This book, Alteryx Designer Cookbook, provides over 60 practical and detailed recipes that guide you in conquering data accessibility, preparation, and insights generation through Alteryx Designer. You will learn how to manipulate, blend, and analyze data sources effectively, improving your analytical productivity. What this Book will help me do Master efficient methods for cleaning, preparing, and shaping data accurately. Combine multiple data sources seamlessly using Alteryx Designer's blending tools. Implement essential data transformations such as pivoting and restructuring for analyses. Create reusable, automated solutions for repeated tasks using Alteryx macros. Generate rich, data-driven reports to enhance business intelligence efficiently. Author(s) None Guisande is an experienced data analytics professional with years of hands-on expertise in implementing data workflows using Alteryx Designer. Passionate about simplifying complex operations, None brings a practical approach to teaching, ensuring that readers can apply their skills immediately. Who is it for? This book is ideal for data analysts, professionals in business intelligence, and anyone proficient in Alteryx Designer's basics looking to deepen their understanding. If you aim to enhance your productivity and manual data tasks into efficient automated workflows, this book is a perfect fit.

Discover the utility of your organization’s data with Microsoft Power BI In Beginning Power BI for Business Users: Learning to Turn Data into Insights, accomplished data professional and business intelligence expert Paul Fuller delivers an intuitive and accessible handbook for professionals seeking to use Microsoft’s Power BI to access, analyze, understand, report, and act on the data available to their organizations. In the book, you’ll discover Power BI’s robust feature set, learn to ingest and model data, visualize and report on that data, and even use the DAX scripting language to unlock still more utility from Microsoft’s popular program. Beginning with general principles geared to readers with no or little experience with reporting or data analytics tools, the author walks you through how to manipulate common, publicly available data sources—including Excel files and relational databases. You’ll also learn to: Use the included and tested sample code to work through the helpful examples included by the author Conduct data orchestration and visualization to better understand and gain insights from your data An essential resource for business analysts and Excel power users reaching the limits of that program’s capabilities, Beginning Power BI for Business Users will also benefit data analysts who seek to prepare reports for their organizations using Microsoft’s flexible and intuitive software.

This comprehensive book on Tableau 2023 is your practical guide to mastering data visualization and business intelligence techniques. You will explore the latest features of Tableau, learn how to create insightful dashboards, and gain proficiency in integrating analytics and machine learning workflows. By the end, you'll have the skills to address a variety of analytics challenges using Tableau. What this Book will help me do Master the latest Tableau 2023 features and use cases to tackle analytics challenges. Develop and implement ETL workflows using Tableau Prep Builder for optimized data preparation. Integrate Tableau with programming languages such as Python and R to enhance analytics. Create engaging, visually impactful dashboards for effective data storytelling. Understand and apply data governance to ensure data quality and compliance. Author(s) Marleen Meier is an experienced data visualization expert and Tableau consultant with over a decade of experience helping organizations transform data into actionable insights. Her approach integrates her technical expertise and a keen eye for design to make analytics accessible rather than overwhelming. Her passion for teaching others to use visualization tools effectively shines through in her writing. Who is it for? This book is ideal for business analysts, BI professionals, or data analysts looking to enhance their Tableau expertise. It caters to both newcomers seeking to understand the foundations of Tableau and experienced users aiming to refine their skills in advanced analytics and data visualization. If your goal is to leverage Tableau as a strategic tool in your organization's BI projects, this book is for you.

Unlock the full potential of Microsoft Business Central by integrating it with the Power Platform through this practical and hands-on guide. With step-by-step tutorials, you'll learn how to combine the capabilities of tools like Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dataverse to build scalable and efficient business solutions. By the end of the book, you'll be equipped to streamline business processes and add significant value. What this Book will help me do Effectively deploy Power Platform functionalities for Microsoft Business Central projects. Seamlessly connect Business Central with cloud and on-premises services. Leverage Dataverse and virtual tables to enhance data modeling and accessibility. Build custom applications using Power Apps and automate workflows with Power Automate. Generate advanced visual reports with Power BI directly integrated with Business Central. Author(s) Kim Congleton and Shawn Sissenwein are industry professionals with extensive experience in ERP systems and Microsoft technologies. With a deep knowledge of Business Central and the Power Platform, they bring practical insights into maximizing business value through technological advancements. Their teaching approach focuses on hands-on learning, real-world application, and empowering readers with actionable skills. Who is it for? This book is ideal for Business Central users, consultants, and solution architects aiming to enhance Business Central's capabilities through the Power Platform. If you're familiar with Business Central's basics and seek to optimize and extend its functionality without requiring extensive programming knowledge, then this guide is tailored for you.

