Data is an indispensable asset for every organization. Businesses constantly try to figure out advanced ways to evaluate them for making wise decisions. The Power BI Desktop from Microsoft is the most prevalent tool for analyzing and visualizing information. Therefore, the Power BI online course is the right place to kick-start your journey to learn this tool. In this blog, we will collect insights about what is it and how is it helpful for businesses. 

What is Power BI Desktop?

It is a tool created by Microsoft for informational analytics and visualization. It helps its users to analyze the information asset from several sources that include, databases, Excel Spreadsheets, Cloud-based services, and on-premises sources. Thereby enabling its users for building interactive reports and various dashboards. Furthermore, its users can transform them into insightful knowledge to support the decision-making aspects of their businesses. 

How does the Power BI Desktop Function?

Connecting to numerous sources, including spreadsheets, databases, and web-based services, is how the tool operates. Once users are connected, they may integrate and alter informative entries from many sources to produce visualizations like tables, charts, and graphs. You can also design their computations and metrics by using the DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) language.

Benefits of Using Power BI Desktop

It offers several advantages, including some of the following:

  • Data Visualization: This provides a range of visualizations, including charts, tables, and graphs, to help businesses make sense of their collected information. Users can create dynamic dashboards and reports that can be customized to meet their needs.
  • Real-Time Data: It can connect to real-time sources of information like social networking sites and IoT gadgets, giving businesses access to the most recent analytics and insights.
  • Reports and Dashboards Sharing: Its users may share their reports and dashboards with other team members, facilitating collaboration and enabling enterprises to reach consensus quickly.
  • Mobility: Its customers can view their reports and dashboards using mobile devices from any location, making it simple to stay informed on the road.

Features of Power BI Desktop:

It offers numerous features:

  • Data Modeling: With the help of this, users may build models that can be applied to the creation of visualizations and insights.
  • Visualizations that can be Altered: It offers a variety of visualizations that can be altered to suit the requirements of enterprises.
  • Data Transformation: Its users can perform transformations on information collected from different sources to produce insightful information.
  • Collaboration Tools: It offers collaboration tools that enable groups to cooperate and reach educated conclusions.

How to Use Power BI Desktop?

You can easily use this tool  just by following these steps:

Getting Started with Power BI Desktop

Let’s first talk about how to get started with this tool before getting into the specifics of using it. The Microsoft website offers a free download. You can launch it and begin creating your first report after downloading and installing it.

Connecting to Data Sources

The initial phase of the report-creation process is connecting your sources of information. Excel files, SharePoint lists, SQL Databases, and several other sources to collect information are extensively supported in this tool. When you select the “Get Data” button on the Home Tab, it opens the “Get Data” dialogue box. Follow the on-screen instructions for entering the necessary details, like server, users, names, and passwords.  Finally, you can start importing the informative insights here, once a secured connection is successfully established to your source. 

Creating Visualizations

You may now begin building visualizations after connecting to your informational sources. Tables, charts, maps, and gauges are just a few visualization kinds available in this tool. Drag and drop fields from your data source onto the canvas to create a visualization. Next, choose the type of visualization you wish to use.

The formatting options on the Visualisations pane allow you to edit your visualization after you’ve produced it. For instance, you can alter your visualizations’ colors, typefaces, and styles to reflect your brand better or to draw attention to particular details points.

Creating Calculations and Measures

This advanced tool allows you to produce computations and measurements in addition to visualizations. Measures allow you to collect and summarise your information based on certain criteria, whereas calculations allow you to execute advanced mathematical operations on them.

To construct a calculation or measure, you can open the formula bar by selecting the “New Measure” option on the Home tab. You can insert the calculation or measure’s expression in the formula bar using the DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) language. Your calculation or measure can be included in your visualizations just like any other field once you’ve developed it.

Creating Relationships Between Tables

To split your information among several tables frequently it is important to establish connections between those tables. This is helpful in accurate visualizations and calculations. It is simple and quick to establish connections among tables using the connections view in this tool. 

If you want to switch to the relationships view to start a new relationship, click the “Manage Relationships” options present on the Home tab. In order to create a relationship between them, drag and drop fields from one table to another in the relationships view. 

Publishing Reports and Dashboards

Once you are done with creating your report or a dashboard with this, you can share it with others. Just publish it to the Power BI Service. Launch the public dialogue box by hitting the “Publish” button present on the Home tab. 

Conclusion

Power BI Desktop is a powerful application that allows businesses to acquire important insights from their informative collections. Teams can collaborate and make defensible judgments with ease thanks to its visualization and collaboration tools. Businesses can take advantage of this tool and boost their general effectiveness and productivity by comprehending what it is and how it functions.




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