Description
Course Title: Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star
Length:
From 1 to 9 days (Lecture + Labs): depends on the modules you enrol.
Delivery method:
In-Person or Online: Check the schedule of upcoming courses.
Type of training:
Public or private (contact us for more details)
The well-known worldwide training in Power BI field, and the most comprehensive Power BI training on the planet from one to nine days of training delivered by the well-known experts and MVPs, authors of books, and speakers of many conferences themselves. In this training course, you will learn Power BI from beginner to advance. You will learn how to use Power BI for simple data analysis situations as well as complex business intelligence scenarios. You will learn about Power BI Components such as Power Query (Get Data and Transform), Modelling and DAX, Visualization, Power BI Desktop as the main tool, Power BI Service, Gateway configuration, and architecture. You will learn all the concepts with live demos. Expect learning best practices with great scenarios in this course. This course is designed in separate modules based on the type of audience. If you are a data analyst, data wrangler, data modeler, or data architect, or even a data scientist, this course has many things to teach you all.
This course is delivered to thousands of people all around the world, check out only a few of the recommendations at the bottom of this page, and check some of our clients.
Instructor: Reza Rad
Our trainer is the world well-known name in the Microsoft BI field. Reza Rad is Microsoft Regional Director, a speaker in world’s best and biggest Microsoft Data Platform, BI and Power BI conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Business Applications Summit, Microsoft Data Insight Summit, PASS Summits, PASS Rallys, SQLBits, TechEds, and so on. He is the author of books on this topic, and he has more than 15 years’ experience in the Microsoft BI technologies. Reza is the founder of RADACAD and a consultant for more than decades. He is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer for years. He is Microsoft Data Platform MVP (Most Valuable Professional) focused on BI and Data Analysis; Microsoft has awarded him MVP because of his dedication and expertise in Microsoft BI technologies from 2011 till now (more than eight years). He is the author of Power BI book from Rookie to Rock Star.
Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star
This is the most comprehensive course for Power BI on the planet which split in modules. You can enroll in any of these modules separately or take the whole course. Modules designed independently, which means each module can be taken regardless of the order of modules. Here are a list and detailed agenda of each module:
- Module 1: Power BI for Data Analysts (2 days)
- Module 2: Power BI for Data Wrangler and Transformer (2 days)
- Module 3: Power BI for Data Modeler (2 days)
- Module 4: Power BI for Architects (1 day)
- Module 5: Power BI for Data Scientists (2 days)
Module 2: Power BI for Data Wrangler/Transformer (Data Transformation) – 2 days course
This training is designed for data wrangler, data developer or data transformer, who have the raw data coming from one or more data sources and want to make it ready for further modeling and analytics. In this training, you will learn detailed data transformation practices of Power BI using Power Query.
In this course, you will learn all things about Power Query, from zero to hero. You will learn Power Query from basic level with Getting data from different data sources. You will learn about different types of transformations available in Query Editor. Table transformations such as Pivot and Unpivot will be discussed, as well as specific column transformations such as date column transformations. You will also learn about M (Power Query Formula Language) in deep. Unique features such as error handling, generators, structured columns, custom functions and many other advanced level features of Power BI data transformations will be explored through hands-on labs and lecture.
After this course, you will be able to implement any types of data transformation through Power Query in Excel or Power BI. You will be able to work through your raw data and make it ready for modeling and analytics.
The training includes but not limited to topics below:
2.1: Get Data
In this section, you will learn about Power Query basics which starts with Getting data. You will learn that Power Query is the data transformation tool in Power BI. You will learn different parts of the Query Editor through an example of using Power Query to transform a dataset.
- Introduction to Power Query
- Query Editor
- Get Data from Web
- Basic Transformations
- Get Data from Excel
- Use First Row As Headers / Use Headers as First Row
- Get Data from SQL Server
2.2: Data Types and Data Structures
Before going any further in learning Power Query, you need to understand about data structures and data types. There are three main data structures in Power Query; table, record, and list. You will learn about these types through an example of getting data from a JSON structure. You will also learn about data types and their differences.
