By Gaurang Bhatt
In any organization, systems generate massive amounts of data in terabytes, petabytes, and, in some instances, exabytes.
Businesses evaluate this data to provide actionable insights (decisions), and the entire process is often referred to as business intelligence (BI).
It is obvious that the company’s performance is dependent on these business intelligence-driven decisions.
BI is a constantly evolving technology that is reshaping all businesses around the world.
BI services are incredibly beneficial in delivering personalized service to clients, and organizations are embracing all the capabilities this technology has to offer.
Power BI is one such solution that assists in making tough business decisions.
Are you someone interested to step in this field and learning “what does Microsoft Power BI do?”
Read ahead to uncover the answer to the question: Is Power BI easy to learn?
Contents
What Is Power BI?
Source: Power BI
Power BI is a business intelligence software application developed by Microsoft that offers tools to non-technical business users to aggregate, assess, visualize, and share data.
For Excel users, the user interface of Power BI is surprisingly easy.
Because of its strong integration with other Microsoft applications, it is a very flexible self-service tool that requires minimal basic training.
A free version of Microsoft Power BI is available for small to medium company owners, and a premium version called Power BI Plus is also accessible for a monthly subscription cost. Users can download Power BI Desktop for Windows 10, as well as native mobile applications for Windows, Android, and iOS systems.
Power BI Report Server is now available for businesses that need to keep their data and reports on-premises.
For businesses that should keep their data and analytics reports on-premises, there is also Power BI Report Server. That edition of Power BI necessitates a specific version of the desktop program, appropriately named Power BI Desktop for Power BI Report Server.
What Are Data Analysis Expressions?
Data Analysis Expressions, commonly known as DAX, is a collection of functions, constants, and operators developed by Microsoft. It is utilized in select BI and data visualization tools. Because the entire code is contained within the functions, DAX is also known as a functional language.
DAX is a data manipulation language that allows users to plan custom calculations used in calculated columns and calculated fields, as well as deal with relational data and perform dynamic aggregation. To put it another way, DAX allows users to generate new insights from data that already exist in their database.
DAX incorporates several of the same capabilities as Excel, so if you are experienced with the latter, you might find DAX more intuitive. It provides more versatility by allowing users to develop formulas that are executed row by row.
It’s worth noting that while DAX gives your data models more flexibility and strength, it also increases the likelihood of them being unnecessarily complex. Also, because DAX has a steep learning curve, make sure you want to use it before engaging.
Potential of Learning Power BI
Because Power BI is so comprehensive and loaded with powerful capabilities, it is used by professionals in a wide range of positions, including administrators, accountants, sales professionals, marketers, designers, and developers.
Power BI helps you make better decisions by minimizing the risk of failure and mitigating the challenges that come with it. The data processed by BI is available 24×7 for viewing and engagement from any location with mobile access. This useful feature allows you to access, analyze, and transmit real-time data anywhere and anytime.
Data security is a major concern these days, and Power BI allows users to track and control data usage and grant access only to those who need to be allowed to use it.
You don’t have to worry about internal technical support or other IT security factors. The Power BI dashboard allows you to adjust your usage efficiently and effectively. Power BI also gives you the flexibility to store your data in Microsoft’s cloud or securely behind your company’s firewall.
Basically, Power BI allows users to view real-time data anytime and anywhere, create reports based on this new information, and send specific datasets to the appropriate groups. Power BI uses the very popular Office 365 platform, so it’s quick and easy to make implementations using that interface.
It is also scalable; therefore, it can accommodate any company and handle capacity fluctuations, such as quick business expansion or unforeseen downsizing.
Is Power BI Easy to Learn?
Yes, Power BI is easy to learn!
Power BI offers a very simple and user-friendly interface. Power BI does not require any programming knowledge. It features built-in intelligence that assists you in determining parameters for your reports by recommending the appropriate reporting feature.
Connecting to the data source offers a very simple user interface (UI). After selecting a data source, you can choose elements for your reports with a simple drag and drop functionality.
How Long Does it Take to Learn Power BI?
If you are searching how much time it takes to learn Power BI, here is a quick answer for you.
