An introduction to Power BI

Create visuals, manipulate data using Power Query, and host your reports and dashboards on Power BI Service.

This course will introduce you to Microsoft Power BI — one of the world’s most powerful business intelligence and data visualization tools. Whether you're a complete beginner or looking to sharpen your reporting skills, this hands-on course will guide you through the essential tools and concepts of Power BI.

We’ll start by off with Power BI Desktop.

• We'll look at how you can download it for free.

• You’ll learn how to connect to data sources such as Microsoft Excel, create your first visualizations, and use aggregate functions to explore your data.

• We’ll also examine different visualization controls and how features like AI Insights can help you detect trends and anomalies.

• You’ll also see how to filter data effectively and start building compelling reports.

Next, we’ll take a closer look at data preparation using the Power Query Editor.

• You’ll load queries, clean and transform your data, and even combine multiple sources.

• We’ll walk through the Reports, Data, and Model tabs inside Power BI Desktop and learn how to design a clean, intuitive data layout.

Finally, we’ll move on to the Power BI Service, which runs in any modern web browser.

• You’ll learn how to publish reports, understand Power BI terminology like semantic models, dashboards, and workspaces, and how the Desktop and Service experiences differ.

• After that, we’ll build dashboards in the Power BI Service, including how to add visuals using natural language with Q&A.

• You’ll learn how to work with shared datasets, template apps, and even explore the concept of paginated reports.

• Finally, we’ll explore how to view Power BI content on mobile apps and through various report-sharing options.

The Power BI course comes complete with regular practise activities, quizzes and a practice activity to support your learning along the way. By the end of the course, you will be much more confident about using Power BI, and create your own visuals, data analysis, and dashboards.

Once you have completed this course, you will have a good introductory knowledge of Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service, and how you create visuals and manipulate data.

So, without any further ado, let's have a look at how you can use the Udemy interface, and then we'll have a look at the objectives for the exam and therefore the syllabus for this course.