What prior knowledge do you need for the Power BI Basics course?

For the Power BI Basics course you do not need any experience with Power BI. Basic knowledge of Excel is useful, however, because during the course you import data from Excel and create relationships between data. The course is suitable for finance professionals such as controllers, financial managers and advisers, but also for anyone who wants to work with dashboards and KPIs. You learn step by step on a course laptop or your own laptop.

Who is the Power BI Basics course intended for?

The Power BI Basics course is intended for finance professionals such as financial controllers, business controllers, finance managers, financial advisers and finance directors who are responsible for financial reporting. This classroom-based course is also a good fit if you want to analyse large volumes of data, or monitor processes and departments through dashboards with KPIs.

Which software do you use during the Power BI Basics course?

During the Power BI Basics course you work with Microsoft Power BI Desktop and Microsoft Excel. You are provided with a course laptop, or your own laptop with the right software, so you do not have to install anything yourself. You learn to import and structure data from Excel and turn it into interactive dashboards. At the end of day 2 you publish your report to Power BI Online and share a dashboard.

Do you receive a certificate after the Power BI Basics course?

Yes, on completion of the Power BI Basics course you will receive a certificate of participation from Learnit. This certificate shows that you have the practical skills to create financial reports and interactive dashboards in Microsoft Power BI. You can add the certificate to your CV or LinkedIn profile to demonstrate your new knowledge to employers.

Can the Power BI Basics course also be taken in-company?

Yes, the Power BI Basics course can also be delivered in-company. You then receive the same course at a location of your choice, tailored to practical examples from your own organisation. This is useful when several colleagues want to learn to work with Power BI at the same time and want to use their own financial data or dashboards as the basis for the exercises.

How does the Power BI Basics course compare with online self-study or YouTube tutorials?

The Power BI Basics course is a classroom-based course in which you are guided by an experienced trainer and work directly on your own report and dashboard. It differs from self-study via YouTube or an online learning platform in three respects. First, you practise on a course laptop or your own laptop using a structured workbook, so you work through a complete workflow. From importing Excel data to publishing to Power BI Online. Second, you can ask direct questions about your own working situation, for example about relationships between tables or the right visual for your KPI. Third, the material is geared towards finance professionals, not to a general audience. Choose self-study if you want to brush up on individual topics; choose this course if you want to establish a working foundation in a short space of time.

When is a classroom-based Power BI course more worthwhile than learning it myself through the Microsoft Learn documentation?

Microsoft Learn is free and thorough, but you learn there without a work context. Learnit's classroom-based Power BI Basics course takes 2 days and is aimed at finance professionals who want to get straight to work on their own reporting questions. You work on a course laptop or your own laptop with Power BI Desktop and Excel, and practise with realistic examples: importing data, creating relationships, building visuals and publishing to the Power BI Service. A trainer corrects you immediately if you create the wrong relationship or choose an unsuitable visual. That saves weeks of trial and error. Choose self-study if you have the time and learn independently; choose the classroom-based course if you want to deliver a working management report and want to know the do's and don'ts of dashboards.

How does the Power BI Basics course suit a finance professional who currently works entirely in Excel?

The course has been designed specifically as a transition route from Excel. You learn how to import your existing Excel files into Power BI Desktop, how to structure data and create relationships between tables, and how to turn that into interactive dashboards. Excel itself also remains in view during the course as a data source, so you do not have to throw your familiar way of working overboard. The difference with Excel: in Power BI you work with a fixed data model and interactive visuals that you share online via Power BI Service, whereas in Excel you build up reports again and again. For financial controllers, business controllers and finance managers who run reports every month, this saves time from the moment your data model is in place. No prior knowledge of DAX or Power Query is required.

What will I learn in the Power BI Basics course that I can apply directly at work, and how does that compare with what a data analyst does?

The Power BI Basics course focuses on finance professionals who build reports and dashboards, not on data engineering. You learn to import Excel data, structure it, create relationships between tables and format visuals in Power BI Desktop. On day 2 you publish a report to Power BI Online and share an interactive dashboard. The difference with the work of a data analyst: an analyst often builds data models, writes DAX formulas and manages datasets centrally. In Power BI Basics you stay on the reporting side. You translate existing financial data into management information and KPI dashboards. This replaces your Excel reports, but you do not take on a BI developer role. For more in-depth DAX and advanced modelling, a classroom-based follow-up course is the logical next step.

How does Power BI compare with Excel for management reporting, and when is it worth making the switch?

Excel remains strong for ad-hoc calculations, models and one-off analyses. Power BI is designed for repeatable reporting: you connect the data sources once, establish relationships between tables, and after that the dashboard refreshes automatically with new data. Making the switch is worthwhile as soon as you find yourself rebuilding the same report every month or week, having to combine several Excel files, or wanting to share reports interactively with colleagues who can filter for themselves. In the Power BI Basics course (classroom-based) you learn on day 1 how to import and structure Excel data and establish relationships. On day 2 you translate that data into visual dashboards and share them via Power BI Online. You continue to use Excel as a source; Power BI mainly replaces the manual formatting and distribution work.

What is the difference between the Power BI Basics course and a follow-up course with DAX and Power Query, and where should I start?

