Power BI – Turn Data into Decisions with Visual Dashboards

💡 What Is Power BI?

Power BI is a business analytics tool from Microsoft that lets you: 

 ✅ Connect to data from various sources
✅ Visualize data with charts and dashboards
✅ Analyze patterns and trends
✅ Share interactive reports with others

It's widely used in:

• Finance

• Education

• Sales & marketing

• Health & NGO sectors

• Government reporting

🔌 1. Power BI Workflow (From Data to Dashboard)

Power BI follows 4 main steps:

1. Connect to Data

• Excel, SQL Server, Google Sheets, APIs, websites, etc.

2. Transform / Clean Data (Power Query Editor)

• Remove blanks, rename columns, filter rows, change formats

3. Build Visual Reports

• Create bar charts, maps, KPIs, tables, slicers

4. Publish and Share

• Upload to Power BI Cloud (service) and share with teams

✅ You don’t need programming to start!

📂 2. Power BI Components

📈 3. Visualizations in Power BI

You can turn raw data into interactive visuals like:

 ✅ Bar/Column Charts – Compare values
✅ Line Charts – Show trends over time
✅ Pie/Donut Charts – Show proportions
✅ Maps – Show data by region/country
✅ Tables – List details
✅ Cards/KPIs – Show single-value indicators
✅ Slicers – Filters for interactivity

✅ These visuals update automatically when your data changes.

🧹 4. Data Cleaning with Power Query

Before building a dashboard, you clean and shape your data.

With Power Query, you can:

• Remove duplicates or errors

• Change data types (text, number, date)

• Split columns (e.g., first and last name)

• Merge/join tables

• Add calculated columns

✅ All steps are recorded and repeatable.

📊 5. Calculations with DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

DAX is a formula language used to: 

 ✅ Create custom fields
✅ Build KPIs
✅ Filter and summarize data

Examples:

• Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

• Profit Margin = DIVIDE(Profit, Revenue)

DAX is like Excel formulas but more powerful and structured.

🧠 6. Real-Life Applications of Power BI

✅ Ethiopian government dashboards (e.g., revenue, education, census)
✅ NGOs tracking health data or survey results
✅ Businesses analyzing sales by region
✅ School/university performance reports
✅ Financial dashboards showing expenses vs income

Anyone who works with data in Excel can upgrade to Power BI easily.

💼 Career Paths That Use Power BI

 ✅ Data Analyst
✅ Business Intelligence Analyst
✅ Finance Analyst
✅ Project Manager
✅ Operations or Sales Analyst
✅ NGO Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Officer
✅ Health Information Officer
✅ Report Automation Specialist

🌐 Benefits of Using Power BI

 ✅ Free to start (Power BI Desktop)
✅ Easy to learn, even for non-coders
✅ Connects to almost any data source
✅ Interactive, filterable reports
✅ Share reports online or via mobile
✅ Microsoft ecosystem integration (Excel, Teams, SharePoint)