial to keep sharpening your report-making and visualization-building skills. Even, you can check our article on the best visuals of Power BI to get a quick understanding of different types of visuals.

5. Create Models to Establish Relationships Between Data

After covering the basics, you need to learn the more complex aspects of Power BI, like establishing data model relationships. The main goal of establishing relationships is to connect the same filters to multiple tables. The filters will propagate if there is a relationship path to follow. Sometimes they can span across multiple tables.

Maintaining data integrity is not the priority of model relationships. Therefore, you must be careful while using DAX functions, as they can automatically change or disable filters.

• Learning the properties of various relationships within the Power BI system will give you a head start.
• Then, understand the various types and use of DAX functions. This will give you more mobility and control while establishing relationships between multiple tables.
• Afterwards, learn to set the precedence rules to ensure the filters propagate predictably.

6. Create Power BI Reports to Discover Important Data

Power BI service enables you to publish interactive reports and grant access to other business analysts. In a professional environment, you need to actively share reports with your peers and the management. You need to show your data findings and provide a reason for their behaviour. In such cases, a basic idea about data hub will make things infinitely simpler for you.

As a report creator, you can locate the different items required to create a report. You can also link them or easily establish relationships with them. And the data item owners can see the utilization of their data sets across multiple Power BI reports.

As you have understood the steps to learn Power BI, let’s now look at some paid and free courses to accelerate your Power BI learning progress.

Where to Learn Power BI for Data Analysis?

Here are some powerful online training courses to start learning Power BI.

How Much Time Does It Take to Learn Power BI from Scratch?

To learn power BI it takes around 6-8 weeks or 2 months around. The range is not fixed as it depends on the individual capability to learn Power BI. If you can grasp the concepts faster and spend more time on the course, you’ll finish learning faster than others. Whereas, if you’ve less free time for dedicated learning and no previous experience with data analytics tools, you might need more time to learn.

But wait, there is more! Do you want to learn more things about BI tools? If so, check the following articles written on Power BI to gain more knowledge.

Conclusion

It’s easier said than done, hence the detailed guide. The onus is on you to practice and master the Power BI tools. The online courses attached to the blog will help you master the foundational elements of the Power BI business intelligence tool. As you grow, you will need more relevant courses for niche work, so you are able to create advanced data analytics reports.