Power BI Training in Perth and Online

Power BI is a powerful business analytics tool developed by Microsoft. It’s mainly used for:

1. 1. Data Visualisation: Creating interactive and visually appealing reports and dashboards.
   2. Data Analysis: Analysing data from various sources to gain insights and make data-driven decisions.
   3. Data Integration: Combining data from different sources, such as databases, Excel files, and cloud services.
   4. Real-time Reporting: Providing up-to-date information through real-time data monitoring and reporting.
   5. Collaboration: Sharing reports and dashboards with team members and stakeholders for collaborative decision-making.

Overall, Power BI helps business users make data-driven decisions by transforming raw data into actionable insights.

While Excel is great for detailed data manipulation and analysis, Power BI excels in visualising and sharing data insights on a larger scale. They can also complement each other; for example, you can import Excel data into Power BI for advanced visualisation.

Power BI and Excel are both powerful tools from Microsoft, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features:

Power BI

• Data Visualisation: Specialises in creating interactive and dynamic visualisations.
• Data Integration: Can connect to a wide variety of data sources, including cloud services.
• Real-time Reporting: Offers real-time data monitoring and updates.
• Collaboration: Designed for sharing and collaboration on dashboards and reports.

Excel

• Spreadsheet Management: Primarily used for creating and managing spreadsheets.
• Data Analysis: Offers robust data analysis tools like pivot tables and formulas.
• Flexibility: Highly flexible for various tasks, from simple calculations to complex data models.
• Accessibility: Widely used and accessible for many users, often for individual or small team tasks.

Learning Power BI as a business end user can be very rewarding! Here are some key areas to focus on:

1. Understanding Power BI Basics:
   • Power BI Service: This is the cloud-based platform where you can view and interact with reports and dashboards shared with you.
   • Power BI Desktop: A free application for creating reports and dashboards. It’s often used by report designers and data analysts.
2. Navigating Reports and Dashboards:
   • Accessing Reports: Learn how to access reports from apps, links, or the Power BI portal.
   • Interacting with Data: Use filters, slicers, and visuals to explore data. Features like tooltips, drill-through, and focus mode can help you dive deeper into the details.
3. Creating Basic Visualisations:
   • Importing Data: Start by importing data from sources like Excel and transforming it using Power Query Editor.
   • Building Dashboards: Learn to create interactive dashboards with various visuals like charts, maps, and slicers.
4. Sharing and Collaborating:
   • Publishing Reports: Once your reports are ready, you can publish and share them with colleagues.
   • Collaborative Features: Use features like comments, sharing links, and embedding reports in other applications to collaborate effectively

Learning Excel before diving into Power BI can be very beneficial, but it’s not strictly necessary. Here are some reasons why having Excel skills can help:

• Data Manipulation:Excel teaches you the basics of data manipulation, such as sorting, filtering, and using formulas, which are also useful in Power BI.
• Familiarity with Functions:Many functions in Excel, like VLOOKUP, SUMIF, and pivot tables, have similar counterparts in Power BI. Understanding these can make the transition smoother.
• Data Importing:Power BI allows you to import data from Excel, so knowing how to organise and clean data in Excel can be a big advantage.
• Basic Visualisation: Excel’s charting tools provide a good foundation for understanding data visualisation, which is a core aspect of Power BI.

However, if you’re eager to start with Power BI directly, that’s perfectly fine too. Power BI is designed to be user-friendly and there are plenty of resources to help you learn from scratch. If you have any specific goals or projects in mind, starting with Power BI might be more efficient.

Improving your Power BI skills is a great goal! Here are some courses to help you advance:

Master the Basics:

• • Power Query: Learn how to clean and transform data. This is crucial for preparing your data for analysis. 
  • Data Modeling: Understand how to create relationships between tables and build a robust data model
  • DAX (Data Analysis Expressions): Get comfortable with DAX for creating calculated columns and measures.
  • Performance Optimisation: Learn best practices for optimising your Power BI reports and dashboards.
  • Custom Visuals: Explore how to use and create custom visuals to enhance your reports

We have a Power BI Essentials course that is designed to help you develop your skills and become proficient with the key features of Power BI. Over two days, you will:

• Import Data: Learn how to import data from various sources, including Excel, databases, and websites.
• Perform Data Analysis: Gain the skills to perform powerful data analysis.
• Create Interactive Dashboards: By the end of the course, you’ll be able to create stunning, interactive data dashboards and reports.

Upon completion, you’ll have a solid foundation in Power BI, enabling you to visualise and analyse data effectively.

Please note – We do advise that you have completion of a Microsoft Excel Intermediate course or the equivalent knowledge is required.

Contact our team to find out more.