Microsoft Power BI Training

• Maximum number of delegates who can attend has been reduced to 4 or 5 depending on location
• Temperature checks on arrival
• Desk distancing complies with guidelines
• Hand sanitising on arrival
• Facemasks available
• In the office all training equipment and furniture sanitised thoroughly after use
• Stationery used by the delegates during training to be taken away with the delegate or disposed of at the end of the day
• The building cleaning staff regularly disinfect all of all of the doors, handles, stair hand rails, etc.

Our online power bi training is designed to re-create the classroom experience as closely as possible.

It is a live training session using Zoom or Teams and the trainer is there throughout. The training is still hands-on so you will need to have the software installed on your own computer.

The trainer will share their screen to demonstrate techniques and there is also the option of being able to share your screen if you are really stuck! Depending on the class size, which we still keep to a maximum of 8, questions can be asked at any time or at set points throughout the day.

The trainers like to see you! They much prefer it if you have a camera on so they can see you as well as you being able to see them.

We don’t want to be the biggest training company but we are trying to be the best.

We have now won the Feefo Gold Award for customer service for 6 years in a row.

We always limit our classes to a maximum of 8 delegates but try to keep them smaller. During 2018 our average class size was 4 people.

To back up our promise of great training we offer a 100% money back guarantee.

We provide everything that you will need for a fun, productive day of training.

Everyone has their own computer to work on in a comfortable, bright, air-conditioned room.

We provide plenty of tea, coffee & biscuits, and a USB stick so that you can take files home with you.

We provide 6 months of post-course support as well.

If you get stuck on anything that you learned during the course simply get in touch and explain the issue.

We will make sure your trainer contacts you as soon as possible to help you out.

We also include dummy data that you can practice running analysis on and creating reports with as you learn.

Yes. We provide all attendees on our course with certificates.

This means that in future you can demonstrate that you have received professional bi training.

Our focus is on you being a faster, more capable Power BI user when you return to work.

Our courses combine traditional teaching to explain new concepts and tools with hands-on exercises.

The exercises ensure that you get plenty of time to try out what you have just been taught and make sure that you really understand it, for example creating simple reports using dummy data which will transition well when you return to work in your business.

We also make sure that there is plenty of time for you to ask questions in case there is anything you are unsure of.

Please come wearing whatever you are most comfortable in, we do not have a dress code.

Most people come wearing casual clothes and relax while they enjoy their learning.

We provide training at our training centres in Guildford and London.

We also provide training at our clients’ offices. In 2019 we have provided training in Oxford, Reading, Southampton, Swindon, Bristol, Basingstoke, Maidstone, Portsmouth and Brighton.

We provide certificates of achievement to everyone who completes one of our Microsoft Power BI programmes.

Our training is design to prepare your staff for certification as an MCSA in BI Reporting which is achieved by passing these two exams:

• 70-778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Power BI
• 70-779 Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Excel

Please note, the actual exams will need to be organised separately, at an exam centre, and cost approximately £130, plus VAT.

We cover PQ in our introduction & intermediate Power BI course. It allows you to connect to and combine sources of data for your analysis.

It is available in both Excel and Power BI desktop.

Business intelligence (BI for short) refers to the collection of technologies involved in collecting and analysing data, and then presenting the information generated in dashboards and reports.

Given the number of new business intelligence tools available learning power bi is becoming an increasingly important skill for finance and IT professionals.

Depending on your existing level of expertise either our Beginners Power BI training course or our Advanced power BI training course will probably be most appropriate for you.

Power Pivot is an Excel add-in and part of Power BI.

It is used to create data models. It allows you to combine large amounts of data from a variety of data sources, and create reports and dashboards with custom visuals.

A data model is a collection of tables with relationships. A data model that you can see in Excel is available in Power Pivot and vice versa.

Power Query allows you to retrieve, extract, and transform (ETL) data prior to bringing it into Excel (and/or into a Power Pivot data model). It allows you to insert & remove columns, filter and sort tables, and change data types.

It runs on the “M”  Language (short for Mashup) and is labelled as “Get and Transform,” in the “Data” Ribbon in Excel, and is an optional tool. When importing data into Power Pivot can import it directly into Power Pivot, or you can channel it first through Power Query if your data is noisy.

Also known as the DAX Engine (Data Analysis Expression), Power Pivot is an Excel feature that allows you to build a data model with relationships, create calculated columns and measures.

Power Pivot allows Excel to import larger data sets from a variety of sources and create more sophisticated data models using DAX.

Power Pivot allows you to create visualizations using Power View and Power Map. Power Maps is a geographic visualization tool, while Power View allows you to present data in interactive dashboards.

Power Pivot is a free add-on for Excel 2010 and Excel 2013. From Office 2016 onwards it can be found in Excel.

Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence and visualization solution which works on top of the Power Pivot and Power Query engines. You can shape and analyse your data either using Get Data in Power Query or Data Model in Power Pivot. You can then create interactive dashboards and reports; visualizing your data with Power BI’s wide variety of data visualizations.

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is the native language for PowerPivot, Power BI Desktop and SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

It is quick and simple to use and includes some of the functions from Excel that work with relational data.

You can find our more about how to learn DAX here: Beginners DAX training course and here: Advanced DAX training course.

Learning Power BI is no more difficult than other data analysis software.

It is very powerful software that can combine data from a number of data sources. That data can then be used for business analytics, to produce reports and dashboards.

As with other big data software, learning Power BI for straightforward analysis of simple datasets is not difficult.

Learning to use the full suite of big data tools that Power BI contains for more complex data analysis is obviously more complex and time-consuming.

Learning to use Power BI desktop for simple data analysis can be done in a day.

Learning to use Power BI service to create reports and dashboards in Power BI will require closer to a week of training.

Power BI is a different tool to Excel.

Neither is better than the other. They are both great so long as they are used for the right job.

Excel is great for quick, simple ad-hoc analysis. It is very widely used and understood. Sharing your analysis can be a little fiddley however.

Power BI is a powerful business analytics and data analysis tool.

It is designed to work with large amounts of data and was designed with collaboration in mind (Power BI service).

The key is making sure that you use the right software for the job in hand!

We have a detailed blog post about this which you can find here: Power BI: Desktop VS Pro VS Premium. If you would like more details.

Very briefly however the differences are as below.

Power BI Desktop is a version of Power BI that you can on your desktop. It gives you access to Power BI’s basic features. It can also be used to access the full cloud-based version of Power BI.

It is free and the ideal place to start with Power BI. It allows you to connect to multiple data sources,, carry out data analysis, export to Excel and the web.

Power BI Pro is the full version of Power BI. It includes the ability to build and share dashboards and reports that you have built which you can’t with BI Desktop.

Power BI Premium or Service is designed for large organisations. It gives your company access to it’s own dedicated capacity and allows for analysis of very large scale datasets.