This book provides detailed guidance around architecting and deploying Power BI reporting solutions, including help and best practices for sharing and security. You’ll find chapters on dataflows, shared datasets, composite model and DirectQuery connections to Power BI datasets, deployment pipelines, XMLA endpoints, and many other important features related to the overall Power BI architecture that are new since the first edition. You will gain an understanding of what functionality each of the Power BI components provide (such as Dataflow, Shared Dataset, Datamart, thin reports, and paginated reports), so that you can make an informed decision about what components to use in your solution. You will get to know the pros and cons of each component, and how they all work together within the larger Power BI architecture. Commonly encountered problems you will learn to handle include content unexpectedly changing while users are in the process of creating reports and building analyses, methods of sharing analyses that don’t cover all the requirements of your business or organization, and inconsistent security models. Detailed examples help you to understand and choose from among the different methods available for sharing and securing Power BI content so that only intended recipients can see it. The knowledge provided in this book will allow you to choose an architecture and deployment model that suits the needs of your organization. It will also help ensure that you do not spend your time maintaining your solution, but on using it for its intended purpose: gaining business value from mining and analyzing your organization’s data. What You Will Learn Architect Power BI solutions that are reliable and easy to maintain Create development templates and structures in support of reusability Set up and configure the Power BI gateway as a bridge between on-premises data sourcesand the Power BI cloud service Select a suitable connection type—Live Connection, DirectQuery, Scheduled Refresh, or Composite Model—for your use case Choose the right sharing method for how you are using Power BI in your organization Create and manage environments for development, testing, and production Secure your data using row-level and object-level security Save money by choosing the right licensing plan Who This Book Is For Data analysts and developers who are building reporting solutions around Power BI, as well as architects and managers who are responsible for the big picture of how Power BI meshes with an organization’s other systems, including database and data warehouse systems.

Practice making sense of data with IBM’s SPSS Statistics software SPSS Statistics Workbook For Dummies gives you the practice you need to navigate the leading statistical software suite. Data management and analysis, advanced analytics, business intelligence—SPSS is a powerhouse of a research platform, and this book helps you master the fundamentals and analyze data more effectively. You’ll work through practice problems that help you understand the calculations you need to perform, complete predictive analyses, and produce informative graphs. This workbook gives you hands-on exercises to hone your statistical analysis skills with SPSS Statistics 28. Plus, explanations and insider tips help you navigate the software with ease. Practical and easy-to-understand, in classic Dummies style. Practice organizing, analyzing, and graphing data Learn to write, edit, and format SPSS syntax Explore the upgrades and features new to SPSS 28 Try your hand at advanced data analysis procedures For academics using SPSS for research, business analysts and market researchers looking to extract valuable insights from data, and anyone with a hankering for more stats practice.

Microsoft Power BI Machine Learning and OpenAI offers a comprehensive exploration into advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence using Microsoft Power BI. Through hands-on, workshop-style examples, readers will discover the integration of machine learning models and OpenAI features to enhance business intelligence. This book provides practical examples, real-world scenarios, and step-by-step guidance. What this Book will help me do Learn to apply machine learning capabilities within Power BI to create predictive analytics Understand how to integrate OpenAI services to build enhanced analytics workflows Gain hands-on experience in using R and Python for advanced data visualization in Power BI Master the skills needed to build and deploy SaaS auto ML models within Power BI Leverage Power BI's AI visuals and features to elevate data storytelling Author(s) Greg Beaumont, an expert in data science and business intelligence, brings years of experience in Power BI and analytics to this book. With a focus on practical applications, Greg empowers readers to harness the power of AI and machine learning to elevate their data solutions. As a consultant and trainer, he shares his deep knowledge to help readers unlock the full potential of their tools. Who is it for? This book is ideal for data analysts, BI professionals, and data scientists who aim to integrate machine learning and OpenAI into their workflows. If you're familiar with Power BI's fundamentals and are eager to explore its advanced capabilities, this guide is tailored for you. Perfect for professionals looking to elevate their analytics to a new level, combining data science concepts with Power BI's features.