It is easy to master Power BI in a month. For some, learning and mastering Power BI could also take up to 6 months. To give you an idea of the learning curve below is a simple breakdown:
- Learning how to download and install the Power BI Desktop tool could take you a day.
- Then, you’ll need approximately three days to learn how to acquire data from various sources.
- It may then take you three to four days to understand data transformation and implement calculated columns, measures, and quick measures or pre-built measures.
- You’ll need to spend another two or three days on data modeling, including relationships between those data.
- You’ll need three or four days to work with visualization.
- You may require at least 12 days to work efficiently with all of the DAX functions.
- It could take you a little more than a couple of days to learn and work with Power BI Service.
- At last, you need just a day for Power BI Gateway.
Now, as you know the answer to the question “is it easy to learn Power BI?”, are you wondering how to learn Power BI?
Here you go:
How to Learn Power BI like a Pro
As you should know, there are various resources available to help aspiring professionals learn Power BI. You can find Power BI learning resources ranging from basic information to Power BI interview guides. You can even evaluate what you’ve learned by taking this BI test.
For example, you can begin to learn power bi step by step in 4-hour from this basic course from Edureka.
Here’s a list of different ways with which you can master Power BI, whether you’re just getting started or want to sharpen up your knowledge:
- Guided learning resources from Microsoft
- Webinars hosted by Microsoft
- Joining the official online community of Power BI
- Training videos available on YouTube by Microsoft
- The official blog of the Power BI development team
- Power BI online courses offered by various e-learning platforms, websites, and companies
How to Use Power BI
When learning how to use Power BI, it’s important to begin by being acquainted with the tool’s many aspects.
Power BI includes the following:
- Power BI Desktop, which is the Windows desktop application
- Power BI Service, which is the online Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Mobile apps that are designed for Android, iOS, and Windows mobile devices
- Power BI Report Server, which is essential to publish your Power BI reports when you build them in Desktop
Users use Power BI Desktop to access the necessary data sources and create a report.
When the report is finalized, users publish it to the Power BI service, allowing end-users to view and interact with the data.
Career Options in Power BI
Because of Power BI’s adaptability and increasing popularity, an aspiring professional can pursue a career path from a range of options, such as
- Power BI developer
- Power BI software engineer
- Power BI business analyst
- Senior business intelligence analyst
- Power BI data analyst
Financial services, insurance, hiring and recruiting, IT, healthcare, and computer software are some known sectors that use Power BI.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is Power BI?
Power BI is a well-known and powerful BI and data visualization solution that is widely used today. Power BI includes a wide range of interactive dashboards and styles.
These aspects help to address the various demands of businesses for generating reports. They also help resolve the most pressing and critical queries by extracting relevant information from various data sources, whether organized or unstructured.
Is Power BI difficult to learn for a beginner?
No, Power BI is not at all difficult to learn. It is intended to be simple and intuitive for first-time users. Power BI also has robust functionalities for advanced users, and mastering these powerful features could be difficult for learners who have no prior BI experience. Learning, on the other hand, would be easier with persistent effort.
Is Power BI an affordable tool?
Power BI desktop is free, and users can create simple and complex reports and dashboards. Its professional licenses are reasonably priced (USD 10 per month).
Power BI includes a premium option for a wider audience that allows users to tailor the pricing based on utilization.
Is there any collaborative functionality in Power BI?
Power BI includes features for easy collaboration. In “app” workspaces, users can collaborate with their colleagues to generate interactive and dynamic reports and dashboards. Users can create applications out of dashboards and reports and share them with a bigger audience. Power BI makes it easy to share dashboards or reports with a small group of people, even via the mobile app.
The reports can be printed and exported as a PowerPoint presentation by the user. They can even publish analytics and dashboards to public websites that anybody can access and engage with.
Get Started with a Reliable Learning Program!
Since Power BI doesn’t require users to have prior technical knowledge, it is for sure one of the most simple and popular BI software available.
You can either get started with learning and exploring Power BI on your own, or you could register for a reliable learning program that teaches you Power BI with step-by-step guidance.
We hope this article aided you with all the relevant information you were looking for and satisfied your curiosity. Now, you know if it is easy to learn Power BI or not, and where to start learning.
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