Microsoft Power BI Step by Step

Are you ready to turn your data into powerful insights and make smarter business decisions? Microsoft Power BI Step by Step is your hands-on guide to mastering one of todays most in-demand business intelligence tools. Written by certified Power BI experts Nuric Ugarte and José Rafael Escalanteleaders in the Power BI community, with years of real-world consulting and teaching experiencethis book takes you from your very first steps in Power BI all the way to advanced data modeling, DAX calculations, and sharing interactive reports with your team. Whether youre a business analyst, data professional, Excel power user, or IT decision-maker, youll find clear, step-by-step instructions and practical exercises that make learning Power BI approachable and effective. Youll learn how to connect to a wide range of data sources, clean and transform your data, create stunning visualizations, and collaborate securely in the Power BI Service. Plus, youll discover how to use the latest features, including Copilot, to streamline your workflow and get answers faster. If you want to build your data skills, impress your organization, and unlock the full potential of Power BI, this is the book you need to get thereone step at a time.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction to Power BI
Practice files
Understand how Power BI fits into the BI ecosystem
    Explore Power BIs role within Microsoft Fabric
    What makes Power BI different from its competitors?
Identify the main components of Power BI
    Power BI Desktop: Building reports and models
    Power BI Service: Sharing and collaborating in the cloud
    Power BI Mobile: Access to data from any device
Recognize the key roles involved in working with Power BI
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Understand how Power BI fits into the BI ecosystem
    Identify the main components of Power BI
    Recognize the key roles involved in working with Power BI
Chapter 2 Setting up Power BI
Practice files
Install and set up Power BI Desktop
    Power BI Desktop installation options
    Start Power BI Desktop
Explore Power BI Desktop interface
    Main elements of the Power BI Desktop interface
Configure Power BI Desktop settings
    Recommended setup options
    Check your Power BI Desktop version
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Install and set up Power BI Desktop
    Explore Power BI Desktop interface
    Configure Power BI Desktop settings
Chapter 3 Importing data
Practice files
Explore Power Query Editor
    Discover Power Query interface
    Get Data in Power BI
Connect to common data sources
    Get data from Excel and CSV files
    Get data from folders
    Get data from relational data sources
    Get data from the web
    Get data from online services
Select the appropriate storage mode
    Comparison Table
Understand privacy levels
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Explore Power Query Editor
    Connect to common data sources
    Select the appropriate storage mode
    Understand privacy levels
Chapter 4 Transforming data with Power Query
Practice files
Understand Power Query
Recognize the role of data quality and cleansing
Define data types
Apply columnar transformations
    Fill missing content
    Remove duplicates
    Combine columns
    Extract text
    Replace values
    Column from examples
    Grouping data
Change table structures
    Unpivot
    Pivot Column
Combine and append tables
    Combining tables
    Appending tables
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Understand Power Query
    Recognize the role of data quality and cleansing
    Define data types
    Apply columnar transformations
    Change table structures
    Combine and append tables
Chapter 5 Creating a simple semantic model
Practice files
Understand the fundamentals of the semantic model
    Single table
    Two or more tables
    Types of tables
Define relationships between tables
Differentiate types of relationships
Control cross-filter direction
Manage active and inactive relationships
Customize the semantic model and manage its properties
    Column tools
    Other properties
    Layouts
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Understand the fundamentals of the semantic model
    Define relationships between tables
    Differentiate types of relationships
    Control cross-filter direction
    Manage active and inactive relationships
    Customize the semantic model and manage its properties
Chapter 6 Performing basic calculations with DAX
Practice files
Explore the DAX execution framework
    Calculated columns
    Measures
    Calculated tables
    Visual calculations
Write basic syntax and apply common functions
    Aggregation functions
    Aggregations with more than one column
Perform conditional calculations
Understand CALCULATE and its impact on filter context
Integrate visual calculations
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Explore the DAX Execution framework
    Write basic syntax and apply common functions
    Perform conditional calculations
    Understand CALCULATE and its impact on filter context
    Integrate visual calculations
Chapter 7 Building your first report
Practice files
Explore the Report view
    Filters pane
Understand types of visual objects
    Column charts
    Line and area charts
    Trend analysis and contribution charts
    Relationship and proportion charts
    Key indicators and metrics
    Tabular and hierarchical visualizations
    Slicers
Insert and customize visual objects
    Card
    Line chart
