Top 5 online resources for Power BI

If you had asked people 15 years ago which BI software they used to visualize their data, you would not have heard anything about Microsoft Power BI. Even more impressive is that Power BI only became officially available to the public in 2015 and was already named market leader by Gartner in 2019. Today, Power BI has a huge number of features and is constantly changing. Because this can quickly make it hard to see the wood for the trees, Business Intelligence consultant Johnny Yang shares a number of resources with useful information about Power BI in this blog.

#1 Microsoft Learn

When you are just getting started with Power BI, the first place to look is Microsoft Learn. Here you will find lots of beginner training to get acquainted with Power BI. Microsoft Learn not only offers training for Power BI, but also for other Microsoft products, such as the Power Platform (think Power Apps and Power Automate), Azure and even Microsoft Teams. One of the strengths of this Microsoft website is that it also has ‘labs’, where you can try out the theory in a virtual environment.

#2 YouTube

Looking for a video that tells you exactly what to do? Then YouTube is the place to be. There are countless YouTube creators who explain step by step in their videos how to get started with various Power BI features.

Each creator makes videos about different topics in Power BI. To keep things clear, we have divided the different types of content into three categories:

• General features
  General features covers everything except DAX and Power Query. Think of how to set up a Power BI environment for the first time, explanations of the different visuals you can use in your report and how to share your report with colleagues.
• DAX
  When you want to perform (complex) calculations on the data in tables, you use measures. You write these measures in the DAX language, where DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. DAX has a lot in common with Excel functions, such as Date, Sum and Concatenate.
• Power Query
  Whereas DAX is used once you have loaded the data, Power Query is used for the ETL process in Power BI. ETL stands for Extract, Transform and Load. This means you retrieve data from a data source, transform it using the Power Query Editor and then load it into Power BI.

Below, we discuss for each category which YouTube creator makes the most interesting videos on the subject:

General features

Guy In A Cube

Guy In A Cube is one of the better channels to start your Power BI adventure with. There are videos ranging from how to create your first Power BI report to more advanced features such as Incremental Refresh and Row-level Security. The playlist ‘Getting started with Power BI’ in particular is great for getting familiar with Power BI in a short time.

DAX

Enterprise DNA

A good channel for learning everything you can do with DAX is Enterprise DNA. They cover many features, such as calculating an average, finding clusters in your datasets and grouping and segmenting your data with measures. Their playlist ‘DAX Tutorials’ contains a large collection of DAX tutorials that will keep you busy for a long time. Besides DAX videos, this channel also has a broad collection of tutorials on other data-related software such as Power Query, Power Apps and Power Automate, making it easy to learn more about those as well.

Power Query

Pavan Lalwani

Pavan Lalwani has an extensive collection of videos focused on the various capabilities of Power Query, called ‘Power Query – Power BI’. Here you will find explanations of text functions, merging columns and more complex concepts, such as combining data from different sources. What is great about this channel is that the videos are clear and easy to understand, and everything is explained step by step.

#3 Microsoft community

When you are looking for a solution to a specific problem you are running into, it is useful to know that there is an entire Microsoft community for everything related to Power BI. If you search Google for a solution, you will quickly end up on this page. Because the Power BI community is very active, chances are your question has been asked before.

If your question is not among them, however, feel free to ask it yourself. You will often get a response within 1 or 2 days with either the solution or a suggestion or line of thinking you can use to try to solve the problem.

#4 Microsoft Blog

Another interesting source is the Power BI blogs. Every month, a blog is written about the changes in Power BI. It shows which new features have been added and which changes have been made to existing features. The blogs are useful if you are already somewhat familiar with Power BI and want to stay up to date with all the changes. The blogs also mention when beta features are added, which are often officially rolled out as a new feature after a certain period.

#5 MVP

Another place where you can learn a lot is from MVPs. MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional, a title awarded by Microsoft. MVP titles are awarded to absolute experts in their specific areas of expertise who also actively share this knowledge with the community. There are only around 4,000 MVPs worldwide, spread across 90 countries.

Marco Russo has been a Microsoft MVP since 2009 and is a well-known name in the Power BI world. He gives many training courses worldwide on DAX and data modeling for Power BI. Marco has also written several books, such as ‘Introducing Microsoft Power BI’ and ‘The Definitive guide to DAX’. Marco is also a frequent guest speaker at international conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, PASS Summit and SQLBits. It is also well worth following Marco’s YouTube channel, where he regularly posts videos.

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