A comprehensive and fully visual guide to Microsoft Power BI Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI collects all the resources you need to master the everyday use of Microsoft's powerful data visualization software and delivers them in a single, easy-to-use volume. Fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions are combined with crystal-clear screenshots that walk you through the basic and advanced functions of Microsoft Power BI. Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI offers the best visual learning techniques with complete source material about the interface and substance of Power BI, as well as: Stepwise guidance on working with, transforming, and processing data sources Instructions for customizing data visualizations to create informative and presentation-ready charts and graphs Full-color, two-page tutorials on the more advanced features of Power BI, including app integrations and data access with DAX The fastest, easiest way for visual learners to get a handle on Microsoft Power BI, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI is a can't-miss resource, loaded with useful tips for newbies and experts alike.

Welcome to this step-by-step guide for Excel users, data analysts, and finance specialists. It is designed to take you through practical report and development scenarios, including both the approach and the technical challenges. This book will equip you with an understanding of the overall Power Platform use case for addressing common business challenges. While Power BI continues to be an excellent tool of choice in the BI space, Power Platform is the real game changer. Using an integrated architecture, a small team of citizen developers can build solutions for all kinds of business problems. For small businesses, Power Platform can be used to build bespoke CRM, Finance, and Warehouse management tools. For large businesses, it can be used to build an integration point for existing systems to simplify reporting, operation, and approval processes. The author has drawn on his15 years of hands-on analytics experience to help you pivot from the traditional Excel-based reporting environment. By using different business scenarios, this book provides you with clear reasons why a skill is important before you start to dive into the scenarios. You will use a fast prototyping approach to continue to build exciting reporting, automation, and application solutions and improve them while you acquire new skill sets. The book helps you get started quickly with Power BI. It covers data visualization, collaboration, and governance practices. You will learn about the most practical SQL challenges. And you will learn how to build applications in PowerApps and Power Automate. The book ends with an integrated solution framework that can be adapted to solve a wide range of complex business problems. What You Will Learn Develop reporting solutions and business applications Understand the Power Platform licensing and development environment Apply Data ETL and modeling in Power BI Use Data Storytelling and dashboard design to better visualize data Carry out data operations with SQL and SharePoint lists Develop useful applications using Power Apps Develop automated workflows using Power Automate Integrate solutions with Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate to build enterprise solutions Who This Book Is For Next-generation data specialists, including Excel-based users who want to learn Power BI and build internal apps; finance specialists who want to take a different approach to traditional accounting reports; and anyone who wants to enhance their skill set for the future job market.

Prepare for Microsoft Exam PL-900. Demonstrate your real-world knowledge of the fundamentals of Microsoft Power Platform, including its business value, core components, and the capabilities and advantages of Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents. Designed for business users, functional consultants, and other professionals, this Exam Ref focuses on the critical thinking and decision-making acumen needed for success at the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals level. Focus on the expertise measured by these objectives: Describe the business value of Power Platform Identify the Core Components of Power Platform Demonstrate the capabilities of Power BI Demonstrate the capabilities of Power Apps Demonstrate the capabilities of Power Automate Demonstrate the capabilities of Power Virtual Agents This Microsoft Exam Ref: Organizes its coverage by exam objectives Features strategic, what-if scenarios to challenge you Assumes you are a business user, functional consultant, or other professional who wants to improve productivity by automating business processes, analyzing data, creating simple app experiences, or developing business enhancements to Microsoft cloud solutions. About the Exam Exam PL-900 focuses on knowledge needed to describe the value of Power Platform services and of extending solutions; describe Power Platform administration and security; describe Common Data Service, Connectors, and AI Builder; identify common Power BI components; connect to and consume data; build basic dashboards with Power BI; identify common Power Apps components; build basic canvas and model-driven apps; describe Power Apps portals; identify common Power Automate components; build basic flows; describe Power Virtual Agents capabilities; and build and publish basic chatbots. About Microsoft Certification Passing this exam fulfills your requirements for the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals certification, demonstrating your understanding of Power Platforms core capabilitiesfrom business value and core product capabilities to building simple apps, connecting data sources, automating basic business processes, creating dashboards, and creating chatbots. With this certification, you can move on to earn specialist certifications covering more advanced aspects of Power Apps and Power BI, including Microsoft Certified: Power Platform App Maker Associate and Power Platform Data Analyst Associate. See full details at: microsoft.com/learn

