We list several simple capabilities in this blog post that are aimed at novice Power BI developers that we wish we had used earlier in my Power BI journey. Our goal is to help you understand the basics of Power BI, so you can make better reports. Learn these important ideas, and you’ll get much better at creating reports with Power BI.
Table of Contents
1: Make the Power Query Editor Your Best Friend
Analyze the structure of the data and make any required adjustments before importing it into Power BI. Where does the miracle of change take place? The Editor for Power Query! Microsoft’s data transformation and preparation engine is called Power Query, and its graphical user interface, Power Query Editor, allows you to alter and shape your data before importing it into Power BI.
Let’s explore the Query Editor:
- Ribbon – This is where you control everything. To access the different alteration tools, use the tabs at the top of the screen.
- Queries – A summary of all the questions you have.
- Data View: A functional example of the query’s data.
- Query settings – Each transformation that is done to the query is listed in the applied steps. To modify the step, click the gear icon; to delete it, click the ‘X’.
The following are some typical changes you may perform using the Query Editor:
• Modify the types of data
• Rearrange the columns
• Rename the columns
• Eliminate columns
• Make the top row the header.
· Utilize pre-existing logic to divide columns
• Include columns with conditions.
• Replace and filter values
• Combine or add tables.
• Columns that pivot and unpivot
You can appropriately shape your data so that it’s ready to be visualized by taking the time to understand how to change it in the Query Editor.
2: Column Profiling Makes It Easy to See Data Quality Issues
Three useful tools are available in the Power Query Editor for examining data quality and spotting problems. Column quality, column dispersion, and column profile are those three tools. To enable each, check the box in the Query Editor’s View tab.
Column Quality: Indicates the proportion of legitimate, empty, or error-filled rows in a column.
Column Distribution: Indicates how many different and unique values are there in a column. Bonus tip: A field can function as the main key for a table provided it contains the same number of different and unique values in all columns.
Column Profile: A bar chart illustrating the distribution of values in the column is provided together with other summary data in the column profile. This might be used, for instance, to determine the lowest and maximum values for numerical data or to determine which values for a dimension are present.
3: Don’t Let Data Modelling Terrify You
A Data Model: What Is It? The relationships between tables are defined by a data model. You must develop a strong data model to specify the connections between the data sources since you frequently import data from several sources. You may use Power Bi workday connector Desktop’s Model view on the left side navigation to access the data model.
How to build an effective data model? Let’s see an illustration of a data model from a major online seller of kitchen supplies.
One fact table, Sales, “looks up” to many dimension tables, including Products, Customer Type, Regions, and Calendar. A many-to-one connection is used to link each lookup table with a linked field to the Sales table. One Product Key instance in the Products database, for instance, is related to several Product Key instances in the Sales tables.
4: Use Quick Measures to Get Off to the Races
Use Quick Measures if you’re not too familiar with DAX (Data Analysis Expression), which is Power BI’s formula language. You may generate measures like rolling average, running total, MoM change, YTD, QTD, MTD total, and more by simply dragging and dropping data into Quick Measures!
Either from the top ribbon or by selecting the three ellipses in the Fields pane adjacent to a table, you may access Quick Measures. After that, you may drag and drop fields into the appropriate locations using the Quick Measures interface. Netsuite Power BI automatically generates the DAX syntax when you build a Quick Measure. As you begin to ramp up your DAX study, this is an excellent method to begin utilizing measurements.
5: Use Formatting to Turn Your Charts from Boring to Awesome
Adding some design tweaks and changing the default formatting is one method to make your reports and visualizations stand out! While there is nothing wrong with utilizing the default style, Power BI offers several integrated formatting choices that can help you enhance the quality of your reports. My best formatting advice is as follows:
1. To adjust the report theme as a whole, use the theme editor located on the View tab.
2. Add a backdrop picture or alter the color of the report page’s background. To access the page formatting, click the blank area in the report canvas and use the paintbrush.
3. Disable the gridlines on the X and Y axis formatting for formatting at the visual level. Click on a visual to view all formatting choices available in the Visualizations window for formatting at the visual level.
4. Make use of unique colors. Change the chart’s color under the visualization formatting’s Data colors and Background parts. To create contrast, make your chart’s backdrop distinct from the report page’s. If your organization has a brand guide, consult it for guidance on which colors to employ. As a reference for color schemes, I also enjoy using the Adobe Color Wheel. The Site Palette Chrome extension, which allows you to extract colors from any website, is another tool that I like.
5. To create rounded margins, turn on the visualization Border and set the radius to 10.
6. To produce a “drop-shadow” effect, activate the visualization Shadow.
7. To swiftly apply formatting from one graphic to another, use the Format Painter.
In summary, we’ve covered five important parts of Power BI: Power Query Editor, formatting, Quick Measures, data modeling, and data profiling. Focus on these areas to improve your Power BI skills. We hope this knowledge helps you get better at using Power BI!
