Learn Microsoft Power BI: A comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide to real-world business intelligence

Harness the power of Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, and Copilot to deliver insights that drive enterprise success. Now includes downloadable PowerPoint slides for each chapter and exclusive video tutorials in both classic and preview Power BI interfaces, ideal for educators and self-learners.

Key Features

• Learn Power BI from the ground up with real-world examples that cover both basic and advanced features
• Develop powerful analytical models and reports that extract key business insights
• Publish, share, and collaborate on reports, dashboards, apps, and goals
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Everyone’s swimming in data. The ones who thrive? They know how to make sense of it with the right tools quickly and effectively. Learn Microsoft Power BI, Third Edition is your essential guide to mastering one of the most powerful platforms for data analysis and visualization. In this newly revised and expanded edition, Greg Deckler, a 7-time Microsoft MVP and Power BI expert, takes you on a journey of data exploration and discovery using Microsoft Power BI to ingest, cleanse, and organize data and uncover key business insights that can be shared effectively.

Covering the latest features and interface changes, including Microsoft Fabric and Copilot, this book guides you through deploying, adopting, and governing Power BI within your organization. You’ll get to grips with the fundamentals of business intelligence projects and learn how to leverage your expertise in the broader Power BI ecosystem. From ingesting and cleansing your data to transforming it into stunning visualizations, reports, and dashboards that speak to business decision-makers, this book will fully prepare you to become the data analysis hero of your organization or kickstart a rewarding career in business intelligence.

What you will learn

• Understand the fundamentals of Microsoft Fabric and Copilot
• Plan and manage your business intelligence projects
• Connect to and transform data using Power Query
• Create semantic models and DAX calculations optimized for analysis and reporting
• Uncover business insights and design professional reports
• Deploy and govern Power BI, with a focus on gateways and deployment pipelines

Who this book is for

If you're a data analyst, IT manager, or BI user new to employing Power BI for solving business intelligence problems, this book is for you. It’s also a valuable resource for those looking to migrate from other BI tools and create powerful and interactive dashboards. No experience with Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, or Copilot is required.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Business Intelligence and Power BI
2. Planning Projects with Power BI
3. Up and Running with Power BI Desktop
4. Connecting to and Transforming Data
5. Creating Semantic Models and Calculations
6. Unlocking Insights
7. Creating the Final Report
8. Publishing and Sharing
9. Using Reports in the Power BI Service
10. Understanding Dashboards, Apps, Metrics, and Security
11. Refreshing Content
12. Deploying, Governing, and Adopting Power BI
13. Working with Microsoft Fabric and Copilot
14. Putting Your Knowledge to Use

Greg Deckler is a seven-time Microsoft MVP for Data Platform and an active member of the Columbus Ohio IT community, having founded the Columbus Azure ML and Power BI User Group (CAMLPUG) and presented at many conferences and events throughout the country. An active blogger and community member interested in helping new users of Power BI, Greg actively participates in the Power BI community, having authored over 200 Power BI Quick Measures Gallery submissions and over 7,500 authored solutions to community questions. Greg is also vice president at a global consulting firm.