Power BI Imp Q & A

Q What is BI?
BI refers to Business Intelligence which is the technology-driven
flow for analyzing data and delivering actionable information. It
helps corporate, business managers, and workers make better
business decisions.

Q What is Power BI?

Power BI is a Business Intelligence tool by Microsoft that
allows users to load and transform data from various sources into
data visualizations, reports, and dashboards. It is an industry-
standard tool, and most companies use it for their business
solutions

Q Why Power BI?

Power BI is an industry-standard tool by Microsoft for Business
Intelligence solutions. Apart from creating visualizations, reports,
and dashboards, the primary reasons to choose Power BI are
listed below.
 Secure connection to data sources
 Real-time data information in dashboards and reports with
updates in the dataset.
 fast deployment

Q Name the types of Power BI tools

The Power BI tools available are:
  Power BI Desktop – The desktop tool for computers.
 Power BI Service – Online SaaS tool that can be
accessed using any browser.
 Power BI Mobile – Portable tool for mobile users with
Android and iOS operating systems.
 Power Query Editor-Helps to transform Data

Q What are some data sources that Power BI can connect?

There are various sources that Power BI can connect like:

 Files like Excel (.xlsx, .xlxm), CSV (.csv), Power BI

Desktop File (.pbix)
 Database and datasets like SQL Server, Power BI
datasets, and more.
 Web sources like Wikipedia website or any other.

Q What is Power BI Gateway?

Power BI Gateway is the tool to access data from the on-
premises network. When a user accesses any data from on-
premises, the request goes through a Gateway. Power BI
Gateway gives a fast and secure connection over the on-
premises network and minimizes the chances of interruption in
data access due to network failure.

Q In an organization, how can we secure some confidential

data in Power BI?
We can use Power BI Row-Level Security to hide confidential
data in Power BI. Using Row-Level Security, data is restricted
based on the roles created for a profile or group of persons.

Q What are different types of row level security?

Row-level security (RLS) is one of the approaches used in

Power BI to control access to data reports. Row-level
security is applied to rows in a table and, thus, a
horizontal limitation that controls data visibility. There
are two types of RLS: static RLS and Dynamic RLS

When using dynamic RLS, users’ access to different

dashboards and reports depends on their login
credentials. This method of Row-level security is more
complex than static RLS but more secure. Using dynamic
RLS, it is possible to assign one user multiple roles or
multiple roles to multiple users.

Q What is DAX?
DAX refers to Data Analysis Expression, a formula language
used for creating calculated measures, columns, fields, and
custom tables. It is a collection of constants, operators, and
functions to create an expression for calculating values.
Here is a basic sample for DAX expression.

Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])

 Total Sales – It is the measure name that will take the
calculated values.
  SUM – It is the DAX function for summing up the values.
 Parenthesis () – This is the parenthesis from which the
function takes the argument (value passed to the
function).
 Sales – It is the table name from where we want to pick
the values.
 SalesAmount – It is the column name of the table where
the values are present.

Q Name some common DAX functions

Here are some common DAX functions that are used frequently.

 Aggregation Functions: SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG,

COUNTROWS, DISTINCTCOUNT
 Logical Functions: IF, AND, OR, SWITCH
 Information Functions: ISBLANK, ISFILTERED,
ISCROSSFILTE RED
 Filter Functions: VALUES, ALL, FILTER, CALCULATE,
TOPN
 Date & Time Functions: DATEDIFF, DATEVALUE
 Statistical Functions: GEOMEAN, MEDIAN
 Other Functions: UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT,
NATURALINNERJOIN,
NATURALLEFTEROUTERJOIN,
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, ISEMPTY, VAR

Q What are calculated columns and measures?

Calculated columns are the additional column that we create and
calculate using DAX expressions. On the other hand, measures
are also calculated using DAX expressions but do not add up in
the data tables in any form. Calculated columns are evaluated at
each row, and measures are only evaluated at the level of
granularity where they are plotted.

Q Difference Between Slicer and Filter in Power Bi

In Power BI, slicers and filters are both used to control the data
displayed in a report, but they work in slightly different ways.
Slicers are visual filters that allow users to easily select specific
values from a list, such as choosing a particular category or date
range. Filters, on the other hand, are used to apply specific
conditions to the data, such as selecting data that meets certain
criteria or ranges. While slicers are highly interactive and visible to
users, filters can be set in the background to control the data
without being as prominently displayed in the report visualization.
Ultimately, slicers and filters serve similar functions of refining and
customizing data displays, but their differences lie in their visibility
and user interactions.

