The demand for data professionals with business intelligence skills has increased significantly in recent years. With technological advancements and digital transformations, businesses are taking data very seriously. In today's business environment, data is an invaluable asset. To derive key insights from data, business intelligence systems, and tools assist data scientists and business analysts. The insights derived from the data in hand are then turned into impressive business intelligence visuals such as graphs or charts for the executive management to make strategic decisions.
In this post, we will discuss the top power BI developer skills required to access Microsoft’s power business intelligence software. This business intelligence solution has topped Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for business intelligence platforms leaderboard for 15 consecutive years.
Top 10 Essential Power BI Skills
Let us look at the Power BI skills list required to be a competent Business Insight Professional.
Power BI Basics
Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence and data visualization software that is used to create interactive dashboards and business intelligence reports from various data sources. Dashboards, reports, workspace, datasets, and apps are the building blocks of power BI. Let us look at each of these elements individually.
Workspace is the platform where power BI developers create reports, dashboards, data sets, etc. and perform various activities such as sharing reports, editing them, assigning tasks, etc. A single user can create multiple workspaces depending on the requirements.
Dataset is the collection of raw data imported from various data sources for the purpose of analysis.
Apps are a collection of dashboards and reports created by power BI developers to derive key metrics which are used by business decision makers.
Dashboards and Reports are visuals created by Powe BI developers using datasets from various sources. These visualizations highlight the key metrics and insights which Guelph businesses make crucial decisions.
The basic power BI required skills are:
How to connect to various data sources:
Extracting data from various databases like SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, etc.
Kmowledge on loading data from Excel, CSV, JSON, and other file formats.
Using web services and connecting to APIs and web data sources.
DirectQuery and Live Connection: Connecting to data without importing it, ideal for real-time or large datasets.
How to create business intelligence reports
As a power BI developer, you must have power BI key skills to connect raw data from various sources to the system.
Ability to transform and clean the raw data to create a data model.
Data visualization skills to create visuals, such as charts or graphs that can be used for decision making.
Create reports that are collections of visuals on one or more report pages.
Share reports with others by using the Power BI service.
How to create interactive dashboards
Designing an effective dashboard layout which opens a combination of visuals, text boxes, and images.
Setting up the drill down features that allow users to explore data in detail.
Adding slicers and filters to allow users to control data views.
Creating bookmarks to save and recall specific dashboard views.
Configuring interactions between visuals to make the dashboard interactive.
Data Preparation and Transformation Skills
Preparing the raw data into the right structure and format is the primary and most important step in data analysis. By understanding how to cleanse, organize, and calculate data, you can ensure that your data is accurate and reliable. To understand further, let us look in detail at the advanced power BI skills required to prepare data and transform it into the right formats.
Data Cleansing: Cleaning the data to make it error-free and valid is the most basic and essential data management skill you must have. It involves identifying and correcting errors in the data, such as fixing typos, removing duplicate values, filling in missing data, etc., before feeding it into the Power BI system.
Data Organizing: Once the data is cleaned and made foolproof, the next step is to structure the data in order to make it easy to understand and analyze. You must have a deep knowledge of data modeling tools. Using these tools, you can create tables, columns, and rows and also combine data from multiple tables through merging and appending.
Standardizing the data: Data has to be standardized to ensure it is consistent in its format, terminology, and values. This data can be processed more efficiently, does not require much manual intervention, and can be easily automated.
Labeling the data: Labeling data is an important activity in the data preparation process. Descriptive labels provide clear and concise information about the data, which can help users to interpret the data more easily.
Documenting the data: Creating documents that describe your data, including its source, format, and usage, is the last and necessary step in data preparation. You must be well versed in using the data dictionary tool in Power BI for this task.
Advanced Data Modeling Skills
Data modeling is the process of structuring data and defining the relationship between various data types to create a solid database structure. Data modeling provides a common, consistent, and predictable way of defining and managing data resources across an organization which makes it easier for data scientists and business analysts to work with multiple data points.
A competent data modeler must have power BI technical skills to understand the relationship between various data elements and the ability to create accurate and reliable models.
You must be proficient in data modeling techniques such as how to represent data, what type of data model to use, how data models are laid out, and how business requirements are conveyed.
You must have the expertise to keep the data model simple, comprehensive and accurate.
You must know how to design a Star Schema to simplify data.
Advanced data modelers need to be able to optimize data models. This includes data compression techniques, maintaining data consistency, and customizing data models to suit specific use cases.
There are many different types of data models, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Advanced data modelers need to understand the different types of data models and how to choose the right model for the data.
Advanced data modelers are capable of constructing intricate data models that can handle complex business scenarios. As a Power BI developer you must have advanced data modeling skills, which require a deep understanding of database theory.