Expert Data Modeling with Power BI, Second Edition, serves as your comprehensive guide to mastering data modeling using Power BI. With clear explanations, actionable examples, and a focus on hands-on learning, this book takes you through the concepts and advanced techniques that will enable you to build high-performing data models tailored to real-world requirements. What this Book will help me do Master time intelligence and virtual tables in DAX to enhance your data models. Understand best practices for creating efficient Star Schemas and preparing data in Power Query. Deploy advanced modeling techniques such as calculation groups, aggregations, and incremental refresh. Manage complex data models and streamline them to improve performance. Leverage data marts and data flows within Power BI for modularity and scalability. Author(s) Soheil Bakhshi is a seasoned expert in data visualization and analytics with extensive experience in leveraging Power BI for business intelligence solutions. Passionate about educating others, he combines practical insights and technical knowledge to make learning accessible and effective. His approachable writing style reflects his commitment to helping readers succeed. Who is it for? This book is ideal for business intelligence professionals, data analysts, or report developers with basic knowledge of Power BI and experience with Star Schema concepts. Whether you're looking to refine your data modeling skills or expand your expertise in advanced features, this guide aims to help you achieve your goals efficiently.

Use this book to study for the PL-300 Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst exam. The book follows the “Skills Measured” outline provided by Microsoft to help focus your study. Each topic area from the outline corresponds to an area covered by the exam, and the book helps you build a good base of knowledge in each area. Each topic is presented with a blend of practical explanations, theory, and best practices. Power BI is more than just the Power BI Desktop or the Power BI Service. It is two distinct applications and an online service that, together, enable business users to gather, shape, and analyze data to generate and present insights. This book clearly delineates the purpose of each component and explains the key concepts necessary to use each component effectively. Each chapter provides best practices and tips to help an inexperienced Power BI practitioner develop good habits that will support larger or more complex analyses. Manybusiness analysts come to Power BI with a wealth of experience in Excel and particularly with pivot tables. Some of this experience translates readily into Power BI concepts. This book leverages that overlap in skill sets to help seasoned Excel users overcome the initial learning curve in Power BI, but no prior knowledge of any kind is assumed, terminology is defined in non-technical language, and key concepts are explained using analogies and ideas from experiences common to any reader. After reading this book, you will have the background and capability to learn the skills and concepts necessary both to pass the PL-300 exam and become a confident Power BI practitioner. What You Will Learn Create user-friendly, responsive reports with drill-throughs, bookmarks, and tool tips Construct a star schema with relationships, ensuring that your analysis will be both accurate and responsive Publish reports and datasets to the Power BI Service, enabling the report (and the dataset) to be viewed and used by your colleagues Extract data from a variety of sources, enabling you to leverage the data that your organization has collected and stored in a variety of sources Schedule data refreshes for published datasets so your reports and dashboards stay up to date Develop dashboards with visuals from different reports and streaming content Who This Book Is For Power BI users who are planning to take the PL-300 exam, Power BI users who want help studying the topic areas listed in Microsoft’s outline for the PL-300 exam, and those who are not planning to take the exam but want to close any knowledge gaps they might have

With the accelerating speed of business and the increasing dependence on technology, companies today are significantly changing the way they build in-house business solutions. Many now use low-code and no code technologies to help them deal with specific issues, but that's just the beginning. With this practical guide, power users and developers will discover ways to resolve everyday challenges by building end-to-end solutions with the Microsoft Power Platform. Author Jason Rivera, who specializes in SharePoint and the Microsoft 365 solution architecture, provides a comprehensive overview of how to use the Power Platform to build end-to-end solutions that address tactical business needs. By learning key components of the platform, including Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI, you'll be able to build low-code and no code applications, automate repeatable business processes, and create interactive reports from available data. Learn how the Power Platform apps work together Incorporate AI into the Power Platform without extensive ML or AI knowledge Create end-to-end solutions to solve tactical business needs, including data collection, process automation, and reporting Build AI-based solutions using Power Virtual Agents and AI Builder

Discover the power of transforming raw data into actionable insights with "Microsoft Power BI Quick Start Guide." This comprehensive guide introduces you to the core functionalities of Power BI, emphasizing practical demonstration on building data models, visualizations, and streamlining business intelligence processes. By following this book, you'll elevate your data analysis and storytelling skills. What this Book will help me do Connect and import data from various sources into Power BI. Master the usage of Power Query Editor for efficient data cleansing. Create effective and visually appealing Power BI dashboards. Understand and implement data security features, such as row-level and column-level security. Administer a Power BI environment effectively, including tenant management and cloud deployments. Author(s) Devin Knight, Erin Ostrowsky, Mitchell Pearson, and Bradley Schacht are seasoned experts in the field of data analysis and business intelligence. With years of practical experience, they bring a wealth of knowledge in Power BI and data visualization. Their passion for educating others is evident in their clear, approachable, and structured writing style. Who is it for? This book is designed for professionals seeking to delve into Microsoft Power BI's functionalities. Ideal readers include business analysts, data professionals, or enthusiasts aiming to transition from Excel-based solutions to BI platforms. Both beginners wanting to learn BI concepts and intermediate users looking to solidify their Power BI skills will benefit greatly.