- Base data structures in Power Query
- Get Data from JSON
- Transforming Table, Record, and List
- Data Types in Power Query
- Query Operations
- Enable Load; Performance Boost
- Query Operations; Duplicate, and Reference
2.3: Combine Queries
One of the most common data transformations is combining datasets. Depends on the types of datasets and the way that they are related to each other, you may want to merge or append them. In this section, you will learn why you need to combine data at first, and then you will learn about scenarios that you combine data in Power Query.
- Dimensional Modelling; Designing the data model
- Append, creating a single big query of the same structure
- Merge; Joining queries when the structure is different
- Join types in Merge
- Tips to consider after Merge or Append
2.4: Better Power Query Editor Experience
To get the best experience with Power Query Editor, you need to consider organizing your queries and steps in the right way. In this section, you will learn about actions you can do on steps, such as moving them up or down, splitting steps in a query, etc. You will also learn about organizing your queries in groups (folders).
- Groups; Folders in Query Editor
- Steps Operations
- Splitting query steps
- Moving steps up or down
- Add as new query / Drill Down
- Be Careful of Actions; Undo!
2.5: Reducing Number of Rows; Filtering
Filtering rows in Power Query is an important transformation especially when the dataset is big, or when the data needs to be cleaned. There are different ways of doing filtering in Power Query. You will learn about ways to remove some rows from the top or bottom of the table, and ways that you can filter a data table based on criteria. You will learn about basic filtering and the difference of that with the advanced filtering, and potential challenges that you may have through this process.
- Row Operations; Removing rows
- Row Operations; Keeping rows
- Remove/Keep Errors
- Remove/Keep Duplicates
- Using Remove/Keep combination for troubleshooting report
- Filtering based on Individual values
- The dilemma of the basic filtering
- Advanced Filtering
- Sorting
2.6: Column Operations
A data table in Power Query can get big if you don’t care about columns. In this section, you will learn actions that you can do on columns, and what are best practices to make sure you have the best performance in your Power BI model considering columns in your tables. You will also learn about some generic column operations and transformations.
- Column Operations
- Choosing Columns
- Removing Columns
- Data Type Change
- Locale consideration for the data type
- Replace Values
- Fill Down/Up; Very Useful for Excel
2.7: Table Transformations
Some of the most important table transformations will be explained in this section. You will learn about a way to change the granularity of a table; Grouping. You will also learn scenarios that grouping data can be more than a simple transformation. You will learn about transformations such as Transpose, Pivot and Unpivot, and the difference of all these items with scenarios of using it on real-world datasets.
- Group By; Changing the granularity of the data table
- Group by Advanced
- Scripting and Group by; First and Last item in each group
- Transpose; rows to columns and reverse
- Pivot; changing the name-value structure to columns
- Unpivot; changing the budget column structure to rows
2.8: Text Transformations
When you work with text values, there are many transformations you can apply. Transformations such as a split column, removing part of a text, or adding a prefix or postfix to it, concatenating some columns together, etc.
- Split Column by Delimiter
- Split Column by number of Characters
- Split into rows instead of columns
- Merge (Concatenate)
- Format
- The difference between Clean and Trim
- Parse (XML or JSON)
- Extract part of the text
2.9: Numeric Transformations
You will learn in this section how to do numeric transformations. We will talk about standard transformations such as divide and integer-divide. You will also learn about transformations such as rounding, statistics transformations, and even some scientific transformations and use cases for those items.
- Standard transformations; Divide, Integer-divide, Multiply, Add etc.
- Scientific transformations; logarithm, power square, etc.
- Statistics transformations;
- Rounding
- Information functions; Is Even, Is Odd, and Sign.
- Dealing with faults in Numeric calculations
2.10: Date and Time Transformations
There are many transformations applicable to date and time columns. You may want to fetch year part of a date or get the fiscal calculation of a date. You may want to calculate age based on the birthday or calculate the difference between two dates. You will learn all these items in this section, you will also learn about time zone consideration when working with current date and time in Power BI, and how you can resolve it in Power Query.
- Date Transformations (Year, Month, Quarter, Week, etc.)
- Extending Fiscal Date Column
- Time Transformations (Hour, Minute, Second, etc.)
- Adding Time/Date banding
- Duration Transformation and Data Type
- Age Calculation
- Local Date or Time
- Time zone consideration for Power BI
2.11: Structured Column Transformations
When you combine tables, you get a structured column as a result, which can be a table, list, or record in every value. There are several transformations you can apply on structured columns, which you will learn in this section. You will also learn what may be the potential issue with some of these transformations.
