Learn how to Get & Transform Data to Prepare Interactive Dashboards with Power BI.
We now live in a world of data.
Just about every action we take in our daily lives is recorded. Activities like taking a walk with our Fitbit, checking Facebook, replying to email, navigating with our phone, and shopping online all create data.
We are responsible for creating enormous amounts of data every day. The companies we work for also create tons and tons of data. We have data about customers, vendors, competitors, employees, finances, and more.
We typically have more data than we know what to do with. It might feel like a good problem to have, but all this abundance can be overwhelming.
So, what do we do with all this data?
Power BI to the Rescue
If you are a data lover and/or an Excel geek like me, then you are in luck! 🙂
Microsoft has created one of the coolest business intelligence tools for working with data. This tool is called Power BI, and it is revolutionizing the way we think about data.
Power BI enables us to:
- Bring data together from multiple sources including Excel, databases (SQL, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, Dynamics, Facebook, etc.), the web, and more.
- Clean and transform the data to create relationships between data tables.
- Create interactive reports and dashboards that are accessible on any device including computers, phones, tablets, and even Apple Watch.
The reports can be refreshed anytime with new data, and we can also schedule refreshes to happen automatically.
Power BI is the future of how we will analyze, present, and share data. It's an amazing new tool that provides us with a lot of opportunities.
A Data Analyst's Dream
As Excel users, we are fortunate to be living through this revolution. Thousands of companies have already started adopting Power BI as their business intelligence solution.
Power BI uses Excel technologies we are familiar with like Power Query and PowerPivot. It combines these awesome tools and adds an incredible charting and visualization layer on top. This provides a beautiful interactive experience for the end-user to discover new insights about our data.
The best part is that Power BI is absolutely FREE. This includes:
- The Power BI Desktop App that we can use to connect to our data sources, transform our data, and build our dashboard reports.
- We then upload (sync) the report books to the PowerBI.com service to share with our co-workers. The dashboards can be viewed on any device.
This means you can download Power BI today, if you haven't already, and get started learning this tool.
The Power BI Dashboards & Data Online Course
I have created an online course to help you on this journey to learn Power BI. In this course, you are going to learn how to get & transform data from multiple sources and create interactive reports & dashboards in Power BI.
You will learn how to create this interactive dashboard for Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, one of the largest resorts in California.
For this dashboard, we bring data into Power BI from many different sources.
- Snowfall weather history data from Mammoth's website.
- Facebook data for Mammoth and its top competitors.
- Calendar table to create relationships and time trends based on a fiscal year calendar.
- Excel data with sales transactions and map locations.
I walk through each of these data sources and explain how to transform the data into a format that can be used to create reports and visualizations.
We also create relationships between the data sources so we can compare summarized data from multiple sources in the same visualization. This also allows us to cross-filter or apply filters to all visualizations from different sources.
Once the data is prepared, I explain how to create reports and visualizations (charts & graphs) in Power BI. This is the magic that makes Power BI interactive, and also a bit addicting. It's so fun to be able to explore your data in new ways that just weren't possible before.
Who Is This Course For?
This course is for the beginner to intermediate Power BI user that wants to learn new ways to transform, analyze, and visualize data from multiple sources.
Power BI is also a great tool for sharing our reports. We can upload our reports to the PowerBI service so anyone can access them from the web. If you are currently stuck in a process of emailing Excel and PowerPoint files on a periodic basis, then Power BI can help eliminate some of these manual processes.
Experience with Excel, Power Query, or Power Pivot is NOT required for this course, but you will find some of the concepts easier to understand if you have experience with these tools.
We start with a blank Power BI workbook and build an entire model, step-by-step, so you should be able to follow along regardless of your experience level.
Step-by-Step Training Made Easy
I use my simple step-by-step training method in this course to make it easy to learn and follow along. You will be able to watch the videos and build your own Power BI model at the same time.
This is an online course, so you can watch and re-watch the videos anytime you'd like, from any device with an internet connection. That means you can access the course from your work and home computer, iPad, tablet, and even your phone. You can also download the videos for offline viewing.
The course is comprised of short video lessons that are each about 5 minutes in length. This makes it easy to watch a video on a single topic and practice what you learn.
Each video lesson page in the course contains a comments section, so you can ask questions about the lesson. I am happy to help answer your questions. You will be able to see other students' questions as well, and it's a great way to learn from everyone.
What Others Are Saying
“What a wonderful class! My very favorite thing I learned from you was the map visualizations. Thanks to your help, I was able to create a map of my own production plant, with variable size bubbles placed right on the operating units associated with our turnaround project budget categories. I have blown several people away with that one for sure. And with Power BI in general.
