Getting Started with Power BI

Hello and welcome to Power BI. This is our first play date. The goal is to become comfortable with Power BI Desktop software, understand how to navigate it and create something beautiful in minutes. This lesson has two parts. Before you begin, I suggest downloading the sample data so you can practice while watching.

Author: Chandoo

My name is Chandoo. I am going to make you awesome in Excel, VBA, Dashboards, Power BI & Power Pivot and answering your questions. I live in Wellington, New Zealand. It is a beautiful, small city on the southern edge of the world. I run my own Excel Consulting & Training business from here. I am married to my college sweet-heart, Jo. We have 2 kids – twins. They are 10 years old now. They are busy creating new worlds with lego bricks or playing or learning. We (Jo &I) are busy with cooking, eating, walking, talking and reading.

48 thoughts on “Getting Started with Power BI”

  1. Woww…..This is just fantastic. Am done with part-1 and very excited to finish the rest of the lessons at the earliest possible. Maybe this is going to be the first online course that will complete in a jiffy. Great job Chandoo. Cheers.

    1. Hi Marcus

      For Power BI desktop, a standard laptop or PC would work. If you tend to work with large datasets or complex models, get processor + memory upgrades. I have 8GB ram + Intel i5 on my computer that is used for the lessons and it handles multiple Power BI files without a problem.

    1. Hi Habib,

      What browser are you using? Also, can you access the download video links or that is failing too? Sometimes, corporate networks may block certain urls. If that is the case, try from home network.

      1. of course i am subscribed to this lesson.paid subscription fees and i have an access to the entire class.but there isn’t any video available for intro to power query.

        1. @ ABDIRAHMAN
          Our records are showing that you have subscribed to Excel (No Dashboard) Classes on Fri Feb 7 2020 at 10:31:44 MST and hence can not access any other lessons

  2. Hii I am done with module 1 and now started working with module 2 video 1.

    While logging in to power BI(which I have downloaded) it is insisting me to login via workplace id.I don’t have any workplace id and so tried signing up though my personal id but its not accepting.
    Apart from publishing(later stage) ,at this stage I am finding it difficult to change the data source(through queries) in case of null gender. When I click on file ribbon it shows me to sign in . Pls help me out with this.

    Thanks in advance!!
    Deepa

    1. Microsoft changed the way “Free Power BI Online” accounts are created. Now you either need a work / own domain email ID or use the method listed here to sign up.
      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/service-self-service-signup-for-power-bi

      Also, you may want to use the more advanced method listed here – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/admin/service-admin-signing-up-for-power-bi-with-a-new-office-365-trial

      I am sorry for these extra steps and I wish MS would make it easy for public to sign up and get FREE online feature without jumping through hoops. Alas.

      1. Hey Chandoo! I am not able to access the Videos Beyond Module 0.
        I want to access Power BI Play Group 2020. Could you please recheck ot at your end.

        Thanks

  3. Hi Chandoo,

    I would like to seek your help with building custom filters/slicers for my data for Financial years/quarters. For example, I have data that I would like to build Power BI DBs with but I only have columns with timestamps. What’s the best recourse for adding slicers with custom financial quarters/years for the DB? For example, in my instance, the Financial Quarter would be Aug-Oct, Nov – Jan, Feb – Apr, and May-July which is pretty standard for US-based listed companies.

    Thanks
    Mann

  4. Hii Chandoo..

    I was so excited to share my first power BI report created based on the age group. But again it is not a simple process as I have logged in as an individual user. I tried to understand the steps through web but couldn’t get through.
    Would request to help me with the simple steps to publish to web as it it shows the message “Contact your admin to enable embed code creation.”
    Looking forward for your revert as I can’t wait to share my report.

    TIA
    Deepa

  5. Hi Chandoo, probably missed it, but is Power BI preinstalled on Excel or is it something one needs to install beforehand? and if so, is it a free software? Thanks

  6. Hi Chandoo,
    I have sent two emails and haven’t gotten any reply so I’m leaving a message. I have access to the Power Bi course but I do not see and videos and course material. Can you please help me out with this?

    Thank you for your assistance,
    Peggy Maffeo

  7. Hi Chandoo/Admin,
    I have registered for the Power BI module but am not able to view the videos which are part of this module. Request you to help me out with this.

  8. <>
    Hi,
    The date column is not showing the Calendar icon. I have already transformed the column and loaded.
    Dataset used: “Employee Dataset”

  9. Hello! I am creating the dashboards following the course, Now I have a bunch of dashboards with me. (yay! :D) What is the Power BI equivalent of Tableau public where I can showcase my work and share the link with others?

  10. Hi Chandoo,

    I was unable to find data bars in conditional formatting for salary field earlier.
    However, when I change the salary field from “Don’t summarize” to “Sum”, I was able to see data bars option.
    2 Qs here
    1. why data bars appear only when field summarized as sum?
    2. after applying data bars, I changed the salary field back to “Don’t summarize” and it didnt impact the data bars, just changed the column name from “sum of salary” to “salary”. Why ?
    Note: using power bi 2022

    1. I suggest using “measures” all the time. You will hear about this recommendation in the next few lessons.
      But to answer your question, it seems like a bug to not allow the CF option at first.

    1. @Parth Gandhi,
      The lesson you are looking at is for Power BI Subscribers only.
      you have subscribed to excel Dashboard classes and you can access only the content meant for Excel Dashboard Subscribers

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