- What is a Structured Column?
- Expand
- Aggregate
- Expand and Aggregate: Performance Consideration
2.12: Add Column Transformations
There are two types of transformations in Power Query; Transforming an existing column, or adding a column based on a transformation. In this section, you will learn about these two types, their differences, and few other transformations that we have available in the add column tab of the Power Query Editor through some examples.
- Add Column vs. Transform?
- Add Column with a Transformation
- Index Column: Row Number
- Conditional Column
- Add Column by Example; When you don’t know which transformation to use
- Add Custom Column: Generic
2.13: Functions and Parameters; Dynamic Power Query
Power Query is a powerful tool for data transformation. This power can be amplified even more if you can make your queries dynamic. Instead of repeating several steps for similar data sources, you can create a function from those steps, and run that function for all other sources. Functions get parameters as the input. Functions and parameters can make everything in Power Query dynamic. If you want to learn Power Query advanced deep dive, this is the section to go through.
- Defining Parameters
- Using Parameters in an existing query
- Advanced GUI for parameters
- Creating Function from a query
- Invoking the sample function
- Add Column Transform: Invoke Custom Function
- When the advanced GUI does not exist
2.14: Power Query Formula Language: M
The heart of Power Query is a scripting language named Power Query Formula Language or M. If you want to be a good data wrangler or data developer with Power Query, you must learn M scripting. The good news is that M scripting is not a hard language to learn. This section goes through the basics of the language, data types, literals, and everything is needed for understanding an M script’s structure.
- What is M? and the importance of learning M
- M Syntax
- End of the line
- Variable Names
- Special Characters
- Escape Character
- Step by Step Coding
- Literals
- Function Call
- Comments
- A real-world example
2.15: Working with Data Structures in M
As you are dealing with data in Power Query, it is important to learn how to work with table, list, and record from the code. In this section, you will learn about these three structures in code, and how to navigate between different parts of each structure.
- Primitive Value
- List
- Record
- Table
- Function
- Navigating through List and List functions
- Navigating through Record and Record functions
- Navigating through Table and table functions
- Concatenating lists and records
2.16: Advanced M Scripting
Now that you know more about M scripting, it is time to see how powerful this part of Power Query can be compared to the graphical interface of query editor. In this section, you will learn features that you have access to apply using M scripting. You will learn ways to get a list of all functions, doing error handling in an advanced way. Applying some changes in functions and parameters which is only possible through the code. You will also learn an end-to-end example using everything you learn about M at the end.
- #Shared Keyword; function library of Power Query
- Parameters in the code
- Custom Functions through scripting
- Error Handling in Power Query
- Generators in Power Query: Implementing Loop Structure
- EACH: singleton function
- Sample Custom Function: Day Number of Year Custom Function
2.17: Performance Tips and Tricks for Power Query
Some transformations or operations needs careful attention in Power Query. In this section, you will learn about performance tips and trick for Power Query to make sure you have always a well performance tuned data transformation logic. Each sample will be discussed through the live demo in this section.
- Enable Load; Simple, but Efficient
- Reducing Number of Columns
- Query Folding
- Grouping and Aggregation; Performance Consideration
- Merge; Before and After, things to Consider
2.18: Error Handling
In any data related solution, you should expect bad data rows to appear. If you haven’t thought about the appearance of bad data rows and you just did the transformations considering everything will be nice and tidy, then you may face many errors in Power Query. This section is all about how to handle errors, deal with bad data rows, create troubleshooting reports, etc.
- Keep/Remove Errors; Troubleshooting report
- Count Rows
- Reference/Duplicate
- Replace Errors
- Data Type considerations
2.19: Use Cases
At the end of the training, we go through some end-to-end solutions using Power Query. These solutions leverage everything you learned through the training about this tool and language; you will see how all those parts come to help together to build the solution. We will go through building a date dimension which has all calendar columns, fiscal columns, and public holidays fetched live, and we will talk about combining files from a folder.
- Date Dimension with Power Query; building the base table
- Adding Fiscal columns to the Date dimension
- Getting public holidays live and merging to the date dimension
- Looping through files in a folder with Power Query
Why Power BI Training?