Yesterday I created some tables in Excel using Power Query and Power Pivot, so that I can keep them updated during our turnaround. Then I wanted to test them in Power BI. I copied the queries from Excel to PBI, recreated the relationships, then created six visualizations. I know how long it took because I called my husband at 5:30 to tell him I would be a little late. I walked out of my office at 5:42. That is pretty amazing, and they are going make monitoring costs almost effortless.”
– Lynette L.
“Absolutely Great! I started and could (almost) not stop to play with the tables and the Power BI Desktop tool. Your course gives me a real good introduction and overview what the possibilities are.
Best wishes from Germany!”
– Karlheinz D.
Here's What You Are Going To Get
The course is comprised of 6 training modules. Each module contains 6 to 10 short videos on the topic.
Module 1: Get & Transform Data from the Web
In this first module, I explain how to get snowfall history data from Mammoth Mountain's website.
You will learn how to:
- Get data from a web page and bring it into Power BI.
- Work with different data types (text, numbers, dates).
- Unpivot or transpose data into a tabular format.
- Convert text strings to dates.
Module 2: Create a Calendar Tables & Relationships
Calendar tables are essential for creating relationships between data sources. In this module, I explain how to create a calendar table in Power BI.
I also explain how to create the table based on a Fiscal Calendar. Mammoth Mountain's ski season typically starts in November, so we create a fiscal calendar that starts and end in different months than a regular calendar.
You will learn how to:
- Create calendar table by invoking a function in Power BI.
- Calculate the fiscal year, quarter, and month columns.
- Create relationships between data sets.
- Modify calendar data types.
- Change the order of the months in visualizations to match the fiscal calendar.
Module 3: Get & Transform Facebook Data
Facebook is now used by just about every company in the world, large and small, to engage with customers and fans. This engagement creates a HUGE amount of data about our customers, vendors, competitors, and industry.
In this module, I explain how to get Facebook data in Power BI from Mammoth Mountain's Facebook page, and we explore some of the reasons their page is so popular.
You will learn how to:
- Get data from any Facebook page and bring it into Power BI
- Analyze the table that contains Facebook posts.
- Parse/extract dates and times from strings.
- Create relationships to the Calendar table.
- Filter data before loading to improve query performance.
- Analyze Facebook shares and likes data with visualizations.
Note: You do NOT need a Facebook account to complete this section. A CSV file that contains the data is also provided so you do not need to connect to Facebook.
Module 4: Get & Transform Excel Data
Power BI currently offers a lot of connectors to databases and CRMS like SQL Server, SAP, Oracle, Azure, Salesforce, Dynamics, and much more. Microsoft is adding new connectors all the time, and we will eventually be able to develop our own connectors to any data source.
If your database does not have a connector yet, then we can bring data in from our favorite tool, Excel. In this module, I explain how to prepare the data in Excel to bring it into Power BI.
You will learn how to:
- Get sales data from Excel Tables.
- Get geographic location data using Google Earth.
- Create relationships between multiple tables.
- Create map visualizations.
Module 5: Create Visualizations & Dashboards
Once we have all our data prepared and the relationships created, it's then time to create our reports, visualizations, and dashboards. This is the fun stuff!
In this module, I explain how to create different visualizations (charts & graphs) in the Power BI Desktop editor. We look at how to create a chart that compares data from different sources (tables). We also learn how to publish our reports to PowerBI.com to create interactive dashboards.
You will learn how to:
- How to create different visualizations and combo charts.
- The 3 filter levels and how to apply filters to our reports.
- The magical way to filter with Cross-Filtering.
- How to publish reports to PowerBI.com and create dashboards.
- The Q&A Feature on PowerBI.com
- How to share dashboards throughout your organization.
Module 6: Intro to DAX Measures (Advanced Calculations)
The true power of Power BI lies in it's calculation engine.
DAX is the name of the formula language we use to write Measures in Power Pivot & Power BI. It's similar to formulas in Excel, but allows us to create calculations across related tables. This helps us analyze & present data in new ways.
You will learn:
- An overview of the DAX formula language
- The difference between Calculated Columns and Measures (when to use each)
- How to write DAX formulas that lookup data from Related tables.
- How formulas calculate against Filter & Row context.
- The CALCULATE function (think SUMIFS on steroids).
- Time Intelligence functions for YTD, running total, and YoY comparisons.
- How to visualize these calculations with charts and visuals.
This module also contains a fun challenge assignment for you to recreate a visual from a magazine article.
Some Awesome Bonuses Just for You
Bonus #1: Power BI Companion Files
You will be able to download all the Power BI Desktop (.pbix) files I use throughout the course. You can also start from a blank workbook, and follow along to build out your own reports and dashboards. The companion files make it easy to check and compare your work.