    Stacked bar chart
    Ribbon chart
    Treemap
    Stacked column chart
Organize layout and apply slicers and filters
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Explore the Report view
    Understand types of visual objects
    Insert and customize visual objects
    Organize layout and apply slicers and filters
Chapter 8 Designing advanced visualizations
Practice files
Visualize geographic data using maps
Compare variables and reveal patterns with scatter charts
Break down measures and explore categories with decomposition trees
Display multiple comparisons using small multiples
Analyze trends, forecast values, and detect anomalies using line charts
    Trend lines
    Forecast
    Anomalies
Summarize key metrics using narrative text
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Visualize geographic data using maps
    Compare variables and reveal patterns with scatter charts
    Break down measures and explore categories with decomposition trees
    Display multiple comparisons using small multiples
    Analyze trends, forecast values, and detect anomalies using line charts
    Summarize key metrics using narrative text
Chapter 9 Enhancing reports
Practice files
Apply themes to shape visual identity
Navigate into details using drillthrough pages
Trigger actions via buttons, shapes, and images
Show insights with tooltips and field parameters
Control report behavior by applying bookmarks
Adapt layouts for mobile experiences
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Apply themes to shape visual identity
    Navigate into details using drillthrough pages
    Trigger actions via buttons, shapes, and images
    Show insights with tooltips and field parameters
    Control report behavior by applying bookmarks
    Adapt layouts for mobile experiences
Chapter 10 Publishing and sharing reports
Practice files
Explore the Power BI Service
    Key Power BI Service concepts
    Set up an account in the Power BI Service
    Publish reports from Power BI Desktop
    Navigate the Power BI Service
Schedule data refreshes
    Configure a scheduled refresh
Collaborate and share in the Power BI Service
    Share reports and dashboards
    Collaborate in workspaces
    Publish and distribute a Power BI app
    Share with external users
    Manage permissions
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Explore the Power BI Service
    Schedule data refreshes
    Collaborate and share in the Power BI Service
Chapter 11 Creating dashboards
Practice files
Build a dashboard from a report
    Understand dashboard tiles
    Customize tiles
Add comments to a dashboard
    Add a comment to a visual
Set data alerts on dashboard tiles
View insights on dashboard tiles
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Build a dashboard from a report
    Add comments to a dashboard
    Set data alerts on dashboard tiles
    View insights on dashboard tiles
Chapter 12 Applying advanced topics and best practices
Practice files
Implement row-level security (RLS)
    Define roles in Power BI Desktop
    Test roles in Power BI Desktop
    Assign users to roles
    Test roles in the Power BI Service
Apply Power Query best practices
    Reduce data volume and granularity
    Avoid complex transformations in Power BI
    Rename steps and queries clearly
    Choose appropriate data types
    Consolidate applied steps
    Leverage query folding
Optimize the semantic model
    Adopt a star schema design
    Use descriptive names
    Add meaningful descriptions
    Hide unnecessary fields
    Group and summarize your data
    Optimize relationships
Write efficient DAX expressions
    Use variables to improve performance and clarity
    Avoid forcing zero values in measures with no data
    Use measures instead of calculated columns
    Avoid costly and complex DAX functions
Apply data visualization best practices
    Simplify the layout
    Limit data displayed
    Optimize interactions
    Optimize slicer usage
    Optimize tables and matrices
    Use certified visuals
    Avoid animated visuals
    Use Performance Analyzer to troubleshoot slow visuals
    Design clean, effective dashboards
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Implement row-level security (RLS)
    Apply Power Query best practices
    Optimize the semantic model
    Write efficient DAX expressions
    Apply data visualization best practices
Chapter 13 Exploring Copilot in Power BI
Practice files
Understand Copilot in Power BI
    Explore the different Copilot experiences
    How different roles use Copilot
    Key capabilities overview
    Configure prerequisites and enable Copilot
Prepare semantic models for AI
    Best practices for preparing your semantic model
    Tools to prepare your data for AI
    Mark your model as prepped for AI
Use Copilot in Power BI Desktop
    Create complete reports with Copilot
    Create a narrative visual with Copilot
    Write and explain DAX queries with Copilot
    Create descriptions for DAX formulas
Explore Copilot in the Power BI Service
    Find content with the standalone Copilot experience
    Create a report page with Copilot in the Service
    Summarize a report with Copilot
    Add a narrative with Copilot (Narrative visual)
    Ask Copilot for data from your model
    Create DAX queries with Copilot in the Power BI Service
Skills review
Practice tasks
    Understand Copilot in Power BI
    Prepare semantic models for AI
    Use Copilot in Power BI Desktop
    Explore Copilot in the Power BI Service

9780135468326    TOC    11/11/2025

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