Power BI Video Tutorials

Microsoft Power BI is one of the most widely used business intelligence and visual analytics services available. Part of the Microsoft Power platform, this software can transform different unrelated data sources into visual, interactive insights. Watching video tutorials online is a popular method of learning Power BI. Video lessons tend to be an affordable, flexible learning option. They can be watched on your own time, paused, and re-watched as often as you wish. This article will cover a range of videos, including what they teach and where to find them.

What is Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI is a group of BI (business intelligence) services and products that converts data from various sources into reports, visualizations, and interactive dashboards. This allows users to share data insights with others who work at their organization or to embed them onto a website or application. Power BI offers effective business solutions with each of its individual elements and provides users with even more capabilities when these components work together.

One of the main benefits of working with Power BI is that it can integrate with other Microsoft services and products and third-party platforms. Users can connect Power BI to Excel, Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange, among others. Whether your data is stored in an on-premises data warehouse, a cloud-based warehouse, or an Excel spreadsheet, Power BI can easily connect to these data sources, provide visualizations based on the data they contain, and offer insights that you can then share with other stakeholders. There are several Power BI products, each of which has different uses; Power BI Desktop creates reports, Power BI Services publishes the reports, and the Power BI mobile app provides users with a way to view each dashboard or report.

Read more about what Power BI is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Power BI?

Power BI is a valuable tool for illustrating what’s happening within an organization in the present. It also has applications for helping to anticipate what may transpire in the future. Because it relies on machine learning capabilities, Power BI can locate patterns in data, then draw from these patterns to predict various “what-if” scenarios. Based on these predictions, Power BI users can create forecasts and work to prepare for different demand patterns that may emerge. They can then communicate this information through data visualizations, which impart key data findings to stakeholders to make more educated business predictions.

Power BI is a go-to for those who work with data because it can be used to input huge stores of data that would be a struggle for other platforms to process. Because this intelligence suite is cloud-based, it provides users with regularly updated algorithms and intelligence capabilities. Those who use Power BI can personalize their experience by creating dashboards that allow them to quickly and easily access necessary data. In addition, it’s possible to create alerts in Power BI, which provide users with up-to-date measurements. Best of all, because this platform can integrate with other business management tools, such as Office 365, SharePoint, SAP, Google Analytics, and Hadoop, it remains a hugely popular tool for those working with data across platforms. 

Why Are Video Tutorials Helpful When Learning Power BI?

Learning Power BI is easier than ever, thanks to the variety of online resources available to help with your educational journey. One useful learning mode consists of video tutorials. Unlike in-person or live online study, which require you to attend class meetings at regularly scheduled times, online tutorials can be accessed at any time of the day, around other personal and professional commitments. 

In addition, content can be watched and revisited as often as you want to reinforce the concepts each video covers. These pre-recorded lessons are often shorter in duration than a traditional course. Some provide a general overview of Power BI for those new to this software. In contrast, others are more specialized and contain practical tips and techniques for creating data visualizations or using DAX. 

Not only are video tutorials on Power BI widely available and accessible, but they also tend to be a more affordable option than more formal, structured coursework. Some tutorials are free, making them an excellent starting point on your Power BI learning path. If you’re a visual learner or working to balance your Power BI study around work and family, consider learning more about this tool with the help of online tutorials.

Types of Power BI Videos

If you aren’t ready to pursue an entire course in Power BI and are instead interested in an overview of how to work with this popular software, you may consider learning more about working with data through online videos. Noble Desktop’s free Data Science Webinar provides students with 80 minutes of instruction on fundamental data science concepts, such as the tools commonly used by Data Scientists and the various applications of data science in the business sector. 

In addition to Noble Desktop’s business intelligence and data science resources, many other top educational providers also offer Power BI videos. Udemy currently offers several pre-recorded Power BI video courses, such as Microsoft Power BI Desktop for Business Intelligence. This course provides on-demand video content, 14 articles, and 13 downloadable resources. Udemy’s Microsoft Power BI: Business Intelligence for Beginners is also available. Learners have access to hours of video content about connecting to multiple data sources, working with DAX, and handling dataflows.

Microsoft offers a variety of Power BI videos as well, which are accessible on YouTube, through Microsoft, and in the Microsoft Community video gallery. These videos cover a range of pertinent Power BI topics, such as how-to videos on using Power BI, conceptual videos that cover Power BI terminology, video series, pre-recorded community webinars, and videos from conferences. Interested learners can also subscribe to Microsoft’s Power BI video channel to access the most timely, relevant content. 

Why Learn Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI has over 115 million users and is considered the industry-leading BI platform. Companies worldwide rely on this data solution, and the demand is expected to grow as more organizations see the value in collecting data. This versatile tool is relied on by Developers, Administrators, Designers, Marketers, and Accountants, among others, to cut down on risk and errors and facilitate intelligent decision-making. Many professional benefits await those with a background in using Power BI, and knowledge of this suite of tools can open many professional doors.

Power BI’s drag-and-drop system can quickly and easily transform data into meaningful visualizations. Power BI users can create dashboards or reports that present their findings in mere minutes from inputting data. Professionals can easily share these reports with both internal and external stakeholders. In addition, Power BI provides a way for users to monitor and control data usage, providing access only to those who should have it. When using Power BI, users can view real-time data at any time and from any location, making it a popular tool for those on the go.

Read more about why you should learn Power BI. 

How Difficult is It to Learn Power BI?

Most users consider Power BI relatively easy to learn and estimate that it takes approximately four to six weeks to become familiar with its essential data visualization capabilities. The speed at which you learn Power BI will depend on different factors, such as your prior experience working with data or visualization software, your familiarity with basic mathematical concepts, and how you approach the learning process. As with most skills, studying Power BI in a structured environment, such as an in-person or live online course, can make learning much easier and faster than it would be in self-directed study.

If you want to begin learning Power BI, several prerequisites can help speed up the learning process. A background in data visualization, such as creating charts or graphs, is one such skill that can expedite the learning process. In addition, a basic familiarity with data modeling and how to pull data from sources such as the internet is another beneficial first step. Also, having a background working with spreadsheets such as those in Microsoft Excel is a common first step toward learning Power BI since Power BI can seamlessly integrate with Excel to facilitate data analysis and visualization.

If you are considering purchasing Power BI, several packages are available for different price points. Power BI Desktop is available as a free download, Power BI Pro is currently offered for $9.99/user/month, and Power BI Premium costs $20/user/month. In addition, a free Power BI trial is also available from Microsoft.

Read about how difficult it is to learn Power BI. 

Learn Power BI with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Power BI Bootcamp is an excellent option if you want to learn more about using Power BI. This project-based course prepares students to use Power Query for data querying, Power BI’s data model for connecting to datasets, and its report view for designing interactive data visualizations and dashboards. Students work with different case studies to learn how to work with various Power BI capabilities and this tool’s DAX language for creating visualizations based on their data. All students have the option of a free retake for up to one year to revisit the material and gain additional practice.

Another excellent learning option for individuals who are interested in working with Power BI is Noble Desktop’s Data Analytics Certificate. This intensive course is offered in the in-person and live online format and provides participants with hands-on instruction with core data analytics and business intelligence tools and programs. Those enrolled complete real-world projects using Microsoft Excel, Python, SQL, and Tableau and have the option of also taking the Power BI Bootcamp free of charge. All students receive instruction from an expert instructor and one-on-one mentoring.