Develop powerful data models that bind data from disparate sources into a coherent whole. Then extend your data models using DAX–the query language that underpins Power BI–to create reusable measures to deliver finely-crafted custom calculations in your dashboards. This book starts off teaching you how to define and enhance the core structures of your data model to make it a true semantic layer that transforms complex data into familiar business terms. You’ll learn how to create calculated columns to solve basic analytical challenges. Then you’ll move up to mastering DAX measures to finely slice and dice your data. The book also shows how to handle temporal analysis in Power BI using a Date dimension. You will see how DAX Time Intelligence functions can simplify your analysis of data over time. Finally, the book shows how to extend DAX to filter and calculate datasets and develop DAX table functions and variables to handle complex queries. What You Will Learn Create clear and efficient data models that support in-depth analytics Define core attributes such as data types and standardized formatting consistently throughout a data model Define cross-filtering settings to enhance the data model Make use of DAX to create calculated columns and custom tables Extend your data model with custom calculations and reusable measures using DAX Perform time-based analysis using a Date dimension and Time Intelligence functions Who This Book Is For Everyone from the CEO to the Business Intelligence developer and from BI and Data architects and analysts to power users and IT managers can use this book to outshine the competition and create the data framework that they need and interactive dashboards using Power BI

Learn how to automate processes, visualize your data, and improve productivity using Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, SharePoint, Forms, Teams, and more. This book will help you build complete solutions that often involve storing data in SharePoint, creating a front-end application in Power Apps or Forms, adding additional functionality with Power Automate, and effective reports and dashboards in Power BI. This new edition greatly expands the focus on Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, and Teams, along with SharePoint and Microsoft Forms. It starts with the basics of programming and shows how to build a simple email application in .NET, HTML/JavaScript, Power Apps on its own, and Power Apps and Power Automate in combination. It then covers how to connect Power Apps to SharePoint, create an approval process in Power Automate, visualize surveys in Power BI, and create your own survey solution with the combination of a number of Microsoft 365 tools. You’ll work with anextended example that shows how to use Power Apps and SharePoint together to create your own help ticketing system. This book offers a deep dive into Power BI, including working with JSON, XML, and Yes/No data, as well as visualizing learning data and using it to detect inconsistencies between Excel files. You’ll also see how to connect to Remedy and to the help system you will have created. Under author Jeffrey Rhodes’s guidance, you’ll delve into the Power Apps collection to learn how to avoid dreaded "delegation" issues with larger data sets. Back on applications, you will create a training class sign-up solution to only allow users to choose classes with available seats. Digging deeper into Teams, you’ll learn how to send chats, posts, and "adaptive cards" from Power Automate. Rounding things out, you’ll save Forms attachments to SharePoint with Power Automate, create your own "Employee Recognition" app with all of the Power Platform and Teams, add or edit weekly status reports, and learn how to create reservation and scoring applications. After reading the book, you will be able to build powerful applications using Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, SharePoint, Forms, and Teams. What You Will Learn Create productivity-enhancing applications with Power Apps, Power Automate, SharePoint, Forms, and/or Teams Transform and visualize data with Power BI to include custom columns, measures, and pivots Avoid delegation issues and tackle complicated Power Apps issues like complex columns, filtering, and ForAll loops Build scheduled or triggered Power Automate flows to schedule Teams Meetings, send emails, launch approvals, and much more Who This Book Is For Business and application developers.

