In this blog, let’s understand How to learn Power BI step by step in a pragmatic manner from the experts.
Following the suggestions shared here, our participants have doubly doubled their success in learning Power BI. Freshers were able to lay a foundation before preparing for Power BI and experienced personnel were able to switch their careers following the correct advice.
What is Power BI?
Power BI is a business analytics service that enables users to visualize their data, track their business performance, and share insights.
It offers a variety of features, including data visualization tools, reporting and dashboarding, collaboration and sharing, and more.
Power BI is a self-service BI tool that doesn’t require any coding knowledge and is simply a drag-and-drop data visualization builder. If you worry about learning to code, relax, learning this tool will be easier than you can ever imagine
From a developer’s perspective, you should master Power BI by understanding how to author, model and publish Power BI reports. Sharing these reports with your team members is also an important step to learning in this process.
Key Focus Areas
If you are willing to learn Power BI and are really serious about it then the following is the path and components you need to learn.
Power BI Desktop – This is where you start laying the foundation of building the data model, authoring your reports, assigning roles etc. M Query and DAX are part of this process and you may want to learn them as well. Refer to the prerequisites section to understand what else you need to get started.
Power BI Service – Power BI Service is a cloud-based business intelligence service that enables users to create and share dashboards and reports. It provides a variety of built-in connectors to connect to data sources, as well as tools to create custom visualizations. Users can share dashboards and reports with other users, or embed them in websites or applications.
This is where you publish your report after developing them in Power BI Desktop.
Power BI Report Server – Power BI Report Server is an on-premises report server, which is an alternative to the Power BI service. Many organizations prefer this that are very much concerned about their data privacy This is a completely different, minimalistic server for deploying and sharing your reports. You may require this in your project but not mandatory to learn.
This is again a place to publish your report when you are not using Power BI Service.
How long does it take to learn Power BI?
Power BI is an easy tool that can be learned relatively quickly. It should not take more than two weeks or at most a month. This timeline is for those who dedicate time to learning this tool every single day. Experts say that working on this tool every day is more than enough to understand the nitty gritty of the tool.
Ambarishan, a Power BI Trainer and a data visualization expert says
I was able to learn Power BI within two weeks and my prior knowledge on data modelling concepts, SQL and Excel exposure really helped comprehend this tool easily.
– Ambarishan, Power BI Trainer and a data visualization expert
Get started with DataNPie’s training program and master Power BI.
Pre-requisites for learning Power BI
There are a few prerequisites for learning Power BI. First, you should be familiar with basic Excel concepts such as formulas, charts, and tables. Additionally, you should have a basic understanding of data concepts such as columns, rows, and fields. If you don’t have any experience with Excel or data, you may want to take a course or read a book on those topics before starting with Power BI.
Additionally, it is helpful to be familiar with data visualization concepts – what charts to use and when? A basic understanding of DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is also beneficial. DAX is not something new in Power BI, they are the derivations from MS Excel formulas and functions.
For absolute beginners, learning Power BI is easy if you can understand the fundamentals of Excel, SQL, Data Modelling and Dimension Modelling concepts. These are the foundation of this tool.
DAX – Data Analysis Expression
One of the most feared topics while learning Power BI is DAX – Data Analysis Expression. But this can relatively be easy and interesting if you only know how to approach the formula. DAX is any simple combination or functions/formula that you may have already used in Excel. This formula language slightly differs in syntax within Power BI. Hence this should be easy to learn with some learning curve to it.
The best resource to learn DAX is the DAX Documentation from Microsoft itself. Microsoft’s quick updates to the documentation page make this recommended.
If you are an avid reader and love books below are some DAX guides for you. Please keep in mind that this information may become outdated when a new function is introduced in Power BI or when an existing function expires. So always refer to the documentation link to stay up to date with the list of functions in DAX.
DAX has its own learning curve. DAX is not easy but can be simple to learn. It would be difficult to manage and work on Power BI tool without learning DAX.
-DataNPie
| Description | Title |
| My book recommendation for DAX | The Definitive Guide to DAX |
| PL-300 Prep Guide | PL-300 Certification Prep Guide |
Should you learn M Query?
For novices, it is best to avoid diving into M Query and instead focus on DAX as much as possible. They have their own unique purpose within Power BI.
M Query can be used to modify data before it is loaded into the Power BI data model. This can be useful for cleaning up data, or for adding calculations that are not available in the data source.
DAX appears after the data is loaded into Power BI and allows you to make the most of your data by creating columns and calculations that are relevant to your research.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Power BI is a simple drag-and-drop report builder. It does have some formula language (DAX, M Query) otherwise 80% of the work gets done using the user interface available in Power BI.
SQL knowledge will come in handy as every organization has moved to some kind of database where they store their entire data. If you are a real beginner this won’t be a show stopper. But eventually, you will have to learn this anyways.
Power BI Desktop is completely free for now. You can download it and install it. Microsoft only charges you if you opt for Power BI service, a Pro or a Premium license.
Conclusion
Hope you understood the path how to learning Power BI. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to share your comments below.