Power BI Desktop Fundamentals (2 Day)

Course Overview

To take part in this course, you will need to have Power BI Desktop installed and updated to the latest version of the software. Either the free version or the Premium paid version is fine - however, if you would like to use Power BI to publish reports securely to your organisation, you will need the Premium version. This course is for PC users only — Power BI is not currently available on Mac.

What you will learn

By the end of this two-day workshop you will be able to:

• Create a data model by importing data from various sources
• Use the query editor to clean and transform data
• Insert calculated columns using “M” functions
• Understand and manage data relationships
• Create and edit hierarchies
• Create an interactive drill through report with charts, tables and slicers
• Create and edit Measures (DAX aggregate functions)
• Publish your Power BI report

If you want to expand your knowledge after taking this course, please see our one-day Power BI Desktop Next Steps course.

Course Timetable

Day One

Session 1

The workshop begins at 9.30am and starts with an introduction to self-service business intelligence and the Power BI suite of tools:

• Brief overview of the tools
  • Power BI Service, Power BI Desktop & Power BI Mobile
  • Comparison with Excel Power Query and Power Pivot tools
• Overview of the various types of data that can be imported into Power BI
• Preview of the example report we will create during the training

Session 2

During the first morning we will explore the desktop interface and become familiar with connecting to different data sources whilst creating our first interactive example report:

• Desktop interface: Report, Data and Model views, Visualizations panel, etc
• Connecting to various data sources and understanding the difference between Direct Query and importing data
• Using Query Editor to profile the data (check distinct and unique values, etc) then clean and filter data, such as removing rows, find and replacing values, splitting data into separate columns
• Editing, renaming and deleting the applied steps
  • Creating calculated columns including the Column by example tool
• Formatting chart visualisations including adding data labels and hiding axis
• Formatting table and matrix visualisations including applying conditional formatting
• Saving a pbix file

Session 3

During the first afternoon we will understand how to refresh data and deal with common issues such as source data being renamed, moved and changed. We will then focus on how best to design a report:

• Applying a theme
• Including text boxes, shapes, a company logo and a background
• Working with Filters (including slicers, field filters, Top N, page filters v report filters)
• Creating drill through pages
• Using the selection pane effectively
• Turning interactions (cross high lighting) on or off
• Grouping visualisations

Session 4

We will create our first DAX measures.

Day Two

Session 1

To start the second day, we will learn more about modelling data in Power BI:

• Append, merge and reference queries
• Building the Data Model by creating relationships between the different data sources
• Creating calculated columns in the model v. Power Query
• Creating and using hierarchies
• Using Enter Data to create a parameter table

Session 2

An important focus of day two is the creation of a Date Table

• Change setting for auto dates
• Create a date table using ‘M’
• Sorting columns correctly (date order rather than alphabetically)
• Date hierarchy drill down charts
• Create active and inactive relationships between the date table and your transaction data
• Relative date slicers

Session 3

We will continue learning DAX:

• Understanding Implicit and Explicit Measures
• Organising your measures into one ‘folder’
• Creating some useful DAX functions including
  • COUNTX and COUNTROWS
  • CALCULATE with USERELATIONSHIP
  • SELECTEDVALUE and ISFILTERED
• Using DAX aggregate functions in visualizations
• Using DAX measures to create custom report titles

Session 4

We will finish the workshop by considering how to share the report:

• Save as PDF
• Overview of publishing to Power BI Service workspace and viewing your published report

A full PDF manual is provided, together with follow up exercises so that you can continue your learning. 

Please contact us if you require a condensed one-day workshop for your organisation.

The Small Print

To take part in this course, you will need to have Power BI Desktop installed and updated to the latest version of the software. Either the free version or the Premium paid version is fine - however, if you would like to use Power BI to publish reports securely to your organisation, you will need the Premium version. This course is for PC users only — Power BI is not currently available on Mac.

For Live Online Interactive Learning sessions (webinars)

The course will run remotely for two full days between 9:30 – 16:30.

All learners will need to install Zoom on their machines. Full technical requirements are on the Zoom website. Your link will be included in your joining instructions once you have booked your place — if you haven't received this email then please contact our team.

Learners should log into the training session 10 minutes before the start time to ensure that they have downloaded and set up Zoom correctly. The course will start precisely on time and it may not be possible to go back over material missed by late arrivals.

Your active participation is expected: everyone will be heard and seen throughout, just as they would be if we were in a room together. To be heard, hear and seen you will need a microphone, speakers and camera – if you have a modern laptop that’s all you will need. Remember, you’ll need a quiet place to call from and a decent internet connection is a must.

Please ensure you read our Terms and Conditions before booking for our payment terms and cancellation policy.

For classroom sessions

All public classroom sessions take place at Happy's HQ in London at Robert Dolan House, 9 Alie Street, London E1 8DE. Please see our Contact Us page for full directions and a PDF map.

This course will run from 10am to 4:45pm (lunch is served 1pm to 1:45pm — we offer a choice of 3 cold bowl dishes) on both days. Please be careful to arrive by 9:45am for registration and refreshments. The course will start precisely on time and it may not be possible to go back over material missed by late arrivals. If you arrive over 30 minutes late you may be asked to leave and attend another day.

Please ensure you read our Terms and Conditions before booking for our payment terms and cancellation policy.

The happy Guarantee

We want everyone to go away from our courses feeling as though they have learnt useful, practical skills that they can use straight away when they go back to work.

If you don’t feel that your training has been useful or if you are unhappy in any way, please get in touch with our Customer Services team within 30 days of the course. We will be happy to offer you additional support and training free of charge to help you to gain the skills you need, or if you’d prefer, a full refund.

If you have any questions or concerns, our friendly team are available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. You can leave a message on 020 7375 7300 or email us at hello@happy.co.uk.