7 min read
8 Things You Should Know Before You Start with Power BI
Although Power BI is known as one of the easier BI tools to get started with, there are still a number of things that are handy to know before you dive in. A number of Reddit users thought so too, resulting in a substantial Reddit thread with important tips. Based on these points, we've collected 8 things that, according to Power BI users, you really need to know before you get started.
#1 Power BI doesn't make "bad data" better
Power BI is very good at visualizing data, but if the quality of the data isn't good, Power BI can't change anything about that. Research by Gartner from 2017 also shows that bad data is a major problem. It found that a company loses an average of 15 million dollars due to poor data quality. This shows up in, among other things, lower customer and employee satisfaction, increased costs, and poor decision-making. [1]
Poor data quality is often found to be caused by poor or completely absent data management. Think of: poor data verification, no documentation of complexity between systems, no data definitions, and a lack of work instructions. A tool that can help a great deal with this is TimeXtender. TimeXtender is a Data Management Platform used for centrally collecting and managing data and business logic.
Want to know more about TimeXtender in combination with Power BI? We'll soon be offering a webinar on this topic. Stay up to date on the exact date of this webinar by signing up for our newsletter via this link.
#2 Power BI is NOT Excel
Perhaps one of the most important things to know is that Power BI is not the same as Excel. Power BI is a much more powerful program than Excel, and it's crucial to respect the differences between the two programs. So don't try to do the same thing in Power BI that you'd normally do in Excel.
With Power BI you have far more possibilities than in Excel. Another major advantage is that Power BI automates a great many processes, saving you time compared to Excel. Want to know more about why Power BI is better than Excel? Read the blog "7 Reasons Why Power BI Is a Better BI Tool Than Excel".
#3 Power BI refreshes your data automatically
A remark often made by Power BI users is that at first they didn't know Power BI automatically refreshes your data. This is an option that seems fairly obvious once you already know about it, but is nonetheless quickly overlooked by beginners. It also naturally doesn't happen if you don't set it up.
Because if you don't know that option exists, you might well keep refreshing your data manually yourself, while Power BI can do this very easily for you! You can set exactly when Power BI does this, which day, what time, etc. This makes it possible to have your data refreshed 8x per day, per dataset. Below you can see an example of how to set this up.
#4 The difference between a Dashboard, Report, and App
One of the things that often still causes some confusion is the difference between a Dashboard, a Report, and an App within Power BI. This is good to understand when you're just starting with the program, since the three are quite similar to each other.
Let's start with the Report. A Report is built based on a dataset. Data visualizations are then created from that dataset. So all the data visualizations in a report are based on a single dataset.
With a Dashboard, on the other hand, it works a bit differently. Within a single Dashboard, different 'tiles' (data visualizations) from different Reports can appear. So it's entirely possible that in a Dashboard you have one tile from the HR Report and one tile from the Marketing Report. These therefore each have a different dataset. When you click on one of the tiles, the corresponding Report opens.
Finally, there are Apps. These actually fall into a completely different category, because Apps are about sharing Dashboards and Reports. These are, as it were, bundled together into a single App. You can find these under the App tab; Apps are generally only meant for viewing. The advantage of Apps is that before you update an App, you have the option to first test your Dashboard or Report. You can then update this data in the App as well.
#5 Learn Power Query
Power BI users often recommend understanding Power Query before you start working with the program.
Power Query is part of the Data Connectivity and Data Preparation technology and makes it possible for users to seamlessly import and 'reshape' data. This makes it possible to adjust your data according to your needs in a user-friendly, no-code way.
With the Power Query Editor it's possible to apply more than 300 different data transformations by previewing the data beforehand and selecting the transformations within the user experience. This makes it possible to transform data from all data sources, regardless of the underlying limitations of the data source.
#6 Take a beginner's course
A commonly heard tip from the Power BI community is to take a beginner's course in advance. These courses often only last half a day, and in a short time you'll learn the fundamentals of Power BI. You'll also be in groups with other beginners, so plenty of questions get asked that you can learn from too.
At E-mergo you can also take such a beginner's course, and it's completely free and online. It's organized regularly and gives you the opportunity to get off to a flying start with Power BI. Click here to sign up.
#7 Learn to model with a Star Schema
An important part of getting started with Power BI is modeling your data. A Star Schema is one such modeling method that's very popular among Power BI users. Because before you start building your dashboard, it's of course important to look at the data model.
That data model contains all the data you've imported from various sources. This data is then structured into different tables and supplemented with extra calculations. The data model determines which charts and visualizations you can include in the dashboard. The data in the data model consists of 'fact' tables and 'dimension' tables. The difference between the two is that, for example, if you want to know the revenue per product group per year, the fact is the revenue, and the dimensions are the product group and the year.
This is exactly where the Star Schema comes into play: in this model, you arrange things so that the 'fact table' is at the center, surrounded by the 'dimension tables'. This literally creates the shape of a star, hence the name. Below you can see an example of the model.
#8 Learn the basics of DAX
Power BI is a very powerful "drag-and-drop" tool that lets you quickly build a first dashboard by dragging data visualizations onto it. But if you want to dive deeper into an analysis or "customize" variables, you'll come into contact with DAX. DAX, Data Analysis Expressions, is a formula expression language used in, among others, Power BI and Excel. DAX is used to build analyses and add formulas and calculations to your Power BI reports. Although the language is also used in Excel, its use in Power BI is quite different. Differences include the fact that in Excel you refer to cells when creating formulas, while in Power BI you work with rows and columns (tables). Users often describe DAX as a "must-know" when you start working with the program.
Want to learn more about DAX? Microsoft currently offers a training in which you take your first steps with DAX. You can follow the training via this link.
Want to learn more about Power BI?
After these tips, do you feel like learning even more about Power BI? You can! At E-mergo, we offer a monthly free Power BI course for beginners. The next one is coming up on May 28, and you can sign up via the link below. The training takes place online via Microsoft Teams.