Q What is Power Query?

Power Query is a tool for ETL (Extract, Transform & Load) It
allows users to extract data from multiple sources, transform data
with their needs and load the final data in the system.

Q What is ETL?

ETL full form is EXTRACT TRANSFORM LOAD.

EXTRACT means to extract the data from different sources these
sources could be excel, server, csv etc.
TRANSFORM means to transform the data; we know that our data
never come in a clean and processed way we have to clean and
preprocess the data in such way that we can use it inside visualization.
LOAD mean now our data is ready and we can create some visualization
now it’s time to load the data into the Power BI.

Q Merge Queries Vs Append Queries

In Power BI, merge queries and Append queries are two methods
of combining data from multiple tables or data sources. Here are
the main differences between both-

Merge Queries: Merge queries combine two or more queries by

matching values in specified columns. It is similar to SQL join
operation.

You can choose to merge queries using Inner Join, Left Outer Join,
Right Outer Join or Full Outer Join. Merge queries are useful when
you have related data in different tables and need to combine
them into a single table or data source.

Append queries: Append queries combines two or more queries

by appending the rows from one query to the end of another
query. This is similar to a SQL union operation.

The column names and data types in the two queries must match
for an append operation to be successful. Append queries are
useful when you have similar data in multiple tables and want to
combine them into a single table or data source.

There are some important differences between merge queries

and join queries in Power BI:

1. Merge queries combine tables horizontally, while append

queries combine tables vertically.
2. Merge queries require at least one matching column in each
table, while append queries require matching columns with
the same data types.
3. Merge queries can combine tables with different numbers of
columns, while append queries require tables to have the
same number of columns.
4. Merge queries can be used to create new columns based on
the matching values, while append queries do not create
new columns.
In short, use merge queries when you need to combine related
data from different tables, and use append queries when you
need to combine similar data from different tables.

Q What is the Power BI Calculate Function?

CALCULATE function evaluate an expression in a modified filter

context." An expression is essentially a measure and includes
functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, and COUNT. This expression
is evaluated in the context of one or more filters.
Syntax- CALCULATE( <expression> [, <filter1> [, <filter2>
[, ...]]])
The CALCULATE function is made up of 2 key components:
  The expression - this is the aggregation component that is
constructed just like a measure using functions like SUM,
AVERAGE, and COUNT.
 The filters - this component allows you to specify one or
more filters that control the context of the aggregation.

Q what is edit interactions?

Edit interaction is valuable feature in Power BI which used to manage

the interaction between the visuals.

 Generally, Power BI visuals are interactive that is after

selecting any item of visual affects other visual too.
 So here Edit Interaction helps in controlling the interaction
between the visuals.
 Which helps in making efficient and also it makes sure that
the visuals show the insights that we need.

Q What is Schedule Refresh?

The Scheduled refresh section is where you define the frequency and
time slots to refresh the semantic model.

Q What are the different types of filters in Power BI reports?

Power BI reports can be filtered using slicer visuals or through the
collapsable filter pane on the right-hand side of Power BI. Slicer visuals
are intuitive and easy to use. The filter pane offers more complex
filtering options, such as page-level, report-level filters. However, this
can stay hidden from the user and be preset and locked so that they
persist for all users.
Q What is cardinality?
Four cardinality choices exist: many-to-one, one-to-one, one-to-many,
or many-to-many. When creating relationships, it is recommended that
the joining field contains unique values in at least one of the tables. This
allows you to use the one-to-many or many-to-one options in your data
model.
Q What is Data Model?
A data model in Power BI is a logical representation of how data is
structured and related within the tool. It is a collection of tables and
relationships between them that are used to create reports and
visualizations.
Star Schema
In a star schema, a fact table is surrounded by multiple dimension
tables. Power BI engine works best with star schema.

Snowflake Schema
Snowflake is a variant of star schema with more things hanging off
the end. For example, the dimension product is further divided into
category and subcategory which can be seen attached to the product
dimension table.