Power BI is the newest Microsoft BI tool for data mash up, build modeling, and visualize it effectively. It supports mobile devices, it supports self-service, and along with its great functionalities, it doesn’t require heavy development or production system.
Common Myths about Power BI
There are some myths about Power BI that sometimes prevents people and organization to move towards using this product. We’ve listed some of the myths in following. Please note that these are Myths, and they are not the right assumptions.
Myth 1: Power BI is a self-service Excel tool, and isn’t suitable for Enterprise Solutions.
There are many scenarios that Power BI has been used in enterprise solutions. Power BI features for data mash up (with the very powerful data transformation component: Power Query), and data modelling based on xVelocity in-memory engine (Power Pivot), and great data visualization components such as Power View and Power Map, along with mobility support of this product, are rarely available in other products. We have designed, implemented and have seemed many BI enterprise solutions based on Power BI within very large organizations.
Myth 2: Power BI is easy to use, and doesn’t require a training course.
Power BI is an easy to use tool, but for basic functions. Every BI application requires calculated measure, which needs to be written in DAX. Every BI application requires advanced data transformations which need to be handled with Power Query M scripting language. Designing and implementing solutions with Best Practices is always a requirement for reliable BI applications. We designed our Power BI training in a way that delivers advanced content for all components of Power BI, and fortify your team’s knowledge on the product, so they can solve any complex challenge with this tool.
Myth 3: Power BI is only for Microsoft based environments and platforms.
Power Query is the core of data extraction in Power BI. Power Query supports a wide range of data sources. Not only SQL Server, but also Oracle, MySQL, web service result set, DB2 and many other data source are supported. There is also the possibility to connect to many systems such as Salesforce. The Visualization component of Power BI is also HTML5 supported and is available for all mobile devices. Power BI app in AppStore, and Google PlayStore, as well as Microsoft AppStore, enables dashboards and data visualizations to be available in all environments.
Myth 4: Power BI is not a powerful and fully functional BI tool, and cannot be compared with other tools in the market.
In fact, the reverse is true. Power BI is such powerful that can be the replacement of many other expensive BI tools in the market. We’ve been through scenarios of successful Power BI solutions that have been a replacement of Cognos, IBM products, Oracle WB, SAP BO, and so on. Power BI has 5 powerful components that cover main aspects of BI and data analysis system.
In addition, there is always the possibility to use this as a hybrid approach and save lots of time and money along with great features that are only available in this product.
In-Person Training;
Our Power BI in-person training will be held in high-quality venues with the recommendation for hotel bookings for attendees. There will be special group rating fee as well as early bird and past attendees discount. for the schedule of our in-person training follow this link:
Online Training;
We run online training with GoToWebinar and GoToTraining applications. These applications provide a highly reliable communication channel between instructor and attendees. For the schedule of our online training follow this link:
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What others say about the training and trainer
Daniel R Tuma, Senior Systems Analyst at Cleveland Metro Schools, Ohio, USA
I spent probably about two weeks looking for a good Microsoft Power BI class that would cover all of the aspects of the program. I wanted to walk away from the class being able to apply what I learned immediately. Most training companies that I looked into were in a state of flux with Power BI mostly due to the transitions that Power BI itself was going through. Then I stumbled on the RADACAD web site. Reza Rad touted a course that he taught named “Power BI, From Rookie to Rock star.” If the class was indeed an A to Z course, then it was exactly what I was looking for. The class outline seemed to include every topic on my checkoff list plus much more. I decided to give Reza a try.
Reza completely lived up to his hype. He took us through a natural progression of the software, using example after example of how to complete a task. We went through real world scenarios, a bare minimum of two scenarios for each minor topic. I was completely impressed with his Power BI knowledge, understanding and abilities. Any question we came to Reza with was answered completely and with even more examples.
After the class, my goal of immediately applying what I learned was attained. Right away I was able to successfully pull and massage data, create useful reports and post them to dashboards.
I would recommend Radacad Power BI Training without hesitation.
