Introduction to Power BI Service

In this workshop you will be introduced to the online portion of Power BI known as Power BI Sevice as well as the basic workflow for working on the platform.

A basic understanding of Power BI is recommended for this workshop.

Estimated workshop length: 1 hour

Setup Instructions

This workshop requires access to the online version of Power BI known as Power BI service. To access this platform you will need either a paid Power BI lisence (a subscription to Office 365 works) or a microsoft account associated with your work or school that provides access. If your organization uses integrated Office 365 (Brock University does this) then you will be able to log in with your institution credentials.

You will also need to install Power BI Desktop on your computer. Keep in mind that Power BI Desktop is not Mac compatible so if you want to participate in this workshop you will need to use a windows computer or set up a windows environment on your Mac computer.

If you do not already have the program you can get it by following these steps (keep in mind that you may need to contact your institution for permission to install programs):

• Go to the Power BI Desktop download page and choose which language you prefer
• Click the “Download” button and choose the installer that works for your computer
• Once the download is complete, run the installer and follow the instructions in the setup wizard
• With that you should be good to go!

Workshop Tasks

Task Set #1
Dataset URL:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BrockDSL/Introduction-to-Power-BI/master/Mahogany%20Mary%202018%20Sales%20Data.csv

1. Load in the Mahogany Mary Dataset using the web connector and open the Power Query Editor.
2. Make the following changes to the dataset:
   • Check and correct the datatypes for each column
   • Create a new column called “Profit” using this formula: [SaleTotal]/1.13
   • Create a new column called “Tax Paid” by subtracting the Profit column from the Sale Total column
   • Close and Apply your changes
3. Make one or more visualizations of your choice using whatever method you like.
4. Log in to your Power BI account using the “Sign In” button at the top right of Power BI. If you are already logged in it will have your name listed in place of the “Sign In” button.
5. Publish your report using the “Publish” button. Save the report to your computer as “Workshop Report” and publish it to “My Workspace”.
6. Once you are done all of that, type “Report Published!!!” into the chat

Task Set #2

1. Go to app.powerbi.com and login if it does not automatically do it for you.
2. Look around at the different sections and then go to “My Workspace”.
3. Open your report, edit something in it and then save your changes.
4. Pin a live page of your report to a new dashboard and enter “Workshop Dashboard” in the dashboard name field.
5. Return to My Workspace and get quick insights on your report by clicking the three dots that appear when you hover over the report and selecting “Quick Insights”.
6. Pin one or more visualizations from your Quick Insights to the dashboard you made.
7. Take a look at your dashboard then type “Dashboard Completed!!!” in the chat

Next Steps

If you want to delve deeper into what Power BI is capable of, I recommend checking out the official Power BI learning paths or the options in the “Learn” section of Power BI Service.

This workshop is brought to you by the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab. For a listing of our upcoming workshops go to Experience BU if you are a Brock affiliate or Eventbrite page for external attendees.