Data Visualization Skills
Data visualization is the ability to graphically represent data and insights in the form of charts, graphs or info graphs. This is a very important skill a Power BI developer must have to make complex data understandable in a clear and concise way through visual representations. Let us look at the power BI skill set in detail:
Understanding of data visualization principles: A Power BI professional must have the skills and knowledge to identify the right visualization type such as bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, etc., to represent the data.
Proficiency in Power BI visualization tools: As a Power BI professional, you must be able to create informative and visually appealing graphs.
Creativity and storytelling: Data visualization is not just about presenting data in a clear and concise way. It is also about using data to tell a story or communicate a message. Power BI developers need to be creative and able to tell stories with data.
Attention to detail: Data visualizations should be accurate and visually appealing. Power BI developers need to pay attention to detail in order to create visualizations that are both informative and aesthetically pleasing.
Data analysis skills: Power BI developers need to be able to analyze data in order to create effective visualizations. This includes understanding how to clean and prepare data, how to identify trends and patterns in data, and how to calculate metrics and ratios.
Communication skills: Power BI developers need to be able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences. This includes being able to explain data visualizations in a clear and concise way, and being able to answer questions about data and visualizations.
Teamwork skills: Power BI developers often work as part of a team. They need to be able to collaborate effectively with others, and they need to be able to take feedback and incorporate it into their work.
Power Query Skills
Power Query is a Power BI tool used by data analysts for extracting data from various data sources. As a Power BI analyst you must be well versed with all the features and functionalities of power query. Let us look at the power BI skills for data analyst in detail:
Power Query allows developers to easily connect to various data sources, retrieve data, and perform complex data transformations. It provides a user-friendly interface to clean, reshape, and combine data from different sources.
Power Query can be used to model data by transforming it into a more structured format. Using this tool you can merge, split, and filter data.
Using Power Query will help you cleanse huge amounts of data by removing errors, duplicates, and outliers.
Power Query can be used to manipulate data by pivoting, aggregating, and summarizing data. Also, it can be used to visualize data by creating charts, graphs, and maps.
Data sharing: Power Query can be used to share data by exporting it to a variety of formats, such as CSV, Excel, and JSO
Power BI Services and Collaboration Skills
Power BI Service is the cloud-based publishing tool within the Power BI software. Once the data is cleaned and transformed into the structured format, reports and dashboards are created on the power BI desktop. These reports are then published on the Power BI system where multiple users can access these reports and dashboards. This feature in the power BI service helps data analysts collaborate with multiple parties including senior management, clients or external users. Having access to view the same dashboards and reports live from various locations remotely helps businesses save a lot of resources, time and cost.
Power BI Integration Skills
Data, which is the crux on which business analytics is built, could either be structured or unstructured. Integrating all data from various sources and formats can be done using a robust BI tool. Power BI has built-in advanced capabilities for integrating data from various sources and formats. A data scientist must be capable of handling all forms of data and integrating them into the Power BI platform with ease and flexibility.
Power BI Security and Data Governance Skills
Power BI has a very robust and sophisticated security system in place. Having a strong security and governance model ensures data privacy and security as a high priority. At every step within the power BI system, there are multiple layers of security installed so as to ensure no data is misused or lost in the working process. This ensures the data sets are secure and uncompromised with access-controlled systems put in place. As a power BI developer, you must have a basic understanding of data security principles in order to ensure everyone adheres to data security guidelines and governance.
Power BI Performance Optimization Skills
Performance optimization skills are necessary to use the Power BI system in the most optimum way. By optimizing the way power BI performs, BI developers and data analysts will be able to build impressive reports to derive the right insights and offer a better user experience to anyone who views these reports.
As a Power BI developer, you must have the skills to build reports that have less load time for a better user experience. Power BI has a built-in capability that allows you to analyze the performance of your reports. By analyzing the performance of your reports, you can get a fair idea of how fast or slowly your reports and dashboards are generated.
Advanced Analytics and AI Skills in Power BI
Power BI, with its advanced capabilities, makes the data visualization process quicker, easily accessible and compelling. The integration of Azure machine learning in Power BI enables the creation of pre-trained data models, using which interactive dashboards and business reports can be created instantly without much hassle. A lot of redundancies and scope for errors are reduced significantly by using AI models in data analysis.
A competent Power BI developer must have strong data analytics and AI skills to understand complex data and derive key metrics from them. Let us look at the skills required for power BI in detail:
A power BI developer must have predictive analytics knowledge as well as machine learning skills to predict future demand, trends and scope using the past data.
In-depth data analytics knowledge is a must for analyzing complex data while using Power BI software. This knowledge is useful for drawing conclusions and detect patterns, which are a high-priority activity in the data analyst's role.
Use of AI and machine learning skills in business intelligence is highly sought after because data scientists can utilize and transform data into key metrics and invaluable insights, which help businesses make improvements and create strategies.
