Who Should Attend

This course is suitable for:

• Data Analysts working with Power BI
• Business Intelligence professionals
• Reporting and dashboard developers
• Data-focused software engineers
• Anyone responsible for designing or maintaining Power BI solutions

Prerequisites

Delegates should have:

• Basic understanding of data concepts
• Familiarity with Excel or similar tools
• Experience working with data or reporting (recommended)

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand the role of a data analyst and how data is used to drive decisions
• Connect to and retrieve data from multiple sources
• Clean, transform, and prepare data using Power Query
• Design efficient and scalable data models
• Create reports and dashboards that communicate insights clearly
• Use DAX to build calculations and time intelligence
• Perform data analysis and identify trends
• Deploy, manage, and secure Power BI solutions

Course Content

Day 1: Foundations, Data Access and Preparation

The first day focuses on understanding the role of data analysis and building a strong foundation for working with data in Power BI.

Discovering Data Analysis

• Roles within data and analytics
• Responsibilities of a data analyst
• How data is used to tell a story

Getting Started with Power BI

• Power BI ecosystem (Desktop, Service, components)
• How Power BI fits into business workflows
• Creating initial visuals and reports

Getting Data in Power BI

• Connecting to data sources (Excel, SQL Server, applications)
• Working with relational and non-relational data
• Storage modes (Import vs DirectQuery)
• Handling performance and data import issues

Cleaning, Transforming and Loading Data

• Using Power Query to shape data
• Handling missing and inconsistent data
• Profiling and understanding datasets
• Transforming table structures and combining queries
• Working with M code in the Advanced Editor

Designing Data Models

• Creating relationships between tables
• Designing star schemas
• Handling many-to-many and circular relationships
• Choosing appropriate data granularity
• Improving model performance

Adding Measures and Calculations

• Implicit vs explicit measures
• Creating simple and compound measures
• Calculated columns vs measures
• Creating calculated tables
• Understanding row context

Day 2: Analysis, DAX and Report Design

The second day focuses on analysis, calculations, and building effective reports.

Working with DAX and Time Intelligence

• Introduction to DAX
• Creating calculations and measures
• Time intelligence concepts and functions
• Building analytical calculations

Optimising Data Models

• Reviewing model performance
• Reducing cardinality
• Using variables in DAX
• Optimising DirectQuery models
• Managing aggregations

Designing Power BI Reports

• Structuring reports effectively
• Choosing appropriate visuals
• Designing for usability and clarity

Configuring Filters

• Report-level, page-level, and visual-level filters
• Using slicers
• Advanced filtering techniques
• Designing reports for user interaction

Enhancing User Experience

• Drill-through and navigation
• Bookmarks and interactive reports
• Designing reports that behave like applications
• Improving usability and layout

Performing Data Analysis

• Statistical summaries
• Identifying trends and outliers
• Grouping and binning data
• Time series analysis
• Using AI Insights and Quick Insights
• Applying clustering and advanced analytics

Day 3: Deployment, Management and Security

The final day focuses on managing Power BI solutions in a live environment.

Power BI Service and Workspaces

• Navigating the Power BI Service
• Creating and managing workspaces
• Managing reports and dashboards
• Monitoring usage and performance

Managing Datasets

• Configuring dataset refresh
• Using gateways for on-premises data
• Incremental refresh
• Troubleshooting connectivity issues
• Managing and promoting datasets

Creating Dashboards

• Differences between reports and dashboards
• Pinning visuals and creating dashboards
• Real-time data visualisation
• Mobile optimisation

Security and Governance

• Implementing Row-Level Security (RLS)
• Static and dynamic security models
• Managing user access
• Data protection considerations

Monitoring and Lifecycle Management

• Tracking data lineage
• Managing development lifecycle
• Performance and maintenance considerations

Certification

This course prepares delegates for the:

Microsoft PL-300: Power BI Data Analyst Certification

The exam is included as part of the course.

Delivery Approach

• Live, instructor-led virtual delivery
• Hands-on exercises throughout
• Real-world scenarios and datasets
• Small group delivery (3–12 delegates) for interaction and support

Next Steps

If you are looking to build Power BI capability across your team or align training with certification, we can run this as a private group session or advise on the most suitable approach.

Please get in touch to discuss your requirements.