The Power BI Basics course focuses on the fundamentals: importing data from Excel, creating relationships, building visuals and publishing a dashboard to Power BI Online. You learn to create a working management report without in-depth formulas. A follow-up course deals mainly with DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) for complex calculations, advanced Power Query transformations and data modelling with star schemas. Start with the Basics if you currently work mainly in Excel and have not yet published a report in Power BI. Go straight for a follow-up course if you already build dashboards but get stuck on measures, time intelligence or large datasets. The Basics In practice, most finance professionals first take the Basics course and only move on to an advanced course after a few months of applying it themselves.

What does the Power BI Basics course cost and how long does it take?

You will find the current price at the top right of this course page, together with the schedule, location and delivery format. For in-company or bespoke courses we are happy to provide a quotation on request.

Power BI Basics course

Name: Power BI Basics
Price: 1100.0 EUR
Availability: InStock
Rating: 8.8 (9 reviews)

Management reports in Excel take up a lot of your time. With Microsoft Power BI you create interactive dashboards based on your Excel data. You learn to import, structure and visualise data, and to share your reports online with colleagues.

Description

Are you still producing your management reports in Excel? With Microsoft Power BI it can be done faster and more easily. In this Power BI Basics course you learn how to create an effective management report using data from Excel and how to build interactive dashboards with it.

On the first day you get to know the ins and outs of Power BI: you import data, structure your data, establish relationships and take the first steps towards management information. The second day is devoted entirely to data visualisation. You learn how to translate financial reports into understandable dashboards and how to share these online easily via Power BI Service.

Theory and practice alternate. You work on a course laptop or your own laptop with examples from your own day-to-day practice, so that you can apply what you have learned straight away.

Topics

The following subjects are covered in the Power BI Basics course:

What is Microsoft Power BI?
Features and possibilities of Power BI
Effective management reports
Importing data from Excel
Structuring a data set
Importing and connecting data sets
Formatting and structuring data
Creating and managing relationships
From data to management information
Data visualisation: making management information visually clear and understandable
Creating reports with the most commonly used visuals
Formatting and analysing visuals
Uploading your report to the Power BI Service
Creating a dashboard and sharing it online
Charts and diagrams on a management dashboard: do's and don'ts

Result

After the Power BI Basics course you know what Microsoft Power BI is and what the programme can do. You produce financial reports quickly and effectively and you know how to import, format and structure Excel data. You create relationships between data, manage your reports and turn data into usable management information.

You also make management information visually accessible using the most commonly used visuals, upload your reports to Power BI Service and share interactive dashboards online with your colleagues. You will also know the dos and don'ts for charts and diagrams on a dashboard.

Target audience

Do you work as a financial controller, business controller, finance manager, financial adviser or finance director? Then this course is for you. The Power BI Basics course is intended for finance professionals responsible for financial reporting, and for anyone who wants to carry out analyses based on large volumes of data.

The course is also a good fit if you do not draw up management reports yourself, but do want to monitor and steer processes and departments with dashboards and KPIs.

Teaching method

In the Power BI Basics course you learn, step by step, how to create financial reports and dashboards with the business intelligence tool Power BI, using examples from your own day-to-day practice and a practical workbook. Theory and practice alternate and you put what you have learned into practice straight away on one of the course laptops. There is ample opportunity to practise with Power BI and to ask questions.

This course uses Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Excel.

Prior knowledge

Do you sometimes work with Excel and with figures or reports? Then you can join without any problem. You do not need in-depth technical knowledge; basic Excel skills and an interest in data and reporting are enough to keep up.

In-company

Would you like to organise this training for a whole group or several groups? This can be cost-effective. For example, we can tailor the content entirely to your organisation, and training a whole group is also cheaper.

Are you looking at large numbers of participants or a complete academy? That involves a great deal. Consider planning and communication, for example, or identifying and agreeing the objectives and content of the training. Or differences in level, feedback mechanisms and safeguarding. Fortunately, Learnit has extensive experience in this field (more than 25 years) and we are happy to help you through this process.

Request a quote

Language

The training is given in Dutch as standard. The trainer has a good command of English. English-language course material can be used. With a minimum enrolment of 3 participants, the training can also be given entirely in English.

Number of days:

2 days

Course times:

from 10 am to 5 pm

Study load:

14 hours

Education level:

This training is suitable for all levels.

Exemptions:

Exemptions do not apply to this course.

Preparation time:

No preparation time applies to this course.

Certificate:

At the end of the course, a certificate is issued as proof of participation.

The best training for you

At Learnit you will always find a course that takes you further. From (technical) IT skills to communication or personal leadership. You can also choose the training format that suits you best: a classroom course, a tailor-made course at your own office, an online course or an e-learning. We have the right course and the right format for everyone. Because learning in the way that suits you best delivers the best results.

Moving forward together

Taking a training course at Learnit means learning together. Together with your experienced trainer, together with your course group or together with your colleagues. And whether you take the training at home, at your office or at one of our training locations, we are always available to help you. To share our knowledge with you in a way that is genuinely useful to you. Getting further together through personal attention and understanding each other well; that is what we believe in.

Apply it directly in your work

Learning theory from a book that you can then hardly use in your work? Not at Learnit! Whichever training you take with us, you can put it to use at your workplace straight away. Because of the unique learning objectives you set together with the trainer at the start of the training. Because of the alternation between theory and (interactive) practical assignments. And by bringing the challenges you face in your daily work along to the training.