Trainer Preparation Guide: PL-300T00: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst 1

Purpose
This document is for Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) teaching the PL-300T00: Microsoft
Power BI Data Analyst course. This document contains general information for preparation and
awareness. Information about specific topics is included in the student content and the
instructor Microsoft PowerPoint Notes.

Certification exam
This course maps directly to and is intended to prepare students for the PL-300: Microsoft
Power BI Data Analyst exam.

Certification exams measure your ability to accomplish certain technical tasks for a job role.
Each study area has a percentage indicating the relative weight of the area on the exam. The
higher the percentage, the more questions students are likely to see in that area.

Study Areas Weights

Prepare the data 15-20%

Model the data 30-35%
Visualize and analyze the data 25-30%
Deploy and maintain Assets 20-25%

This exam is not a prerequisite for any other exam, nor is it a part of any credential offering. It is
a standalone exam offering.

Data Analyst Role Definition

Both the certification exam and the courseware are based on the Data Analyst role. If students
ask why some areas are covered and other areas are not, refer them to this role definition.
There are other roles, such as Business Analyst and Data Engineer.

Data Analysts enable businesses to maximize the value of their data assets by using Microsoft
Power BI. As a subject matter expert, Data Analysts are responsible for designing and building
scalable data models, cleaning and transforming data, and enabling advanced analytic
capabilities that provide meaningful business value through easy-to-comprehend data
visualizations. Data Analysts also collaborate with key stakeholders across verticals to deliver
relevant insights based on identified business requirements.

The Data Analyst should have a fundamental understanding of data repositories and data
processing both on-premises and in the cloud.
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Course Design
This course will provide fundamental knowledge, including beginner to advanced level
information and topics, on proper data analysis with Power BI. The course can be taken as a
step in learning about roles in cloud data services and Microsoft Azure such as Data Engineer or
Data Scientist, before taking further Microsoft Azure or Microsoft cloud services courses.

This course will cover general data ingestion and data cleansing processes as well as proper and
important data model and visualization steps, touching on topics including performance,
scalability, and best practices. The course will then cover the concept of pure data analysis using
the tools and visuals available within Power BI.

It will also cover core maintenance and administrative topics including security, asset
management, and data refresh scenarios.

Learning Objectives
In this course students will learn about:

• Data ingestion and preparation,

• Data modeling and optimization,
• Data visualization and insights,
• Data analysis and discovery, and
• Security and asset management.

Audience
This course is intended for a broad range of candidate backgrounds. It is suitable for data
professionals and business intelligence professionals who want to learn how to accurately
perform data analysis using Power BI.

It is also suitable for candidates who develop reports that visualize data from the data platform
technologies that exist on both on-premises and in the cloud.

Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for taking this course, although experience working with data in
Microsoft Excel and/or a basic understanding of databases and relational modeling is beneficial.

Preparing to teach the course

In the next sections we will cover the main course components and how you can use them in
class. This includes the Microsoft PowerPoint slides, videos, module review questions, prepared
 Trainer Preparation Guide: PL-300T00: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst 3

demos, reference links, and practice exercises. There is a lot of flexibility in how you use this
content to create a great learning experience for your students.

The content for this course is organized into Modules, Lessons, and Topics. There are 12
modules that cover 4 core areas discussed above.

M01 – Get Started with Microsoft Data Analytics

M02 – Getting Data in Power BI

M03 – Clean, Transform, and Load Data

M04 – Design a Data Model

M05 – Creating Model Calculations using DAX in Power BI

M06 – Optimizing Model Performance

M07 – Creating Reports

M08 – Creating Dashboards

M09 – Identify Patterns and Trends

M10 – Create and Manage Workspaces

M12 – Manage Datasets in Power BI

M13 – Row-level Security

PowerPoint slides
Each module has a PowerPoint deck, and each topic has a PowerPoint slide. PowerPoint slides
are provided to help you teach the course:

• There is a Module 00 PowerPoint file. with the filename PL-300 Mod0-ENU-Data Analysis
with Power BI.pptx. The slide deck includes an agenda with modules and lessons for the
course. We recommend that you customize this file for your specific situation. For
example, you can add an introduction, and explain the facilities for your specific building.
• Additionally, each module within the course has its own separate PowerPoint file. For
example, PL-300 Mod0-ENU0-Data Analysis with Power BI.pptx is the slide deck for
Module 01. Slides are designed to supplement the student materials. You should review
how the topics are presented to the student versus how the slides are organized. By
doing this, you can customize the slides to make your presentation more interesting.
• Each slide contains a mixture of text-based content, graphics, references, and notes. Use
the topic and reference links to fully cover each concept.
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Hands-on Labs
Labs are provided for each module except for modules 1, 6, 10, and 11. Some modules have two
labs. Each lab is estimated at 45 minutes. The lab instructions are in the PL-300 Microsoft
Learning Github repository. In addition to the lab instructions, any supplemental files like script
and templates are also provided.

