complete Power BI course roadmap

1. Introduction to Business Intelligence (BI) and Power BI

Goal: Understand BI concepts and Power BI’s role.

Topics:

1. What is Business Intelligence (BI)
2. Role of BI in business decision-making
3. Overview of Power BI ecosystem: Desktop, Service, Mobile
4. Power BI vs Excel vs Tableau

Hands-on: Install Power BI Desktop and explore interface.

2. Power BI Basics

Goal: Get familiar with Power BI Desktop environment.

Topics:

1. Power BI Desktop layout: Ribbon, panes, and views
2. Importing data: Excel, CSV, SQL Server, Web, SharePoint
3. Data types and basic transformations
4. Saving and publishing Power BI reports

Hands-on: Import sample datasets and explore fields.

3. Data Transformation with Power Query

Goal: Clean, shape, and prepare data.

Topics:

1. Power Query Editor basics
2. Removing duplicates, filtering, replacing values
3. Splitting columns, merging tables
4. Pivot and unpivot data
5. Using parameters and functions

Hands-on: Transform raw sales data into clean datasets for reporting.

4. Data Modeling in Power BI

Goal: Create relationships between datasets for analytics.

Topics:

1. Understanding tables, relationships, and cardinality
2. Star schema vs Snowflake schema
3. Calculated columns vs Measures
4. Introduction to DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)
5. Time intelligence basics: Year-to-date, Month-to-date

Hands-on: Build a simple data model with related tables.

5. DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

Goal: Learn formulas to analyze and calculate data.

Topics:

1. DAX basics: Syntax, operators, and functions
2. Common functions: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, DISTINCT
3. Logical functions: IF, SWITCH
4. Aggregation functions: SUMX, CALCULATE
5. Time intelligence: SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR, DATEADD

Hands-on: Create calculated columns and measures for KPIs.

6. Data Visualization in Power BI

Goal: Create interactive and insightful reports.

Topics:

1. Types of visualizations: Bar, Column, Line, Pie, Tables, Cards
2. Formatting visuals for better storytelling
3. Using slicers, filters, and bookmarks
4. Drill-through and tooltips
5. Conditional formatting and custom visuals

Hands-on: Build a sales dashboard with multiple visuals and interactivity.

7. Power BI Service (Cloud)

Goal: Learn to share and collaborate on reports online.

Topics:

1. Power BI Service overview: Workspaces, Apps
2. Publishing reports from Desktop to Service
3. Sharing reports and dashboards with others
4. Scheduled data refresh and gateways
5. Row-level security (RLS)

Hands-on: Publish a report and set up a scheduled refresh.

8. Advanced Analytics

Goal: Use Power BI for deeper insights.

Topics:

1. Advanced DAX functions: FILTER, ALL, RELATED, USERELATIONSHIP
2. What-if parameters
3. Forecasting and trend analysis
4. Decomposition tree, Key Influencers visuals
5. Integration with Python & R for advanced analytics

Hands-on: Implement forecasting and advanced KPIs.

9. Power BI with Excel and Databases

Goal: Connect and analyze data from multiple sources.

Topics:

1. Importing from SQL Server, Azure, SharePoint, Web APIs
2. DirectQuery vs Import mode
3. Combining multiple sources using Power Query
4. Power BI & Excel integration: PivotTables, Power Query, Power Pivot

Hands-on: Connect Power BI to SQL Server and create live dashboards.

10. Power BI Administration & Governance

Goal: Manage enterprise deployment.

Topics:

1. Power BI Admin Portal overview
2. Workspaces, Dataflows, and Apps management
3. Data governance: Sensitivity labels, usage metrics
4. Deployment pipelines and version control

Hands-on: Create and manage workspace with multiple users.

11. Real-Time Dashboards & Reporting

Goal: Build live, interactive dashboards.

Topics:

1. Streaming datasets and real-time dashboards
2. Power BI with Power Automate for alerts and notifications
3. Mobile dashboards
4. Embedded analytics

Hands-on: Create a real-time dashboard with streaming sales data.