Book Image

Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Certification Guide

By : Orrin Edenfield, Edward Corcoran
5 (1)
Book Image

Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Certification Guide

5 (1)
By: Orrin Edenfield, Edward Corcoran

Overview of this book

Microsoft Power BI enables organizations to create a data-driven culture with business intelligence for all. This guide to achieving the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification will help you take control of your organization's data and pass the exam with confidence. From getting started with Power BI to connecting to data sources, including files, databases, cloud services, and SaaS providers, to using Power BI’s built-in tools to build data models and produce visualizations, this book will walk you through everything from setup to preparing for the certification exam. Throughout the chapters, you'll get detailed explanations and learn how to analyze your data, prepare it for consumption by business users, and maintain an enterprise environment in a secure and efficient way. By the end of this book, you'll be able to create and maintain robust reports and dashboards, enabling you to manage a data-driven enterprise, and be ready to take the PL-300 exam with confidence.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1 – Preparing the Data
6
Part 2 – Modeling the Data
11
Part 3 – Visualizing the Data
15
Part 4 – Analyzing the Data
18
Part 5 – Deploying and Maintaining Deliverables
21
Part 6 – Practice Exams

Create a common date table

Date tables are awesome. We already discussed them briefly in the Define role-playing dimensions section, but now we will talk more about them.

Many, if not most, reports have a date-based aspect to them. "How many widgets did I sell last month?" followed by "Was that better than the previous month?" or "How about the same month last year?" are common questions asked about our data. A date table will help you answer these questions.

You have two options for creating date tables.

Power BI date hierarchy tables

You can let Power BI look for every date column in your model and create a hidden hierarchy table for every column. This will allow you to use those hierarchies when you want to be able to report by day, month, quarter, or year. You can also use these hierarchies in quick measures, slicers, or filters. All you must do is use the date column in your report; Power BI takes care of the rest using the hidden table...