With Microsoft Power BI, you can connect data, shape the data queries to build data models, use the data models to create visualisations and reports and share your report files with others. Power BI desktop centralises, simplifies and streamlines processes of designing and creating business intelligence reports.
To get started with Microsoft Power BI follow these simple steps:
- Log in
Sign in with your Microsoft account details to gain access to Power BI Desktop and all its features.
- Get your bearings
Once you have logged into the Power BI application, it can be useful to get your bearings and figure at where all the features can be accessed. It is useful to find these features:
Navigation menu – This allows users to access reports and workspaces.
File menu – This is just like every other Microsoft file menu; it gives users the options to print, save or export reports as either a PowerPoint or a PDF.
View menu – This again is very similar to the standard Microsoft view menu. It allows users to customise the report.
Settings and profile – This section allows users to customise their profile as well as access help files and sign out of Power BI.
Report tabs – This applies when reports consist of multiple tabs. These different tabs are therefore accessible at the bottom of the page.
- Learn how to apply and remove filters
One of the key features of Power BI is its ability to present multiple variables of a dataset in one report. It also instantly analyses the relationship between the variables of the dataset by applying features. Because Power BI is an extremely interactive platform, every item on the canvas can be clicked on as a filter. To apply multiple filters to the canvas, hold the ‘Ctrl’ key while clicking. Filters can also be removed by clicking twice.
*This is the first part of a two-part blog series. The second blog ‘ A user’s guide to Power BI continued’ explains how to drill down data, find the list of published reports, sort through the published reports list and change back to default views on Microsoft’s Power BI.
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