Learn how to move from standard reports to business intelligence with Power BI. 

Our previous blog discussed how Power BI is an interactive tool you learn to use, just like you did with spreadsheets. 

• A financial analyst might use Power BI Desktop or Power BI Report Builder to create reports, then publish those reports to the Power BI Service, where you view them. 
• Your salesperson in the field might use the Power BI phone app to monitor sales quotas or follow up on leads. 
• Developers might use Power BI APIs to push data into datasets or embed dashboards and reports into custom applications.

How do I get started with Power BI?

If you’re ready to get more mileage out of Power BI, learning resources abound – including some that are free:

• Microsoft Learn – Microsoft offers a broad range of learning resources for the general Power BI user and the advanced user/report builder. If you’ve never worked with Power BI, try these modules to get an overview of how Power BI can help your business and see how to get the most out of your organization’s dashboards and reports.
  • Introduction to Power BI – 46 min: Learn how to leverage Power BI to quickly build reports and dashboards with interactive visualizations and see how other organizations have used this solution to drive business results with actionable insights.
  • Explore what Power BI can do for you 1 hr 9 min: As a consumer, you’ll work in the Power BI service to review and interact with content that has been shared with you. This module provides the foundational information that you need to work effectively in the Power BI service.

• LinkedIn Learning – Another good resource is LinkedIn Learning. With a premium subscription to LinkedIn Learning, you can access more than 280 Power BI courses, 1600 videos, and 15 Learning Paths
  • We recommend Power BI Essential Training. In this nine-part course, Gini von Courter helps you get started by covering the web-based Power BI service, explaining how to import data, create visualizations, and arrange those visualizations into reports. She discusses how to pin visualizations to dashboards for sharing and how to ask questions about your data with Power BI Q&A. She also provides coverage of Power BI Mobile and shows how to use the data modeling capabilities in Power BI Desktop.
• Instructor-Led Classes – If instructor-led learning resources are preferred, courses are offered online, onsite, and in a classroom setting. (TwinEngines has no affiliation or experience with these vendors):
  • Noble Desktop (online):
  • CPrime (online, limited classroom)
  • Exists BI (online and customized for your organization)
  • ONLC Training Centers (classroom in Atlanta)
  • Certstaffix (classroom in Atlanta, customized onsite)