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The best way to learn Power BI is to install the free Power BI Desktop app, work through Microsoft's free Power BI learning paths on Microsoft Learn using your own data, and then, if you want a recognised qualification, take the PL-300 exam for the Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification. Learning Power Query and DAX early makes everything else easier.
Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence tool. It connects to data from spreadsheets, databases, cloud services and line-of-business systems, lets you clean and model that data, and turns it into interactive reports and dashboards that people can explore without needing to be analysts. This guide covers what Power BI is made up of, where it fits with Microsoft Fabric, and a sensible order to learn it in.
What is Microsoft Power BI?
BI stands for business intelligence, which is the collecting, analysing and presenting of the data a business produces so people can make decisions from it. Power BI is a collection of services, apps and connectors that does this, and you don't need to be a programmer to build useful reports with it.
Power BI is also one of the core workloads in Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft's analytics platform. If you already use Power BI, nothing needs to move and the interface stays the same, but Fabric adds shared storage in OneLake and tools for data engineering, warehousing and real-time analytics for when your reporting needs grow beyond what a single semantic model can handle.
What are the main parts of Power BI?
- Power BI Desktop is a free Windows application for connecting to data, transforming it with Power Query, building a data model and designing reports. Microsoft releases a new version every month.
- Power BI service is the cloud service at app.powerbi.com where reports are published, shared, organised into workspaces and apps, and refreshed on a schedule.
- Power BI mobile apps for iOS and Android give access to reports and dashboards on phones and tablets. The Power BI Windows app was retired on 31 December 2023, so Windows users view content through the Power BI service in a browser, and Power BI Desktop is unaffected.
- Power BI Report Server is an on-premises server for organisations that need to keep reports within their own infrastructure. It's licensed through Power BI Premium capacity or SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance, and uses its own version of Power BI Desktop.
- On-premises data gateway lets the Power BI service refresh data from sources inside your network, such as an on-premises SQL Server.
- Power BI Embedded is an Azure service for developers who want to embed Power BI reports in their own applications or websites.
Is Power BI free?
Partly. Power BI Desktop is free to download and use for building reports. To share content with colleagues and collaborate in workspaces you need a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User licence. Users with a free licence can view content if it sits in a workspace on a Fabric capacity of F64 or larger and they have the viewer role.
How should you start learning Power BI?
Work through it in roughly this order, using data you understand, because it's much easier to spot a wrong measure when you know what the answer should be.
Install Power BI Desktop and get some data in
Download Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, which keeps it up to date automatically, and connect it to an Excel workbook or a database you know. Microsoft's Power BI training hub on Microsoft Learn has a Get started with Power BI learning path that walks you through this.
Learn Power Query for cleaning data
Real data is messy, and Power Query is where you fix it: removing columns you don't need, changing data types, splitting and merging columns, and combining tables. The Get started with Microsoft data analytics learning path covers getting, cleaning and transforming data in Power BI Desktop.
Learn data modelling and DAX
This is where people tend to get stuck, and it's worth taking your time over. A good model, usually a star schema with fact tables and dimension tables, makes reports faster and calculations simpler. DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is the formula language for measures and calculated columns. The Model data with Power BI learning path covers relationships, calculations and time intelligence.
Build reports and share them
The Build Power BI visuals and reports learning path covers choosing the right visual, designing pages, bookmarks, drillthrough and designing for mobile. Once you have a report you're happy with, publish it to the Power BI service, set up a scheduled refresh and share it through a workspace or an app.
Use Copilot, but check its work
Copilot in Power BI can create a report page from a prompt, write a narrative summary of a visual and summarise a semantic model. It speeds things up, but you still need to understand the model to know whether what it produces is right.
Which Power BI certification should you take?
The main certification is Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate, which you earn by passing exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst. The exam covers four areas:
- prepare the data (25 to 30%)
- model the data (25 to 30%)
- visualise and analyse the data (25 to 30%)
- manage and secure Power BI (15 to 20%)
You need a score of 700 or more to pass. Microsoft offers a free practice assessment, and there's a three-day instructor-led course (PL-300T00) if you prefer classroom training. The certification expires after a year, but you can renew it by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn.
If your organisation is moving towards Microsoft Fabric, the natural next step is the Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate certification (exam DP-600). Microsoft also runs a free hands-on workshop called Fabric Analyst in a Day for analysts working with Power BI and Fabric.
Where can you get help while you learn?
The Microsoft Fabric community is where the Power BI forums now live, and the Power BI documentation on Microsoft Learn covers every feature in detail.
If you're rolling Power BI out across a team, it's worth getting the data model, workspaces and security set up properly first. We include training for report users and for the people who'll build and maintain reports as part of our Power BI projects, and our dashboards for CalMac show defect data across a fleet of 33 ships. You can also read about how Power BI fits into Power Platform.
Frequently asked questions
What is the PL-300 exam?
PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst is the exam for the Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification. It tests preparing, modelling, visualising and analysing data in Power BI, plus managing and securing Power BI content, and requires a score of 700 to pass.
Is Power BI part of Microsoft Fabric?
Yes. Power BI is one of the core workloads in Microsoft Fabric. Existing Power BI content and workspaces stay as they are, and you sign in with the same account, but Fabric adds data engineering, warehousing and real-time tools that work with the same data in OneLake.
Do you need to know SQL or coding to use Power BI?
No. You can build reports without writing code, using Power Query's interface to shape data and drag-and-drop visuals. Learning DAX is important for anything beyond simple totals, and SQL helps if you work with databases, but neither is needed to get started.
Talk to us about Power BI
If you'd like help setting up Power BI properly, or training for your team on your own data, get in touch or read more about our Power BI services.
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