Understanding your company’s data has never been easier than with Microsoft’s new Power BI package for Excel 2013. Consisting of four powerful tools—Power Pivot, Power View, Power Query and Power Maps—Power BI makes self-service business intelligence a reality for a wide range of users, bridging the traditional gap between Excel users, business analysts and IT experts and making it easier for everyone to work together to build the data models that can give you game-changing insights into your business.

Beginning Power BI with Excel 2013 guides you step by step through the process of analyzing and visualizing your data. Daniel R. Clark, an expert in BI training and a regular speaker on these topics, takes you through each tool in turn, using hands-on activities to consolidate what you’ve learned in each chapter.

Starting with Power Pivot, you will create robust scalable data models which will serve as the foundation of your data analysis. Once you have mastered creating suitable data models, you will use them to build compelling interactive visualizations in Power View. It’s often necessary to combine data from disparate sources into a data model. Power Query allows you to easily discover, combine, and refine data from a variety of sources, so you can make accurate judgments with all the available information. Geographical awareness is another common requirement of data analysis. Using Power Maps you will create captivating visualizations that map your data in space and time.

Beginning Power BI with Excel 2013 is your practical guide to getting maximum insight from your data, and presenting it with impact.

• Import data from a range of sources into the Power Pivot Model
• Create solid data models to support data analysis
• Create compelling dashboards in Excel
• Use Power View to create robust Interactive Data Presentations
• Simplify data discovery, association and cleansing with Power Query
• Combine analytical and geographic data in powerful 3D visualizations using Power Maps
  

Beginning Power BI with Excel 2013 is for business analysts, database administrators and developers who need to work together to analyze and interpret their company’s data. Good modeling design and the necessary coding will be covered in an accessible way for those without a specialist background in these areas.

Part I - Building Models in Power Pivot

Chapter 1: Introducing Power Pivot

Chapter 2: Importing Data into Power Pivot

Chapter 3: Creating the Data Model

Chapter 4: Creating Calculations with DAX

Chapter 5: Creating Measures with DAX

Chapter 6: Incorporating Time Intelligence

Chapter 7: Data Analysis with Pivot Tables and Charts

Part II – Building Interactive Reports and Dashboards with Power View

Chapter 8: Optimizing Power Pivot Models for Power View

Chapter 9: Creating Standard Visualizations with Power View

Chapter 10: Creating Interactive Dashboards with Power View

Part III – Exploring and presenting Data with Power Query and Power Map

Chapter 11: Data Discovery with Power Query

Chapter 12: Geospatial Analysis with Power Map

Chapter 13: Mining Your Data with Excel

Chapter 14: Creating a Complete Solution