Business Intelligence Data Analytics

Power BI Fundamentals

Build practical reporting skills with data modelling, DAX basics, and clear business dashboards

Quick Course Facts

Self-paced, Online, Lessons

Videos and/or Narrated Presentations

6.5

Approximate Hours of Course Media

About the Power BI Fundamentals Course

Power BI Fundamentals is a practical online course for anyone who wants to turn raw data into reliable Business Intelligence reports. You will build practical reporting skills with data modelling, DAX basics, and clear business dashboards while learning a workflow you can apply to real business questions.

Build Confident Business Intelligence Reports With Power BI

Learn the complete Power BI workflow, from connecting data to publishing reports.
Clean, shape, merge, and append data using Power Query for stronger reporting foundations.
Create reliable data models, relationships, star schemas, and essential DAX measures.
Design clear business dashboards with visuals, slicers, filters, drillthrough, and tooltips.

Power BI Fundamentals teaches the core skills needed to create practical Business Intelligence dashboards and reports.

This course starts with the foundations of Power BI, including how the workflow fits together, how to install Power BI Desktop, and how to navigate the interface. You will then learn how to connect to Excel, CSV, and common data sources so you can bring business data into Power BI with confidence.

As the course progresses, you will clean and shape data with Power Query, combine tables using merge and append queries, and build a reliable data model for reporting. The data modelling section explains relationships, filter direction, and simple star schema design so your reports are easier to maintain and more accurate.

You will also learn DAX basics, including calculated columns, measures, calculated tables, filter context, time-based measures, and date tables. These lessons help you move beyond basic charts and create Business Intelligence calculations that answer real performance, sales, and operational questions.

The report design lessons focus on choosing the right visual for each question, using slicers and filters effectively, and creating clean report pages that business users can understand quickly. In the applied project, you will build a sales performance report, then learn how to publish it to the Power BI Service, refresh data, and manage basic report access.

By the end of Power BI Fundamentals, you will be able to build practical reporting skills with data modelling, DAX basics, and clear business dashboards. You will leave with a structured approach to Business Intelligence and the confidence to create useful Power BI reports for real workplace decisions.

Course Lessons

Full lesson breakdown

Lessons are organized by topic area and each includes descriptive copy for search visibility and student clarity.

Foundations

2 lessons

Lesson 1: Understanding the Power BI Workflow

18 min Preview

This lesson introduces the practical Power BI workflow used to turn raw business data into useful reports. You will learn how work typically moves from connecting to data, shaping it in Power Query, b…

Lesson 2: Installing Power BI Desktop and Navigating the Interface

17 min

In this lesson, learners install Power BI Desktop, confirm they have the right application, and learn how the main workspace is organized. The goal is not to build a complete report yet, but to become…

Getting Data

3 lessons

Lesson 3: Connecting to Excel, CSV, and Common Data Sources

20 min

In this lesson, learners connect Power BI Desktop to the most common starting data sources: Excel workbooks, CSV files, folders of flat files, and basic database or online sources. The focus is on cho…

Lesson 4: Cleaning and Shaping Data with Power Query

24 min

In this lesson, learners use Power Query to turn raw source data into a clean, analysis-ready table before loading it into Power BI. The focus is on practical shaping steps: checking data types, remov…

Lesson 5: Combining Tables with Merge and Append Queries

22 min

In this lesson, learners use Power Query to combine related datasets before building reports in Power BI. The focus is on two core shaping operations: merge queries , which joins tables side by side u…

Data Modelling

3 lessons

Lesson 6: Creating a Reliable Data Model

21 min

In this lesson, learners build a practical mental model for creating reliable Power BI data models. The focus is on structuring tables, relationships, keys, and filter direction so reports behave pred…

Lesson 7: Understanding Relationships and Filter Direction

23 min

This lesson explains how relationships let Power BI combine tables correctly without flattening every dataset into one large table. Learners will connect fact and dimension tables, interpret cardinali…

Lesson 8: Designing a Simple Star Schema

22 min

In this lesson, learners design a simple star schema for Power BI by separating measurable events from descriptive context. The focus is on building a practical model with one central fact table, seve…

DAX Essentials

4 lessons

Lesson 9: Creating Columns, Measures, and Calculated Tables

20 min

This lesson explains when to use calculated columns, measures, and calculated tables in Power BI. Learners will see how each DAX object is evaluated, where it appears in the model, and how it affects …

Lesson 10: Writing Core DAX Measures for Business Reporting

24 min

In this lesson, learners build the core DAX measures used in everyday Power BI reports: totals, counts, averages, margins, ratios, and time-aware business metrics. The focus is on writing reusable mea…

Lesson 11: Working with Filter Context in DAX

25 min

In this lesson, learners develop a practical understanding of filter context , one of the most important ideas in DAX. The lesson explains how Power BI automatically applies filters from visuals, slic…

Lesson 12: Building Time-Based Measures and Date Tables

24 min

In this lesson, learners build the foundation for time-based reporting in Power BI by creating a proper date table, connecting it to a fact table, and using DAX time intelligence patterns for common b…

Report Design

3 lessons

Lesson 13: Choosing the Right Visual for the Question

19 min

In this lesson, students learn how to choose Power BI visuals based on the business question being asked, not based on what looks impressive. The focus is on practical chart selection for comparison, …

Lesson 14: Using Slicers, Filters, Drillthrough, and Tooltips

23 min

This lesson shows how to make Power BI reports interactive without making them confusing. Learners use slicers, visual/page/report filters, drillthrough pages, and report page tooltips to help viewers…

Lesson 15: Designing Clean, Usable Report Pages

22 min

In this lesson, Professor David Grant explains how to turn a technically correct Power BI report page into a page that business users can actually read, trust, and use. The focus is practical report d…

Applied Project

1 lesson

Lesson 16: Building a Sales Performance Report

25 min

In this applied project lesson, students build a compact Sales Performance Report in Power BI that brings together the core skills from the course: shaping a usable model, writing simple business meas…

Sharing and Operations

2 lessons

Lesson 17: Publishing Reports to the Power BI Service

19 min

In this lesson, learners move a finished Power BI Desktop report into the Power BI service and learn what changes after publishing. The focus is on choosing the right workspace, understanding the repo…

Lesson 18: Refreshing Data and Managing Basic Report Access

21 min

This lesson explains the operational basics that keep a Power BI report useful after it has been published: refreshing data, checking refresh status, handling common refresh problems, and sharing repo…

About Your Instructor

Professor David Grant

Professor David Grant guides this AI-built Virversity course with a clear, practical teaching style.