Course Overview

Power BI Certification Bootcamp is an advanced 3-day training class designed to prepare students to pass Microsoft certification exam 70-778: Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power BI. During the course, students will gain the real-world skills required to design, deploy, upgrade and monitor reporting and dashboard solutions using the rapidly-evolving Power BI platform. All the essential Power BI concepts and techniques discussed in lectures are reinforced with hands-on lab exercises in which students will move through the actual steps required to build reporting and dashboard solutions and then to distribute those solutions to a wide audience using app workspaces and the Power Bi app model.

This course includes in-depth coverage of the query tools and data modeling tools in Power BI Desktop. Students will learn how to design complex queries and to write advanced DAX expressions to calculate rankings, rolling averages and year-to-year comparisons. Students will also learn how to design interactive reports using slicers, bookmarks and drillthrough pages. The course discusses essential differences between reports and dashboards and also examines the strengths and weaknesses between the various types of datasets including imported datasets, DirectQuery datasets and LiveConnect datasets.

This course discusses distributing Power BI content and administrating the Power BI environment at the tenant-level. Students will learn when and how to install an on-premises data gateway to provide connectivity to on-premises data sources such as SQL Server. The course demonstrates how to configure tenant-level settings for Power BI and how to monitor report and dashboard usage within an organization using Power BI audit logs. Along the way, students will learn how to configure row-level security (RLS) and how to leverage the R data analytics platform to extend a Power BI Desktop project using R script visuals.

Key Learning Areas

  • Understanding the Power BI Platform
  • Creating a Trial Office 365 Tenant for Testing
  • Creating Datasets, Reports and Dashboards
  • Getting Started with Power BI Desktop
  • Staying in Sync with Monthly Updates
  • Deciding What to Measure
  • Query Design Fundamentals
  • Designing Data Model using a Star Schema
  • Working with the Query Editor Window
  • Importing Content from SharePoint Online
  • Understanding Parameters and Template Files
  • Designing with Function Queries
  • Creating Table Relationships
  • Creating Calculated Columns and Measure
  • Creating Tables using DAX Expressions
  • Configuring Fields for Geographic Mapping
  • Creating Dimensional Hierarchies
  • Using the DAX Calculate Function
  • Calendar Tables and Time Intelligence
  • Designing Interactive Reports
  • Creating the Top 5 Products List
  • Working with Bookmarks and Drillthrough
  • Using Report Themes
  • Importing Custom Visuals
  • Designing Reports for Mobile Devices
  • Publishing Power BI Reports
  • Understanding How Dashboards Differ from Reports
  • Working with Natural Language Queries
  • Configuring Data Alerts on Dashboard Tiles
  • Sharing Dashboards with Other Users
  • Designing Real-time Dashboards
  • Understanding Streaming vs Push vs Hybrid Datasets
  • Understanding Excel Integration with Power BI
  • Designing Data Models in Microsoft Excel
  • Connecting to Excel Data Models from Power BI
  • Importing Data Models into Power BI Desktop
  • Using the Power BI Publishing for Excel Add-in
  • Connecting from Excel to a Power BI Dataset
  • Understanding the Role of App Workspaces
  • Publishing App Workspaces and Installing Apps
  • Updating Apps and Managing App Lifecycle
  • Understanding Power BI Premium and Capacities
  • Configuring App Workspaces and Dedicated Capacity
  • Distributing Power BI Content to Free License Users
  • Comparing Imported Datasets to Live Connect
  • Refreshing Data using Storing Credentials
  • Configuring a Dataset for Auto Refresh
  • Installing and Configuring Personal Gateway
  • Installing and Configuring On-premises Gateway
  • Designing Datasets using DirectQuery Mode
  • Managing Users and Groups in Azure Active Directory
  • Sharing Content with Users from External Organizations
  • Administrating Power BI at the Tenant Level
  • Monitoring Activity using Power BI Audit Logs
  • Securing Datasets using Row-level Security (RLS)
  • Designing Projects using Dynamic RLS
  • Understanding R as a Data Analytics Platform
  • Installing the Required Software for R Development
  • Writing and Executing R Scripts using RStudio
  • Writing R Scripts to Import Data into Power BI Desktop
  • Working with the R Script Visual in Power BI Desktop

Course Outline

  • Introducing the Power BI Platform
  • Designing Queries with the Power BI Desktop
  • Designing a Data Model with Power BI Desktop
  • Designing Interactive Reports in Power BI Desktop
  • Designing Dashboards in the Power BI Service
  • Integrating Excel Workbooks into Power BI
  • Distributing Content using App Workspaces
  • Understanding Data Refresh, Gateways, and DirectQuery Mode
  • Administering and Configuring Security in Power BI
  • Introduction to R with Power BI

Prerequisites

Due to the accelerated nature of this training class, it is recommended that students have 6 months or more experience working with the Power BI Service and Power BI Desktop. All students will require a Windows PC running Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 to complete the lab exercises for this course.