Power BI Certifications and Continuous Learning
Learning Power BI and gaining the necessary certifications in business intelligence is very important for Power BI developers. Enrolling in a business intelligence certification course will help you gain the skills required to learn Power BI with utmost competency.
Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate
The Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification validates your skills and knowledge in data analysis and visualization using Power BI. This certification is designed for individuals who are already familiar with the basics of Power BI and who want to demonstrate their proficiency in data analysis and visualization.
To become certified, candidates must pass the Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate exam called the PL-300 exam. The PL-300 exam assesses your ability to complete an end-to-end data analysis project using Power BI. The exam duration is 90 minutes. Candidates must be proficient at using Power Query and writing expressions by using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX). The certification cost is $165 USD.
As a business intelligence professional, you must make learning an ongoing activity. Since data management and business intelligence are vast concepts, updating your skills and staying relevant in the industry is very necessary. The reports and dashboards you create offer invaluable findings for businesses to rely on. You must be well-versed with the platform to create compelling reports and visuals. Various online courses offer training programs on Power BI. It is advisable to get trained with a reputable Microsoft partner to get certified. Knowledgehut Power business intelligence training course offers 24 hours live instructor-led sessions and 15+ hours of on-demand learning.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Power BI has emerged as a powerful and indispensable tool in data analytics and business intelligence domain. The user-friendly interface, robust features, and integration capabilities of the tool have made it a favorite choice among data analysts, business professionals, and organizations to assist them in deriving insights from the data. Whether you are a beginner wanting to create compelling visuals or an expert delving into advanced data modeling and AI integration, Power BI offers a cutting-edge solution for every skill level.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What are the key components of data modeling skills in Power BI?
Data modeling in Power BI involves transforming
raw data into structured, meaningful information. Key components include:
·Data Import: Extracting data from various
sources and cleaning it for analysis.
·Data Transformation: Transforming the raw data
into structured formats to shape and organize data.
·Relationships: Defining connections between
tables to enable data analysis.
·Calculated Columns and Measures: Creating new
data elements for calculations and analysis.
·DAX Language: Understanding and using Data
Analysis Expressions (DAX) to create complex calculations.
·Optimization: Optimizing performance by managing
data model size and complexity.
2. How do I develop effective data visualization and reporting skills in Power BI?
·Learn the different types of data
visualizations: There are many different types of data visualizations, each
with its own strengths and weaknesses. Learn about the different types of data
visualizations and how to choose the right visualization for the data.
·Be creative: Data visualization is not just
about presenting data in a clear and concise way. It is also about being
creative and using data to tell a story or communicate a message.
·Use color effectively: Color can be a powerful
tool for data visualization. Use color effectively to highlight important
information and to create visual interest.
·Use white space effectively: White space can be
used to make data visualizations more visually appealing and to focus attention
on important information.
·Tell a Story: Create a narrative flow with your
visuals to guide viewers through insights.
·Interactivity: Utilize Power BI's interactive
features for drilldowns and exploration.
·KPIs and Metrics: Display key performance
indicators prominently.
·Formatting: Pay attention to font, size, and
alignment for clarity.
3. Are there any resources or certifications available to validate Power BI skills?
There are free resources offered by Microsoft for learners to validate their Power BI skills.
•Microsoft Learn: Offers free online modules and tutorials for learning Power BI.
•Power BI Community: A platform for asking questions, sharing experiences, and learning from experts.
Also, Microsoft offers Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate certification that validates data analysis skills using Power BI.
4. Can I integrate Power BI with other Microsoft products and third-party applications?
Below is a list of Microsoft products
and third-party applications that can be integrated with Power BI
·Microsoft Suite: Power BI integrates seamlessly
with Excel, Azure, SharePoint, and more.
·Third-Party Connectors: Power BI supports
connectors to various external data sources.
·Custom Visuals: Extend Power BI's capabilities
with custom visuals from AppSource.
·APIs and Embedding: Embed Power BI reports and
dashboards in other applications using APIs.
Utpal Kar
Blog Author
Utpal Kar, a seasoned Corporate Trainer, excels in conducting training programs encompassing Advanced Excel, Power BI, Python, SQL Server, and Unix/Linux technologies. Notably, he holds a Python Certification from LinkedIn, showcasing his proficiency in the domain. Currently serving as a Corporate Trainer at Innovative Technology Solutions, Utpal specializes in Python, VBA Macro, Advance Excel, Power BI, and PostgreSQL, along with a breadth of other languages like .Net and Java. Prior to this role, he made significant contributions at NIIT Ltd., providing technical support and solutions to Franchisee Centres. With over 4 years at Innovative Technology Solutions, Utpal remains dedicated to enhancing skill sets and driving performance for professionals across various industries.
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