Data Storytelling with Google Looker Studio is your definitive guide to creating compelling dashboards using Looker Studio. In this book, you'll journey through the principles of effective data visualization and learn how to harness Looker Studio to convey impactful data stories. Step by step, you'll acquire the skills to design, build, and refine dashboards using real-world data. What this Book will help me do Understand and apply data visualization principles to enhance data analysis and storytelling. Master the features and capabilities of Google Looker Studio for dashboard building. Learn to use a structured 3D approach - determine, design, and develop - for creating dashboards. Explore practical examples to apply your knowledge effectively in real projects. Gain insights into monitoring and measuring the impact of Looker Studio dashboards. Author(s) Sireesha Pulipati is an accomplished data analytics professional with extensive experience in business intelligence tools and data visualization. Leveraging her years of expertise, she has crafted this book to empower readers to effectively use Looker Studio. Sireesha's approachable teaching style and practical insights make complex concepts accessible to learners. Who is it for? This book is perfect for aspiring data analysts eager to master data visualization and dashboard design. It caters to beginners and requires no prior experience, making it a great starting point. Intermediate and seasoned professionals in analytics and business intelligence who are keen on using Looker Studio effectively will find immense value as well. If you aim to create insightful dashboards and refine your data storytelling skills, this book is for you.

Microsoft Power BI is a data analytics and visualization tool powerful enough for the most demanding data scientists, but accessible enough for everyday use for anyone who needs to get more from data. The market has many books designed to train and equip professional data analysts to use Power BI, but few of them make this tool accessible to anyone who wants to get up to speed on their own. This streamlined intro to Power BI covers all the foundational aspects and features you need to go from "zero to hero" with data and visualizations. Whether you work with large, complex datasets or work in Microsoft Excel, author Jeremey Arnold shows you how to teach yourself Power BI and use it confidently as a regular data analysis and reporting tool. You'll learn how to: Import, manipulate, visualize, and investigate data in Power BI Approach solutions for both self-service and enterprise BI Use Power BI in your organization's business intelligence strategy Produce effective reports and dashboards Create environments for sharing reports and managing data access with your team Determine the right solution for using Power BI offerings based on size, security, and computational needs

Learning Tableau 2022 is your comprehensive guide to mastering Tableau, one of the most popular tools for data visualization and analysis. Through this book, you will understand how to build impactful visualizations, create interactive dashboards, and tell compelling stories with data. With updated coverage of Tableau 2022's latest features, this book will take your data storytelling skills to the next level. What this Book will help me do Develop effective visualizations and dashboards to present complex data intuitively. Enhance data analysis with Tableau's advanced features like clustering, AI extensions, and Explain Data. Utilize calculations and parameters for tailoring and enriching analytics. Optimize workflows for data cleaning and preparation using Tableau Prep Builder. Confidently leverage Tableau for interlinking datasets and performing geospatial analysis. Author(s) Joshua N. Milligan, the author of Learning Tableau 2022, is a seasoned Tableau Zen Master. He has years of experience helping individuals and businesses transform their data into actionable insights through visualization and analysis. With a focus on clarity and practical applications, Joshua explains complex concepts in an approachable manner and equips readers with the skills to bring their ideas to life in Tableau. Who is it for? This book is ideal for business intelligence developers, data analysts, or any professional eager to improve their data visualization skills. Both beginners looking to understand Tableau from the ground up and intermediate users aiming to explore advanced Tableau techniques will find it valuable. A Tableau license and a thirst for learning are all you'll need to embark on this data visualization journey.

This book provides all you need to find data from external sources and load and transform that data into Power BI where you can mine it for business insights and a competitive edge. This ranges from connecting to corporate databases such as Azure SQL and SQL Server to file-based data sources, and cloud- and web-based data sources. The book also explains the use of Direct Query and Live Connect to establish instant connections to databases and data warehouses and avoid loading data. The book provides detailed guidance on techniques for transforming inbound data into normalized data sets that are easy to query and analyze. This covers data cleansing, data modification, and standardization as well as merging source data into robust data structures that can feed into your data model. You will learn how to pivot and transpose data and extrapolate missing values as well as harness external programs such as R and Python into a Power Query data flow. You also will see how to handle errors in source data and extend basic data ingestion to create robust and parameterized data load and transformation processes. Everything in this book is aimed at helping you deliver compelling and interactive insight with remarkable ease using Power BI’s built-in data load and transformation tools. What You Will Learn Connect Power BI to a range of external data sources Prepare data from external sources for easy analysis in Power BI Cleanse data from duplicates, outliers, and other bad values Make live connections from which to refresh data quickly and easily Apply advanced techniques to interpolate missing data Who This Book Is For All Power BI users from beginners to super users. Any user of the world’s leading dashboarding toolcan leverage the techniques explained in this book to turbo-charge their data preparation skills and learn how a wide range of external data sources can be harnessed and loaded into Power BI to drive their analytics. No previous knowledge of working with data, databases, or external data sources is required—merely the need to find, transform, and load data into Power BI..