Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel

by Ferrari Alberto, Marco Russo

Renowned DAX experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo teach you how to design data models for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

 

How can you use Excel and Power BI to gain real insights into your information? As you examine your data, how do you write a formula that provides the numbers you need? The answers to both of these questions lie with the data model. This book introduces the basic techniques for shaping data models in Excel and Power BI. It’s meant for readers who are new to data modeling as well as for experienced data modelers looking for tips from the experts. If you want to use Power BI or Excel to analyze data, the many real-world examples in this book will help you look at your reports in a different way–like experienced data modelers do. As you’ll soon see, with the right data model, the correct answer is always a simple one!

 

By reading this book, you

• Gain an understanding of the basics of data modeling, including tables, relationships, and keys

• Familiarize yourself with star schemas, snowflakes, and common modeling techniques

• Learn the importance of granularity

• Discover how to use multiple fact tables, like sales and purchases, in a complex data model

• Manage calendar-related calculations by using date tables

• Track historical attributes, like previous addresses of customers or manager assignments

• Use snapshots to compute quantity on hand

• Work with multiple currencies in the most efficient way

• Analyze events that have durations, including overlapping durations

• Learn what data model you need to answer your specific business questions

 

About This Book

• For Excel and Power BI users who want to exploit the full power of their favorite tools



• For BI professionals seeking new ideas for modeling data

Genres: Business

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 28, 2017

Reviews

[Kevin Narvaes · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5
A very good insight and explanation about how data modeling works, and what are some of the best practices when encountaring some specific scenarios. At certain bits it can get exhausting, especially if you are new with DAX and very abstract concepts like granularity and table relationships.

[PP · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that the title of the book is somewhat misleading; it mainly focuses on data mart design theory rather than step-by-step how to of Power BI and Power Pivot.
The book, though, does a good job in laying foundation of data model design necessary for business analysts, without going too deep on the data warehouse theory.

[Vyacheslav Ilnytskyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with many valuable examples

In general it is awesome book. The only thing I wish it had is that instead of saying after presenting Dax code "better do in M" to actually make it a reference to M similar to DAX book. Yes, the book will be much larger, but it will be much more valuable in this case.

[Hendrick Mcdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent Intro to Data Modeling Using DAX

I found this book to be an excellent introduction to data modeling using DAX. It doesn’t focus on writing DAX equations, but rather how to setup the relationships between your tables to maximize the performance of your data model when using DAX formulas.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book provided some useful information on Power BI, I didn't finish it. The same example (sales and products) was used throughout the book. If this example wasn't similar to your dataset, then much of the content may not be applicable to your needs.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

great intro and fast ramp up to xfer knowledge from Power Pivot and Power Query for Excel to translate into Power BI reports and dashboards...