Bonus #2: The Best Course Site
The course site is very easy to use. It tracks your progress for you, allowing you to come back right where you left off. This keeps you organized and helps you focus your time on learning.
You can access the course anytime, from any device. Watch the videos on any tablet or smartphone.
Bonus #3: Comments Section on Every Lesson Page
Each page in the course has a comments section. You can ask questions here and also see what other students in the community are asking. I will be here answering your questions and helping you along the way.
About Your Instructor
Hi, my name is Jon Acampora and I am your instructor for this course.
I have been using Excel for over 10 years as a financial analyst and systems developer. Over that time I have become passionate about learning Excel and finding the fastest and most efficient ways to accomplish a task.
My interests in Excel cover a broad range of topics from data visualization to application development. I have developed dozens (if not hundreds) of VBA applications and add-ins.
I have been awarded the Microsoft MVP Award for my contributions to the Excel community and for helping others learn.
More than anything, I really enjoy teaching you these skills and techniques to help you work efficiently and get your job done faster! I am always happy to help answer questions, and I'm here to support you on your journey to learn Excel (and impress your boss).
How Much Does The Course Cost?
Right now you can get lifetime access to the Power BI Dashboards & Data Course for just $49.
The price is normally $199, but you are going to save 75% with our limited-time special offer.
This is an online video course, which means you can watch the videos anytime you want, in the comfort of your own home or office. It is much more affordable and convenient than a live training seminar where we would meet in person.
Online courses are a great way to learn because you can pause the videos as often as you want to follow along and build the dashboards as you learn. This gives you hands-on experience to help improve your skills at a rapid pace.
Plus, you get lifetime access to the course so you can come back and watch or re-watch the videos any time in the future.
You can access the course from your work computer, home computer, tablet, smartphone or any device with a web browser.
There's no risk with my 30-day Money-Back Guarantee
My goal is to help you learn Power BI so you can bring your data to life by creating amazing dashboards. These skills will allow you to easily share your work across the organization, and help you gain exposure with top management.
I want you to love this course and use it as a resource for continued learning. If you take the course and are not satisfied with what you learned, you can get a full refund.
There are no hoops to jump through. If you're not smiling, then I want to know about it.
What Do I Need to Get Started – FAQs?
The Free Power BI Application
The Power BI Desktop Application is a free download from Microsoft. It is currently available for Windows and should work on any PC.Â
There is also a paid version called Power BI Pro that includes more advanced sharing and collaboration features.
However, you only need the free version of Power BI for the lessons in this course.
This eliminates the barrier to entry and allows you to start using Power BI immediately. Your company does NOT have to go through a big purchase, approval, and implementation process before you start using Power BI.
Microsoft is taking the opposite approach here and wants you to get hooked on the amazing features of Power BI, like I did. 😉
Note: If you're on Mac you can use Parallels or Boot Camp to run Windows.
Which version of Excel do I need?
For Power BI you don't technically need Excel at all. It is a standalone application for Windows.
One of the reasons Microsoft made Power BI a stand-alone application is so that you don't need to wait until your company updates Office/Excel to start using it.
With that said, you can publish your Excel reports to Power BI using the Power BI Publisher Add-in from Microsoft. The add-in works on Excel 2007 and later (including Office 365 for Windows). You do NOT need this add-in to use Power BI, it can just make some processes easier if you already have reports built in Excel.
Do I need to know Power Query and Power Pivot before starting this course?
No. The course covers how to use these tools within the Power BI application.
Power BI uses Power Query and Power Pivot, just like Excel. So the menus and editors will look familiar if you have used these tools in Excel.
If you haven't used the Power tools yet, then this course will be a great introduction. You will also be able to apply the skills and techniques from the course to Excel.
This is one of the many benefits of learning Power BI if you are an Excel user. The transition is much easier because both applications use the same technologies.
How long is the course?
The course is just over 5 hours of video in total. This is divided up into categories (modules) and lessons. Each video lesson is short, about 5-10 minutes in length.Â
You can come back and re-watch the videos any time. The course site tracks your progress. It is accessible on any device (computer, tablet, phone) and is very easy to use.
You will get a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course that you can add to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or hang on your wall.
Get Me Started Already!
Here's what you need to do to get started. Click the Enroll Now button.
- Fill out the secure payment form. You will also create an account for the Excel Campus Members Area.
- The payment will be confirmed within a few seconds and you will get immediate access to the course.
All the modules and videos I discussed are there, and I will be in the comments section answering your questions. Watch the welcome video to get an overview of the course and how to use the course site.
Again, I want to thank you for joining me on this journey and I look forward to seeing you on the inside… Please click the button below to get started right away.
Join today and get lifetime access for just $49 USD