In this course there are 12 lab exercises. To complete the lab the students will need:

• An M365 account
• Internet access

Note that students should all be on one M365 tenant. There is no need for each student to be
working on a separate tenant. We would also recommend you can take the time to
demonstrate some topics as you go, and as discussion comes up and evolve around subjects.

Demonstrations

This course contains a series of prepared demonstrations that enable instructors to present a
story that is in sync with the learning objectives of each module (one demo per module).
Demonstration files are located on the Virtual Machine.

Each demonstration is accompanied by written instructions and solution files. These resources
are available on the Virtual Machine in D:\PL300\Demo.

Take the time to work through each one and decide which to use. Consider having the students
follow along or walk through as a group. Also, consider the overlap with the formal labs and
make the best use of your time. See the demo story outline below for an overview of each
demonstration and how it fits into the course content.
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The demo story is as follows:

Module Module Name Demo Story
ID
1 Get Started with Describe Tailspin Toys and objectives for data
Microsoft Data Analytics analytics, and show the final solution
2 Prepare Data in Power Use Power BI Desktop to connect to SQL Server data,
BI and profile columns
3 Clean, Transform, and Create three queries: Sales, Product, and ProductCost,
Load Data in Power BI and then load to the model
4 Design a Data Model in Create hierarchies, and configure model properties
Power BI
5 Create Measures using Create a calculated table (for Date), add calculated
DAX in Power BI columns, and add and format measures
6 Optimize Model Open existing Power BI Desktop file with a
Performance DirectQuery model already developed, then enhance
it with dual storage dimensions and aggregations
7 Create Reports Create a single-page report with a slicer and common
visuals
8 Create Dashboards Create a workspace, publish the Power BI report,
interact with the report, and create a dashboard
9 Identify Patterns and Add two pages to the existing report, use the
Trends Decomposition Tree visual, and add binning for
product categories
10 Create and Manage Open a different Power BI session and sign in as a
Workspaces different user, then share a report and publish an app
to the user
11 Manage Datasets in Promote the dataset, install the gateway (personal
Power BI mode), configure gateway data sources, and trigger a
service refresh
12 Row-level Security Enhance the data model with a new table to support
dynamic RLS, publish the service and configure
security, test with shared user
Module review questions
Module review questions are provided at the end of each module. You might wish to
supplement with questions of your own.
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You can use these review questions in several ways:

• Have the student’s pre-test before the course starts, and then at the end to show them
what they have learned.
• As a group, go through the questions before moving on to another section.
• Interspace the questions into the content as you cover the applicable material.

Reference links
The course content may include many reference links. This is because the documentation is
constantly being updated, and also for the MCT to use as reference, or an opportunity to link
into a high-level overview of a certain feature:

• Before you teach the course, use the reference links to validate that the content is still
current. Pay attention to capabilities and limits: for example, preview features and
virtual machine (VM) sizes.
• Reference links have been added to your PowerPoint slides and instructor notes to make
it easy for you to access more detailed information. Use these links to walk through
details that are not covered in the content, and lengthy steps that have only been
summarized in the content.

Group discussions
Consider initiating group discussion around certain topics. You can use the end-of module
questions as conversation starters at any stage during the course delivery.

Course timing
The course content is designed to take four days to complete. While the content should not be
particularly challenging, delivering the course on time will most likely be the biggest challenge
you have. Remember you have discretion and flexibility to show a feature or area as you go, and
this freedom should allow you to quicken or slow the course pace as you need. Also, based on
the students’ experience, you might be able to skip over or quickly go through certain topics or
areas.

Resources
There are a lot of resources to help you and the student learn about Power BI. We recommend
you bookmark these pages and offer the list to your students:

• Power BI Community Forums. The Microsoft Power BI Community forums are

very active. You can search the threads for a specific area of interest. You can also
browse categories such as Power Query, Desktop, Developer topics, and more.
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• Microsoft Learning Blog. Get the latest information on the certification tests and
exam study groups.
• Microsoft Power BI Blog. Keep current on what's happening in Power BI,
including what's in preview, what’s generally available, and news and updates.
• Power BI Newsletter. Stay informed on the latest Power BI features, events, and
community activities. Browse through past newsletters or subscribe and get the latest
Power BI news delivered to your inbox.

Connect with others

You also have the ability to connect directly with others preparing to teach the course or to get
assistance if need be:

• MCT Central – Your one stop for all things MCT. Stay up to date with the latest
MCT news, learn about upcoming events, find job opportunities, or connect with other
MCTs around the world. You can also ask questions and discuss a variety of topics
including courseware and certification with Microsoft through the MCT central forums.
• MOC Courseware Support – If there are problems with a course or you need to
log a support ticket, contact the Official Support channel for MOC courses. This channel
is monitored by support agents and is the quickest way to log your course support issue.
It is the official support channel for courseware.

Feedback
This course differs from the traditional MOC courses that Microsoft has provided in the past.
This course has a framework for you to work within. Take time to prepare and think about the
value that only an instructor can bring to training. We hope to partner with you to provide an
exceptional student experience and we welcome your feedback.

Happy learning!

Courseware Development Team