Jeffrey Weir; Independent Consultant, Wellington, New Zealand
I learned a lot from this course: it gave a great overview of what’s possible both right from the UI, and what more awaits if you lift the hood and pimp the engine. It’s incredible to see just how much PowerBI and PowerQuery radically simplify what I would otherwise have to do with many, many lines of complicated VBA code. And Reza is a masterful user of this tool.
Note that Reza covers a lot of ground in this course, and it is pretty fast paced. While you can take a laptop and follow along as Reza takes PowerBI/Powerquery through its paces, for the one-day course my recommendation would be to keep that laptop closed, and simply sit back and watch Reza in action, so you can fully concentrate on just how simple this tool is to use in the right hands as well as think about how you might use the tool to your own ends and ask questions along those lines. You can always purchase the video course (if it’s not already included in your course) and step through the material again at your own pace.
Rob Wilby; Independent Consultant, UK
I must say your “Power BI Essentials” course has been the most comprehensive Power BI course I have found to date and seeing how you work with data especially the little tricks naturally introduced at just the right moments has made this course a pleasure to take.
Martin Catherall – Data Platform MVP, PASS Regional Mentor
I attended Reza’s Power BI pre-con “From Rookie to Rock star” at SQL Saturday Brisbane in May 2016. I was a complete Power BI novice, having only previously accomplished a few very basic things with Power BI. Reza took the group through all the components that make up environment. He explained how they had evolved and took the group through walk-throughs of each one. Reza was great an answering questions from the audience at the event and going into extra detail if necessary. All-in all, I would say that I’m now a very confident Power BI user after attending Reza’s pre-con.
Dan Cheshire, Senior Project Manager Air New Zealand
Reza does not just know Power BI like the back of his hand, he is the most commercially aware BI person I know. He understands that companies work in the real world and that data isn’t always clean and needs manipulation for it to work and be useful. When Reza worked on our project, nothing phased or flustered him, he always came up with solutions for problems that seemed to me as insurmountable. Can’t recommend him enough, invest in Reza as he will not only save you a whole heap of time, but he comes up with long lasting and very powerful Power BI solutions for your business.
Sonia Buckley, Data Analyst at Zoom2u, Sydney, Australia
We have started to use Microsoft Power BI and whilst Microsoft tutorials are helpful, if you are not used to DAX then it is very difficult to get your head around and there is little other resources that don’t cost an arm and a leg. I had a call with Reza who made my life so much easier in just under an hour! Any time spent speaking to Reza will be well worth it – I have saved hours of trying to get my head around our dashboards by getting some very useful tips and explanations on why things are done the DAX way! Not only that but he is very patient and straight forward. Highly recommended!
R. Kemp, Canada
The course was an excellent investment overall, it exceed my expectations. It was well paced and presented. The instructor, Reza Rad, was excellent and was able to answer all my questions and explain complex idea in a manner that was easy to understand and follow. I had been using Power BI Desktop for a number of months prior to taking this course, but wish I had attended it sooner! The course structure of 1 day of overall Power BI and followed by 4 days of more intensive instruction on the various parts of Power BI allowed for a basic understanding of the whole, and then more comprehensive learning. The live-on-line experience worked well technically and allowed for questions and problem-solving with the instructor. I learned a lot about Power BI and this course gave me a great foundation for using Power BI to clean, model, design, and share reports using a variety of visualizations that will provide business intelligence to my company. I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to learn Power BI either as a starting point or even after you have used the tool to deepen your understanding and build your skill-set.
Who Attended RADACAD Training Courses
Cancellation:
Cancellation up to 5 weeks before the event: full refund minus administration fee ($50) and credit-card processing fees (if applicable).
Cancellation from 5 weeks to 2 weeks before the event: 50% cancellation charge, 50% refund
Cancellation from 2 weeks before the event: 100% cancellation charge, 0% refunded.
Transfer:
Transfer fee to another event date* (up to 2 weeks before the event): 25% of the standard price of the event to transfer
Transfer fee to another event date* (from 2 weeks to 1 day before the event): 40% of the standard price of the event to transfer
Transfer fee at the day of event*: 60% of the standard price of the event to transfer
*transfer can be done only once, and it can be only transferred to another date not later than 6 months from the original event.
No Show:
No fee will be refunded for no show.
If you cannot find a public course scheduled on this page, contact us for a private onsite or remote instructor-led session, or check out our video training for self-paced learning.
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